“I love you, Mason. You’ve proved over and over that you’re my rock.”

“It’s not hard,” he said sourly.

She laughed. “I’m the hardest person in the world to love. Loving me means you have to put up with my connection to Jayne.”

“She doesn’t affect how I feel about you. I get that there’s”—he paused and searched for words—“a piece of you that will always belong to her and be affected by her. That doesn’t scare me. I’d like to think we’ve made it through the worst it can be.”

“God, I hope so.”

“She’s no good at life,” he stated. “But you’re wonderful at it. She trips you up, but you always come back swinging. A lot of people would have given up by now.”

His words flowed through her heart. He believed in her. But why?

She took a deep breath. “I’d like to get married if you feel the same way.”

He swung his head toward her. “You don’t think I want to?”

She pulled her hand out of her pocket and showed him the small velvet box she’d found four days ago in his vehicle. Her hand shook as he stared at it. “Why haven’t you given this to me? I found the receipt. You bought it months ago.” Her voice cracked. “Did you change your mind?” Fear washed over her. She’d finally said it, the question that’d been consuming her thoughts for days.

He took the box. “Hell no. The timing was just never right. I’ve known I wanted you permanently in my life since last January.” He flipped open the lid. “I wasn’t sure how you felt. I didn’t want to rush it if you weren’t ready.”

The ring gleamed, catching the faint light from the moon. She’d stared at it for hours, loving that he’d understood her simple elegant taste, but worried as all hell that he’d thought he’d made a mistake. “I’m ready,” she whispered, and a great pressure lifted off her shoulders. For months she’d felt as if she carried the burdens of a dozen people on her back. Suddenly they were gone, cut loose like balloons, and she could breathe.

He took her hand, and she felt a quiver shake his fingers. He slid the cold metal onto her finger and wrapped his hand around it, clenching it tightly. She looked up, his face close to hers. “Now I’m sorry I waited,” he said. “If I’d known how fucking overjoyed I was going to feel at this moment, I would have done it last winter, Special Agent McLane.”

“You’re so smooth with the sentiments, Detective.”

“You bring out the best in me.”

“I plan to for a very long time.”