I Do! by Rachel Gibson

But I do now.” He dipped his face, and his beautiful blue eyes looked into hers. “And now there’s only one thing left to say.”
    “What?”
    “Do you think you love me, Rebecca Ramsey?
    Did she love him? “Damn straight.” She grinned “Damn straight I do.”

 
    And don’t miss the latest novel
    from New York Times bestselling author
    RACHEL GIBSON
    featuring Blake and Natalie!
    WHAT I LOVE ABOUT YOU
    Available now from Avon Books!
    Read on for an excerpt . . .

 
    Chapter One
    IT’S JUST US. Grab me by the neck and swallow me whole.
    Blake Junger wrapped his hands around the thick arms of the Adirondack chair and pushed farther against the back. Desire twisted his stomach, and his muscles hardened. He let out a slow, ragged breath and turned his gaze to the smooth lake. Spiky pine and ponderosa threw jagged shade across his lawn, the wet sandy beach, and the wooden dock floating on the emerald lake. The tops of the trees swayed in an unusually warm October breeze, and the scent of pine forest filled his nose, so strong he could almost taste it. “You’re living in God’s country now,” his realtor had told him when he’d moved into the house in Truly, Idaho, a little over a week ago. The home was four thousand square feet of beautifully crafted wood, its floor-to-ceiling windows reflecting the emerald lake, the deeper green forest, and the brilliant blue sky. It sat on the edge of a small development of homes and had five acres of dense forest on the undeveloped side.
    He’d needed a place. A lair. A place to invest a pile of money with good tax benefits. He’d seen this multimillion-dollar property on a Realtor’s site, and he’d called and made an offer from his mother’s pool deck in Tampa.
    He’d trained for high-altitude winter warfare in some of the most frozen and rugged places in the country, one of his favorites being the Idaho Sawtooth mountain range. Blake could live anywhere in the county, but he’d chosen this property on the edge of the wilderness for two reasons: (1) the tax write-offs, and (2) the solitude. The fact that it had a lake in the backyard had sealed the deal.
    His parents thought he’d been impulsive. His brother understood. If Truly didn’t prove to be an anchor, he would untether and move on.
    You want me .
    Want and need. Love and hate clogged his chest and dry throat, and he swallowed past the urge to give in. To just say fuck it and give up. He might be living in God’s country, but God wasn’t paying much attention to Blake Junger these days.
    No one will know.
    Less than a handful of people even knew where he lived, and he liked it that way. From his time spent on rooftops in Iraq, he’d once lived with a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty placed on his head by Al-Qaeda. Blake was certain the bounty had expired years ago, but even if it hadn’t, he wasn’t worried about terrorists in Idaho. Hell, a lot of U.S. citizens thought Idaho was in the Midwest next to Iowa anyway. He was much more worried that his well-intentioned family would pop up and camp out in his living room. Watching to make sure he didn’t fuck up and end up on his face somewhere.
    I’ll warm you up. Make you feel good.
    Blake returned his gaze to a bottle sitting on the wood cable spool a few feet from his left foot. Sunlight touched the neck and shone through the amber liquid inside. Johnnie Walker. His best friend. The constant that never changed. The one thing in the world he could count on. The hot splash in his mouth. The kick and punch to his throat and stomach. The warmth spreading across his flesh and the buzz in his head. He loved it. Loved it more than friends and family. More than his job and latest mission. More than women and sex. He’d given up a lot for Johnnie. Then Johnnie had gone and turned on him. Johnnie was a big lie.
    I’m not the enemy.
    Blake had faced enemies before. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and too many shithole countries to count. He’d faced and