The words broke across me and sank deep into my soul. It felt like she’d spoken some spell from the fantasy book we’d read together, one that set the cursed man free. Hearing she felt the same way made my own feelings real. Everything I’d been holding back broke loose and it picked me up and carried me like a wave. I needed her and I couldn’t not have her anymore.

I grabbed the front of her coat, pulled her down on top of me and kissed her long and hard.

60. Erin

60

ERIN

Siberia had been about lust. This was about love, each press of his lips an explosion that sent everything he felt for me earthquaking through my body. The tremors went right to my core and all I could do was cling to him as they made me go floaty and light. I was vaguely aware that the other passengers were whooping and cheering and I didn’t care.

Our lips parted for a second and he growled against my neck, his voice raw with emotion. “I love you, too. And nobody’s keeping me away from you. Not anymore.”

Then he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me to him, full-length on the floor, his arms like steel. And for the first time since the fisherman’s hut, I felt truly safe. This is what I’d needed. I slipped my arms around him, buried my head in his shoulder and cuddled in. It was a long time before he loosened his arms and looked at me. But when he did, the look in his eyes made me melt. Cocky and confident, as always, ferociously hot, like in Siberia. But there was something new, too. There was a joy there I’d never seen before, like he’d been set free.

Danny called JD and told him Becker had the bomb, and that we were okay. The rest of the team had managed to escape intact, too. We agreed we’d all meet back at Vasiliy’s place. I helped Danny to his feet and we found a couple of seats. When I looked around the carriage for the first time and saw everyone looking at us, my heart nearly stopped: what if someone recognized Danny from his photo on the news? But people didn’t look scared or suspicious: they were smiling adoringly at us. We didn’t look like fugitives. We looked like a couple in love.

Danny took my hand in his and he didn’t let go of it the entire journey. We were still holding hands when we walked into Vasiliy’s apartment. The metro was way faster than battling through Berlin’s traffic in a car, so we were back before the rest of the team.