Above and Beyond (Twist of Fate 4)

“Tell them we’ll meet them at the restaurant,” I called over my shoulder.

“But I thought you were going to talk to him about a full-time job,” Min said with a laugh.

“He already got it,” Lucky called back. “Dinner’s just to celebrate Montana’s newest SAR expert.”

I swatted him on the butt before squeezing it. He had the best ass.

“One day that’s going to be you, you know,” I reminded him. After kicking the bedroom door closed behind us, I set him down and put my hands on his shoulders. “One more year.”

His face was open and bright, completely devoid of stress. It was enough to bring back the bubbly feeling I always felt around him.

“One more year until we help Chaska expand, you mean,” he said.

I ran my fingers through his sun-streaked hair. We’d spent hours hiking and exploring around the mountains near Haven before it had been time to return to Missoula for Lucky’s senior year.

“Or retire. His other daughter just told him she’s pregnant. Pretty soon, the man’s going to be too busy babysitting grandkids to fly his bird.” I leaned in and kissed his full lips. “Haven’s Helos,” I said against his mouth. “What do you think?”

Lucky kissed me again, deeper. He took his time teasing me with his tongue until I’d forgotten what we’d been talking about.

“We have all year to decide,” he said. “In the meantime, I need to take a shower if we’re meeting your boss and his wife for dinner.”

He tried to pull away to head to the shower, but I held him tight. “You know he’s going to offer you as much part-time work as you want as long as we’re still here in Missoula, right?”

Lucky’s face softened. “Will it mean I get to work with you?”

“Sometimes. But it won’t be as steady as working for the ambulance service was,” I reminded him.

“But I’ll get to rescue people from a helicopter.” His grin grew wider. “With my hot pilot boyfriend.”

I felt my face heat up. “You’re the hot boyfriend,” I muttered. “I’m the—”

Lucky leaned in and kissed the self-deprecating words right out of my mouth. “None of that broken Army Ranger bullshit. That’s the past. This right here?” he asked, looking around at the combination of our things stacked around the bedroom. My old combat boots tumbled out of an open box onto the stuff sack holding Lucky’s favorite two-man tent—a tent I planned to make plenty of memories in with him. He looked back at me. “This is our future.”

“Okay, let’s go shower,” I grumbled since I knew if we didn’t, I’d never get us out of there.

Lucky leaned into me, his eyes on the bed.

“Can we… can we do something first?” he asked. His arms were around my waist and he had his head pressed to my shoulder.

“I think we can multi-task in the shower,” I suggested before I leaned down and kissed him. Lucky smiled against my mouth but kissed me back anyway.

“No, I was… I was wondering if we could just lie down for a few minutes.”

There was a softness in his voice that told me his request had some kind of meaning for him.

I took his hand and led him to the bed. Once we were lying on the covers, Lucky put his arm around my waist and laid his head on my chest. He was uncharacteristically quiet but there was such a look of contentment on his face that I didn’t dare disturb him. I followed his gaze and saw he was looking at our pile of outdoor gear that we’d stashed in the corner. Light filtered across the bed and cast soft shadows all around us as the sun began to fall.

“I dreamed this,” Lucky said after a long pause, then he snuggled deeper into me.

“When?” I asked in surprise.

But Lucky just shook his head and murmured, “Doesn’t matter. I’m just so glad it came true.” He sounded so relieved that I found myself dropping a kiss to his temple.

A sense of absolute rightness went through me as I ran my fingers through Lucky’s soft hair. We ended up lying there for several moments, and I was seriously considering sending Tag a message that we weren’t going to make it, but Lucky chose that moment to shift his weight so his upper body was still sprawled over mine and he was looking me in the eye.

“Everything okay?” I asked as I pushed a stray lock of hair from his temple.

His smile was soft and serene.

“It’s perfect,” he responded. He turned his head and whispered those same words again. I glanced one last time around the room, our room, before letting my eyes close as Lucky’s weight surrounded me like the softest of blankets.

He was absolutely right.

It was perfect.