Defy (Brothers of Ink and Steel Book 3) (22 page)

Epilogue

Several years later

Rachel

M
y day starts like every other: I run the two miles between Makakilo and Kapolei. When I get back to the apartment, I shower and eat a simple breakfast before swinging by and picking up Lemy to bring her to school.

“Have a great day, kiddo. I love you.”

“I . . .”—she slows the speed of her words and deliberately sounds each letter out—“L-ove you . . . Rachel.” Her smile, full of pride, nearly brings me to tears.

She’s come so far. She doesn’t care what the other kids think as she leans into the car for an extra hug and kiss—when you’ve lived through what we have, each touch is a precious gift. After she lets me go, she grasps the straps of her backpack and runs up the ramp to her classroom at the small private school for children with learning disabilities like her. She’s greeted by teachers and parents acting as security and she waves me on my way.

If he hadn’t rescued me from that basement years ago . . . A violent shudder chills my blood and causes my skin to pucker with goosebumps. I don’t want to think about how
they
would have ended my life.

We’re both alive and together because of Ryder.

As the mere suggestion of him sings like a haunting love song through my mind, my heart yearns sharply for him again. I don’t know where he is in the world, but I hope at this very moment, a memory of me takes his breath away.

Does he think of me every day?

Does he remember me like I do him?

Do the memories halt him in the middle of the day and overtake his every thought, as if he’s reliving it with me all over again?

That’s what they do to me.

I can still feel the sensation of his hand gliding over my exposed collarbone, tingles consuming me as the coarse skin of his fingers continues up under my hair, caressing my throat before he brings his grip around to the nape of my neck and compels me towards his hot, open mouth. His tongue swipes at the seam of my lips, demanding entry. Overcome, I open my mouth and allow him access. Every part of my body burns—on fire with need for his touch, for his perfection.

I lick my lips now at the memory and adjust my pleated summer skirt.

Memories are more than the experiences they’re created from—they are pieces and particles of living souls we carry with us.

And my remembrance of Ryder, I hope, will transcend and follow me even into the next life. I believe my bond to him will make us an everlasting love story . . . the kind where we will search restlessly until we find one another in each life to come.

Our shared recollection must connect us, because I swear I can still
feel
him.

I’ve memorized his every line, every curve of his muscles, every brush of ink—especially the addition of my name, Rachel, in the loveliest of scripts over his heart.

Joined, united.

I fix my inward gaze to the photo in my mind: Ryder’s crumpled jeans and belt thrown carelessly to the floor in my dorm room, his bulletproof vest on the table, his combat boots by the door.

When I swear I’m breathing his scent, I know this is going to be one of those days—difficult—and I’ll be watching the clock, waiting for the moment I can escape to cry alone.

Is he safe? Is he alive?

A bitter and sweet sensation tangles around me with the recollection of mine and Ryder’s last smoldering kiss, with the rising sun shimmering over the Pacific beside us. The sky was torn in two—one side suspended in the waning darkness dotted with insistent, stubborn stars and a thin sliver of pale moon that refused to say goodbye, while the other was infused with the light of the dawning day, promising to rend us apart and burning too brightly with the inevitable, awaiting reality.

“Promise you’ll think of me.”

“Promise,” my tough guy vowed through a shimmer of tears.

Parking the car in my designated space, I enter the occupational and speech rehab section of the medical facility I work at and am interrupted by a text from my mom—she’s at the store, and before she goes home, she wants to know if I need her to pick something up that she can drop off at my apartment.

I thumb into the keypad while I mumble out loud, “I don’t want anything, but thanks. Tough day starting.”

I set the cell to vibrate. I shouldn’t have pushed send—now she’s going to grill me after work. Maybe she’ll think of getting me a bottle of wine. That I could use.

When everything was said and done, I knew it would be best for the three of us if my mom and Lemy moved here to Oahu with me. My mom even remarried, which I never expected but had hoped for.

I love my job
, I think, pushing through the glass door.

After finishing my degree and relocating here to the island, I established a good practice within a preexisting care unit and have created a theater-therapy program, fulfilling a great desire and goal in my life.

My fingers fumble with the light switch on the wall inside my office, and of course, I drop my handbag and keys.

Clumsy moi.

At least the light flickers on as I kneel to the floor and fish them back up. Straightening, I stall, still down on one knee, and my body freezes.

My desk . . .
what is on my desk?

The friendly face of a large plush green alligator greets me—his stuffed animal mouth curled into a grin exposing fluffy teeth.

He’s casually guarding a dozen long stemmed red roses with a note attached:
You’re wearing my favorite skirt.

My hands fly up to my mouth to stifle a gasp.

Before I can wade through the confusion or settle the excitement of my thrumming heart I hear the girls in the front office start whooping, whistling and catcalling.

I pivot and run through the back hallway. Skidding around the corner, I stop short.

There is Ryder, standing tall and gorgeous in his full officer’s dress blue Navy uniform—medals, stripes and ribbons adorn his thick chest. 

Our eyes sear into one another’s souls.

I scream and we sprint towards each other. Throwing myself into his waiting arms, we crash together. His presence fills all my senses, and I’m completely undone as the familiar taste of his mouth overtakes mine. His hands tangle in my hair as he lifts my feet off the floor and my heart to heaven.

“You’re home!” I cry around the softness of his hungry lips and through the tears of our shared joy.

“That’s right, Dr. Axton, and I’m not going anywhere for a long time.”

The fingers of Ryder’s left hand twine with mine, and our titanium wedding bands catch the light.

I haven’t touched him for six of the longest months of my life while he’s been deployed with his SEAL team on a highly classified overseas special ops mission somewhere in the world.

The office is filled with medical personnel, soldiers and patients alike, who award us with a standing ovation and roaring applause.

“I hope you’re prepared to cancel your appointments and take the day off.”

“I’m sure they expect it.”

Ryder flashes that rugged, boyish smile infused with irresistible charm and sizzling masculine sex appeal, and I figure I’m going to need at least a full week off.

“My hero.”

The End

Dear Reader,

I hope you've fallen in love with the Brothers of Ink and Steel as much as I have!

Now, I hope you take the chance to get acquainted with Josh North’s blood brothers in the True North series.

Your voice and opinion is very important to me - please leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Even just a few words mean a lot <3

Sign up for my newsletter:
http://goo.gl/Oyw8G2

Allie
Juliette Mousseau is a USA Today Bestselling author and writes sexy, emotionally-charged New Adult and Adult romance.

She can always be found writing, playing in puddles with her children, hiking with her husband, and traveling and adventuring anywhere she can.

She believes life should be filled with love, laughter, adventure and forgiveness.

Sometimes she misses the mountains of Montana but is becoming quickly fond of the crashing waves and salty smell of the Pacific Ocean, towering palm trees and long beach walks during sunset at her new home in southern California where she now lives with her loving husband, children, and 85 lb golden retriever.