Chapter Ninety

“What are you doing here, Nina?” Rory’s question broke free as he blindly took her offered hand.

He was stunned, thrilled, to see her. Looking healthy and beautiful. And just about perfect.

“You need a guide, and I am available,” she said with a smile, the accent gone.

“But I thought— You are supposed to be— No. You can’t be here. It’s not safe!” He couldn’t speak fast enough to finish any of the sentences that whirled in his head clamoring to come out.

His confusion seemed to amuse her. She beckoned the bartender to pour him another shot.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you weren’t happy to see me.” There was a pout in her tone. Or maybe just a hint of insecurity. “You haven’t said how great I look yet. I even got my boobs back.” To prove her point she drew back her shoulders and turned this way and that—just as Joey would have done.

In fact, he recognized all her alters in the way she held herself, in her gaze, in her speech. They were all there, combined into one perfect woman. It amazed and humbled him to see the living proof of her resilient nature.

She grinned and batted her lashes. Leaning on her elbows she offered an enticing view of her newfound cleavage. She stole his breath, especially as he watched her take a long drink of her beer.

“You look great,” Rory croaked, and drank from his own. He was suddenly parched.

“Why, thank you,” she drawled in a typical Thyra fashion before turning serious. “I owe you an apology.”

The out-of-the-blue statement startled him. “For?”

“For lying to you, and using you. That was wrong. And you deserve an apology for that. I’m really, really sorry.”

To him, her betrayal had long since ceased to matter. It hadn’t taken him long to analyze and understand why she’d done it. He’d moved on. And now he was ready for the next step.

“Granted, you could have handled things better. But I get it. Now.”

And he did. He had thought long and hard about what Morgan told him on that fateful afternoon, and he’d realized she was right. Trust would never come easily to Nina. Fact was, he would just have to accept that.

Which he did.

“Am I too late?” she asked uncertainly.

He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. Profound relief washed through him, and he smiled. “No.” He doubted it could ever be too late for them. His feelings ran too deep. She was rooted inside the very core of him. “But what took you so long to come back to me?”

It had felt like forever.

Inside, the anguish that had held him captive these past months began to unclench. The empty feeling of being apart from her started melting like snow in the sun.

“I had to be sure.” Her eyes glistened with tears she refused to shed. “That I could be…someone who isn’t broken.”

“You’re not broken,” he assured her. She never had been. Not really. Instead, she had found a way to survive when others would have given up.

Unable to stop himself, he leaned forward and kissed her gently, not caring that they were in the middle of a bar. It had been so long.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered seriously, “I missed you, Rory O’Donnell.”

Stroking the damp skin of her soft cheek, he gazed at her. “I missed you, too, Nina Hernandez.” He brushed his fingers along the elegant line of her jaw, down her throat to the curve of her collarbone. “I thought I’d go out of my mind.”

She tightened her hold. “Me, too. But I had to know that I could be me again. Whole. All of us back together, undamaged. Sane.”

“You were never insane,” he told her, clasping her face between his hands, forcing her to look him in the eye. “Ever.” He would not have her think that. Not when she had gone through so much and came out a winner.

Sweetly, lovingly, she smiled back at him. “I had to be sure I wouldn’t be a burden to you.”

“That would never happen,” he swore fiercely and kissed her again.

Her laugh wrapped around him. A low, husky sound he’d never heard before. “I know that. Now.”

“Good.” He closed his eyes, pulled her close again, and just held her. “If you’d come back sooner, I would have told you that.”

“I’m here now.”

“Thank God.” A happy thought occurred to him. “The admiral mentioned something about me getting a new partner in the near future. I don’t suppose you know anything about that?” He trailed his lips down to the sweet spot behind her ear, felt heady with her scent making its way into his Nina-starved brain.

“I do,” she said with an intake of breath. “You mind?”

“Hell, no.” He kissed her again, then pulled back a little to frown at her. “Does that mean you’re now working for naval intelligence?”

Lightly, she grasped his neck and pulled him back to her. “Sort of. But not as an operator. More like a freelance informant.”

“I see.” Hope for the future swirled through him. A future with her. “So. What comes next? With us, I mean.”

He needed the words. Needed for her to tell him that there was a future for them. To put him out of out of his misery and erase any doubts still lingering once and for all.

Her eyes sparkled. “You really have to ask?”

“I’ve developed a need to have things clearly spelled out,” he told her seriously. “It’s something that’s been plaguing me ever since the woman I love left me in the hospital and disappeared.”

Dark gray eyes searched his with barely concealed uncertainty. “Love, huh?”

“Yes. Love.”

“That’s very reassuring,” she said softly.

“Why?” He desperately needed to hear the words from her, too.

“Because I love you, too, Rory. And that’s the truth.”

The last knot of tension in his chest uncoiled. It was going to be okay. They were going to be okay. “You sure?”

“Very.” She hopped from her stool and grasped his arm. “Come on. Let’s take this to your room, hmm? I can spell things out way more convincingly in private.”

“You’re already doing a good job of that,” he assured her with a laugh.

“Oh, I can do better.” Winking at him, she made for the staircase.

All the feelings he felt for her about to burst free, he followed her. “Lead the way, baby.”

His ragged, yet humorous tone, drew a burst of laughter from her.

Heading up the stairs, the enticing sway of her hips made him forget all about the frustration, worry, and impatience of the past four months.

“I have many plans for you, querido,” she promised. With a coy look back in his direction, she opened the door to his tattered room.

A fan spun lazily over the bed.

“Yeah? Prove it.” Kicking the door shut, and fumbling with the lock, he watched her turn to face him.

A sexy little smile on her face, she crooked her finger at him.

More than willing, he came closer until their bodies were only inches apart. He could feel her, smell her, practically taste her.

Catching a handful of his shirt, she jerked him close. “You mean like this?” She kissed him, long and hard, and thorough.

When they finally came up for air, he rested his forehead against hers. “A good start.”

“Te quiero, Rory,” she whispered, stroking his chest, his shoulders. “I love you with all my heart. We all do.”

He paused and gazed down at her. In her eyes he could see Joey, Octavia, Thyra, and Lena. All the aspects of their complex personalities united as one in Nina. They were all there, looking at him, loving him in their entirety, and warming him to the very core of his soul. He’d never imagined he could ever feel this way. So complete. Whole. Like he was the one who had shattered and had needed to heal. Through her.

Because of her.

His voice rough with emotion, he said, “I love you, too, Nina. All of you.”

And with those words, he set out to prove it to her—mind, body, and soul.

Did you love this book from Entangled’s Amara imprint? Check out more of our titles here!

Don’t miss S. T. Young’s next book! Sign up for our newsletter here!