Prince Charming in Dress Blues (13 page)

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

She grinned. “I asked you to marry me, didn’t I?”

He smiled back at her. “So you did.”

“Are you going to answer that question anytime soon, Gunnery Sergeant Paretti?”

“After you tell me if you’re interested in that job offer I was telling you about.”

She took a breath and huffed it out again in frustration. “You want to talk about a job? Now? In the middle of my proposal?”

“Yep.” God, it felt good to be back with her. Where he belonged.

“Fine,” she said, waving one hand at him. “What job?”

“Running Paretti Computer Corporation.”

She staggered backward a step, stared up at him through huge, astonished eyes and gasped, “What?”

“You heard me,” he said on a laugh and caught her to him when she staggered again. “The old man loved your ideas—”

“What ideas?”

“The ones you rattled off at me when you were yelling at me to follow my heart.”

“You can’t be serious,” she said, shaking her head.

“Oh, yes, I can,” he said, enjoying the fact that he’d been able to surprise her just as she had him with that proposal. She’d gone and wrecked his carefully rehearsed, romantic-as-hell proposal speech, but, remembering her words to him, he figured it was worth it.

“But—”

“No buts,” he cut her off quickly, pulled her tightly to him and wrapped his arms around her, keeping her from escaping, even if she’d wanted to, which she didn’t. “So, you tell me if you want the job, then I’ll tell you if I’ll marry you.”

“You’re crazy, you know that?” she said, stunned disbelief coloring her tone.

“That’s been said before.”

“And will be again, no doubt.”

“Oh,” he said with a grin, “no doubt.”

Her arms came around his waist and her palms splayed wide on his back. He felt the warmth of each of her fingers all the way down to his soul, and John knew he’d found his home. His heart.

“So—” he prodded gently with a little squeeze “—do you want the job?”

Annie told herself that if John came with the job, she’d sign up to sweep streets on Jupiter. But he hadn’t actually
said
he came with the job now, had he? “Sure, I guess so, I mean—”

“Then I guess I’ll have to say yes to your proposal and marry you,” he said with a wink, “since this
is
a family-run company after all.”

The last of her reservations drained away, leaving her feeling like an exceptionally lucky woman. “Very sneaky,” she said smiling. “I like that in a man.”

“I aim to please,” he said, bending his head to plant a kiss on her neck.

“Mmm…” she moaned, and added, “…then aim a little lower, okay?”

“Aye-aye, ma’am,” he whispered, sliding his lips down, along her collarbone and then back up to claim a kiss that sealed their promises and blessed their future.

Three Years Later…

G
reen and white balloons dropped from the netting overhead and spilled down onto the gleaming wooden floor where dozens of couples were dancing to a ballad from the forties. But Annie’s gaze was locked on one couple in particular.

Her handsome husband and their three-year-old daughter, dancing cheek to cheek. John held Jordan tightly and moved into a series of spins that had the little girl laughing in delight, and Annie’s heart blossomed painfully in her chest.

So much, she thought, letting her gaze stray just a bit to wander across the faces of the gathered crowd. She’d found so much in three short years. A man who
was husband, lover and friend. A career that just kept getting better. And a family.

The family she’d always wanted and given up hoping to find.

She smiled to herself as she spotted Sam and Karen, chasing their two-year-old, Anthony, across the floor. Then grinned when she spotted Nick hovering over a
very
pregnant Gina as if she might explode. And, she told herself as her gaze moved on, in the heart of the family was Dominick and Teresa Paretti, the couple whose fiftieth anniversary they were all here to celebrate.

They danced together now in the center of the floor, and the crowd parted, making way. Amid the swirling lights, the sea of balloons and their watchful audience, the Parettis had eyes only for each other.

And Annie sighed.

“Tired?” John’s voice came from right beside her, and she turned, smiling, to face him.

“Not a bit,” she said.

“Mommy, Daddy says I’m the prettiest girl here,” Jordan piped up from her perch on John’s hip.

“And he’s absolutely right,” Annie told her, leaning in for a kiss.

“Well,” John amended solemnly, “except for your mommy.”

The look in his eyes sent a dart of heat shooting through her, and Annie had to marvel at it. Three years married, eight months pregnant with her second child, and one look from her husband turned her into a puddle of steaming want.

Jordan nodded, sending her thick, honey-colored braids flying. “’Cept for Mommy.”

John kept his gaze locked with hers, and after a long
minute he set Jordan on her feet and said, “Why don’t you go dance with Uncle Nick? He looks lonely.”

“’Kay,” the child announced and skipped off toward her next conquest.

“That was sneaky,” Annie said, moving into his arms and swaying in time with the music.

“Hey, I needed a minute alone with my best girl….” He shot a look over at Gina who looked relieved when Nick and Jordan moved into the dancing crowd. “And Gina could use a break from my big brother.”

“He’s worried,” Annie said. “She’s due any day now.”

“I know,” John told her laughing. “I already told him that it was no problem. If Gina goes into labor, I’m completely ready to deliver their little boy. It’s not like I haven’t done it before.”

Annie laughed and shook her head. “Gee, and that didn’t make him feel better?”

He grinned down at her. “Nope.” Then he moved one hand to stroke the mound of her stomach. “But I guess I can’t blame him. When our new little miss decides to make her entrance, I think I’d prefer having a doctor there.”

“We still don’t have a name for her,” Annie said.

“I wanted to talk to you about that,” he told her, and guided her into a slow turn, “I’d like to name her Faith, if that’s okay with you.”

“Faith Paretti,” she murmured, staring straight up into her husband’s eyes. “Has a nice ring to it.”

“Has a nice sound, too,” he said softly, his gaze moving over her features like the most gentle of caresses. “Faith in us. Faith in the future. Faith in all we have together.”

Tears stung the backs of her eyes, and Annie blinked them away. Everything about this man touched her heart so deeply. She couldn’t imagine her life without him. And thank heaven, she would never have to. “Faith it is, then,” she said.

John watched her for a long minute and felt his heart fill to bursting. His wife. The mother of his children. The other half of his heart.

She was all those things and so much more.

He’d found a happiness he hadn’t thought possible. And it was all due to this one woman. The woman who made his life complete.

Absently he noted that the orchestra had stopped playing and that the crowd was beginning to move through the French doors toward the dock. It must be time for the fireworks display, he thought, never taking his gaze from Annie’s.

“John,” she said softly.

“Hmm?”

“We should go and join the family.”

“Yeah,” he murmured, “I suppose we should.”

“The fireworks are about to start.”

John ran one hand up and down her spine, bent to kiss her gently, briefly, then lifted his head and looked at her. “Honey, the fireworks are right here. Trust me.”

Then he kissed her, and Annie could have sworn she saw the flash of a brightly colored rocket explode behind her closed eyes.