Page 119 of Duty Preserved

“Gregory was wrong,” I said. “About every single thing he ever told you.”

She let out a breath that sounded like it had been sitting in her chest for years.

“I know,” she whispered. “I finally know.”

I didn’t try to fix it or explain it away or make promises about what I’d do to Gregory Haines if I ever had the chance. She didn’t need that.

She needed what she’d given me when I’d told her about Owen—someone to sit with the wound. A witness. Someone to carry half the weight without trying to take it from her.

She leaned into my shoulder. I put my arm around her and felt her ribs expand against my side with each breath. Her hand settled on my chest over my heart and stayed there.

“Donovan.”

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Yeah.”

She lifted her head. Her eyes found mine in the dark.

“I love you.”

I cupped her face with both hands, careful of the bruise. My thumbs at her temples, my fingers in her hair.

“I love you, Sarah.”

She closed her eyes. A fresh tear slipped free and ran over my thumb, and I brushed it away.

I kissed her forehead. Her arms circled my waist and I pulled her against my chest, and neither of us moved. She curled her fingers into the fabric at my back.

We stayed like that. And for the first time in longer than I could remember, I knew I was making the right choice.

Epilogue

Sarah

I awoke to the feeling of Donovan pressed tightly against my back, one leg tangled between mine. His breathing was deep and relaxed, and his muscular arm that was wrapped around my front ended with a hand cupping my breast. The hold wasn’t conscious. His body had found mine in sleep and stayed.

I didn’t move. I lay there and listened to him breathe and felt the warmth of him along my spine.

Six months of waking up like this. His arms holding me tightly every night. Whenever the nightmares had come, I’d been able to roll over and bury my face in his chest until the worry abated.

He stirred. His fingers squeezed my breast briefly as if suddenly realizing what they were wrapped around, and then his thumb rapidly found and began circling my nipple. I heard a satisfied groan escape his lips, and then he moved his head to place his mouth against my neck. He placed patiently slow kisses in a trail up to below my ear.

One…then two…

Mmmmmmm….

Then three.

Now I’m awake.

I turned in his arms and faced him.

Brown eyes, soft with sleep. Hair pushed in three directions. A crease from the pillow ran diagonally across his cheek.

I traced it with my finger. “You look like you lost a fight with the bedding.”

“I won that fight.” He pulled me closer, sliding his hand up my back to settle between my shoulder blades. I tucked my head under his chin and pressed myself against his chest.