Page 48 of Weston

Wes held her in his arms and made his way back outside, all the while whispering calm, reassuring words in her ear. The moment they stepped out of the cave’s mouth, his hold tightened and she looked over to see Nayvadius yelling and waving his gun around.

“Ellie, run,” Wes hissed, setting her down, and moving in front of her. He lifted his Glock and aimed it in Nayvadius’ direction.

Ellie didn’t hesitate or question Wes’ order. Instead, she took off toward the nearby jungle cover, prepared to hide, when a loud POP! POP! POP! filled the air. Without warning, she was jerked off her feet as a searing pain hit her.

The crazy idea that she’d just been shot flitted through her brain before she hit the ground hard, her head slamming against a rock. Then everything went black.

Chapter Nineteen

Am I dead?

At first, Ellie didn’t know. Her head ached, her shoulder burned and she felt like a drowned rat who’d been spun around the washing machine one too many times. Not cognizant of how much time had passed, her eyes slowly fluttered open and the first thing she saw was Wes’ handsome face, so full of concern. A little frantic even. She hated when he worried about her. The last time he looked at her like this, she’d come home late after being stuck in insane traffic because of an accident on the expressway. She hadn’t been able to call him because her phone had died and the moment she walked into the door, he’d swept her into his arms and kissed her.

“Don’t you ever make me worry like that again,” he’d admonished her.

“Keep kissing me like that and I might be tempted to—” He’d silenced her with a toe-curling, back-bending, soul-searing kiss that had left her as floppy as a noodle in his arms.

“Oh, my God.”

“You’re okay.” Wes slicked her wet hair back off her face, cradling her against his chest. “The bullet knocked you off your feet and you have a graze on your shoulder, but we’ll get it wrapped up.”

“Oh, my God,” she repeated as beautiful clarity struck completely.

“You got a pretty good knot on your head when you fell—”

“I remember!” she exclaimed, pure joy rushing through her.

Wes’ mouth dropped open. He couldn’t even get the words out before she pushed herself up in his lap and met his startled gaze. Cupping his face, she stared deeply into his dark chocolate eyes, her forever safe place, and every dangling thread of a memory she’d been scrambling to desperately reach was back in her head, as magnificent and potent as before.

“Y-you remember me?” he asked, voice full of awe, as his team looked on, listening.

“I remembereverything. That moment we first smiled at each other at the freshman mixer and the way you made my entire world stop. Our disastrous first date which turned out to be one of the best nights of my life—I was so nervous about kissing you for the first time. But it was so perfect. I remember the rain falling down and the way your mouth felt moving against mine. You tasted like chocolate and peanut butter. I remember how fast and hard I fell in love with you. How good you always were to me and the love in your eyes. Always so much love.”

They clasped hands and Ellie couldn’t stop. Almost thirty years of memories came spilling out of her and she didn’t want to miss a thing. “I remember how you hated school, but tried to stay in for me, but we decided the Navy was a better option for you. I remember you didn’t have a lot of money to buy an engagement ring, so you started working at the car wash thatsummer. I remember you spraying me and we got into the most epic water fight. And then we somehow wound up kissing on the car’s hood, covered in suds and completely soaked.”

“That was a great day. Made that extra job so worth it,” he joked, but she heard the way he choked up, and she couldn’t miss the tears shining in his eyes. “Plus, it let me put a ring on your finger.”

“You were always so good to me.”

Suddenly, the rest of the world fell away. Wes’ team, the dead pirates, the pounding of the surf. In that one, solitary moment, it was just Ellie and her Wes.

“You know what the best thing about losing my memory was?” she whispered, completely lost in him. “Getting to fall in love with you all over again.”

Wes pulled her tightly against his chest and buried his face in the curve of her neck. “I love you, Ellie-Bean. More than anything in this whole damn world.”

“I love you, Weston James. Thank you for being so patient with me and never giving up.”

She heard him sniff, felt his tears on her neck, and he squeezed her so tightly she almost couldn’t breathe. “Always, my love. Always…”

???

After leaving more dead pirates in their wake, including Nayvadius, Brand declared it was time for the team to get the hell out of Indonesia, and Wes couldn’t have agreed more. But first, the team checked in with their handler to get their finalinstructions. Mitch directed them to hide the plutonium pit on a deserted island, pretty far off-grid. It would be retrieved by a SEAL team and then taken to an undisclosed, safe location. Without the core, the warhead was useless. Even so, Mitch gave them instructions to take the empty case to another unoccupied island and bury it at specific coordinates. Most likely, it would get picked up by the same SEALs.

Once they finished stashing the atomic booty, Wes, Ellie and the guys packed up and headed to the small airport. The private plane took off and everyone settled in for the long flight home. Wes had shoved the armrest up, dragged Ellie onto his lap and they’d gone back and forth softly sharing memories until she’d fallen asleep in his arms.

His wife was one-hundred percent back—mentally and physically—and his heart overflowed with a joy he could barely comprehend much less put into words. So, instead, he just kept dropping kisses all over her face and in her soft hair which smelled like honeysuckle sprinkled with sea salt. He had to have his arms around her, couldn’t stop touching her and telling her how much he loved her. He hadn’t always been so good at communicating his feelings. That’s something Ellie had taught him.

Every guy on his team sent him nods and smiles. They couldn’t have been happier for him and Wes would be eternally grateful for all they’d done. It was a victory for them all. After he thought he’d lost Ellie, they’d all been there and done their best to help him. And now they were there with him when it all turned into the happiest ending possible. He loved them like the brothers he never had.

---