Chapter 10 #3
He laughed. “That’s not hard to do. The traffic in Miami reminded me why I don’t want to live in a big city ever again.”
Savvie leaned into his shoulder. “Same. I just need to find a job that is low stress. I wonder if I could learn how to make flower arrangements. Or maybe I’ll be a dog sitter. I could hug puppies all day long.”
“From assassin to dog sitter…” Hunter tipped his head. “Somehow, I don’t think it’ll be an easy transition.”
“No?”
“Like military coming off active duty, they…we…have a hard time fitting into civilian life. Every day deployed was a fight for survival. In the civilian world, most people have never been in a life-or-death battle. They’ve never been shot at or had mortar rounds lobbed into their sleeping quarters.
They’ve never had a close friend die in their arms.”
Hunter stopped and faced her.
“They’re more concerned about what to wear out on a date, what car they should buy, or what movie to watch on television. Those things seem so inconsequential to someone who has lived through shelling, shooting?—”
“Or abuse,” Savvie inserted.
Hunter nodded. “Or abuse. You’ve lived that life-or-death kind of life with your stepfather and in your work. It’s hard to assimilate into a society that will never understand.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I get that it won’t be easy. But I want to try. I’d rather help people than hurt them.”
He nodded. Thus, her desire to save the people being staged for sale into the sex trade.
“I’m lucky,” Hunter said. “I didn’t think I’d find a place to fit in, where I could be myself and make a difference. But I did find that place.”
“With the Brotherhood Protectors?” She looked up into his face.
He nodded. “They get me. We’re a team. We have each others’ backs. And we’re using the skills we’d worked so hard to master while on active duty.”
“Do they only hire men?”
“Kyla works for the Brotherhood,” Hunter pointed out.
“She works in an office. Would Stone or Hank hire a woman to do the same kind of work you or Stone would do?”
“Yes, he would,” Hunter said. “Not that arranging flowers is a bad occupation…”
Savvie chuckled. “I’m keeping an open mind.
I might try several jobs before I settle on one.
Or maybe, I’ll have more than one job. I really like the idea of dog sitting.
If I don’t do that, I’d like to have a job where I come home every night to a dog of my own.
A rescue, or maybe, a senior dog who deserves to live his last days being loved and spoiled. ”
Hunter turned around to face Savvie. He cupped her cheek with his hand. “You know, you’re special.”
“How so?” She covered his hand with hers and turned her face to press her lips into his palm.
His heart skipped several beats and then raced to catch up. Her touch was making him crazy, scrambling his thoughts and making it hard for him to focus. “Most people are afraid of change. Nervous of making the wrong choices.”
She gave him a twisted smile. “Coming from where I’ve been, choosing not to change would be a bad choice.
Taking a chance on something new is the right choice.
I’m ready for some happiness in my life.
If I’m afraid of anything, it’s that I might not find what makes me happy.
I’m willing to keep looking until I do.”
“Life’s too short to be unhappy.” Hunter stared down into her face, warmth spreading through his chest. “You deserve to be happy after all you’ve been through.”
Her forehead puckered. “For years, I didn’t think I deserved to be happy.”
“You came from an abusive environment.” Hunter cupped the back of her neck. “And now?”
“I realized I was the only one who could make me happy, but it wasn’t going to happen while I was doing what I was doing. So, I decided to reinvent myself. I’m at that stage where I’m a blank slate. I can be anything.”
“You will be the best whatever it is you choose to be, as long as you believe in yourself.”
The sun dipped behind the mountain peaks, turning the sky brilliant orange, mauve and purple, bathing the assassin in a muted aura of fading light. She was beautiful, and he wanted to kiss her more than he wanted to take his next breath.
She tipped her head back, her eyelids dropping low. “Are you going to kiss me?”
He nodded. “Damn right, I am.”
“About damn time.” Savvie rose on her toes.
Hunter lowered his head and claimed her lips, drinking her in like rain to parched earth.
In some ways, they were so very much alike.
She hadn’t believed she deserved happiness because she’d killed a man and then had gone into a life as an assassin.
Hunter hadn’t believed he deserved happiness because he hadn’t saved Sarah from drowning.
He’d lived. She hadn’t because of his stupid decision to take her on a date in treacherous conditions.
His marriage had failed from the moment it had started—all because he hadn’t believed he deserved love and happiness.
Yet, he was kissing this woman now, and he’d never felt more alive. Could he let go of the past and dare to let himself be happy?