Page 56 of Deadly Security Breach

“Diabolical,” Iris said, shaking her head. “It’s over then?”

“It’s over,” Bec promised, leaning in for a kiss that told Iris how much she missed her. “The facility won’t reopen as a private research center. There isn’t an investor alive who wants to touch it now. Maybe the government will take it over, but it will remain closed until the case is cleared up.”

“What will you do for work if you don’t have a job?” Iris took her hands, needing the connection so her anxiety didn’t spike. The thought of losing her again was just too much.

“That brings me back to the message I came to deliver,” Bec said with a lip tilt.

“Oh, right! What was the message you had to deliver?”

“I love you, Iris Knowles. I don’t want to spend another day apart.”

“You love me, too?” she asked, lifting her head to gaze into Bec’s brown eyes. She would learn to hold her gaze forever if it meant she didn’t have to go another day without her.

“Too? If you’re saying you love me, then, yes, I love you, too.”

“I do love you,” Iris said, laughing at the word salad she’d found herself making. “I never want to spend another day apart, but Bec, there’s no work for you here.”

The woman she loved paused long enough to bring her knuckles to her lips for a kiss. “I would work anywhere if it meant we didn’t have to be apart, Iris.”

“But you can’t work just anywhere. You’re a doctor. Your job is to help people by researching diseases and stuff, right?”

“Ultimately, yes,” she agreed.

“My job here at Secure Watch can be done remotely. Did you know that? A lot of our agents work from all over the Midwest.”

“Zac may have mentioned that once or twice on the ride back today, but I would never ask you to leave somewhere you’re comfortable, Iris. I love you too much to ask you to be outside your comfort zone.”

“Three weeks ago, I would have agreed with that, but then I met you and learned that my comfort zoneis wherever you are. As long as we’re together, I’ll be happy and okay.”

“Me, too,” Bec whispered as she leaned in and kissed her passionately, making up for the two weeks they’d been separated. When they broke apart, she ran her thumb under her eye. “But, as it turns out, they need someone in the public health department in the county seat. I’d be doing important things that would impact the lives of everyone in the county, which is why I became a scientist. Maybe someday, we’ll decide to move on, but right now, I could get used to coming home to you every night to enjoy these sunsets. How does that sound to you?”

“Yes,” Iris said, nodding while a giant smile lifted her lips.

“Yes?”

“Yes to sunsets, to anything, to everything, Rebecca Roth. Yes, to you and me sharing our lives together.”

“I wish there was a minister here right now. That was the start of the perfect vows, Iris Knowles.”

“Give me time, and I can come up with something even better,” she promised with a wink.

Bec lowered her head and stopped millimeters from her lips. “Sweetheart, you can have the rest of my life.”

When their lips met, the sun dipped below the horizon, and a moonbeam lit up the night to christen the first kiss of the rest of their lives.

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