Page 70 of Silos and Sabotage

“You’re right. I don’t want a paper marriage.” He stopped in the middle of the field to face her, taking her hands in his again. “I want the only kind worth having. A real one. But only after you’ve taken the time to grieve the way you need to.”

She swayed closer to him. “When did you become so understanding?”

His lips twisted. “Only after life beat me down to size and humbled me.”

Humor curved her lips upward. “You’ve never struck me as a humble man, Raleigh.”

“Maybe not.” He winked at her. “But I’ve come a long way since my wayward teens and early twenties.” A shadow momentarily crossed his handsome features. It was a reminder to her that he’d entered into his flawed marriage around that same time.

“Haven’t we all?” Regret coursed through about the mistakes she’d made with Mick. There were so many, many, many things she would’ve done differently if she could do them again.

“If nothing else, Avery, we understand each other better than most people.” He used her hands to tug her closer.

They did. “Like how lonely it is at the top?” Most people were so busy wishing they were where she and Raleigh were that they failed to consider the cost.

“It’ll be less lonely if we do it together.” His voice was husky and pleading.

“I’m not working my way up to a no here,” she declared softly. It was a monumental decision, though, not one she wanted to rush into.

A chuckle rumbled deep inside his chest. “Would it kill you to say yes to me?”

“It might,” she teased. She was enjoying dragging out her response. To have a man like him within her power filled her with a breath-stealing kind of awe. They were equals and surprisingly compatible. She fully intended to savor and enjoy every step of the journey they were embarking on together. She was going to take things slow this time. To grieve like he’d so graciously given her permission to continue doing. To explore their newfound friendship and let it lead naturally to a deeper, more satisfying intimacy. To?—

A shot rang out.

Avery’s bodyguards converged on them. “Get down,” they shouted, using their bodies as shields as they shoved her out of Raleigh’s grasp to the ground. Her knees bit into the dirt and found a bruising pebble or two.

Raleigh’s tall frame thudded down beside her. His face was pale, and he seemed to be having trouble breathing.

Her blood turned icy. “Raleigh?” She reached for his hand. “Are you?—?”

“I’ve been hit,” he wheezed.

All she could do was hold his hand and weep silently as one of her bodyguards shouted into his phone for backup. It felt like a million years before the wail of a siren met her ears.

“Hold on, Raleigh,” she sobbed again and again. She’d been through this before. She couldn’t bear to go through it again. “Please don’t leave me.”

“I’m…here.” His finger briefly grasped hers. Then his eyes closed, and his body went limp.

Chapter 13: The Merger

One hour earlier

Though Gage was under contract to protect Ella, he couldn’t have taken his eyes off her if he’d wanted to. She looked so beautiful in her red dress that it made his heart ache.

Despite the fact that Johnny was hovering like a pesky fly by her other elbow, Gage wound an arm possessively around her waist and drew her snuggly against his side.

Johnny raised his eyebrows at him over her head, but he kept his mouth shut for once.

They flashed their badges at the nurse’s station in the intensive care unit. Without any fuss, they were ushered into the patient hallway, where they found the police buzzing around Jordan’s room.

Cassie Cordell was weeping in the doorway as she gave her statement to the sheriff. Her blonde ponytail was frazzled, and she was in cutoff jean shorts and a wrinkled flannel shirt that looked like they’d been thrown on at the last second.

Luke Hawling nodded at Gage to acknowledge their presence, but he didn’t look surprised.

“May I see him?” Ella quavered.

Cassie nodded, wiping her eyes. “We were just about finished. Right, sheriff?”

---