Six weeks later

Before I met Bennett Atlas there were plenty of idioms I never quite understood. Specifically, I never understood the phrase a broken heart. The heart is an organ it doesn’t break. It malfunctions or stops, but the tissue never just breaks. But now I more than understood it. I lived it.

I don’t know what I expected to happen between Bennett and I, but given the way I felt now, it was clear that I had expectations for a future with him. A man who, like me, was completely dedicated to his career. I should have seen the trouble with that sooner. And I couldn’t even resent him or his decision because if not for his career, I might already be dead or at least gravely injured. If not for his work as a SEAL I might not ever have known the pleasure of being with a man. The joy of falling in love. The pain of permanent separation.

“Dr. Watson, are you with us?”

I looked up and right into the concerned frown on Commander Mahoney’s face, joined by the equally confused faces of several other government agents who sat around the long conference table. They all wanted my assurance, and I sat there daydreaming about a man who left.

“Sorry my mind wandered for a moment.” A long frustrating moment.

“That’s quite all right. Are you sure you want to do this?” His look said he thought I was a fool to even consider it but I had my reasons for the decision I made.

“Yes. Mr. Tusk has assured me that he is willing to work with the U.S. government while also providing this service to the public at cost.” It had been a pleasant and welcome surprise when one of the leading businessmen and tech ambassadors in the world had come to my hotel room with his strange proposition. “This way everyone wins,” I assured him with a smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes. Tusk would take my research and turn it into reality for the world and I will get my life back.

“If you don’t mind my asking Dr. Watson, what do you plan to do next now that you are a very wealthy woman?”

Wealthy was an understatement. I had enough money now that I would never have to work again if I didn’t want to. But I would never make that choice when I knew I could change the world. It might sound cheesy to most people, but I now had the freedom to determine what kind of research I would embark on next.

“I have no idea. I suppose I’ll find someplace to live and set up a research facility.” That had always been my goal, to spend my life conducting research that will allow me to help the world in my small way. “I have a lot to think about Commander, but I do owe you more than I can ever possibly repay. If not for your diligence, I might already be dead.”

“I’m not the one who kept you alive.” His words, deep and terse and filled with meaning, only brought up the face I was trying to forget.

Heat stole up my cheeks at his words. “Perhaps not, but you’re responsible all the same.” And there was the small fact that Bennett had disappeared from my hospital room without a word. That had been the last time I saw him. A month and a half ago. “So thank you. From the bottom of my heart. If I can ever return the favor, I’m sure you know how to reach me.”

The Commander wore a smile I could only describe as grandfatherly, though I don’t remember much about my own grandfather. The look was equal parts affection and staid concern.

“Good luck Dr. Watson.”

“Thank you. The same to you Commander Mahoney.” I shook his hand, paused for a second and wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you,” I told him once again and quickly left him and the other alphabet representatives behind.

Leaving the Pentagon building was a task on its own, navigating long identical hallways until finally a series of doors that led to the sun. I hurried towards the Metro and made my way back to the hotel. The news had hit a couple days ago about my research and the sale of it to Mr. Tusk, so the whole world wanted to know more about the “genius who will make us energy independent” and how on earth the child genius had gotten the billion-dollar tech god to buy it. The media’s fascination with me hadn’t died down, especially once word got out that the President of Stanford University had colluded with foreign governments to steal the research. Now it was an international drama which meant nonstop coverage.

As I exited the Metro my phone rang, and I grimaced at the sight of my mother’s name on the screen. My parents rarely called me, maybe three times a year since I left, and the calls were never emotional and loving. Usually they were perfunctory, like Mom felt obligated to call her child who was basically a stranger to her.

“Hello Mom.”

“Hi Delaney, how is everything?”

“Fine,” I sighed because that’s what she wanted to hear. “How are you guys?”

“Other than those darned news folks we’re just fine.” Her irritation for once wasn’t aimed at me, so that was a good start to the call. “I am so thankful that you’re all right. When we heard all of that on the news,” she gasped. “I shudder to think what could have happened to you.”

“I’m fine Mom. I survived.”

“Thank god you did. I hoped you thanked that nice Commander and the other man who kept you safe.”

“Of course I did.” If nothing else remained of my time in Texas it was the southern manners drilled into me since birth. “I just returned from a meeting with the Commander and I thanked him enough that I think he now feels uncomfortable.”

Mom laughed, a sound I hadn’t heard in ages. “Oh, Delaney I am so sorry for everything. I was never the mother I should have been to you and I almost lost you.”

“It’s okay Mom, I understand. You and Dad didn’t know what to do with me and Stanford did.”

“But we left you to that Austin man, and he’s the one, oh I’d love to hog-tie that man and drag him on the back of my horse!”

“You don’t have a horse, Mom.”

“Not yet, but with no mortgage to pay, maybe I could get one.”

So there it was, the real reason for the call. “Before you say anything Mom, it wasn’t meant as an insult. I have this money and I figured life would be easier for you guys without that debt hanging over your heads for the next twenty years.”

“No honey, it was a kind and generous gift. Your dad thinks so too.” Her tone told me it had taken some convincing before he accepted what he would undoubtedly view as charity. “And your brother and sister, well they are having a blast with this attention. The kids too.”

I smiled as I entered the hotel lobby, still scanning my surroundings with suspicion, something I doubt would go away for a long time. “I’m glad to hear that, and please tell them again I am sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Honey your research is going to change the world, never apologize for that. We’re all so proud of you and well, I just wanted you to know that.”

I froze in the middle of the lobby, shocked as a tear fell down my cheek. “Thank you Mom.” I had never heard those words before, not from anyone really. Except Bennett. “Thank you,” I whispered again on a shuddery breath.

“Thank you Delaney. Now I need to get supper started before my shift starts, but I hope to talk to you again soon. I love you, sweet girl.”

“I uh, love you too Mom. Maybe I could come visit soon?”

The silence was deafening and my shoulders slumped in defeat, prepared for the inevitable rejection. “That would be wonderful. See you soon.”

The call ended and I stared in wonder at my screen as I stepped into the empty elevator cart and pressed the button to my floor. I would wait a week before making plans to go to Texas because I knew once my parents saw the money I’d put into their account the invitation may very well be rescinded. That would hurt but I would survive it, I knew that much now. Bennett had helped me see how strong I could be, and knowing that made it impossible to go back to being the girl I used to be, scared of her own shadow and refusing to look people in the eye. Now I stood tall, proud. Confident.

Well I would, as soon as the heartbreak passed.

***

I used to hate hotels because every time I had to travel to attend a professional conference the university would book us into cheap budget hotels and motels that were filthy and uncomfortable. The comforters were scratchy and looked as though they had never been washed, bed bugs ran rampant and the water pressure never came out more than a trickle.

But the hotel that had become my home over the past couple months was the exact opposite of that. The bed was clean and plush, freshly laundered linens that always smelled of flowers and spring time. But the best feature in my opinion was the bathroom. A deep bathtub with expensive salts and beads helped me relax at the end of every day, but the waterfall shower head—two of them—was the best thing man had ever created in my humble estimation. The water came hard and fast and most importantly, hot.

So hot that I could luxuriate in my before dinner shower, feeling so decadent. So leisurely. After ten minutes, I could no longer justify the waste of water, so I stepped out and wrapped a thick fluffy pink robe around myself. I stepped into the bedroom, scanning the area to see if anything was out of place. Nothing was, and I went to the living area of the suite in search of something to drink and screamed loud as I reached out to grab something. Anything. A lamp.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you but I thought you saw me.”

Bennett. “You thought I saw you and decided to ignore that someone broke into my room while I was in the shower? After everything that’s happened to me? Really?!” I couldn’t believe he was here, in my room, smiling and lounging like he’d never disappeared. “What are you doing in here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I came to see you.”

“Why now?” My arms were crossed in a defensive gesture and that’s exactly how I felt, as though I needed to protect myself from him. I hated that I felt that way.

Bennett sighed and scraped a hand over his hair, now grown out far too long for navy standards. “I had some things I had to take care of before I came back to you Laney.”

I closed my eyes at the sound of my name on his lips. It felt so good to hear, but I couldn’t let myself fall into that trap again.

“To do that you had to skip out on me in the hospital and not call for six weeks?” That’s the part that really hurt, that he could go so long without hearing my voice or seeing me when I felt like my body was being ripped apart without him.

“It sounds awful, but yes. I had to know if leaving the SEALs was what I wanted to do for myself and talking to you, being with you would have clouded that.” He sighed and hit me with blue-green eyes that made my heart leap with love. “I had to know I was leaving for me, not for you.”

I took a step back. “I never asked you to leave the Navy for me. You love it and I know how important it is to you.”

“Exactly. But so are you Laney, so damn important. And I knew if I wanted a relationship with you I needed to be present.”

“And?”

“You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”

I shook my head, tightening the sash of the robe protectively. “It wasn’t easy living with the knowledge that I meant so little to you that you would walk away without a word and not reach out to me.”

“Okay. Well I am officially inactive, but not retired. Commander Mahoney is giving me some time to figure out where I might end up before finding me a desk assignment.”

My heart galloped at his words, but I tamped down the hope that had woken up inside me. “What are you waiting on?”

“You. I’m waiting on you to decide where we’re going.”

He was waiting. On me. “We? You want there to be an us?”

“No Laney, you misunderstand me. There is damn well an us. What I’m saying is that I am waiting on you to figure out where we’re going to start our life together.”

“Our…life,” I dropped down on the nearest chair as I tried to process his words. “So you left the Navy and now you want us to start a life. Together. Is that right?”

His mouth kicked up in a knowing sexy grin that made me want to kiss him. “Why do you sound so surprised Laney. I love you.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do. What did you think this was,” he motioned between us.

“I thought it might be something, but when you left I figured I was wrong. Now I don’t know.”

Bennett slid over and then dropped to his knees, running his hands up and down my legs in a soothing motion. “Then let me help you out Laney. I love you. I am stupid in love with you, and I want us to have a future together. Wherever you go and whatever you decide to do, I want to be with you. At your side while you conquer the world.”

Wow. “That sounds amazing Bennett.” He grinned and his body relaxed, but only slightly. “I love you too.”

“I know, sweetheart. And how about the rest of it, do you think you can stand having me around for the next seventy years?”

That sounded incredible, like all the dreams I ever had when I allowed myself to think about having a personal life. “Only seventy years?”

He laughed and cupped my face, kissing me lightly. “Fine, eighty or ninety. I can’t get enough of you anyway.”

“And I’ll never get enough of you Bennett Atlas. I love you, sailor.” I wrapped my arms around him and brought his mouth to mine, kissing him long and hard enough to pour all the love I left into that kiss. It went on and on until my robe opened and his grin turned salacious.

“I love you too Dr. Watson. So damn much.” He scooped me into his arms, kissing me hard and intensely, filled with so much raw hunger that my body quaked with unquenched desire. “Why don’t we make use of this luxury suite while I give you a preview of the next hundred years?”

That did sound absolutely perfect. “Actually, if the Singularity occurs then we could get as much as one hundred and fifty years-,”

“Laney, babe?”

“Yes, Sailor?”

He grinned as he held me in his arms. “Shut up and kiss me.”

So that’s what I did for about an hour.

Then we got started on forever.