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Authors: Lisa Phillips

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He smiled. “Anytime. Any place. I'm there.”

“Aw.”

Sienna glared at the EMT. It was hard, because the room was starting to spin. “He told me he loves me.”

The EMT chuckled. “I have no doubt.”

Sienna looked back at Parker. “I don't want to be a CIA agent anymore.”

“I don't want to have this conversation when you need to sleep.”

She frowned. “You don't?”

“Rest,” he said. “We'll talk later, okay?”

“You're not mad?”

Parker shook his head. “Why would I be mad?”

“I love you, too.”

He smiled. It was very handsome.

“Thank you.”

Sienna said, “You're welcome,” even though she didn't really know what for. Everything was getting fuzzy. She really did need to sleep. Maybe for a week.

* * *

“Parker!”

He grabbed the ambulance door before it closed and found Nina behind the EMT.

“Thank you,” Nina repeated her friend's words.

“For what?”

She shook her head. “Coming to get me. For saving her. For loving her. For getting her to admit that she loves you... Do you want me to continue, or is that enough?”

“That'll do it.” He grinned. “And you're welcome.”

“Are you coming to the hospital?”

He nodded. “I'll be right behind you guys. If Sienna wakes up, tell her I'll be right there.”

Nina nodded. She glanced at the CIA agent with a tinge of worry in her eyes.

Parker didn't blame her; faced with people she wasn't familiar with when she'd recently been kidnapped and almost had her finger cut off, he'd feel the same. If Sienna's friend needed a little reassurance, he was okay with it.

“I'll be right there.”

The door shut, and Nina left with Sienna and a CIA agent.

“Need a ride to the hospital?”

Parker turned to Ames. He thought he was coming, too? “Taking the rest of the day off?”

“I was thinking more like the weekend.”

Parker held out his hand for the keys. “This time I'm driving.”

TWENTY

W
hen Parker arrived at the hospital, he'd discovered Sienna was never admitted. It took him six hours to track down the EMT, who told him the CIA had stopped them halfway there and escorted both Sienna and Nina into their custodyâand their car. The EMT had called for police backup, but the CIA had been gone with the two women before the cops got there.

That was three weeks ago.

Parker had called in every favor and pulled every string he had to pull from Oregon to the Naval Air Station in Oceana but he'd found no trace of Sienna or Nina. They'd disappeared off the face of the planet.

Parker had gone from shock to anger to prayer to hope to a waning desperation. Now all he had was numb cold, a feeling that had him sitting in his truck outside the house where Sienna had lived with “Aunt Karen” for a whole year before he'd even spoken one word to her.

A year of wasting time, wondering what she was doing. What she was thinking.

Lord, where is she?

His team had tried to help or to commiserate with him on the outcome just in case she never came back. But what had kept Parker going was navigating his new faith. Asking questions and searching out the answers. It hadn't brought Sienna home yet, but it had given him some semblance of peace to be able to rest in the Lord.

A shadow moved behind the curtain.

Parker cracked the door on his truck and strode over. He tried the front door. When he found it unlocked, he went inside.

The furniture was still there, as were the belongings he'd assumed were supplies more than personal. The CIAâor maybe just Karenâhad outfitted the cover with enough so that Sienna would believe it, or at least not ask too many questions.

He stood in the foyer and listened.

A rustle.

Parker pulled his weapon and strode down the hall. Sienna's bedroom door was cracked, but whoever was in there didn't want a light on for their businessâjust the ambient evening light from outside.

He eased the door open. “US Marshals. Stop what you are doing and...”

It was Sienna.

Parker choked on his words. She was there. Black slacks and a light blue blouse, her long hair falling in yellow waves around her face. Her left arm was in a sling, and in her other hand she had a folded shirt. An open suitcase lay on the bed.

“Going somewhere?”

“Put your gun away and I'll tell you.”

Parker stowed it in the holster on his belt.

“I'm packing up.”

“Were you planning on saying goodbye?”

She hadn't moved much, those telltale signs he saw all the time in witnesses and people with something to hide. She was good enough Parker couldn't read her at all.

“I hadn't decided yet.” She turned and flipped the lid closed on the suitcase before she slumped down beside it. Parker could see signs of fatigue in the lines on her face. “I just...” She sighed, her eyes downcast. “I hadn't decided yet,” she repeated.

He wanted to ask her why she was hesitating, why she now doubted what he'd said to her. It was still true. As far as Parker was concerned, nothing had changed from that accident site three weeks ago.

Unless something was different for her.

Parker walked over and crouched in front of her. His knee popped and they shared a smile. He surveyed the sling on her arm and the edges of the white bandage he could see on her shoulder. “How are you?”

“The surgery was more extensive than they thought. It'll be a while before I can use my arm like normal again.”

“Physical therapy?”

She nodded.

He'd had enough injuries to know that had to seriously hurt. She was probably battling the pain every day.

“Sienna?”

“Yeah?”

“I still love you.”

Her eyes flared. It was the only consideration she gave to any kind of reaction. “I still love you, too.”

“That's a good place to start, don't you think?”

“Start what?” She glanced around the room. “I'm not who you think I amâI never was. The CIA agent in me has acted without remorse for the good of the mission. I don't want to be her now, but she is part of me. That Sienna, the one they want to come back, will always be inside me.”

“You think I haven't done things I later regretted in the heat of battle? I have plenty of things I'd like to take back, including not coming after you when you didn't show up in Atlanta. I shouldn't have let you go. I should have found you and convinced you that we work.”

“I was there. I had to see you, but I also knew I had to let you go.”

“That was then,” Parker said. “This is now. A new day. A new life.”

“Do you believe that?”

“I do.” He scanned her face and saw the worry there. The concern. Did she think this wasn't going to work? Sienna hadn't had much of a family life, but she couldn't deny that when they were together it had been right. Parker wasn't going to risk their future this time. He was going to do everything in his power to make it so.

For both their sakes.

* * *

Sienna had spent the past three weeksâminus surgeryâtalking through every single mission of her entire career. Every victory, every failure. Then on to every interaction with Karen and finally what happened between Parker pulling up behind her to the car accident with Loughton.

Karen had been located by a joint task force that included the NSA and the FBI and brought in. She was currently being detained on charges of espionage. The CIAâor whoever won that fightâhad the flash drives. Nina had been stitched up and was back at the condo, considering a move to this side of the country. Sienna couldn't wait to see her friend full-time again.

If she didn't have to tell another story for a year, it would be fine with her.

“I want a normal life now.”

Crouched in front of her, Parker looked so...accepting. Something that had been in short supply in a life where Sienna had to prove herself over and over again. Where she'd had to fight for everything. Friendship. Respect. Parker was offering her everything she had ever wanted with no work whatsoever.

He smiled. “I'm glad to hear that.”

“No more CIA.”

“If that's what you want to do.”

What did she want to do? She'd enjoyed taking care of animals. Tending to her small farm. But was it a life plan?

Sienna glanced around the room. “Do you know why I picked this house when Karen and I moved here?”

Parker shook his head.

“I was searching online. Karen told me we'd sold our old house, and I knew where I wanted to live. The town seemed so familiar, even just looking at maps. Now I know that's because you told me so much about it, and the way you talked it was obvious you love it here.”

She paused long enough for him to nod. “I know why. I picked this place for the same reason. It's homeâexactly the type of place I could see myself spending years. Waking up, drinking my coffee on the back deck. Watching kids play on the swings. There aren't any now, but I would put some in...”

Parker laid his hand on hers. “Who owns the house now?”

She'd paid in full three weeks after she woke up from the coma. “I do.”

He looked around, much like she had done. “It's a great house on a great piece of land. Definitely one I could see raising a family in.” He paused. “So long as I married the right woman first.” His mouth curled into a grin.

Sienna couldn't help but return it. “Who might that be?”

Parker reached in his coat pocket and pulled out a ring. “I bought this before we were supposed to meet up in Atlanta.”

Sienna gasped and put her hand over her mouth.

“Not that I would have asked you to marry me at the airport, but I don't think it would have been long after. I knew, even back then.”

“So did I,” Sienna admitted. “I just lost my way in the days we were separated. I started to believe Karen when I shouldn't have listened. I should have followed my heart.” Her breath was coming in sharp gasps now.

Parker sat on the bed beside her and drew her into his arms. Sienna rested there, more at peace than she'd ever been in her life.

“The past is in the past, Sienna. It's gone. There's only us now and the promise of what can be.” He leaned back and touched the sides of her face. “Today is the start of all our tomorrows. And it's not going to be perfect, but I'll stick with you and we can work on it together. As a team.”

Sienna was already nodding. How could she say no when her heart was so full of love? She'd come here to pack, thinking there was no way they could be together. But Parker had loved her through everything. Why not through the rest of her life, too? Doing the same for him was going to be no hardship.

Sienna lifted her chin and smiled. “Yes.”

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
LAST STAND RANCH
by Jenna Night

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Dear Reader,

Thank you for joining me on this journey with Sienna and Parker. The idea that we can love one another despite past hurts is something God has been writing on my heart for years. And it's a beautiful story. His love covers even the worst of sins, and He still continues to pour it into us because it's who He is. All we have to do is ask, and God will show us His love.

Neither Sienna, nor Parker, were perfect. Just like you and me. Both of them needed to let go of what had happened in order to embrace the future. My prayer is that you and I will be able to do the same thing anew, every day.

I hope you enjoy my books. Thank you to those of you who have written to tell me. My website address is
authorlisaphillips.com
, where you can find out about upcoming novels and contact me.

I would love to hear from you.

May God richly bless you,

Lisa Phillips