EDGE OF SHADOWS: The Shadow Ops Finale (Shadow Ops, Book # 3) (33 page)

Then a man’s hands grabbed her, yanking her free from the first peace and quiet she’d had in decades. He shook her, and her eyes fluttered open. Billy.

He pulled her out through an opening. More water. She could see he was struggling. He should let her go. It would be so much easier. She let her body drift away from his, but he hauled her back, his face inches from hers, his expression furious.

She hated to see him so angry, so she tried to kick, tried to stay with him, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. He kept yanking her up, up, up. There were lights overhead, stabbing through the darkness, aiming at her.

Her eyes drifted shut once more, and everything went black.

Epilogue

Five days later

Billy dreamed a woman called his name, her voice a clear alto that chimed through his heart like church bells.

Rose?

No. Rose’s voice hadn’t sounded like that in years, not since…

“Billy, she’s awake.”

He squinted one eye open, fighting the glare. A dark-haired woman bent over him, squeezing his hand. Not Rose. Eve.

With the realization, he immediately sprang awake, ready to take action. “What happened?”

Eve smiled at him. “She’s awake. I went to get coffee, and when I came back, well, see for yourself.”

She led him to the hospital bed. Rose had been moved out of the ICU yesterday, but the damned doctors still had been hanging crepe, refusing to offer any hope. Too much time without oxygen, they said. Don’t expect too much.

Idiots. They had no idea who they were talking about. No idea the kind of woman Rose Prospero was.

He grabbed her hand, Eve at his side. Rose’s eyes fluttered, then opened, strained to focus.

“Rose,” Eve said, her joy coloring her voice. “Welcome back.”

“Were we gone?” Rose murmured, her voice thick with five days of not using it. Not to mention the tube they had rammed down her throat that first day until she finally started to breathe on her own again. “Oh. Yeah. White-water rafting. I forgot.”

Eve laughed. “You remember that?”

Rose’s eyes drifted shut, and she swallowed hard. “Of course. New River. You and me…” She licked her lips. They were dry and flaking. “Thirsty. So thirsty.”

“Let me ask the nurse if you can have some water,” Eve said. “I know you two have a lot to talk about.”

Billy was relieved to see her go. During their five-day vigil, he and Eve had talked a lot. He really liked the girl, could see himself playing a role in her life. But that depended on Rose.

He smoothed back her hair. Her cuts and bruises were almost healed. She made a noise of contentment and nuzzled her face into his hand. He forced away the image of her lifeless body floating in his arms, his lips over hers, forcing air into her as the SEALs rushed to rescue them. They’d injected her with the antidote, done CPR, got her heart beating again, but she’d refused to breathe for such a long time…

Billy lowered the bedrail and sat beside her, pulling her close, taking care not to get tangled in the IV lines and wires surrounding her. “Rose.”

“What?”

“Nothing. I just like saying your name. Like the idea of you hearing me say it.” He sounded like a fool—and he didn’t give a damn.

She pushed herself upright and opened her eyes again. “The Team?”

He shook his head, smiling. Should have known that would be her first question. “All safe and sound. No one in jail, and no one dead. KC went home yesterday.” He paused, debating giving her the bad news. Her gaze stayed on his, now clear, but he hesitated.

“But STR is gone, isn’t it?” She saved him the trouble.

“Yes. For now at least. Homeland has already reached out to KC and Hollywood, and no way they’re going anywhere without Chase—”

To his surprise, she smiled and patted his arm as if she were the one comforting him. “They’ll be fine.”

“You aren’t upset?”

Her smile widened. “Mission accomplished. Time for someone else to have a chance.”

Maybe she did have brain damage after all. This didn’t sound like the Rose Prospero he knew, the one who never surrendered, who always put the Team first. She could've quit after what happened with Grigor, but she hadn’t… “You’re quitting? Why now?”

“I have better things to do. Eve.” She drew in her breath as if gathering her strength. “You.”

It was his turn to blink hard as the room spun out of focus.

“All courage comes from love,” Rose whispered. “Something my grandmother told me. After Adam—” She flushed and turned away from him. Was silent for a long moment, long enough to make Billy worry. Then she turned back, reaching for his hand. “You saved me.”

He squeezed her hand. “Just returning the favor.”

“No.” Her eyes drifted shut for a moment, but her hand kept a firm hold of his. “You saved me from Grigor.”

He frowned, a stab of fear spiking through him. Wondered if he should call the doctors. No. She was just confused, that was all. Natural after what she’d been through. “Rose, I didn’t save you from Grigor. I left you there, left you behind in Razgravia. That was five years ago. You do remember that?”

She shook her head, eyes still squeezed shut. “No. You saved me.” Her eyes opened again, focused on his, clear and sparking with intelligence. “At first, I worried about Eve, but I knew she was safe with my sister. But I needed something to focus on, some way to block out—everything. And it was you, Billy. You were all I could think about. The way you put your team first, the way they looked up to you, how you moved through the darkness, strong and confident, knowing you were in the right place, doing the right thing…everything about you, I re-created it all during those nineteen days. You kept me sane. You saved me.”

To his surprise, she was blushing as she waited for his response. Billy’s chest went tight, and he felt out of breath. “You didn’t know me, not at all—”

“I knew enough. Knew how I felt, even if I could never admit it. Not until now.”

He wanted to kiss her, wanted to whoop for joy, wanted to grab her up and spin her around until they both collapsed in a dizzy pile. But all he could do was squeeze her hand and bend his face down to meet hers.

“I’ve loved you since the day I first set eyes on you,” he whispered.

She was openly sobbing now, and he was surprised to find his own tears mingled with hers as he brushed his lips against her face.

“I guess we’re both a pair of stubborn fools,” she said. “Waiting so long.” Then she buried him in a deep kiss, drowning his reply.

<><><>

Two weeks later…

Rose wiggled her toes deeper into the crystalline white sand. Beside her, Billy stirred at the slight motion, his hand immediately reaching across the small space between their beach towels to take hers.

“You need anything?” he murmured, his voice sated with sun and the ocean breeze.

The tide was coming in, would be lapping at their toes soon, the Pacific’s warm turquoise waters a gentle reminder of time passing. The only reminder here where there were no clocks, no computers, no cell phones…just her and Billy, alone at last.

Rose smiled to herself before answering Billy’s question. “Yes.”

His eyes popped open as she rolled her body on top of his, cupping his face between her palms and kissing him deeply, drinking him in along with the sun and sand. His arms reached around her and he unfastened her bikini top, his fingers gently tracing the scars on her back, his touch as healing as this time together had been.

“Are you sure about this?” he whispered, his breath hot against her cheek.

Rose slid her hands down his body, enjoying the way he responded to her touch. Even better was the way her body opened up to these familiar-yet-different sensations, allowing her to purge the pain and accept the possibilities of feeling pleasure again.

“Yes,” she answered, releasing all of her joy into the single syllable. Then she let her body melt into his, communicating better than any words. “Are you?”

He ground his body against hers, and she had her answer. The leading edge of the surf bubbled against their bare toes, but neither noticed, their focus totally on giving each other everything they’d denied themselves for so long.

A seagull landed nearby but quickly took off again, startled by Rose and Billy’s shared sounds of desire and delight.

<><><>

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