Shaw smiled, cuddling her Siamese between them. “And you’re stuck with the both of us. How did you find her?”
“When I came to, she was rubbing against my side.”
“She’s such a hussy.”
“It’s lucky I had her before the first explosion went off.”
Shaw shuddered, kissing Esme and nuzzling the top of her head with her cheek. “We’re both lucky you have us.” She fingered the charm on her cat’s collar. “Your mother’s pendant. I remember now.”
“Everything?” His gaze found hers and held, the flickering light of the approaching fire sparkling in his hypnotic eyes.
“Everything. Especially what I should have realized fifteen years ago.”
“And what’s that?” He kissed her again, softly this time.
“That I don’t want to spend another moment without you, no matter what we have to work through to be together.” She kissed him back, crushing her lips to his, branding him with the passion, the connection, she’d thought they’d never again have the chance to share.
“Let’s go, then,” he said. “Before this place collapses around us.”
“Let’s go.” She beamed up at him. There wasn’t anywhere in the world she’d rather be than leaving this terrifying house, knowing that the man she loved would be fighting for her, with her, beside her, forever.
Cole’s arm encircling her waist, she wedged her body beneath his good shoulder so she could support his heavier weight as they stepped around Sebastian. She showed him the key and soaked in the pride that filled his expression. They staggered together toward the hidden panel that had been their agreed-upon rendezvous point if they were separated.
Strong and rugged and alive beside her, Cole waited while she swung the panel open. Then, flames at their backs as the fire progressed to the office, they unlocked and opened the outer door they’d run through as children. Cole pushed back the beautiful green of the ivy that obscured the darkness beyond, and they walked away from her nightmare, Esmeralda huddled safely between them.
The task-force team could deal with the rest of the devastation. The fresh start neither Cole nor Shaw had let themselves dream of was finally theirs. Hand in hand, their fingers tangling around each other’s, the nightmare finally over, they emerged into the clear night and the life they’d fought to begin anew.