He could tell she was weighing her words carefully, and after one deep breath she dropped the bomb on him.
“Cliff, I have something I need to tell you.”
***
This place was majestic. She stared at the new construction for a solid minute before she got the strength to take the journey up the stairs. Questions bombarded her mind in quick succession. Had she been gone too long? Did he move on? Did he move away? Had he missed her?
None of those answers mattered though when he opened the door and pulled her toward him. His mouth sealed against hers, taking every ounce of love she possessed for him. He held her head so tightly he seemed to think she would slip away at any moment.
Even now, as they walked toward the lake, he kept glancing her way, as if she’d slip away at any moment. He guided her to the end of the dock, the same place they had sat when she stayed with him that first day.
“The mission I was sent on, the one that brought me here, isn’t over.” Cliff stiffened beside her as he digested her words. “But,” she added, laying a hand on his arm, “I won’t be a part of the team.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, plainly it means that I quit. But you know with any mission, you can’t just quit. I had to go through days of debriefing and interrogations. I also had to sit in and listen to my father’s depositions. The days turned into weeks, and those weeks turned into a month.”
The time away from him had been agony. When she was finally cleared to leave her position, she was unsure of herself for the first time. Alexis packed up her apartment, left a note for her landlord, and rented a car. She drove through the night to get back to Carson, to get to Cliff. She had been away long enough.
But as he stared across the water, Alexis worried that the time had been too long.
“So, what happens with the investigation on the cartel and sex trafficking?”
“Heath will take it over. He should have been the leader to begin with. Harposia is still running it from her jail cell, though no one had figured out how, nor do I think they ever will. My father’s second in command has moved up the ranks.”
“The threat against you still exists.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
This was the part she hadn’t figured out how to disclose. With the help of the FBI and the hospital staff, Alexis pretty much wiped herself off the face of the earth. The doctors forged her chart and said she didn’t survive after the brain trauma of the accident. Cliff nodded as she explained everything as detailed as she could. Many of the parts she wasn’t sure of herself. Somehow strings were pulled and she was provided with a new last name, social security card, and passport.
“What’s the name?” Cliff asked, reaching over to take her hand in his.
“Walker. I asked for the last name Walker.” Walker was a common last name, and at the time, she had but a moment to decide. It was the first thing that came to mind.
“You have my last name,” Cliff whispered, his thumb stroking back and forth along her knuckles as he stared at their joined hands.
“I didn’t mean to be presumptuous. I can go have it changed.”
“You will not,” he growled. The pad of his thumb stopped over her ring finger. “It just made this part easier.”
“What part?”
“Alexis Walker. Will you marry me? I’ve been in misery without you.”
“Yes. For the rest of my days, yes.”
The morning sun gleamed on Alexis’ back, warming her already heated skin. The heavy arm of a tattooed man rested along her shoulders, keeping her close.
A smile broke on her lips as she remembered how he kicked his friends out of his home and made love to her for hours upon hours last night. Her bones and muscles still ached in the best possible way.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Cliff’s deep voice said as he turned her body to face him, kissing her along the corner of her mouth.
“Morning. What’s on the agenda today?” she asked, though she wasn’t opposed to spending the day in bed with him making up for lost time.
“Well, I have a shop to run, but first I’m thinking a quick trip to the jewelry store and breakfast at Angie’s.”
“Shouldn’t we do breakfast first?”