Chapter Twenty
Rand watched the clouds rolling in fast and heavy, blocking out the early morning light. Both Andy and Noah were moving into position, bits of silent shadow closing in on either side of the waterfront. Rand hadn’t even spotted Andy. Noah had broken cover to get closer while the guards had their backs turned.
“You got the shot?” Rand asked.
“Waiting for your signal.” Matt’s tone was easy, relaxed. Not a care in the world.
That worried Rand.
Matt hadn’t been in combat in over eight years. He had kids. This sort of thing changed a man. Rand didn’t want Matt to suffer because of their fuck-up, but Rand also knew they needed a fourth guy.
A bit of movement caught Rand’s attention. “Noah’s in position.” He scanned the other side of the dock, but Andy was still a phantom.
“That rain’s about to start any second,” Matt said softly.
“Yeah, I’m worried about that.” About slippery footing. About the chances for escape. There were a dozen factors that could change all because the skies opened up. “There’s Andy. When you’re ready.”
Rand pulled out his longer knife and handgun. Armed and ready, he shifted to the very edge of their shelter and crouched, ready to run.
For a moment, everything went quiet. The waves and seagulls seemed to pause, as though they, too, knew what was going to happen.
Matt sucking down a deep breath was the loudest thing. Rand tensed, inhaling with him.
He always liked to fire on an exhale. Rand had forgotten that until now.
The rifle blast was muted due to the silencer, but in the calm before the storm, there was no mistaking the report of the gun for anything but what it was.
An attack.
Rand bolted forward, leaping off the stacked crates they’d zeroed in on for their sniper’s nest. He kept his head down and charged toward the docks.
Another and another shot fired off from behind him.
Noah and Andy darted forward, out of the shadows in unison. They took the two dock guards down without warning.
Rand sprinted down the dock. The small cargo ship was mostly cleared off, giving the men on board little to nothing to hide behind. With Matt’s elevated position, they were easy to pick off.
The first fat drops of rain splattered on the dock.
Footsteps pounded behind him.
Rand spared a glance over his shoulder to ensure it was Andy and Noah, then zeroed in on the narrow plank leading to the ship. Bullets pinged off the metal surface ahead.
There weren’t any of the guards in sight now, at least none that were vertical.
Rand crossed the gangplank in three long strides before his boots touched the boat. The rain was coming down harder now, the footing slippery.
The cover fire stopped. No doubt Matt was being cautious now that he couldn’t discern which dark figure was on what side. At least, Rand hoped.
“Watch out,” Noah yelled.
Rand ducked and turned. A fist glanced off his shoulder. He slashed with the blade, raking it down his attacker’s arm. Both Andy and Noah were engaged in hand-to-hand.
Every moment they spent on the deck was another second Sarah’s kidnappers had on them.
He kicked the man, lifted his gun and fired. Another shot from across the deck answered his. Rand dove sideways, taking cover behind the above-deck structure.
“Go.” Andy waved at him. He and Noah were pinned down behind a smokestack-looking pipe easily four feet across.
Rand turned and jogged forward, ducking under windows, searching for an entrance. Twenty or so yards away, he found a door and nudged it open, peering inside. The lights were on, but no one was home.
The rain and noise from the gunfight at the bow of the ship overpowered anything inside. He strained to hear voices, movement, but instead all he heard was the rhythmic pounding of water and the ping of bullets.
Time was running out.
Rand crept down the hall, a sense of dread weighing him down. Would they kill Sarah if it came down to getting what they wanted or nothing at all?
Rand turned and headed toward the stern of the ship. The rooms were empty. A few held discarded bits, empty boxes of takeout, some doughnuts. He reached out as he passed and stuck his finger in a cup of coffee.
Still warm. There’d been people here until recently. Which meant that Sarah might have just been here. In this room.
He sheathed his knife and pulled out his cell phone.
No service.
He picked his way forward, pausing at a junction of wide hallways to listen. A fresh breath of air wafted by, heavy with moisture. Someone had left a door open.
He tilted his head left, then right.
It was hard to tell, but if he were hemmed in with an advancing enemy, he’d go out the back, toward the aft of the ship.
Rand took the left hall, gun at the ready. Ahead of him a wide door, big enough for a forklift, stood open. He jogged forward, keeping close to the wall, until he could peer out onto the aft deck.
Rain poured from the skies, creating a curtain of cover.
A group of people stood at the port quarter rail, just to the side of the stern. A woman growled.
He knew that sound.
Sarah.
Rand’s heart leaped into his throat, and he stepped forward into the rain before he could process what was going on.
A man turned, one he recognized. Rand fired first, the shot going wide and pinging off the stern rail.
Wei fired back, but Rand dove to the side.
“Rand, Rand—it’s Charlie! Rand!” Sarah’s words washed over him, their meaning lost to him. All he knew was that she was in trouble, and if he didn’t get her back now he might never see her again.
He dove down a level, using the nook created by the loading ramp and upper deck as protection.
Sarah was gone, likely over the side of the ship. Only two other people remained on the deck.
Wei, and another man Rand didn’t recognize. They’d split, one circling around from the aft, the other coming at him from the port side.
Rand aimed at the stranger and fired off a blast. He swung around, but Wei was faster. The other man kicked Rand in the shoulder, knocking him back. His hand went numb, and the gun slipped out of his fingers. He stumbled sideways, pulling his knife with the other hand and faced Wei fully.
Sorry, Andy…
Rand lunged, and Wei dodged. Or would have. Instead, Wei slipped on the oil and water, going down. He twisted, wrapping his hands around Rand’s ankle and yanked. Rand twisted midair, coming down hard on top of the slighter man. The knife slipped from his grip, clattering to the deck.
Wei grunted and Rand turned, slamming his fist into Wei’s face.
Again and again.
Wei bucked and twisted, unseating Rand just enough to roll out from under him. Wei slashed out with Rand’s knife, catching the front of the Kevlar vest. Rand knocked Wei’s hand aside and punched again.
A bullet hit the deck inches from Rand’s thigh.
He dove sideways, taking cover by the ramp.
“Come on,” a man called out.
Wei scrambled up one level and bolted, leaving a red trail of water behind him.
Rand pushed up, drawing his second Glock, and fired at Wei’s back. The man dodged at the last second, as if he knew Rand had him in his sights. The other man lurched forward, arms flung out, and went head over heels into the water below.
Wei turned, firing off three shots before he, too, disappeared over the side of the boat.
Rand closed in, peering down at a smaller boat. Not quite a speedboat, but big enough to hold a dozen people. Wei disappeared under the boat’s awning and the engine revved, the water churned.
Rand roared. He was powerless to catch them. To get Sarah. All of this was for nothing. She was gone. He’d failed her.
“Rand!” Andy came pounding down the side of the ship, hair slicked to his face.
“She’s gone.” Rand flung his hand out toward the ship.
“Yeah, Matt saw that. Come on.” Andy holstered his pistol and slung his assault rifle over his shoulder.
“What?”
“Come on, Noah’s doing a sweep on the other side.” Andy shimmied down the ladder Wei and the others had descended.
The high-pitched hum of another engine cut through the roar of the rain. Noah’s sleek, black speedboat came into view.
Rand almost laughed out loud, except he needed his breath.
He scurried down the ladder after Andy, Noah not far behind. By the time they were most of the way down, Matt had the much smaller boat alongside the ship.
“There’s a guy in the water,” Matt called up.
Andy leaped from the ladder to the nose of the boat and climbed to the driver’s seat. Matt disappeared from view while Rand focused on the miniscule amount of deck space below.
A wave pushed the boat into the freighter. Rand let go of the ladder and landed on one of the cushioned benches.
“Geronimo!” Noah whooped.
Rand covered his head not a moment too soon. Noah landed with a bang on the floor of the small craft, his arm smacking Rand across the shoulders.
“Got him,” Matt said.
“Go! Go!” Noah chanted.
Rand leaned over the side of the boat and grabbed the fallen man with Matt, hauling him up into the boat as the engine shot them forward. The man sputtered, water and blood pooling in the bottom of the boat.
“What the…I know you.” Rand stared down into the face of a man who was supposed to already be dead.
“Who is he?” Matt asked.
“Charlie. He’s one of us. He…”
The pieces clicked together.
Sarah’s injury. Charlie would have been close. Plus, they’d been more than coworkers at once. And he’d used her. Sold her out. Burned her. And for what?
Charlie’s eyes rolled around. He gasped for breath.
“Where are they taking her, you son of a bitch?” Rand grabbed Charlie by the front of his shirt and shook him.
Charlie choked up water and sputtered.
“He’s probably in shock from the fall. It’s just a shoulder shot,” Matt yelled over the roar of the engine. “Here.”
Matt looped a set of plastic restraints over Charlie’s wrists, binding them together, then another pair secured him to the bench support of the boat. This dead man wasn’t going anywhere in this lifetime.
“I’m going to do something stupid,” Noah called back.
“Oh, shit.” Matt gripped the rail with his one hand.
“Hold on,” Andy yelled.
Rand glanced up. They were closing in on the bigger ship with at least twice the speed. “Fuck.” He gripped the bench and the back of the captain’s chair. Noah wouldn’t…
“Prepare to board,” Noah yelled over his shoulder.
Rand’s stomach dropped moments before Noah swerved, crashing into the other boat.
The impact sent Rand and Matt flying across to the other bench. Charlie rolled to his side.
Andy recovered first, leaping from the passenger seat to the prow of the speedboat and up onto the cruising ship. Rand and Noah scrambled after him, while Matt brought up the rear. They made it up and over the railing before their prey realized what was happening.
Sarah clung to the rail, staring at him with wide eyes. Rand didn’t dare fire off a shot, not with her right there.
Andy moved in first, zeroing in on the injured Wei. Rand lunged forward, Noah keeping pace with him. The first man in his path wasn’t even armed. He grappled with Rand with one hand, the other hanging uselessly at his side. Rand used his greater size and muscle to hurl the smaller man off the boat.
The fewer people on board, the less threat to Sarah.
He turned, sensing danger at his back, and came face to face with Wang Ping. The man fired off the six-shooter in his hand. The bullet knocked the air out of Rand. He staggered back a step, but the Kevlar did its job.
Rand lunged forward, grasping the son of a bitch by the lapels. A thin, high-pitched scream pierced the din of noise, then a splash.
Sarah!
Rand decked the suit-wearing piece of shit in the face and kicked his legs out from under him.
A siren blared not too far away. The Coast Guard’s larger vessel came into view.
Andy and Wei were locked, hand-to-hand at the stern of the ship. The party boat lurched, a larger wave rolling under them. They went over the side of the rail.
Rand reached the last spot he’d seen Sarah, but she wasn’t there anymore.
The Coast Guard ship’s speaker blared a “prepare for boarding” warning, but all Rand heard was the lack of a scream or a call for help. No sign of Sarah.
“Hands up!”
That order pierced the fog swirling around Rand’s head.
He glanced over his shoulder at the Coast Guard’s gunner mate stationed in the aft of the inflatable boat alongside the Chinese escape ship.
Sorry, buddy.
Rand jumped overboard, diving into the choppy water with one thing on his mind: finding Sarah alive.
He peered through the murky waters of the Potomac, made worse by the rain and three boats overhead. The dappled light cast strange shadows on the depths below.
Rand twisted, turning left and right, seeking any sort of movement. A bit of light glinted off something metallic in the corner of his eye. He cupped the water, turning himself.
There.
The briefcase. That damn, stupid thing.
Sarah had both arms wrapped around it and kicked toward the surface, but didn’t make it far.
He propelled himself toward her, swimming through the current pushing them apart until he reached her struggling form.
Rand wrapped an arm around her and kicked. She held onto the case, and he pulled them toward the surface.
Damn, but it shouldn’t be this hard.
His lungs burned, and Sarah squirmed. She’d been under longer than him. He focused on the light ahead, the space between two boats, and kicked for all he was worth.
They broke the surface to a cacophony of yelling, sirens, and the chugging engine of the speedboat now permanently lodged in the prow of the party vessel.
Sarah clung to him, coughing water. Their legs bumped together as they treaded water.
She was alive.
They’d made it.
…
Sarah wasn’t sure she’d ever be warm again, despite dry clothes and the blanket wrapped around her.
“Sarah? Oh my God, you poor thing.” Irene hobbled into the hospital room Sarah had been locked in since the doctor had left.
“Did you get it?” Sarah slipped off the bed and to her feet.
“Yes.” Irene sat down in the padded chair against the wall.
A blonde woman followed Irene in and closed the door behind her.
“We don’t have much time.” Irene folded her coat around her. “There’s a transport that will be here in a few moments to take you, Rand, and the others to the camp, but you can’t go there.”
“Why? What’s wrong? What about Matt?”
“Your brother was quietly released to the rest of your family.” Irene sat forward, her expression grave.
“What’s going on?” Sarah glanced from Irene to the blonde woman. She’d thought it was over, but from the look on Irene’s face it wasn’t.
“Charlie burned you. He was the mole.” Irene’s brow creased and her gaze softened. She’d cautioned Sarah against getting involved with Charlie, but it’d been too late.
“But…he’s dead…?”
“Best we can figure, he got his brother to come visit him, and it was James Peterson who was killed in Hong Kong. Rand and the others captured Charlie alive, and he was taken to the camp straight from the marina, but someone got to him.”
“W-what?”
“I’m sorry, a lot is happening very fast. Someone within the company is working against us, and I don’t want to chance you ending up in danger. We’ve managed to eliminate the others from the first-person reports with the help of the Coast Guard, but doing so puts the focus on you. We can’t reveal that you’re a CIA employee without putting more focus on you, and as a civilian, you don’t receive the same kind of protections.”
“Wh-where—what are we doing?”
Someone tapped on the door, then it opened. Mitch McConnel leaned in. “Ready,” he said.
“Sarah, you have to go now,” Irene said. “Carol will help get you out of the building.”
“But…Rand?”
“He’s gone already.”
Gone? Rand had left her? Sarah stood there, stunned.
A piece of her was gone. Rand had always been connected to her and her family, but things had changed. He was more important to her than ever. She was in love with him, and he’d left her without so much as a good-bye.
Maybe she should have seen it coming. He did it to Matt, his best fucking friend, so what made her think he’d be different with her?
A blonde woman took Sarah by the hand and tossed a long coat over her shoulders. Sarah swiped at her cheeks, trying to fight away the tears, then shoved her arms into the coat.
“My name’s Carol Sark. I’ve heard a lot about you. You sound very brave.”
“You have to go now, Sarah.” Mitch’s expression was grim.
But…Rand.
Sarah let Carol guide her out of the hospital room. She gave Sarah a hat, which she dutifully put on. All the while, her heart screamed at her to go back. If she waited for him, he’d come for her…wouldn’t he?
She knew that answer, because she’d waited for years for him to come back and he never had.
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked Carol. She was tired, oh, so tired of it all, but she couldn’t stop now. Not even if Rand had left her and her heart was broken. She had to keep going.
“We’re working on that,” Carol replied. “Shh.”
Carol led Sarah through the hospital, past the security guards and out through a staff entrance.
Had Rand left this way?
Sarah covered her face with the cuff of her coat and sobbed into the material.
A SUV idled in a handicapped spot, the tinted windows disguising the people inside. Carol opened the back door and stood rooted to the spot, seeming as surprised as Sarah.
Rand leaned toward Sarah and grasped her hand. He pulled her stunned body into the SUV and across the seat, almost into his lap.
“What’s he doing here?” Carol didn’t wait for an answer. She closed the door and circled to the passenger seat.
Rand was here. All around her. What was he doing here? Why had Irene said he was gone?
“I thought you left again,” Sarah whispered.
“I did, but I realized there was an us after all. I figured I needed to come argue my point.” His lips brushed her ear, his words just for her.
Sarah squeezed her eyes shut. Was he telling the truth? Had he really come back for her?
“He’s not supposed to be here.” Carol twisted to stare back at them.
“You’ve never met Rand before, have you?” Hector shifted the SUV into reverse and they eased out of the spot. “He’s like a damn cat. You can’t tell him what to do.”
Sarah buried her face against his chest, wishing it was over. That they were going home to lick their wounds and put this behind them. She didn’t think that was going to be the case.
“What’s happening?” Sarah clung to Rand’s hand.
“Irene and I have been working on a theory that we have a mole within the company.” Carol glanced from Sarah to Rand. “Until now it’s been small hiccups, mistakes, things going wrong. When we identified the source of this leak was Charlie, we thought that was it.”
“I…but I thought this was over,” Sarah said.
Rand pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“For you, it is,” Carol said.
“I don’t understand,” Sarah said.
“We’re getting fired,” Rand said.
“You could still go back into the field,” Hector said.
“Someone has to watch Sarah’s back.” Rand stroked her side, his arms tightening around her.
“Reservation under the name of Jennifer Martin. There are documents for her. Rand, if this is what you’re doing, you’re on your own, you realize that?”
“I do.”
“Fine. I suggest you find a place to disappear for a while.” Hector pulled the SUV into the parking lot of a rental car company then killed the engine. “I’ll miss working with you.”
“Likewise.” Rand shook Hector’s hand, then got out and opened Sarah’s door.
She felt like she was ten steps behind everyone else. Rand took her hand and led her into the rental building. She was out of place in her borrowed sweats and canvas shoes. Nothing really fit, and she needed a shower badly.
Rand picked up their car reservation and guided her back out to the lot and into a nondescript sedan. Neither of them spoke until he was behind the wheel and on the road. Even then, it took her brain several miles to rev up to actual thoughts.
“What are we going to do, Rand?” This was her life, not a movie.
“We’re going to meet up with your family at the lake, then take it from there. One day at a time.”
“No, what does this mean?” Her voice rose in pitch. It was all too much.
Rand parked in a gas station, then pulled her into his arms.
“What’s going to happen to us? What happened to my family?”
“They’re fine. They’re at the lake house.”
“What?” Sarah sat back, blinking at Rand. “They aren’t dead?”
“What? No.”
“I thought—I saw a flash, and then nothing.”
“Were you watching the feed?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, well, we had a slight accident and destroyed their cameras. Your family is perfectly safe.”
“Thank God.” Sarah slumped in her seat.
“This is all happening fast, I know, and I’m sorry. Just hang with me, okay? We’re going to be okay.”
“What’s happening, Rand? I’m…lost.”
“Charlie burned you, likely for a fat payday, but it sounds like Charlie isn’t the only mole. The company is protecting their ass by cutting us loose, but only until they do damage control. We’re going to the lake house so you can reassure your family, then…I don’t know. Neither of us can risk going back to Asia any time soon.”
Sarah nodded. She’d assumed as much. “I’m just glad you’re alive.” She squeezed Rand’s hand and eased back into the seat.
“Me, too. Looks like you’re stuck with me for a while.”
Sarah’s stomach flip-flopped. She wasn’t sure she could withstand much longer in Rand’s presence. Not like this. He was more of a danger to her than Wei or Charlie ever were.
…
“Rand, a word?”
Rand had barely set foot past the door. He was weighed down with the responsibility of the unknown and his tank was bone-dry. All he wanted to do was wrap his arms around Sarah and take comfort in the fact that she was alive and they were, for now, safe.
Matt nodded toward the back of the house.
Mr. and Mrs. Collins sat poised at the kitchen table with Emily and the baby, cups of coffee on hand.
Damn, that coffee looked good. “Sure, man,” Rand said.
There were so many things to nail down, where they were going, how long they’d need to play it safe. In time, he had no doubt that Hector, Irene, and Mitch would ferret out who was behind Charlie’s death, but until then Rand’s number one job was keeping Sarah close and safe. She might not know it, but being fired was likely the key to their futures. Killing them now would only encourage more investigation. Letting them go was likely the only way to keep them breathing and ready in the wings. It wouldn’t be the first time Rand had worked off under-the-table payments.
Matt led the way out through the back door and onto the porch.
The day was fading to night, most of it taken up with being arrested by the Coast Guard, then picked up by the company and waiting out Sarah’s release at the hospital.
“What the hell happened?” Matt crossed his arms over his chest.
“The less you know the better, but in short, we were fired.” Rand didn’t have to like it, but that was how it was going down.
“Okay, what do we tell the family?”
“I…don’t know, man.” Rand sighed. “A version of the truth?”
“What version is that?”
“I guess what we’re telling people is that…” Rand blew out a breath. “I worked for the government. Sarah’s job brought her in contact with me, and some bad guys thought they could get at me through Sarah. It’s a version that’ll hold water.”
“What comes next?” Matt faced Rand, every bit of him the protective older brother.
“That’s…what we have to figure out.”
“I don’t know you anymore, man.” Matt shook his head.
Those words drew blood, as they should. Matt was right. Rand was a stranger. He’d exited their lives and only rarely looked back.
“But…I’ll always trust you to have our back. Look after Sarah, okay? She’s not as tough as she thinks she is.”
Rand stared at Matt’s retreating back. He jumped off the porch and retrieved a couple logs, probably for the fireplace. The old house always had been a bit drafty at night, no matter the season.
What the hell just happened?
Matt and Rand were strangers, there was no denying they’d changed, and yet Matt still trusted him? Without a backward glance or voicing his doubts?
Rand held the door for Matt, but stayed on the porch, staring out at the water.
His priorities had changed. The job didn’t come first anymore, Sarah did.
He braced his hands on the porch rail and watched the sun dip below the horizon. There was no doubt for him that tomorrow, he wanted to be with Sarah. The youthful crush had blossomed and aged with maturity into something integral to who he was, and it was time to stop denying that.
It was time to have that talk they kept putting off, the one about them. What they were, where this was headed. There was an us; they just kept ignoring it.
Rand stepped through the door and almost got his knees whacked by an exuberant little girl with Matt’s eyes and Emily’s hair. She grinned and scampered off, brandishing a wooden sword with all the vigor of the young.
He glanced around, but only Matt and Emily were around. Emily caught Rand’s eye and pointed upstairs.
Which made sense. Sarah had a lot to sort through, but this next part they had to do together.
Rand circled to the front stairs. He knew this house as well as he did his own. The Collinses had brought him out here often enough. He climbed the stairs to the quieter second level.
Sarah’s room was tucked away in the corner at the front of the house. It was a small room compared to the others, but her grandparents had let her paint it with purple and turquoise stripes. Even now, after all these years, it was a bit of a jolt to the senses seeing it.
“Hey.” Sarah sat on the floor, her back braced against the bed. “It’s quieter up here.”
“I’ll say.” He sank down next to her and took her smaller hand in his. “How you doing?”
“Confused.”
Rand stroked the back of her hand. She had to have so many questions.
“Seeing Charlie…it all makes sense, you know? That it was him all along.” She turned her head and stared out of the window. “We had this talk once, about doing the right thing. He laughed at me and said there was no right thing, because there were no good or bad sides, just what you chose to do.”
They sat there for several moments, the stillness of her room comforting after days of being on the move, watching their back.
“Is it safe to be here?” she asked softly.
“Yeah, we’re good.”
“Thanks for coming back for the briefcase and me.”
“Sarah, I came back for you. You could have let that stupid case sink for all I care.” In fact, maybe she should have let it go.
“What comes next?”
“We recuperate, then play it by ear.”
“I’m so getting fired.”
“You never know.”
“Is it really over?”
“For us? Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“We’re just pawns in this. Whoever was behind Charlie’s death gains nothing by coming after us.”
“I’m still kind of scared. Is that normal?” She leaned her head on his shoulder.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her toward him. She came easily, curling around him and burying her face against his chest.
“I won’t let anything happen to you.” He kissed the top of her head. “It was never about the briefcase. It was always about you.”
She snorted.
“That’s not what you said—”
“Yeah, well, I was wrong.” He hugged her to him. The truth had been there all along, he’d simply chosen to be blind, deaf, and dumb.
“I can’t—I can’t, Rand.” Sarah sat up and turned toward the window, her shoulders hunched.
“I get that you might not feel the same way about me, or maybe you don’t want to, but…I have always—and will always—care about you, Sarah. Part of me will… I’m always going to love you.”
“Don’t say that.” She glanced at him, her face creased as though she were in pain.
“Why not? It’s the truth.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is.” He reached out and tugged her hair, just like he had so many times before. She swatted his hand away, but he was ready for that and captured her fingers in his. “Come here, please?” He tugged on her hand.
She twisted around, crossing her legs, and faced him. So serious, his Sarah.
“Things aren’t going to be easy. Neither of us can go back. We can’t do what we were doing before, but…it doesn’t mean things are just over. We’re stuck with each other for a bit, and maybe…maybe you aren’t okay with that, but I am. I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to tell myself to feel some other way about you, and I can’t. There is no way you would ever come in anywhere else other than first for me. You’re the top of my list.”
Sarah sniffled and she squinted at him, deep lines marring her brow. Was that the wrong thing to say? How did he fix this?
Shit, Matt was going to kill him…
Sarah pitched forward, spilling into his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck. He dragged her across his thighs, holding onto her.
“I’m sorry?” he said and laughed.
Sarah sputtered a laugh against his neck. She cupped his cheek and looked up at him, a million different things swirling in the depths of her eyes. “Shut up and kiss me, okay?”
“Okay.”
He pulled her closer and gently pressed his lips to hers. There were so many things in life he didn’t do well, regular, normal people stuff. Telling the woman of his dreams he’d been in love with her his whole life rated pretty high up the not-prepared-for list, but for Sarah, he’d do it. He’d try to be the man she needed.
“I love you, Rand,” she said against his mouth. “I don’t know what that means or where we’re going, but I love you.”
Those were the best words he’d ever heard. Rand leaned in and captured her sigh, squeezing her even tighter.
“Come on, you two,” Matt growled.
Sarah tensed in Rand’s arms, and he peered over her head at Matt. He gestured behind him at the stairs, where a very small pair of eyes watched them.
“At least be civilized adults and close the GD door.” Matt huffed and tugged the door shut.
Sarah buried her face against his shoulder and Rand grinned.
Their lives weren’t perfect, hell, they weren’t even normal, but they had each other—and that was the most important thing on his list.