When I woke again, it was with a soft warm body pressed against my good side and the light peeking around the curtains in her room. My brown knit as my sleepy brain scrambled to catch up. If it's daylight, then it's later than five a.m. Years of repetition and discipline had my brain screaming at me to get up and go to the gym. My body on the other hand was telling my brain to shut the fuck up.

Casey shifted, snuggling closer into my good side, distracting me from the tug-of-war going on in my mind. Then, just like a needle scratching across a record player, my thoughts skidded to a halt at the realization that last night wasn't just my imagination running a muck. It had happened, and it was fucking amazing.

Logic tells me I should be ashamed of myself for allowing our lust to take control last night. After all, she'd only been here six weeks and was still dealing with the trauma of what Blackmore did to her. In addition, she was now having to face the loss of a woman she considered a friend. Plus, deal with the very real possibility that someone might be after her too. She was vulnerable and it was wrong for me to be taking advantage of her in a moment of weakness.

The thing was it wasn't her moment of weakness that landed us here. It was mine, and she'd not only initiated what happened, but I'd also made sure to give her full control.

I should be terrified by the significance of our actions last night and the deeper meaning that came with it. Instead, all I felt was thankful. I am thankful that I was the one to find her on that bridge. I am thankful that she was willing to stay with me and thankful that she loves me.

I'm also humbled in ways I never thought possible.

I mean, jumping from bed to bed for years had its perks. One night I might be with a blonde. The next a redhead. Some women were big-chested, others big in the hips. Some wanted a romantic night of dinner, dancing, and vanilla sex. Others…well others were more than willing to get their kink on. The one thing they all had in common was that each of them wanted the same thing I did. A good time, with no strings attached.

What I didn't want to admit was that my desire to stay single had everything to do with not allowing myself to get too close to any one woman. Between the horrors I witnessed while serving our country and seeing so many of my buddy's marriages end in divorce, I was desperate to protect my heart. In my head, I truly believe that once any woman found out how broken I was, she'd haul ass to get away from me. So, it was easier not to let my heart get invested. It was easier to be the slick and funny playboy that didn't give a fuck about anything, even when I did.

Only this time, the woman snuck past my defenses before I could stop her and slowly broke down the protective walls I'd spent years building. She'd become my kindred spirit in the most elemental of ways. What I didn't see until now was that while I was working to help her heal, she was doing the same for me.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice she was awake until she shifted, and then lifted her head to look at me.

"Good morning," I said as I stroked a knuckle along her cheek.

The smile she gave me made my heart do a little flip. God, she was so beautiful looking all sleep rumpled and satisfied. "Good morning."

I reached over and picked up my phone to check the time and was shocked to see the numbers eight zero six on my screen. "Wow, it's late."

"I know," she replied as she sat up and much to my surprise, she didn't try to cover herself. My gaze tracked to her supple breasts. Her creamy skin was accentuated even more by her dusky pink nipples. God, she was gorgeous.

"Robert texted me late last night," she continued, and I worked to tear my gaze away and pay attention to her. "He wanted me to stay with you today and make sure you rested. He said he would take care of feeding the men and that the cleaning could wait for a day. So, I went and turned off the alarm clock in your room. I figured since I can hear it in here, you probably would be able to also."

"Bobby's a mother hen," I replied as I slowly pushed myself up to lean against the headboard and tried to hide my grimace. Damn if my ribs were even more sore today.

The sheet that had been covering us pulled away from me, revealing my naked chest, and caught Casey's attention. "Oh, Lester." She reached out and slid a gentle finger over my ribs. "That looks so painful."

My attention turned to where her finger was tracing over my ribs, and I winced at the sight of the large purple and black bruise. So much for hoping it wouldn't leave a mark. "It's not as bad as it looks," I replied.

She narrowed her eyes. "You're not just saying that to try and ease my worries, right?"

I motioned to her. "Come here."

She shifted to join me, and I reached out to turn her face toward me then pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "I'll admit that they're sore, but I promise that the pain isn't bad."

For a moment, she studied my face as if she were trying to gauge my level of honesty. Then she nodded. "Okay, but if it gets worse, you'll tell me, right?"

"Right," I said as I pressed a kiss to her hair.

To have someone other than Bobby and my mother worry and fret over me was a new experience. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Is this what my cousin experiences with Beautiful? If so, I can understand now why she drove him so crazy and why he eventually married her despite proclaiming years ago that he'd never remarry.

I've said similar words. Usually, something to the effect of marriage is for fools, but, if waking up every morning to a beautiful woman who loves you is part of the deal, then maybe it's not so bad after all.

She snuggled against me and sighed. "It feels wrong to be this happy."

I began stroking my fingers along her arm. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Izzy is dead. Maddie is still missing and there's a decent chance someone wants me dead too. Yet, I'm lying next to the man I've come to love, and despite all the nastiness still following me, I can actually see a future now. It's strange to feel both happy and sad at the same time."

"I know what you mean," I replied then decided to circle back around to her future comment. "So, what do you see when you picture your future now?"

"You and me together."

"Married?" I asked. Why in the hell was I thinking about marriage again?

"Maybe someday," she murmured.

"Kids?"

She went silent and the fine hair on my neck stood up. "You don't want children?"

"No, I do," she said as she angled her head to look up at me. "It's just. Like I said before, I'm not sure if I can have children."

I did remember her mentioning it. "So, if you can't have children, why the conversation with Bobby about birth control?"

"Because I don't know for sure," she replied, then shifted to sit cross-legged next to me. Now she did pull the sheet over the bottom half of her. I idly wondered how easy it would be for me to slide a hand under the sheet and… "How much do you know about my religion?" she asked, derailing my thoughts.

"Since meeting you, I've made a point to learn as much as I could," I replied.

At my admission, another small smile tipped her lips. "Did you really?"

I reached out and took her hand in mine. "I did."

"For the record, that's incredibly sweet."

"I'm glad you think so, but don't ever call me sweet in front of the guys."

That wry smile of hers remained for a few more seconds before it sadly slipped away. I was coming to love that smile because it meant she was showing more of her feisty personality.

"Then as you probably know, premarital sex is frowned upon in my religion." She shifted uncomfortably and her cheeks began to pink up as she pulled the sheet higher over her body. "Which meant there was no need for any kind of birth control. Then I married my husband, and we were expected to start having a family right away. So, again, no need for birth control." She ran a hand down the front of the sheet, smoothing it as she went. "My husband and I were married for seven years before he died in that accident. Yet I never got pregnant. My family blamed me for it, but my husband always said it must be God's will and we needed to accept it."

Interesting how even back then she seemed to be the black sheep of her family. It was also curious how her husband had been so willing to accept their infertility when her family didn't. "It sounds to me like maybe your husband was the one with the fertility problem and didn't want to admit it," I said. "Especially since he was so quick to dismiss it. Maybe he had the problem, and he didn't want to admit it."

She nodded. "At the time I believed it was my fault, but I was so used to everything being my fault, I guess I just didn't think to question it. After being removed from that life, I don't know what to think anymore."

"I'm guessing you've never had any medical tests run or anything?"

She shot me her best you have to be joking, look. "What health insurance we did have wasn't that good and my family didn't have a lot of disposable money. Plus, that would have required my husband to participate in testing, which I doubt he would have done."

Yeah, it sounded like her husband was keeping an important secret from her and allowing Casey to take the blame.

"And," she continued. "It's not like Clayton or the rehab center was going to pay for reproductive testing. Clayton's demand for condoms always was because he didn't want to have to pay for anything medical with us. In his mind, condoms would keep us clean and pregnancy-free."

Every time she mentioned Blackmore or the rehab, I'd get a sudden urge to destroy something or better yet, eliminate every person who ever did her wrong. "Despite your acute aversion to them now, demanding condoms was probably the only good thing that bastard did for you girls," I said.

She smirked. "Don't give him too much credit. He didn't want anything impacting his ability to make money. Plus, since he and his men also used us whenever they wanted, they didn't want to catch anything either."

"Good point," I murmured as I slowly leaned over and kissed the top of her head.

"When I got to rehab, they tested me to make sure I wasn't pregnant and was clean of disease. That was it."

For now, we'd keep using the birth control she'd chosen, but we'd have to talk to Bobby about helping her set up some infertility testing. She deserved to know the truth. "Well," I said. "One of the perks of being a Rangeman employee is that you have quality health care. If you want to get tested, then we'll ask Bobby to help find you a doctor and we'll get you tested, so we know for sure."

She nodded, then lifted her eyes to meet my stare. "Do you want children?"

I took a moment to ponder her question. Did I? "If you'd asked me that question a year ago, I would have told you no. I enjoyed being a bachelor with no familial responsibilities, but now…" I paused as I carefully considered my words. If she was infertile, I wouldn't want to say something now that would upset her later. "Now I see myself wanting a lot of things I never thought I would."

She cocked her head to the side, her expression reminding me very much of a curious puppy. "What's different now?"

"You came into my life."