Editing Pre-Op Interlude
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− | Joshua wasn't blind nor deaf. He had seen how Rina interacted with Dmitri and it was clearly not all rainbows and sunshine, but he didn't say anything. No point in pushing. If biological families were anything like his adopted family of the | + | Joshua wasn't blind nor deaf. He had seen how Rina interacted with Dmitri and it was clearly not all rainbows and sunshine, but he didn't say anything. No point in pushing. If biological families were anything like his adopted family of the Equinox, then every family would have their own byplay, their own strengths and weaknesses. Rina would handle it.<br><br> |
"So, we're all good for the wedding then, after we rescue your family?" He squeezed her softly in reassurance.<br><br> | "So, we're all good for the wedding then, after we rescue your family?" He squeezed her softly in reassurance.<br><br> | ||
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− | "God, yes," I breathed and turned around in his arms to hug him. The coming op on the morrow had me wound up tight. There was so much we needed that we didn't have—no floorplans, no guard schedules, nothing in the way of hard intel. Just hearsay and limited knowledge gleaned from my brothers. | + | "God, yes," I breathed and turned around in his arms to hug him. The coming op on the morrow had me wound up tight. There was so much we needed that we didn't have—no floorplans, no guard schedules, nothing in the way of hard intel. Just hearsay and limited knowledge gleaned from my brothers. Hell of a way to pull off an extraction. I didn't dare mention what I thought of the odds to Joshua, but I had already thought through some of the likely scenarios, braced myself for their logical outcomes. I'd had plenty of time to work them out as I'd labored over the box. Several of them had us failing. A few were even worse. I knew what we had in Equinox's arms locker. I knew down to the millimeter how much room the box had for our weapons. I knew that chances were good we would be separated from the box before the time came to use it. So many variables were beyond our control, so many things could go wrong.<br><br> |
I had come home to honor a promise I'd made to Joshua, but I had also come home to balance the scales, to face a reckoning seventeen years overdue. If I was destined to buy my family's freedom with my life, so be it. My only regret would be the man I would leave behind to mourn me. I worried how it would hit him. I knew intimately how much pain it would cause. Tomorrow would settle the matter one way or the other and until then, I had to make the most of the time I had, if tomorrow was all the time I had left. So I hugged him tight and said into his chest, "We're good."<br><br> | I had come home to honor a promise I'd made to Joshua, but I had also come home to balance the scales, to face a reckoning seventeen years overdue. If I was destined to buy my family's freedom with my life, so be it. My only regret would be the man I would leave behind to mourn me. I worried how it would hit him. I knew intimately how much pain it would cause. Tomorrow would settle the matter one way or the other and until then, I had to make the most of the time I had, if tomorrow was all the time I had left. So I hugged him tight and said into his chest, "We're good."<br><br> | ||
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− | "Good. I'm kind of looking forward to it," Joshua said with wry understatement. "Op is going to go smooth as silk, we'll get your family out and we're going to have one hell of a wedding." He rubbed her belly softly with his hand as he thought for a minute. "Just as a warning, I have no idea what happens after the | + | "Good. I'm kind of looking forward to it," Joshua said with wry understatement. "Op is going to go smooth as silk, we'll get your family out and we're going to have one hell of a wedding." He rubbed her belly softly with his hand as he thought for a minute. "Just as a warning, I have no idea what happens after the I do. All my imaginary scenarios end with the wedding part."<br><br> |
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− | I moved with his hands, trying to get as much contact through our clothing as possible and sighed when he withdrew. Kindled lust made my voice throaty as I murmured, "And after | + | I moved with his hands, trying to get as much contact through our clothing as possible and sighed when he withdrew. Kindled lust made my voice throaty as I murmured, "And after that comes the honeymoon. Have you any ideas as to where?"<br><br> |
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− | "What? You didn't immediately think that when I took you out back of Muleskinner's?" I laughed softly as he considered the idea. Joshua's joyful innocence when it came to life's pleasures | + | "What? You didn't immediately think that when I took you out back of Muleskinner's?" I laughed softly as he considered the idea. Joshua's joyful innocence when it came to life's pleasures never failed to make my heart ache with tenderness. "I'm sure he's got enough scrap lying around to make a decent frame."<br><br> |
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− | ''Dear God, what did I do | + | ''Dear God, what did I do right to deserve you, Joshua?''<br><br> |
"Anywhere with you is somewhere nice." I cupped his face and looked into his eyes. They were nothing but a darker blur in a deeply shadowed face but I knew where they were regardless. "Everything we need for a real honeymoon is right here in this room. Because you're in it. I don't want or need anything else."<br><br> | "Anywhere with you is somewhere nice." I cupped his face and looked into his eyes. They were nothing but a darker blur in a deeply shadowed face but I knew where they were regardless. "Everything we need for a real honeymoon is right here in this room. Because you're in it. I don't want or need anything else."<br><br> |