I kiss her.
Right there. Under the ugly hum of emergency lights. Under the weight of everything we survived.
It’s not careful.
It’s not polite.
It’s relief and promise and heat all at once, my mouth finding hers like it’s been searching for home for years. She kisses me back like she’s choosing me on purpose. When we pull apart, she rests her forehead against mine, breath trembling.
“Still hate cheddar?” I murmur.
She lets out a watery laugh. “With my whole soul.”
“Good,” I say. “Because I’m taking you someplace safe, and I’m stocking that fridge myself.”
She smiles—small, bright, real. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m in love,” I correct.
Her eyes soften even more. “That too.”
Hours later,Ridgeway is a blur of reports and debriefs and Major Chen’s steel-eyed stare that saysdon’t you dare die on my watch. Stanton is in custody. Hammond is in custody. Stanton Dynamics’ involvement cracks open into a messy paper trail that will bury a lot of powerful people.
But none of that matters as much as the fact that Riley is sitting on the edge of the med bay cot, wrapped in a blanket, sipping water while I stand in front of her like a guard dog who won’t let anyone near her.
Chen clears her throat from the doorway. “Hawthorne.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She glances at Riley, then back at me. “Good work.”
“Copy.”
Chen’s mouth twitches. “Take her home.”
Riley raises an eyebrow. “Home?”
I look at her and feel my chest tighten in the best way. “If you want,” I say quietly. “Your house. Or my place. Or wherever you say. I’ll follow.”
Her lips curve. “Bossy.”
“Yeah.”
She stands slowly, testing her legs. Then she steps into me, wraps her arms around my waist, and presses her cheek to my chest like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“I want your house,” she says softly. “I want quiet. I want… you.”
My throat tightens. “Done,” I murmur.
Outside, snow still falls, but it doesn’t feel like a threat anymore. It feels like the world turning a page. And for the first time in a long time, I let myself believe in something simple and impossible:
She’s alive.
She’s safe.
And she’s mine?—
not to own.
