Page 103 of SEAL of Valor

I meet her gaze. “I remember everything.”

“Weston.” Her eyes fill, and she reaches forward to fist the front of my shirt and pull me in. The kiss starts off slow. Tender. But as fire spreads through my veins, I deepen it, cupping her face with my hand and fighting the urge to pull her completely into my arms.

My heart pounds.

Visions of forever dancing in my mind.

This woman is all I’ve ever wanted.

I pull away, breathless and still desperate for more. “We have to take this easy,” I say with a hoarse laugh. “Because, while I have fantastic self-control in most circumstances, with you, it just feels like⁠—”

“You want to skip steps?”

I laugh again and brush hair behind her ear. “Something like that.”

“I’m in that boat, too. I think it’s hard because, well, we’ve already⁠—”

“Yeah,” I say, then take a deep breath. “Back to square one, though, and square one is cheeseburgers and French fries.” I pull out the container of fries, then scoot over a bit and place both the fries and the ketchup between us. A food barrier that will hopefully help us keep our hands to ourselves.

God, please help me. I’m struggling with the desire I’ve always had for her, but I know the timing isn’t right. Please grant me strength to take this slow and give her the future she deserves.

“You okay?”

I grin. “Yeah. Just sending up a prayer.” It’s coming a lot easier to me now; I prayed my way through the interaction with Jones earlier, which is the only reason I was able to release him when I did. And I hit my knees as soon as I was alone again, begging God for guidance so I didn’t make things worse.

“Do you want to bless the food?”

“Yeah.” I clear my throat, then take her outstretched hand. Nerves twist in my stomach, and the echoes of doubts ring through my mind at a deafening volume.

I’m not qualified to bless our meal.

I’m not clean enough to seek redemption.

Forcing those out, I clear my throat and close my eyes. “Lord, we, uh, we thank You for this meal we are about to eat. Thank You for bringing Reese and me back together, even with everything we have going on. Uh, please be with us. Thanks for everything. Amen.”

“Amen.”

Cheeks hot, I release her hand.

“That was great, Weston.”

I shouldn’t be surprised that she can read my embarrassment. There haven’t been many times I’ve been able to hide something from her. “Eh, Zane’s is always smoother.”

“The Lord doesn’t care how smooth your prayer is, Weston. He only cares that you pray.” She takes my hand again and squeezes gently.

I smile at her, all of my earlier embarrassment fading away. Is that true? Does the Lord really not care about perfection? Every voice in my head says otherwise. That I’m supposed to be clean before I seek Him. But…if that were true…would anyone really reach Him?

“This all looks so good.” She lifts a fry and bites half of it off, then closes her eyes and groans. “Oh how I missed Maddie and Ed’s food.”

I laugh. “They will be happy to hear that.”

“And how about you? Do you still make a big ol’ batch of brisket chili every year?”

“Yeah. Anastasia started selling it at her coffee shop, too. I was actually planning to get one started last week, but⁠—”

“Getting kidnapped kind of put a damper on that.”

Chuckling, I nod. “You can say that.” After lifting my burger, I take a bite and fight the urge to groan myself. Most of the time, I prefer my own food. Years of cooking for Violet and myself made me a pretty good cook. But even I have to agree that no one does a burger quite like Ed.