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He pulled back a wisp of hair, his touch soft and sensual, but the glint in his eyes was mostly amusement. “I think you might be right. Sex kitten ninja, was it?”
Loving his lopsided smile, delighted that he had made such a cute remark, and happy that the shadows were gone from his eyes, she braced her hand on his chest and kissed him.
Without touching her anywhere else, he opened his mouth and kissed her in return, his lips pliant and soft, tasting of coffee. Then, on an uneven intake of air, he broke off the kiss, his heart pounding beneath her hand. He stared down at her, one arm in a sling, the other at his side. Then he bent his head, drew his hand across his eyes and exhaled sharply. Maddy, feeling unaccountably pleased with herself, straightened his collar. He caught her hand and held it tight, then lifted his head and looked at her, a gleam of rebuke in his eyes, amusement lurking around his mouth. “I knew you were trouble the moment I laid eyes on you at the airport, sex kitten,” he said, rubbing his thumb across her palm, the very male glint in his eyes making her knees want to buckle.
“I couldn’t help it. You made me want to go crazy all over you.”
A sensual smile spread across his face. “And in the end, we survived a government conspiracy and a traumatizing and devastating earthquake.”
“That’s right. We survived an earthquake. But you’re still sending out aftershocks.” She tilted her head. “Maybe we could survive so much more…like commitment?” She leaned in and cupped his face. “I'm so deeply in love with you. I’m all in. How about you?”
He went absolutely still, just stood there, staring at her. Then he clenched his jaw and bent his head, gouging at his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, his face twisting with emotion.
“Fuck, yeah,” he said, his voice breaking. “Fuck, yeah.” He gathered her against him with a choking sound and crushed her roughly with his good arm, holding on to her as if she were his next breath. His chest heaved as he clutched her tighter, his voice raw and shaking. “All the fuck yeahs! Ah-God, Maddy,” he whispered raggedly. “I love you, too. So, goddamn much.”
Burying her face against his neck, Maddy clung to him with every ounce of strength she had, holding on to him like salvation. Everything was right there, the love she had worked so hard to accept, her heart full of love and warmth, instead of the fear that had dogged her for so long. This was her man, and he was her heart, and together they were going to build that future they both so desperately wanted, one step, one moment, one heartbeat at a time until it all spiraled into their happily ever after.
EPILOGUE
Twister and Shark raced through the hospital corridor neck and neck, while Bondo, Dagger, Brawler, Flash, and Easy followed right behind them. Nurses and doctors jumped out of their way, one of the nurses flinging her tray up in the air to avoid a head-on collision. Her angry shouts followed them.
Shark crashed into a cart, effectively putting him out of the race, as Twister crossed over their arbitrary finish line at the nurse’s desk.
The head nurse rose and peered over the edge, a stern look on her face but amusement in her eyes, and said, “It might be time to release you, Petty Officer, before you and your unruly and indulgent teammates turn our hospital into a race track.”
Twister was laughing so hard at Shark’s ignominious collision and his grunt of frustration. He bent over the wheelchair and laughed until he thought he would rip out his stitches. It felt so good to be alive. So good to be mending with the knowledge that he was going to return to his team and continue operating.
It was three weeks after his fight with the embassy rubble, and he was starting to get antsy, hence the wheelchair races.
The embassy had stabilized, but Haiti had another hard journey ahead of them. With the prime minister’s death, Wilky, one of the admired cabinet members, was installed as the interim prime minister. There had been widespread destruction that would require an infusion of international aid to rebuild the infrastructure of Port-au-Prince. The death toll stood at three hundred and ten, with at least eighteen hundred injured. It was reported that the quake had been felt as far away as Cuba and Jamaica, potentially more severe than the previous magnitude seven that had killed tens of thousands on the island.
This one hit farther away from the capital; however, in Port-au-Prince it was strongly felt but did not appear to have caused major damage.
The State Department had reported that Prime Minister Gregory Laguerre had succumbed to his injuries sustained when the palace collapsed, and Fabrice Baptiste and her son were given asylum in the United States, as her confidence in the country that had taken her husband was nonexistent. She and the boy would grow up in the safety of beautiful Savannah where they had settled. Emmanuel Benard had also been given asylum, and he had chosen to relocate to Orlando, Florida and had gotten a job with Disney as security for its park.
“Maybe you should get that paperwork ready,” Tex said as he strode in, eyeing his team. “My knuckleheads are causing way too much mayhem. I’ll get them out of your hair.”
The head nurse chuckled, gave Twister an indulgent look, and started working up his paperwork for release.
As they left the hospital, Tex said, “Maybe we need some more log PT.” Everyone groaned, but Shark just laughed.
“I vote for pool,” Shark said. Several of his teammates shoved him back and forth between them.
“Yeah, right. If I remember correctly,” Easy said, “you lost to a girl.”
“Lightweight,” Brawler said.
“Pussy,” Bondo scoffed.
“Sissy,” Dagger sneered.
“Wimp,” Flash laughed.
“Wuss,” Twister said, then grinned.
Shark just grinned back. He already knew he was part of this team, a part of a brotherhood that would transcend their service, a bonding of warriors. They all settled into the comfort that came with being among their own, part of a proud warrior tradition. He thought of his beginnings, back to the start of his frogman days. There was comfort in that, too, taking him back to the brotherhood, to the blood, sweat, and tears endured to earn the beloved burden.
They were a family of men separate from all others. Their innate warrior spirit united them, in the beginning, in the present, and in the future. On the most primal level, they were cut from the same cloth.
