Epilogue

Jaia drew a steadying breath, drawing comfort from the weight of Brandon’s hand on her shoulder and the muted sound of the sea beyond where they were parked at a lookout spot off the highway as they waited for the call to connect. Initially they’d considered doing this in person while in Tampa, but ultimately decided against it, for Kevin’s sake.

A live video popped up. Val’s widow gave them a tentative smile. It was the first time they’d seen each other. “Hi.”

“Hey. Is this still okay?” Jaia asked her. They’d spoken on the phone a couple of times prior to this to make sure she was all right with it. Val had been put in an impossible situation by evil men, and in spite of everything he’d done after, it was only right that his dying wish be granted. Sukhi would have wanted it.

“Yes, one second. Kevin,” she called, looking off screen. A young boy appeared moments later, and he looked so much like his father that it put a lump in Jaia’s throat.

Kevin nodded, his expression wary and resigned. Jaia didn’t blame him. He’d been through hell, having just lost and buried his father, who he’d worshipped. She reined in the impulse to say how sorry she was. This call was going to be short and sweet and to the point, hopefully making it as easy on Kevin as possible.

Jaia nodded. “That’s right. He served with my brother overseas.” She glanced at Brandon, seated beside her in the driver’s seat.

“Yes,” Brandon answered, and Jaia was relieved that Kevin’s mom had chosen not to divulge the details about her husband’s death. Kevin would probably find out one day, but not for a long while. He was in enough pain as it was. “He asked me to tell you that he loved you. It was really important to him that you knew that.”

Kevin pressed his lips together and lowered his gaze while he composed himself. When he looked up again, he blinked fast. “Anything else?”

“That he was proud of you, that he wants you to be a good person, and he’ll always look out for you,” Brandon added.

Jaia glanced at him, knowing he was embellishing. But if Val had had the time as he lay dying, she was sure he’d have said something exactly like that. And really, anything to give this boy and his suffering family any kind of comfort and peace at this point was a good thing.

Kevin nodded, his expression dull. “Thank you.” He looked at his mom. “Can I go now?”

Kevin left the room, and they finished the call with Val’s widow. As soon as Brandon hung up, Jaia expelled a deep breath of relief. “That was even harder than I thought it would be. But I’m glad we did it.”

Brandon drove them back into town and parked along the waterfront to walk the beach. Arm tucked through his, she gazed out over the water.

Overhead the sky was a rich, vivid blue dotted with skiffs of cloud. Sunlight glinted off the shimmering surface and a light wind gusted, making brightly colored kites dance high in the air. “It is gorgeous, isn’t it?”

“Not as gorgeous as you, and I much prefer looking at it than being on or in it, but yes.” Every day with him, every single new thing they learned about each other strengthened their bond more.

“Not the way it did right after. I love watching the waves, the sound of them.”

“No way, I love our house.” They’d chosen it together, online while they’d still been in Tampa closing up her life there.

She had decided to sell her house, and because it was so cute and in such a good neighborhood, it shouldn’t stay on the market long. She would invest most of the money from the sale. The rest would go toward living expenses, including her half of the rent.

They had recently secured the lease on a country craftsman-style house Beckett’s company had recently finished renovating. It sat perched on a hill less than a mile from Travis and Kerrigan’s, and from the upstairs they had a partial ocean view from the main bedroom.

It was her new haven. Because Brandon was there with her. They had agreed to rent it for six months, with the option to buy it outright after that. It was a big step, but Jaia was ready, and could already see the next big step for her and Brandon.

She drew in a deep breath of the cool, salt-laden air, closed her eyes and smiled. She had started smiling a lot more over the past couple of weeks, the trauma of everything finally beginning to recede. Not disappearing but fading enough that it wasn’t on her mind constantly.

She was also seeing a counselor once a week, as was Brandon. “It feels good to be back here, knowing I’m settled again.”

Crimson Point was every bit as adorable as she’d imagined, the quirky little shops and businesses curving around the bay painted a myriad of colors, others weathered a soft silver-gray by the sharp, salt-laden winds. For the first few days after her rescue, she and Brandon had been busy dealing with investigators, giving statements and interviews. It had only been a few weeks and already they knew so much about what had happened behind the scenes with Graystone.

Doug Lawrence and Robert Giesbrecht had both known exactly what happened in Aden on January 17th. Val Iverman, the man who had kidnapped her and Brandon had shot, was the team leader that day. During capture and questioning of two people suspected to be involved with attacks against US personnel in the area, he’d lost control of his men.

Frustrated by lack of progress and resistance from the locals, they had retaliated, randomly attacking civilians. Iverman had been unable to stop the ensuing atrocities.

Most of the crowd had scattered in panic, but some bystanders had bravely stayed to document everything with video and pictures. The Graystone men had run them down, killing them on the spot and confiscating any evidence. But some had survived. Iverman reported it afterward, yet when the company had decided to bury the evidence to prevent backlash, he’d helped.

Brandon had been captured weeks afterward, and what he’d learned during his interrogations over there had threatened to drag all of it out into the public eye. Fearing exposure and the loss of lucrative military contracts in the region, Lawrence and Giesbrecht had been determined to stop that at all costs.

Quite simply, she and Brandon had both been nuisances that needed to be done away with. The FBI was now heading up the investigation. The agency had arrested Special Agent Forster, after Robert Giesbrecht confessed to their connection. Forster had leaked Jaia’s location in Astoria in return for a bribe from Giesbrecht.

Not only that, as she and Brandon had suspected all along, the initial intel on the Aden massacre had reached military and intelligence communities within days of it happening. The ensuing fallout for their lack of action and efforts to cover it all up was far from over. Hearings would be held on Capitol Hill as everything unfolded. She and Brandon would both have to testify in numerous hearings.

While she dreaded all of that, she welcomed it too. Because Graystone was responsible for more than the deaths of innocent Yemeni civilians.

Several people had come forward about it after Giesbrecht and Lawrence were arrested. Before he’d come after her, Val Iverman had left behind evidence proving that three Graystone men had killed her brother to prevent him from going public with what he knew about the massacre and staged it to look like an accident. Iverman had known about that too, so Giesbrecht and Lawrence had used it all as leverage to blackmail him—threatening to harm his young son if he didn’t carry out the hits on her and Brandon.

It was insane, yet as horrifying as the truth actually was, Jaia was so grateful that it was all behind them. Now she and Brandon could start to heal together.

She was enjoying her new job with Crimson Point Security and getting to know the people here, but most of all she loved sharing a home with Brandon. He made her feel safe, appreciated and happy.

He stopped walking abruptly. She glanced up at him questioningly, startled by the intense look on his face. “What?”

He slid his arms around her, turned them so his back was to the wind, blocking it for her. He was always doing things like that. A hundred different considerate little things most women might not notice. But she did, and she appreciated them all. “Are you happy?” he asked.

His need for reassurance tugged at her heart. “I’m happy, Brandon. Happier than I’ve been in longer than I can remember.” Because of him.

“Good, because...” He paused, stared deep into her eyes. “I’m so fucking in love with you, Jaia.”

She stared at him, pressed her lips together as her eyes filled. At some point over the last couple of weeks it had started to feel like he might be in love with her, but hearing it put into words, and for him to admit it with such vehemence turned her inside out.

She had lost her heart to him the day he’d risked everything to save her from that cave, but had been afraid to say it, fearing it was way too soon.

She was tired of hiding her true feelings for him. “I love you too,” she blurted, joy and a stunning sense of freedom filling her as she flung her arms around his neck and buried her face against his skin. He smelled of soap, subtle cologne and his own unique scent.

Brandon groaned and crushed her to him, his relief palpable. He held her tightly while the waves rolled onto the sand behind them, the piercing cries of the gulls mixing with the muted roar of the sea. “Shitty as Yemen was, I’m glad it happened. Because if it hadn’t, I would never have met you.”

She nodded, trying to pour everything she felt for him into the embrace. He had suffered terribly. They both had. But no more. Not ever again, and she would be there to shine a light into the darkness whenever it haunted him. “And now we have each other.”

He made a deep sound of agreement, squeezed her and tugged her head back enough for his lips to find hers. His fingers slid into her hair, his big hands cradling her head while he kissed her, an addictive blend of passion and tenderness that had her entire body throbbing.

When he finally lifted his head, his eyes glowed with a heat she felt all the way to her core. “How about now? Ready to go home?”

The walk back to his vehicle passed in a blur. He kept hold of her hand on the way home, his fingers tracing patterns over her hypersensitive palm. Knowing she would soon feel them all over her naked body had her practically squirming in her seat.

Her heart swelled again when their house came into view, the soft, butter yellow shingles glowing cheerfully amongst the deep emerald of the surrounding evergreens and the chartreuse of the unfurling maple and dogwood trees in the yard.

He met her at the end of the walkway. She smiled up at him, lifted up on tiptoe to give him another hot, lingering kiss that dragged a growl from him. Eager to get inside and up to their bed, she grabbed his hand and towed him toward the front door.

He stopped her just before she could open it. “Hold that thought, gorgeous.”

Confused, she gave him a funny look as he reached past her to push the door open. She started to step inside, gasped when a light suddenly flipped on, and a chorus of voices rang out.

A crowd of smiling faces filled the entryway. Kerrigan and Ember. Ryder’s girlfriend Danae, and Poppy and Sierra. Ryder’s cousin Molly, who must have just come off shift because she was still dressed in her nursing scrubs. Even Tiana, her red hair pulled up in a messy bun and the front of her bohemian-style dress stretched over the mound of her almost full-term belly.

Melissa laughed and pulled her into a hug. “You totally didn’t know? I was worried someone would spoil the surprise.”

Jaia hugged her back, laughing through a veil of happy tears. “I didn’t know. How...?”

His smile was so full of adoration it made her whole chest ache. “I wanted to do something to make you feel at home.”

She bit her lip, and Melissa laughed again. “No crying. We’ve got a book club party to get started.”

“A book club? No way.” Jaia hugged every single one of the women, thanking them for coming. This was amazing, and they’d all obviously gone to a lot of trouble.

There were fresh flowers scattered throughout the kitchen and living room. The kitchen table was covered in platters of food, a couple of crockpots and trays of decadent-looking desserts that could only have come from Poppy. Someone had even hung a banner across the living room ceiling. Happy Housewarming.

“I can’t believe this,” she said, hands on her cheeks as she took it all in.

“Come on, sit down,” Kerrigan said, taking her by the arm and steering her to the wing chair in the living room. “This is your seat of honor.”

Someone put a glass of wine in her hand, and Poppy held out a bag with pale blue tissue paper sticking out of the top. “For you,” she said with a warm smile that made Jaia want to hug her all over again.

“You really shouldn’t have, but...okay!” she said with an eager grin. “What is it?” She pulled out the tissue, gasped when she saw the book and other gifts tucked beneath it.

“I saw you looking at it when you were in the shop last time. You only had a minute because you were in a hurry to get to your interview, but I could tell the blurb on the back had hooked you. When Brandon called me about this party, I sent everyone else a copy to read too.”

“Even me,” Molly said in a dry voice, sitting next to Sierra in the corner of the sofa. “And you should be flattered that I’m going to read it, because I’ve been way too tired to read anything since I became a mom. Toddlers are insane.”

Everyone laughed. “I loved it,” Danae said, pouring Ember a glass of wine. She paused, looked around when she noticed all the others staring at her. “What?”

“You read the whole thing already? God, why I am I not surprised,” Molly muttered, shaking her head with a rueful smile. “Nerd.”

Danae grinned good-naturedly and kept topping up glasses. “I only meant to read the first chapter or two, but it was so good I couldn’t put it down.”

Jaia grasped Poppy’s hand and squeezed, wanting her to know how much this meant to her. “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure. And maybe later you can show me how to make your special tea?”

“I’d love that.” She would love sharing her mom’s recipe with someone who was so interested in it.

Melissa came over to perch on the arm of Jaia’s chair and wound an arm around her shoulders. “I like your new friends.”

Looking around at them all, Jaia smiled. Since the day of her rescue, these women had embraced her immediately and made her part of their inner circle. She felt so blessed to be part of a community of women again. “Me too.”

“Hey, where do you think you’re sneaking off to?” Tiana said, looking past Jaia.

Jaia leaned over to look behind her and saw Brandon poised in the open doorway with his hand on the knob, a pastry in the other and his mouth full of something. He swallowed quickly. “Out.”

He shook his head. “Meeting some of the guys at the Sea Hag.” His gaze slid to Jaia. And the smile he gave her. A private, secret smile that promised mind-blowing pleasure later on. The unmistakable love in his eyes... “You guys enjoy. I’ll have her all to myself again later.”

A chorus of gleeful approval erupted around her as Jaia returned the smile, her heart overflowing. She still couldn’t believe he was hers. The man took her breath away with a single glance.

“Wow,” Melissa said after Brandon slipped out and shut the door behind him. “Any chance he’s got a single twin brother lying around?”

“No, sorry,” Jaia said, bursting with pride and excitement for the future. Brandon had all of her, body and soul. She already knew she was going to spend the rest of her life with him. “My man is one of a kind.”

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