“Will do and thanks.”
She didn’t hear them leave. As she burrowed her face against Liam’s chest, emotions overwhelmed her. He was here. He was actually here.
He breathed into her ear, “You okay?”
“Yes, but could you just hold me for a little longer?”
* * *
I’ll hold you forever if you want.
He didn’t say the words aloud. She might not want that. There were a million things they didn’t know about each other. But in the most basic way possible he knew everything he needed to know.
Holding her soft, fragrant body against his, Liam decided it just couldn’t get better than this. After twelve long years of searching, of agonizing over what had happened to her, of not knowing if she was dead or alive and suffering, to be holding her, knowing she was alive and healthy. It was almost more than he could fathom.
A shudder went through her and into him. She was just as overwhelmed as he was.
“Let’s go sit down.”
“Okay.”
His arm around her shoulders, he steered her into the living room. The moment they were seated on the sofa, she went back into his arms.
How long they sat there, he didn’t know. Didn’t matter. They both needed this.
She shuddered out another breath and said, “I thought you were dead. The prison was decimated, and I thought the blast had killed you.”
“No. That happened a day after our escape.”
“How did you get out?”
“My team rescued us.”
“But you were injured, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, we all were. How’d you know that?”
“When we were in Colombia, Jazz asked Serena about your injuries. She replied with what she said was the standard answer: It’s not Syria.”
He snorted a dry laugh. He hadn’t realized how predictable they’d become.
“Our helicopter was hit by mortar fire. We went down in the middle of the desert. Six of us survived.”
“Six?”
“Yeah. Ash, Xavier, Sean, Gideon, Hawke, and me. We were all pretty banged up.”
“I haven’t met Hawke.”
“No.” He blew out a breath. Getting caught up in those dark memories wasn’t something he wanted to do. This day was all about them.
“We lost him a few years back.”
“I’m sorry.”
He squeezed her shoulder in appreciation.
“Is that why you didn’t keep our date? Because of the crash?”