The Survivor - Cristin Harber Page 0,78
his hand. “Me too. How about that?” Hagan rechecked his watch. A muscle in his jaw ticked as though he didn’t want to go. “When this sorts out, let me take you to dinner?”
She beamed. “You’re asking me on a date?”
His eyes danced. “Maybe Majboos?”
Back together and with an inside joke that made her insides go squishy … “I’d love to.”
“Good.” Hagan bent down and kissed her cheek, whispering, “Because I’m in love with you.”
EPILOGUE
Blue light glowed from the flat screens that streamed mission control and hotel security data. Amanda took the last sip of her tea and set her mug down, ready to be done for the day.
Shah stopped tapping his pencil. “Where are you going?”
She stretched. “I don’t know. Nothing’s going on—”
The red blinking light indicated a call from Titan Group headquarters.
“Famous last words,” Shah chuckled and returned to a notepad of calculations.
“Parker,” she answered and slipped back into her seat. “What’s going on?”
“Not Parker,” Boss Man boomed.
“You sound so insulted,” she laughed. “Have you tried meditating? It might help with your cheery—”
“It’s a good thing you’re good at your job.”
Amanda leaned back in her chair. “I learn from the best.”
“Don’t suck up to Parker,” he groused. “He can’t save you.”
“I wouldn’t dare—wait a minute.” Her eyebrow inched up. It had been almost a year since Parker handed her the reins. In that time, she’d managed the nerve center with her partner Shah, overseeing hotel surveillance and mission control. Neither Parker nor Jared indicated she wasn’t up for the job. “Save me from what?”
“Nothing,” Jared grumbled. “There’s something up with a sector in tower one.”
Her eyebrows arched. “Says who?”
An alert pinged, and a pulsating rectangle zeroed in on a stairwell. Amanda reached for the keyboard and reviewed the alarm code. Unclassified and/or other. Amanda pulled up the live feed and found an empty staircase. “Since when are you in the business of telling the future?”
Jared snickered. “Since the beginning of time.”
Amanda rolled her eyes and reviewed recent footage. “Nothing’s there.”
“Double-check for me.”
She checked the time on her Fitbit and considered lobbing the request to Shah, but his calculations held his complete attention. Besides, Hagan wouldn’t be back until tomorrow; she didn’t have anywhere to be. “Only because I haven’t got enough steps in for the day.”
Amanda touched base with a new analyst then headed for the elevators. She rode up and stopped a few floors early, reaching the stairwell in question when her Fitbit notified her the day’s work was done. If only it were that easy. She checked the security sensors. All were in perfect working order.
A distant echo beeped like her watch. She froze, but the noise had stopped. Amanda checked her wrist—her watch hadn’t beeped—and a shuffle of footsteps made her pivot. “Hagan?”
He jogged up the flight of stairs. “Hey, beautiful.”
“You’re home early.” She met him halfway down the flight and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Surprise.” He lifted her feet from the ground and carried her to the stairwell landing. Pressing her against the wall, he warmed her lips with a kiss hot enough to melt the sun.
He tasted like mint and smelled like heaven. She didn’t know how he’d found her but suspected that Boss Man had something to do with it. Whether Jared liked to admit it or not, he enjoyed being in the mix.
“This is the kind of welcome home we should plan more often.” Amanda slid to her feet and tangled her hands with his. Then she looked around and laughed. “Do you realize where we are?”
Hagan studied the stairs as if he’d just noticed. “Think so.”
She slid under his arm and walked to the center of the landing. Not much had changed except a few coats of paint. Amanda smiled and relived the best parts, blushed at the worst, and shook her head at how far they’d come. “Can you believe—” She turned and saw Hagan waiting on bended knee.
“I believe anything when it comes to us.”
Every fiber in her body hummed, unable to believe life had led her to this man. “Hagan…”
His smile grew until his eyes burned like fire. “Every time my heart beats, I swear it says your name.”
“Same,” she whispered.
“And every time that I say, ‘I love you,’ what I mean is that you’re my life.” He reached for her and grasped her trembling hand. “Let me be your husband, Amanda. I need you as my wife.”
Hagan slid the intricate diamond ring on her hand.
“Of course.” She remembered the night two years ago when they