Page 79 of Montana Rain

“You don’t have to do this. Please.” Panic sliced through me and cut me down to my barest instincts. Survival. Antonio had pliers in his hands, and I didn’t know what he meant to do with them, whether it was my teeth or my fingers, but I wasn’t going to let him do it.

I thrashed against the restraints, screaming at the top of my lungs. If I was going out, then I was going out fighting. He grabbed my jaw again, hard enough to bruise. “This will hurt more if you don’t stay still.”

He suddenly shouted, falling away from me. I heard more shouting and gunshots coming from everywhere, chaos and noise I couldn’t process with so much adrenaline and fear running through my system. Something heavy covered me. I fought as much as I could, trying to get it off. “Get it off, get it off!” I yelled.

“It’s me, princess. It’s me.”

“Cole?”

“I’m right here.” His body pressed into mine. “I’m covering you until it’s over, okay? I’m wearing a vest.”

Everything collapsed around me. He was here. He was here. He’d come for me.

“Stay on the ground!” a voice yelled.

My whole body shook. “You came for me.”

It was still the only thought in my mind, even though I’d known he would try. Feeling the end come close and getting a reprieve changed you. Now I understood so much more of what some of my patients had gone through.

Cole pulled back, his face close to mine. “Of course I fucking came for you. I love you.”

My heart both soared and fluttered inside my chest. I’d seen him mouth the words, but that was nothing compared to hearing them up close. “I love you,” I told him. “I’m sorry I had to do it. I didn’t want to. I just needed them to be safe.”

Cole slipped a hand behind my neck and kissed me hard. “I know. They’re safe and fine. And I’m sorry for not getting here sooner.” His hands moved to the restraints, getting them off me. “We need to get you to the hospital.”

“I’m okay. You got here before he could do any major damage.”

Looking behind him, he called to someone. “Are we clear?”

“Yeah.”

Cole stripped off the bulletproof vest then his T-shirt, ripping it in half. He wrapped part of it around my arm and the rest around my bleeding hand. “I was still too late, princess. He never should have been able to touch you.”

I threw my arms around him as soon as I was free, clinging to him. He lifted me out of the chair and pulled me away from it, scooping an arm under my legs so he held me. Just like when he’d saved me out in the snow.

Antonio was still on the ground, glaring at me, blood coming from a wound in his leg.

“We listened,” Cole said quietly. “I came in alone, but the FBI caught up. He’d already hurt you, and he was talking. So, we listened, and he confessed to murder in front of about fifteen FBI agents. He’s going to jail.”

“Good.” I let my head fall against his shoulder, the adrenaline leaving me and bringing exhaustion and more pain in its wake.

Carrying me out into the hallway and away from the chair and the blood, Cole sank to his knees. “I’ll bring you to the ambulance. Promise,” he said. “I just need a minute.”

He held me so tightly I could barely breathe, his own emotions shaking him. “That’s the second time I almost lost you,” he whispered. “It’s not going to happen again.”

I pulled his mouth down to mine, not knowing what to say or how to say it. We would both come out of this with scars, mental and physical. My own fears about my loved ones—and probably new ones related to all that we’d just been through together. Cole’s fear about not making it in time to save me, just like he hadn’t been able to save his brother.

Cole sucked in a shaky breath. “I couldn’t let it in. Not really. Because if I did, I wouldn’t have been able to focus enough to get to you.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “I love you,” he said again. “I thought about saying it to you earlier in the hotel room, and I’ll forever regret not saying it. I didn’t want to pile on to your emotions. And then you said it, and I think my soul left my body.”

Burying my face in his neck, I breathed him in. The idea of resisting this now was unthinkable. Cole had been right from the beginning—something brought us together in a way I couldn’t explain, and I’d forever be grateful for it.

“Let’s get you looked at,” he finally said. “Because I need to hold you for a lot longer than this.”

I nodded, melting against his body as he lifted me and carried me down and out of the building to the waiting ambulance. It was easier to breathe now, knowing he would never let me go.

Chapter 32

Cole

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