“True, true,” Payton conceded. “But I’m going to Bora-Bora with you—that says something, doesn’t it?”

“Maybe you’re just using me for sex.”

“That is a possibility . . .” Payton mused. She held out her hands. “There has to be something I can point to. Wait, I know—”

She touched J.D.’s face. “What about the fact that, through the good and the bad, you are pretty much the only man I’ve thought about for the past eight years? Does that say anything?”

J.D. gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I think it does.”

“Good. Or instead, what if I just told you that I love you?” Payton gazed into his eyes. “What would you say, J. D. Jameson, if I told you that?” J.D. smiled. He touched his forehead to Payton’s, closed his eyes, and answered her with one word.

“Finally.”