Page 86 of Broken Trust
He didn’t want temporary. Not a night, not a week, not “until your contract is up.” He wanted her here.
He wanted toothbrushes crammed in his cup on the sink and stupid fights about who stole the last towel. He wanted to come off an op and find her asleep in his shirt.
He wasn’t waiting to say it either.
“Elin?”
She answered with a contented hum.
“I want you here. With me. Indefinitely.”
She stilled for two heartbeats, then three. She pushed up on one elbow so she could see his face. “You’re sure?”
“I want you to stay. Forever.”
Her eyelids fluttered, but they didn’t conceal her emotion from him. The smile began at the corner of her mouth and spread over her beautiful face like rays of sun touching the earth at dawn.
“I never want to leave you. Wherever you are, I want to be there.”
He held her, and she cuddled closer, tracing idle patterns over his chest. What she probably didn’t know yet was that she was rewriting the scars into something that spelledhome.
His entire world clicked into place.
* * * * *
Steam feathered off the hot tub and blurred the string of patio lights into soft halos, the night wrapped around the base in quiet that felt almost like peace.
Elin sank to her shoulders, letting the heat unknot all the places stress had taken up residence. She’d left her bathing top on tonight, more aware now of her error when she first arrived.
Across from her, Liam stretched his arms along the back of the hot tub, wincing only a little. The scars were still new, pale against tanned skin where the water didn’t cover him, but the worst of the pain had receded to memory. He looked like himself again—eyes steady, mouth with that stubborn hook at one corner, and the quiet command of a man who’d spent his life holding a line.
Ash emerged from the nearby swimming pool, water streaming off him as he grabbed a towel.
He lifted his chin at Liam. “The guys invited me to poker down in the casino. Apparently, I’ve been drafted to lose all my cash to Steele’s terrible bluff.”
Liam’s laugh rumbled warmly in the night. “Steele’s tells are a crime. You’ll do fine. But it’s Izzy you gotta watch out for.”
“I’ll stay on alert.” Ash grinned, a rare occurrence Elin was still getting used to. It also warmed her heart. Liam had shared with her a little of Ash’s troubles fitting in on the team, and the fact that they invited him sounded like a step forward.
He slung the towel around his neck. “They probably only invited me to join them so they can rob me blind.”
Liam’s lips tightened. “No,” he said quietly. “Pretty sure it’s because of what you did for me after you got me in that chopper. They had to respect you after you patched me up. We all did.”
Elin reached for Liam’s hand under the water and squeezed. Her thumb found the solid ridge of his knuckles and pressed, a Morse code of everything they didn’t say in mixed company.
You’re here. You’re whole. You’re mine.
Ash caught the look and ducked his head like it was too bright to stare into directly. “Right. Well. Casino’s calling. Try not to drown in there.”
“Bring back good stories,” Elin said.
“Or at least chips,” Liam added.
Ash gave a two-fingered salute and slid the patio door shut behind him, blocking out the muted bass of a distant playlist and leaving only the hush of the base at night. The pool deck was empty, the sky a deep navy stitched with stars.
Elin let the quiet sink in. “He’s settling,” she said.
“Yeah.” Liam laced their fingers together under the surface, then turned her palm up and kissed the heel of it. His mouth was warm from the water and it sent a quick spark through her. “Takes a minute to find your place. Sometimes you have to bleed for it.”
