Reckoning (20 page)

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I offer a toast?” Petit stood. “I hope this gives you all security for a future you all so richly deserve. It’s not enough, not by a mile, but it’ll help. And, I’m sure, it will help Mrs. Raines sleep better at night. To the future.”

Nate sipped his champagne, but he wasn’t awash in glee. Yes, the money would be good. It would help him get the house in Pasadena and it would be a good-size cushion for the new security business. But it felt hollow. Too little, too late.

They’d all been through hell, and no amount of money would give them back the years they’d lost. He supposed he’d feel better about it if he and Tam…

“Mr. Pratchett.”

Petit was standing by his chair. Nate rose. “Thanks for delivering the news yourself,” Nate said, holding out his hand.

Petit shook it. “I haven’t had a chance to thank you personally. Oddly, you’ve restored my faith in the United States armed forces. If they’ve got men like you, we’re all in good hands.”

“Thank you, sir. But they don’t have me any longer.”

“That’s fine. You’ve done more than your share. I know the hearings are draining, but they’ll be over soon.”

“Not soon enough.”

Petit laughed.

“One thing,” Nate said, stopping him before he moved over to Boone. “Has anyone notified Dr. Chen?”

“That’s all been taken care of. I’m sure she’s been made aware, as have the Dugan family.”

“Thanks.”

Nate sat down and went back to his beer. He wanted to be more excited, but all he could think of was that he hadn’t even been able to bring the news to Tam.

BY THE TIME HE WALKED BACK into his hotel suite, Nate couldn’t wait to fall into bed. He resented the time it would take to undress, to brush his damn teeth.

He shut the door and headed back to his bedroom, peeling off his jacket as he went. It hit the floor, and his shoes came off as he unbuttoned his shirt.

His fingers froze when he saw her. She was standing by the bed, and she looked nervous and happy all at the same time. He wasn’t even sure she was real until she walked over to him, touched his cheeks with her small palm and said, “I couldn’t stand it another day. Not another minute. I love you, I miss you and I don’t want to be anywhere without you.”

He had her in his arms the next second, and he kissed her hard as he lifted her right off the floor. It wasn’t easy, the kissing part, because he was laughing, and so was she, and neither one of them was breathing all that well.

He ended up putting her down on the bed. He sat next to her, touching her arm, her hair, her smooth cheek.

“So, you’re okay that I’m here?”

He laughed. “What do you think?”

“I think I’ve had plenty of time to figure out what I want. I’m taking a job at UCLA.”

“You’re rich now. You’re still going to work?”

She nodded. “I know you are.”

“Yeah. I don’t do leisure all that well.”

“Really? Then I guess I’ll have to teach you a thing or two.”

“Oh?”

She was touching him, too. His knee, his arm, his shoulder. “I want us to go somewhere. Tahiti or Alaska or Switzerland. Somewhere we can be alone. Where we can stay in the room for a week if we feel like it. I need time to decompress, and I know you do, too. What do you think?”

He leaned over and kissed her again, and this time he was in no rush. When he finally pulled back so that he could get this gorgeous woman in bed, she said, “I’m taking that as a yes.”

“Tam, you can ask me any damn thing you want, and the answer’s going to be exactly that.”

“Oh, really?” She looked him over from his still half-buttoned shirt to his black socks. “Interesting.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “By the way. I love you, too.”

She smiled. “I know. Now, let’s you and me lock and load.”

RECKONING

Copyright © 2007 by Jolie Kramer.

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