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She could barely breathe with the stunning rush of wanting. So much raw emotion arched between them. She didn’t think she could bear to let him go.
His heart beating in tandem with hers, he brushed his mouth across hers, and raw desire surged for this man in everything he was, his mind, body, and soul.
She met his mouth, opening, needing the heat of him. Blitz shuddered, his mouth against hers as he crushed her even tighter.
His breathing raw and labored, Blitz ripped his mouth away, holding her face between his palms, expelling his breath in a violent shudder. She knew in her heart that he had never intended this to happen. But she also knew this was his final goodbye. And it nearly killed her.
“So long, Bree. Shoot me a text every once in a while and let me know what’s happening with you.”
She touched his face, her fingers lingering over his skin, edging his strong jaw, slipping over his mouth. Emotion after emotion piled up in her. It was as if they were fused together by desperation, by their individual sorrow, by all the things they couldn’t say, and it was too much. Far too much. Tears slipped down her cheeks.
“Goodbye, Callen.” She wasn’t sure she could interact with him. The pain would be too much. She loved him, and she had to let him go.
He smiled at her. “See you around, SEAL babe.”
Then he was gone, and it was as if her world had collapsed.
* * *
Nine hours later,Bree was sitting in Gavin’s office. She’d slept on her flight, but fitfully, trying to reconcile her love for Blitz and her FBI career. Trying to put everything into some kind of perspective.
“So, you’ve got your pick of assignments. You’re taking the next step.”
“I’d be administrative from now on. No field work?”
“That’s right. More pay, less danger. It’s only a matter of time before you’re sitting in my chair.”
His chair with a collection of photos on her desk of the family she barely knew, couldn’t make time for. For what? A job, ambition, and a child’s need to understand her mother’s detachment and her father’s death. Why hadn’t she seen it before? Her choices would always be her own.
“Bree?”
She raised her head and looked at her boss.
“You were a million miles away. You all right?”
She saw the pictures on his desk of his grown children, the absence of his wife who had divorced him last year after twenty-five years of marriage. “Was it worth it, Gavin?” she asked, gesturing to the photos.
He looked at them, his face showing the awful sense of loss in his stark expression. “Honestly?”
“Yes, please.”
“I answered the call whether it was in the middle of the night or to third-world nations on extended missions. I worked long days and weekends for nearly twenty-four years. That not only took a toll on me, but it was devastating to my family. But I spun it in my head that I was a dedicated hard-working agent. I believed I was setting an example, being the kind of role model and father, my children could be proud of. Duty to country, respect for the rule of law, and protecting the weak from those who prey on them are all good qualities to emulate.
“But in truth my sudden departures, extended stays away…my absence eroded my relationships. They stopped expecting me to be there for them. My passion for the job kept me from seeing that my FBI family had, almost, replaced my own.” He leaned back, his eyes full of sadness and some regret. “Was it worth it? No. I lost Jill, and she won’t listen to any pleas for reconciliation. My children barely speak to me. I haven’t seen them since they each graduated from college.” He leaned forward onto his desk. “Why are you asking me about this?”
His words struck her so hard, making her realize that she had been on that path…emulating her mom because that was all Bree knew. Now, after Callen, there was no turning away from him. “I fell in love with Callen Berenger. He’s one of the SEALs on the team I worked with. I can barely breathe at the thought of living my life without him in it. I think he’s in love with me, too.”
“So, fuck the FBI?”
She lifted her head and smiled at him. “No, not exactly. But I know I don’t want to be behind a desk or on the Fly Team. I want to be out there, in the field, making a difference. It’s why I signed up for the FBI.” For the first time in hours, she felt the weight on her heart disappear. “What do you have in San Diego?”
He smiled at her. “I think I have just the job for you.”
* * *
Blitz stoodin front of the refrigerator in his boxers, his robe open, staring inside the damn thing as if inspiration would hit him. He’d been home for two weeks, and there hadn’t been one word from Bree. He clenched his jaw, maybe that was for the best.
Fuck that. No, it wasn’t. He thought he had everything sorted out when he got back from London, but he had just been lying to himself. He loved Bree and she was one of a kind.
