Hell or High Water (Deep Six #1)(103)
As soon as he got the words out, something awful happened. Her lower lip trembled. Her adorable chin quivered. Her blue eyes got huge. And then she collapsed in the sand, sitting cross-legged as if her knees had given out on her, wrenching sobs shaking her chest.
He knew then what it took to make brave, fearless, tenderhearted Special Agent Olivia Mortier cry. It was something as simple and as monumental as having someone tell her they wanted her, that they loved her…
*
“Shh, darlin’,” Leo crooned, sitting next to her in the sand, an arm around her shaking shoulders. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
And he did have her. But not only that, he loved her and he wanted her. For now. Forever. Oh God! She dissolved into another round of hiccuping sobs that shook her from head to toe. She was a hot mess. There were just no other words for it.
What the heck is wrong with you, Mortier? When a man says he loves you, you’re supposed to tell him you love him too. Not sit in the sand and turn into a soggy heap of snot and tears.
“Come here.” He dragged her into his lap so he could tuck her head under his chin and rock her gently, running his big hand over her hair. He was so warm and solid against her. And he smelled like Leo. Another round of blubbering gripped her in a hard fist, shaking her like a rag doll. He groaned. “You’re killin’ me, Olivia. You’ve got to stop that.”
Yes, she did. She most certainly did. Because besides being inappropriate, it was completely mortifying. But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t. “I-I’m s-sorry,” she sobbed. “B-but nobody has l-loved me, nobody has wanted me since my m-mother, and…and…”
“Okay. All right.” He continued to rock her, to pet her, to place warm kisses atop her head, on her brow. “Just let it on out then. Just let it all out. I’ve got you. And I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
And true to his word, he didn’t. He stayed with her for who knows how long as wave after wave of emotional upheaval crashed through her, over her. It felt like she’d been holding back rivers of tears for years, and his love had broken the dams that contained them. Now, there was no stopping the flood.
But eventually, it did stop. And after she settled to sniffles and the occasional shudder, he whispered against her hair, “Now, in case part of why you’re so shaken up is because you think everyone’s right when they say there’s no way for this thing we got to work in the long run, I want to assure you I’ve thought all about that. And I figure I’m better suited than most at dealin’ with the repercussions of your job. It’s goin’ to kill me to send you off to—”
“I’m not shaken up about that,” she interrupted, her heart so full of love and joy and hope that she was amazed it didn’t explode inside her chest and blow apart her rib cage.
“Good.” He squeezed her tight.
“Because I quit.”
“What do you mean? Did somethin’ happen with Jonathan Wilson? I haven’t seen anything in the news about—”
“No,” she was quick to assure him. “It doesn’t have anything to do with that. Agent Wilson is still being held and questioned. At first, he insisted he wasn’t going to say anything until his trial, wanting to martyr himself so that he would make big, splashy headlines.” She twisted her lips in disgust. “But that only lasted a couple of days. When the reality of lethal injection set in, he caved. He made a deal to give up his assets and divulge all the information he ever gave our enemies in exchange for a commuted sentence of life in prison. And you probably won’t see much in the headlines. The Company and all involved are doing their best to keep everything about him and his perfidy on the down-low.”
“So then…I don’t understand. Why did you quit? When did you quit?”
“I turned in my resignation to Morales the day I got back to DC.” And that had been one of the scariest and most freeing decisions she’d ever made.
She could feel him hesitate, sense him holding back, not knowing if he should congratulate her or give her his condolences. “Why would you do that?” he asked cautiously.
“Because I…well, I didn’t like it anymore.” She frowned, shaking her head. “I think maybe I never liked it. Not really. And I hated the violence,” she admitted with a shudder. Every night since it happened, she’d had nightmares about killing that terrorist, about the AK-47 jumping in her grip, about his neck flaying open. “I realized I wanted something more from my life than assets and assignments. I wanted…” She trailed off. A home. A family. People to love me. People I could love.
“What?” he prodded.
And it was then she realized all those things she wanted were bundled up in just one thing. One person. One man. “You,” she admitted. “I wanted you. I love you so damn much, Leo.”
He sucked in a breath and got very still. She could hear his heart beating steadily beneath her ear, its rhythm matching the advance and retreat of the waves shushing against the beach.
“Say it again,” he demanded, his low, syrupy accent sliding into her, traveling down to swirl delightfully her belly.
“I love you.”
He kissed her then. All deep, slow glides of his tongue and cinnamon-flavored deliciousness filling her mouth. His scratchy beard stubble abrading her cheeks and lips. She gave herself over to the moment, reveling in the feel of his strong arms around her, holding her tight. Imagining what it would be like to have those arms wrapped around her every day of her life. Her happiness was so complete she wondered if she was glowing, lit up like a roman candle. And just when the kiss changed, when it went from one of tenderness and warmth to one of passion and heat, a low buzz sounded in the sky to the south.