Medusa's Sheik
Page 19
“I do not—”
He interrupted gently, “Yes, you do. Can’t you just stop thinking for one minute and pay attention to how you feel?”
“Feelings are bad in my work.”
“They happen to be an excellent thing in the rest of your life. Do you love me, Casey?”
“I…”
“Don’t think about it. Just answer. Do you love me?” he challenged.
“Yes.”
“Do you want to be with me?”
“Yes.”
“Forever?”
“Yes.”
“There, now. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” he asked, laughing. “Someone will come get us off this rope and we’ll go home, get married and live happily ever after.”
“What?” she squawked. “I didn’t say I’d marry you.”
“Yes, you did. You said you love me and you want to be with me forever. What is marriage if it’s not that?”
“But…you…me…marriage?” she squeaked.
“For a brave woman, you can sure be a giant chicken,” he teased.
She stuck her tongue out at him. But he had a point. Love was a huge risk. It took courage. More than she had? And then she mentally snorted. She was a Medusa. Since when did a Medusa run from anything scary? Even if it was the prospect of handing her heart over into the keeping of a man? But not just any man. Hake. Did she trust him? Did she dare?
A faint thwocking noise became audible in the distance.
“I do believe our ride is here,” Hake murmured.
More than a ride. The end of her mission. Return to her regularly scheduled life. She gazed at Hake, pained. He’d go back to his world of aggressive women and opulent excess, and she’d return to slogging around in jungles.
The thought left her completely, one-hundred-percent cold.
She jolted. Had he ruined her for ever being a Medusa again? A dark shape became visible, flying up down the gorge toward them.
If only she could have both—her military career and Hake. Then everything would be perfect. And that was when what he’d been trying to say to her all along hit her. She could have both. All she had to do was give herself permission.
The gunship made several passes out of sight, efficiently cleaning out the last resistance with its fifty-caliber machine gun. The helicopter came back one last time, easing into position overhead. She gripped Hake tightly as the rotor downwash did everything in its power to tear them apart. One last time, they clung to one another with all their strength.
A heavy hook swung tantalizingly beside them, and Hake reached out with one hand to snatch at it. It took him three hair-raising tries, but he finally grabbed it and hooked it onto his climbing harness. His arms went around her once more.
This was it. The end of the line. Literally and figuratively. Hake jolted beneath her and they began to rise.
“Fine!” she shouted. “I’ll do it.”
“Do what?” he shouted back.
“I’d rather jump off a cliff with you than lose you. How scary can marriage be after that?”
And that was how the two of them ended up tumbling onto the floor of the helicopter, tangled in one another’s arms, kissing each other as if nothing else in the entire world existed but the two of them.
“I love you, Casey.”
“And I love you, Hake.”
“Are you ready for the adventure to begin?” he asked, grinning.
“I thought it just ended.”
“Oh, no,” he laughed. “We’re just getting started.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7506-9
MEDUSA’S SHEIK
Copyright © 2010 by Cynthia Dees
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