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When she opened her eyes, Gunner was standing close enough to touch her, but he hadn’t.
“If I live to be one hundred and I forget every other thing about my life, I will never forget this moment.”
Raketa felt her cheeks flush, and she looked down into the water. Gunner cupped her cheek with his hand and brought his lips to hers.
“Thank you,” she said when he pulled away.
“For?”
“I shouldn’t have to explain.” She smiled. “But I will.” Raketa took a deep breath. “Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for caring about me.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she tried to look away.
“Hey,” he said, grasping her chin. “Why tears?”
“You’ll think I’m feeling sorry for myself,” she whispered.
“Tell me anyway.”
“Before…when I asked you to let me leave, I realized something.”
Gunner’s eyes bored into hers so intensely she hesitated before continuing. He nodded. “Tell me.”
“I don’t have anyone,” she admitted as tears ran down her cheeks. “If you let me go, I wouldn’t know what to do.”
“You have me.”
“Gunner…I…”
“You do, Raketa. You’ve known that for a long time. Deep inside your heart, you knew you could trust me. That’s why you asked me to help you get away from United Russia. You knew I would.”
Every word he said was true, she had known, but having him confirm it took away so much of her doubt.
“I’m lucky,” he began. “I always have been. I may not be the easiest guy to get along with, but Razor, Doc, and Mercer have always had my back, no matter how much of an asshole I was to them. I know it’s different for you, Rocket Girl.”
He looked into her eyes. “You’re not alone anymore. It isn’t just me, the K19 team is behind you too. They put you first when we raided the compound. The first part of the mission was rescuing you. Getting to Petrov was second.”
“Honestly?”
Gunner nodded.
“But why?”
He shrugged. “I guess they knew how I felt about you even without my telling them.”
Did she dare ask what that meant? Could she bear hearing the words she’d never dreamed she would, and not dissolve into a puddle of emotion?
Gunner brought his forehead to hers. “I can’t explain it. I told you that last night, but it’s true. You have a pull on me that I couldn’t ignore even if I wanted to, and I don’t want to. I want you here with me, and that has nothing to do with any mission I’ve ever accepted.”
Raketa put her arms around him and held her body close to his. “Thank you, Gunner,” she whispered for the second time.
“I know there’s something you can’t tell me yet, but I believe one day you’ll be able to. In the meantime, I’m not going to push. You’re safe here, and while you say that Petrov said the same thing to you—”
“I’m sorry I said that.”
“Wait and hear me out. I know why you said it, and after you did, I thought long and hard about whether what I was doing was the same as what he did. I decided that it isn’t.”
“I know it isn’t.”
“Here’s why. All I care about is keeping you safe. That’s it. I know there will come a time that we have to leave this island, but for now, I don’t want to think about when that might be.”
