Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
“Where were you,” she asked.
“At a campsite about fifty miles from here.”
“But… how did he find you?”
“He’s my former boss. He’s the head of the Federal Bureau of Genetics. And I need to find C.P. He has a message for her. He’s dropping her lab from his list of things to do.”
“Your boss?” she murmured.
“Former boss. That’s one of the reasons I jumped to the conclusion I did. It would be just in his wheelhouse to do something like that in retaliation for me not following through on my mission—not that it’s any excuse. I was an ass—”
“I lied to you.” She lowered her head. “So what you thought is not unreasonable. I lied first, Daniel. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Yeah,” he said softly. “I still don’t really understand why you couldn’t tell me about everything.”
Tucking her legs up to her chest, she shrugged. “It was the start of my goodbye to you. Selling my stuff, closing up the WSP, giving my car away, getting out of my rental agreement. That was all part of your death, you see, and I felt like if I talked to you about it, I was starting the process—and I couldn’t bear that. But I shouldn’t have lied to you. I should have had more courage—”
“I love you.”
Lydia looked over at him and wiped her eyes. “Oh, Daniel… I love you, too.”
* * *
Sitting beside his woman, Daniel heard her say the words, but not with his ears. No, the magic she spoke resonated much deeper than that. And when she reached for him, he went to her like they were out of time: in a desperate rush.
Putting his arms around her, he drew her up against him, and she held him back, and they…
Kissed.
Their meeting of the mouths was the kind of thing that happened when you were trying to figure out whether the nightmare was over—and the truth was, he knew that this was just an intermission, at best. But he had learned something recently.
Don’t argue with the gifts that you were given.
Maybe they weren’t precisely what you wanted. Maybe they weren’t even anywhere near what you’d prayed for. But to turn down a blessing just because your à la carte wasn’t what you had demanded? What a way to disrespect fate.
Assuming this was all real—and it sure as shit felt that way—he was going to take this respite, this restart, and cherish it for as long as it lasted.
Daniel eased back and brushed a lock of hair off Lydia’s cheek. “I’m sorry about all the drama.”
And God, didn’t that cover more than just what had happened in that cave.
They talked some more. Were silent some more. And spoke once again.
And then there were no words.
Just love.
Tucking her against him, so that her head was under his chin, Daniel stared across their bedroom. Deep in his chest, he had the instinct that this was the eye of the hurricane.
The storm was going to come back for them. Though they were reunited, the churning wheels of destiny were still grinding against them, and the winds of suffering were going to batter them once again.
But was anything more powerful than them being together?
No, he thought. Not even death.
It was with that conviction that he closed his eyes. “Shh…” he whispered. “We’re safe.”
“Yes,” she said softly. “We’re together so we’re safe.”
The next thing he knew, he was stretching out with her pressed against him. Soon, he was falling asleep, and so was she. Maybe they would meet in their dreams.
Practice for when he wasn’t here any longer.
Forever, in the mind, in the heart… in the soul.
EPILOGUE
THE NEXT MORNING, Cathy Phalen sat at the desk in her study and watched on her computer monitor as Daniel drove Lydia off on his Harley. Neither of them were wearing helmets, so the glow on their faces, which had nothing to do with the cold, was easy to see.
Struck by the moment, she followed their progression as they passed in and out of the views of various cameras, the images shifting, the reality staying the same. Diagnosis: true love. And she was happy for them.
As her hand went to her lower abdomen, they passed through the final checkpoint at her main front gate… then they roared off. The last video she had of them was of Lydia turning her head to the side and laying her cheek on Daniel’s back.
She hoped they would enjoy the good days ahead, however many of them there were. Whatever had happened, whatever conflict had occurred, had clearly resolved itself—and she wouldn’t be surprised if she had to talk to Chef about a wedding cake.
Gus would have been great at that ceremony, as a best man, she thought. Maybe even the officiant. Then again… Gus was great at everything.
Tucking her feet under her seat, she pulled his fleece even closer to her. She had expected him to call her when he received the document she’d asked Daniel Joseph to witness and had one of her guards deliver, but he hadn’t. Perhaps he was getting his own legal counsel to look it all over. That’s what she would have done if she were in his position—that’s what she would have advised him to do. If he’d asked her for advice.