I shrug, keeping my eyes locked on Amberlyn. “I fuckin’ hope so.”

But my hopes don’t come true on my time. It’s well into the small hours of the morning and still nothing. That’s three days without my love. Three days of worrying, of my heart breaking, and fear of the unknown getting the best of me. With my head laid against her thigh, I run my fingers along her palm, fighting off sleep just in case she wakes in the middle of the night. Yawning loudly, I close my eyes only for a second to rest them. They are killing me. Hell, everything hurts. I just want her to wake up and tell me she loves me so we can move forward with our lives. Opening my eyes, I take in a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. Leaning up, I glance over at Fiona to see that she is sleeping. She’s been a constant presence during all of this, and I can’t wait to tell Amberlyn how loved she is.

Looking up to admire her angelic face, my gaze meets her and I jump up, my chair falling behind me. Her eyes are wide as she looks around, running her free hand down her face.

“Amberlyn,” I cry out, cupping her face in my hand before dropping my mouth to hers, basking in the feel of her lips against mine. It brings tears to my eyes, the thought that all this could have never happened again. “God, love, I thought I lost you.”

“I’m alive, right?”

I nod quickly, bringing my lips to hers again as I vow to never stop kissing this gorgeous woman. Pulling back, I look into her flooded-with-tears eyes and say, “Yes, and my God, Amberlyn, I’m so glad because I love you so much.”

A smile pulls at her lips, and my mouth immediately does the same. “I love you,” she whispers.

Relief floods me as my heart feels like it’s about to come out of my chest. Kissing her hard on the lips, I hear Fiona yell before she is hugging us, too. Soon everyone is in the room, fussing and loving all over Amberlyn. Still holding her hand, I watch while internally, I am thanking the heavens above for keeping her here. My heart has gone back to a normal pace since my eyes met hers, and I’m okay with that. All I wanted was for her to be awake, and I have that now. The road ahead will not be easy, but I’ll be with her every step of the way, loving her and continually telling her how much she means to me.

That she is my everything.

After what seems like hours of people, doctors, and nurses coming in and out of the room, I’m finally left alone with Amberlyn since Fiona went home to shower. She mostly sleeps, and I am fine with that. I just want to watch her, know she is going to be okay. Closing my own eyes, my head resting against her hip, I hold her hand and soon, sleep takes me. I am thankful for it. I am exhausted and for the first time since I held my hand over her wound, I feel relaxed.

I know she is safe.

That my love is still here with me.

The next morning, she is more alert, looking beautiful but still so weak. I fed her Jell-O, and she actually laughed a little at my horrible job of feeding her. I think I got more on her nose because my hands were shaking so badly. Even though I know she is here and I know she is safe, I’m still so nervous and so scared. I’ve been waiting for what seems like forever to know why she did it. Why she risked her own life for mine? Holding her hand, I kiss her palm as she watches me, her eyes sparkling with love.

Tracing the outside of her hand with my finger, I smile before I ask, “Why did you do it? Why did you take a bullet for me?”

Clearing her throat, she reaches up to hold my face as her head falls to the side, a small grin forming on her face. “Because you have so much to lose. I couldn’t let you die when everyone needs you. I love you more than that.”

“But the only thing that’s worth losing is you, my love,” I say, choking on my tears. Cupping her face, I press my lips to her before pulling back to look into her intoxicating eyes. “I’m so glad you didn’t leave me. I couldn’t live without you.”

Running her nose against mine, she whispers, “How could I when our story is just starting?”

Taking in a sharp breath, I nod, holding her gaze. “I love you so much, but please, don’t ever do that again.”

Her smile grows as she slowly blinks before saying, “I’ll remember that next time.”

Chuckling, I kiss her nose softly before moving her hair out of her face. “And you’re right; our story is not over, not by a long shot, my love. We have so much to do, so much to say, and the rest of our lives to do it.”

She smiles as she nods. “I know and I can’t wait, Declan. Especially the part when I am there for you to be a constant support system while you run your distillery.”

My head falls to the side as I hold her gaze. “Huh? What do you mean?”

With her eyes so full of love that my heart aches, she says, “I mean that I need to get ready to be the Whiskey Princess and love my prince until my dying breath.”

While I want that more than anything, I shake my head. “No, love, I refuse to rush you into that.”

Setting me with a look, she asks, “Do you love the distillery?”

I nod. “Yes, but I love you a lot more. I’ll let it go. All I want is you.”

“See the only problem with that is that I love you so much that I won’t let you do that.”

“Amberlyn,” I start but she shakes her head, holding her hand up to stop me.

“Yes, this isn’t what was planned and yes, it is fast since we haven’t been dating long. I also know we haven’t had sex but, Declan, we’ll get to it. I love you and you love me, so let’s do this. I believe in us, don’t you?”

My shoulders fall as I cup her face in my hands, my heart coming out of my chest with all the love I have for this girl. “Of course, but it’s so much to ask.”

Slowly shaking her head, her mouth curves in a grin as she says, “How do you know? You haven’t asked.”

Holding my gaze, I can see the challenge in her eyes and it only makes my heart race more. I know this would be considered crazy in the eyes of some, but to me, it’s not crazy, it’s the only way I want to live my life.

With Amberlyn by my side.

“I don’t have a ring or anything, love. I can’t do this now.”

“I don’t need that stuff. I only need you.”

The way she says it knocks the air out of me. I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life and knowing that Amberlyn is right there with me has me grinning like fool. It’s scary and I’m not sure how this will all play out, but I know there is nothing else to do then to ask my love to be mine for the rest of my life.