“You didnotcount them,” Vince snorted in disbelief.
Lace laughed. “You’re right. I didn’t,” she admitted, but added proudly, “I did themath, though. You see, ‘I love you’ takes two seconds to say, and we traveled for fifteen and a half minutes. Hence, four hundred and sixty-three times I must have said it.”
Vince actually laughed. “I’m impressed you didn’t trip up on your chant. When I repeat something over and over, it always starts to sound like gibberish.”
“Loving you will never be gibberish to me,” she responded a bit sappily. But she was allowed. Almost being lost at sea after a murder attempt gave her an automatic pass to blubber and be goofy.
Vince choked up as well.
“Let’s get you inside, and into the shower,” he managed to rasp out, and before she could even move, he was out his door, at hers, and carrying her into the house.
“Iampretty salt-crusted,” she admitted, but she also recalled her main objective. “Will you join me under the spray where we can talk about what’s bothering you?”
“Who says we’ll betalkingin the shower?” He waggled his brows provocatively, but the playfulness didn’t reach his eyes.
Lace placed a hand over his heart. “Me,” she told him solemnly. “There’s something on your mind, and I think it will be good for you to say it out loud.”
He brought her into the bathroom, and slowly lowered her to the floor, looking up at the ceiling for a moment.
“I, uh, actually have an appointment with a therapist next week, compliments of Trask, to dig into things. Thatshouldhelp sort my head out,” he told her.
“Good. But… If you want to fill me in anyway, I’m a good listener,” Lace urged. “I won’t push,” she reassured him.
She quickly stripped out of her blankets and stood naked, turning on the shower to warm it up.
Vince slowly pealed out of his wet things, nervously shifting from foot to foot until he clearly came to a decision.
“No. I should tell you,” he said. “It’s nothing horrendous. Nothing that gives me nightmares. It’s just…” He began again. “The reason I left the Navy was…contentious for me.”
They got into the tiled stall where Lace wrapped her arms around Vince’s naked body and held him tightly.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. Really,” she assured him.
“No. I do,” he rebutted. “I don’t want there to be anything unspoken between us that might change your mind about who I am.”
Lace scoffed. “Iknowwho you are, Vince. And nothing you can say will alter my opinion. You’re my hero, my love, and the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
Oops.Maybe she should have keptthatto herself.
Vince actually grinned. “Lace Heiger. Was that a proposal?” he quipped. “You want to marry me?”
She leaned in and gave his chest a sharp nip with her teeth.
He yelped. “Hey. What was that for?”
“For not just saying yes,” she huffed. “Here are the words that should have come out of your mouth.Ofcoursewe’ll spend the rest of our lives together, Lace.”
Vince gazed down at her with what looked suspiciously like tears in his eyes. “We will. Together. Forever, Lace,” he stated gruffly. “That’s a promise.”
He ended the emotional moment with a dramatic roll of his eyes. “Nowcan I speak?”
“The floor is yours,” Lace told him diplomatically.
Vince closed his lids and took a deep breath, but seemed more settled.
“It was a couple months before I was due to re-up,” he told her. “We were in South America. I can’t say where. That’s confidential.”
Lace nodded her head against him, her cheek leaning on his chest, listening to his heart beat strongly.