“Yes.” I held both my hands in the air. “Yes, it is.” I gave her a slow undulation of my body while she laughed and rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’m done.” I dropped my arms like an actor dropping character and reached for her waist. “I love you,” I said softly.
She blinked rapidly. “I… I love you, too.” Her voice was choked with tears.
“Say it again,” I murmured as I leaned in for a kiss.
“I love you,” she said.
I brushed my lips across hers. “One more time.”
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you so fucking much,” I said fiercely. “I’ve loved you since Qatar, even if I was a dumbass then and didn’t know it. I’ve been waiting all this time to figure out how to make you mine.”
“That’s why your sperm broke through the birth control shot!” She slapped my chest, the smile on her face broad and beautiful.
I laughed. “That must be exactly why.”
We turned and continued walking hand-in-hand.
“What’s the status with the prisoner?” she asked, since she’d been retrieving the hikers and Search and Rescue as he was hauled at gunpoint out of the forest.
“He broke down during interrogation.”
He was a merc and in it for the money. He knew he was going to jail, so he had no reason not to give up his client. No waterboarding or other options needed to extract the info we wanted. Although there might have been a little persuasion on Ford’s part as well.
“Ford got him on tape admitting Williams sent him. Just as we thought.”
Elation made her smile. This had been a while in coming for all of us. “Ha! So Ford’s name will be cleared.”
I nodded. “Yes. Ford called Lincoln, and they pulled your father into the conversation as well.”
Her eyes widened. “My father?”
“Yeah. Since he’s the one who gave us the lead we needed.”
We were all pissed about not being better prepared for the attack on our home turf, but at least we’d had a heads up from the admiral–Admiral Mason, not Williams, obviously. I wasn’t sure how we were going to beef up our security from an air attack, but it was going to happen. That was for us to figure out. Later.
“Between the two of them, Lincoln and your dad, and now this admission from our prisoner, the case is airtight. Williams is being arrested right now.”
“Hooyah.” Quincy offered me a fist bump, and I returned it.
“You’ll have to see your father again soon, I’m sure. You okay with that?”
It’d only been a few days since we were in California, sitting across from him. So much had changed since then. My outlook, my future.
For once, she didn’t feel like she had to please her father. To try to keep up. She’d be forging her own direction now.”
“I’m going to follow my own happiness.”
“Oh?” I asked.
She nodded. “I’m not going to be just a pilot. I’m not going to be just a mother either. I don’t know how I’ll find the balance, but I have a feeling I will, and I’ll have a lot of help doing so.”
“Why’s that?” I asked, glad to hear her think so calmly and confidently about her options.
“Because you love me and are going to be at my side the whole way.”
“That’s fucking right,” I said, giving her a sweet kiss.