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“Your boss?” she murmured.
“Formerboss. 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 partof 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 outwith 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.
