“Y-y-you said you’re going to marry me. Was that t-t-the truth or were you just saying that?”
Liam brushed the wet strands of hair from Cora’s face. “I was being serious. I don’t ever want to live without you Cora. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to give you the world. If I have to give up my career to do that then so be it.”
“You w-w-would give up being Delta Force for m-m-me?” She asked the question innocently but knew a lot was riding on the answer.
“I threatened our new commander that I would put in my discharge papers if he didn’t allow me to come get you. So yeah, I would give it up for you.”
Cora smiled at him and hugged him and stealing some of his warmth. “I could never ask you to do that. B-b-being Delta Force is part of you. I couldn’t ask you to do that. As long as there is always honesty between us we can survive anything.”
Liam gripped the back of Cora’s head and pulled her in for a kiss. He kept it brief since she was still cold and they both needed medical attention. “Lie on your back and we’ll swim back to the island.”
“Can you unlock these shackles first?” She held up her bound hands to him. Liam quickly unlocked them and kissed each wrist. There were red marks around her wrists but he knew they would heal quickly.
“Now lie back. I know you’re probably tired so we are going to swim on our backs.” Cora did as he told her, and they made their way back to the island. Liam would occasionally stop and whistle out to Midas who would guide him back. Once back on the island, Cora was pulled from the water, and Doc pulled out his medical kit and bandaged her up, and Hound pulled out a blanket from his bag, and wrapped her up. Once everyone was bandaged up, they used one of Alejandro’s boats and made their way to the landing zone where Commander Jones was waiting for them. They quickly ushered her on the plane and wrapped her up in more blankets before Commander Jones took off. Liam held Cora in his arms the whole time not wanting to let her go. No one had a spare set of clothes since it was such a quick mission, so she just stayed in the blanket until they made it back to base.
Back at home base, all the men shook Commander Jones’s hand, and thanked him for his assistance. Hannah waited anxiously off the flight line for them. As soon as Cora saw her she left Liam’s side to run into her friend's open arms. They hugged and cried together. “No more insubordination, understand me, Sunshine?” Commander Jones told him with a pointed finger, never breaking stride on his way back to his office.
“Sir, no sir,” Liam said with a smile. He had Cora and she accepted him for all that he was. He was the happiest and the luckiest of bastards ever.
Ben was trying to pry the women apart when Liam pulled Cora to his side and gave her a toe curling kiss.
“What do you say we go home and take a hot shower and work on this family idea you have?” Cora whispered in his ear. Liam couldn’t get her home fast enough. As soon as they were home, he threw the blanket off her, and made slow gentle love to her in the shower being careful of her ribs. Afterward, they lay in bed with her resting on his shoulder and her hand over his heart. Life was perfect.
Epilogue
Two Weeks Later
Cora and Hannah were visiting with June. It had become a regular occurrence since Cora had been rescued. After they had made it home from Panama Liam had called Rosa, who told them that June was recovering from her mild seizure and was up for a visit whenever Liam had time. They had visited her that night.
Hannah took an instant liking to her just like Cora had done. They slowly had worked on getting June out of her hospital bed and into a wheelchair, despite the many protests from Liam. Cora understood his concerns about his sister and how fragile her spine was, but Cora knew she was a fighter just like her brother. Today they were taking June out somewhere special. More like kidnapped her. They told Rosa they were taking her out for a drive just not where. A few hours later they arrived in Las Vegas. They were going to the mall. Fort Irwin didn’t have a mall close by and Cora figured every woman needed to see Las Vegas at least once in their life. They weren’t going to take her to casinos or anything but to at least let her be part of a crowd again. It didn’t seem like much but to a young woman who hadn’t seen much of the world since her accident this was pure heaven.
Cora pushed the wheelchair while Hannah walked beside them quietly with a grin on her face. Since Cora had been brought back from Panama Cora had noticed a change in her. It was as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Hannah would always fight her own demons but with Alejandro gone her biggest demon had been slain. She no longer had to fear Alejandro waiting in the shadows to take her back.
“Anything special you want to do or see, June?” Cora asked her, hoping a casino wasn’t suggested. Cora had nothing against gambling but she knew Liam wouldn’t appreciate her corrupting his little sister.
Joy radiated from the young woman’s face and Cora couldn’t help but smile as well.
“I don’t care. I don’t have Rosa or my brother hovering over me. This is the best day ever.” She screamed, the sound echoed off the walls and earned a few cursory glances from people walking by. Not
