He turned her so he could see her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Max.”
She refused to look at him.
“I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry for denying what I felt for you. I’m sorry for turning you away when I should have let you in.”
She slowly met his gaze, her eyes bright.
He caressed the side of her face. “But mostly I’m sorry for not telling you this the first day we met.”
He kissed her softly, lingeringly.
“I love you.”
She made a sound between a whimper and a moan as he deepened his kiss. She melded into him and he held her tightly, letting her know he never wanted to let go.
And hopefully the response she was giving him meant he would never have to…?.
“Well, it’s about damn time you two got it right.”
Jackson reluctantly pulled back. They turned to find Max’s mom and aunt standing on the sidewalk next to them.
“Now get up out of that snow before you both catch pneumonia and die before we get to enjoy the wedding we’ve been planning since you both were eight,” her mom added.
“Seven,” her aunt corrected.
“Whatever. Now, come on. We’ve got a new year to celebrate…”
Epilogue
A WEEK LATER, Jackson stood at the front of the Lazarus meeting room addressing ten of the best team members he’d had the honor to lead; first and foremost, Max, who stood near the front, her very essence seeming to light the room.
Whenever he wasn’t at Lazarus planning this mission, he and Max were in his bedroom making up for lost time. A lot of it.
And he soon found himself wearing that silly grin that seemed to permanently widen his brother’s face.
He was going to be an uncle. And a husband. And, soon, maybe a father…?
The idea nearly derailed his thoughts.
Nearly.
Included in the group were the five members from the failed Pegasus mission, none of whom had hesitated when he’d not only called them to come work for him, but to return to Africa. He felt pride in seeing them all standing there in front of him, alert and ready. Including Taylor.
“Okay, you’re holding the mission plan in front of you,” he said, referring to the thirty-page document he’d handed out as each member came in the door. “We leave in forty-eight hours. We’ll be meeting three times before that to hammer out any further details. Questions?”
No one.
Good.
“See you at 1700, then.”
The team members filed out of the room, leaving him and Max alone. She came to stand next to him.
“We’re really going to do this, aren’t we?”
He searched her face for signs of anxiety. There were none.
He grinned. “Yes, we are.”
His first order of business, upon officially signing up with Lazarus, was arranging to go in after the hostages they’d been forced to leave behind in Africa. While he didn’t expect their recovery would make everything all right, he did hope that it would mean the loss of so many lives in the original effort hadn’t been in vain.
He’d also taken great pleasure in slapping a cease and desist injunction against Pegasus. If they tried to involve themselves in a similar mission, he would roll over them like an M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank…?.
Max surprised him by kissing him.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you more,” he said back.
There was movement from the doorway and a few choice curse words filled the room. “Criminy, will you two at least shut the door first?” Jason asked.
His grin belied his true feelings as he slammed the door, leaving them alone.
“Now, where were we…?” Jackson asked.
Max hummed and rubbed her nose against his. “Right here, I think…”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8175-2
RED-HOT SANTA
Copyright © 2011 by Lori Karayianni & Tony Karayianni
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