“Sweetheart, it will be as soon as you want.”
He was ready for their forever to start—a lifetime of love and happiness. No more fears.
And no more nightmares for Cassidy.
He’d make sure the rest of her days were as good as this one.
He kissed her again and knew that life couldn’t get any better.
* * * * *
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Chapter One
Chuck Bolton walked to the edge of town, working the kinks out of his bum leg, his limp more pronounced after his two-hour ride on one of the resort nags, housed in the old-fashioned livery stable.
He hadn’t had much call to ride in the military, spending most of his time on foot or in an armor-plated vehicle, patrolling the villages and Taliban-riddled hillsides of Afghanistan.
He’d still be there had he not turned all Rambo and gone off the deep end. Some called him a hero. His commander called him an idiot for risking his life. But other than ending his military career, he couldn’t regret his vigilante justice on the Taliban stronghold he’d leveled to the ground single-handed.
After what they’d done to that kid...
Chuck shook his head to clear the images. That was the past. Wild Oak Canyon and Covert Cowboys, Inc. were his future.
On the edge of town, looking south, he drew in a deep breath of hot, dry air and let it out. Not many understood the lure of this parched desert or chose to live here. Outsiders didn’t last long, not with miles and miles of flat, unchanging terrain, with the Davis Mountains rising in the distance, appearing closer than they actually were.
Hell, Chuck might not have come back had he not been invited to join CCI, the secret organization billionaire ranch owner Hank Derringer had started recently. Wild Oak Canyon held too many memories, both good and bad.
Everywhere he turned he ran into mental images of PJ.
PJ riding a horse across the desert landscape, PJ smiling up at him from their favorite swimming hole, begging him to join her, PJ telling him she’d love him forever...
Forever had been all too short. She’d begged him not to volunteer for the rotation to Afghanistan, wanting him to wait until his unit was called up, giving them a little more time together before he was put into harm’s way. His Army National Guard unit hadn’t been due for rotation for another twelve months when a call went out for volunteers.
Chuck had insisted on going, telling her duty called and he had to go.
They’d argued, Chuck had said things he wished he hadn’t, his temper getting the better of him. Looking back, he could see that PJ had been scared, afraid of losing him. And he’d pushed her away so effectively she’d ended their engagement, throwing the ring in his face shortly before he’d left for predeployment training at Fort Hood.
God, he’d been so stubborn. If only he’d said he was sorry, they might be married by now. He wouldn’t be wandering the streets of Wild Oak Canyon in search of what he’d lost.