“Did I help or did I make it worse?”
Her smile did crazy things to him. “You made everything simple.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Nothing about us is simple.”
“No.” She bit her lip and freed one of her hands to trace a fingertip along his jawline. “This is. I want to be with you, Gabriel Diaz. And I was going to try to come to you wherever you were whenever you were back on domestic soil, or even where you might be able to meet me abroad. Come hell or high water. And here you are, meeting me halfway.”
He turned his head and kissed her finger, then rose up to gather her into his arms as he settled them both on his bed. “I’m liking this meeting in the middle thing.”
“Me too.” She cuddled into his arms. God, she fit so well against him. “I want to keep running my catering business. Charlie might quit and I don’t blame him, but he might stay on. He’s got a few things to think about, he said.”
Gabe gritted his teeth hearing her talk about another guy. She was in his arms, after all.
“But the company is a part of me and I want to keep it going. The government officials gave me some resistance about being able to visit An-mei wherever they take her, but Harte said there might be some provisions made in conjunction with Centurion Corporation, plus he had a talk with me about the kitchen here.”
“You provide a calming influence for us.” He kissed her forehead. “Stabilizing. And you feed us good.”
She pressed kisses along his jaw, just about driving him crazy. “Basically what he said. So long as I can commute from here to the city when I have catering engagements, I like the idea of living here. He said we could have the guest cabin, or another residence could be built. I’m kind of blown away by the idea.”
“We.” He couldn’t hold back any more. Rational conversation was going to have to hold for a while. “You said ‘we.’”
She kissed him then, hot and inviting, until they were both breathless. “I love you, Gabe. So yes, ‘we.’ Zhí z? zhī sh?u, y? z? xié l?o. For life or for death, holding your hand, and aging with you.”
He’d tried so hard to go it alone for so long. He’d fucked up a lot of things in his life. But somewhere, sometime in his truly crazed life he must’ve done something good, because here she was, and she was his.
And he was hers.
“I love you, Maylin.” And he was going to show her. Over and over.
*
We hope you enjoyed HIDDEN IMPACT! Watch for DEADLY TESTIMONY, the next book in the SAFEGUARD series, coming in 2016 from Piper J. Drake and Carina Press.
Acknowledgments Thank you to Courtney Miller-Callihan, for believing in me and for endless patience with my random insanity.
Thank you to Katee Robert and Christi Barth for your encouragement and concise advice. Without you, I don’t know how long it would’ve taken me to gather the courage to make the leap.
Thank you to Angela James and Stephanie Doig for your help in bringing this story from rough to polished.