Yet … Once again, my gut told me otherwise. Instinct and everything I’d recently unearthed made me confident of what I would find here.
Kyle took me gently by the forearm and led me through the garage to the main exit. We passed a black SUV—not the Escalade Dane drove—as well as Dane’s McLaren and high-performance motorcycle.
We made our way up to the house and I bypassed the keypad and tried the lever. It was unlocked. Stepping inside, I found the entryway and the space beyond as dimly lit as when we’d arrived here after I’d been in the hospital. I didn’t bother turning on any lights. Instead, I led Kyle to the great room. The silvery-blue hues of this portion of the house provided just enough illumination because of the tall windows and doors that let in the streaks of moonlight.
I pulled up short just past the oversized entrance, my heart stammering. Kyle instantly let go of my wrist.
Air rushed from my lungs as the figure at the windows turned.
“Dane!”
I raced across the stone floor and launched myself into his arms.
“Well, fuck me,” I heard Kyle mutter, nonplussed. And astonished.
Dane held me firmly. Everything ceased to exist except the two of us.
Tears began to flow, which quickly turned into body-wracking sobs. My face was buried in the crook of his neck and his embrace tightened.
Relief and joy echoed through every inch of me. Every fiber of my being screamed with the need to get closer to him, even though we were completely melded together from head to toe.
I was overwrought with emotion. All of the positive energy I?
??d channeled into my belief that Dane was alive could not prepare me for the reality of it. For the feeling of his hard body against my curves, his soft lips at my temple, his warm breath on my skin as he murmured apologies and “I love you” in a tormented voice.
I clung to him, not sure I’d ever be able to let go.
This wasn’t a dream. It was real. He was alive and I was in his arms.
Somehow, he’d survived the explosion. And I knew he had to be as wrecked as I’d been, not being able to tell me, to talk to me, to touch me.
“I’m so happy to see you,” I sobbed. “I’ve never been happier than right this very moment.”
“Baby, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “For all you’ve been through.”
“Nothing matters, Dane. Except that you’re here with me.”
I couldn’t let him go. Clung endlessly to him. Continued to cry.
He kept one arm solidly around my waist and smoothed my hair with the other hand.
In the background, over my soft wails, I heard Amano explaining what had happened after they’d discovered the bomb planted in the table below that massive chandelier I’d always admired.
“Dane was the last one out,” he said in his deep, stoic tone. “He went into the kitchen, just to be sure everyone escaped. He wasn’t far out of the doors to the courtyard when the building blew. I found him under a pile of stone, glass, and wood. He was unconscious. Barely breathing.”
My crying jag ensued, but I tried to concentrate on what Amano said as Dane stroked my hair and kissed my temple.
“I had to get him out of there, fast. He wouldn’t have survived. So I carried him over my shoulder to the back lot where the hotel Escalades are and left through the service entrance before the ambulances and fire trucks were even on their way.”
“He took me to the physician who helped Vale,” Dane told me in a quiet voice. “A private facility—a friend. Part of my network.”
So nothing would be reported. Everything kept hush-hush. Including his existence.
Amano said, “I went back for you, Ari, but by then you’d been taken to the hospital. I followed the story on TV, learned your injuries weren’t life threatening. I had to trust that Kyle and your father would take care of you, and I had to do the same with Dane.”
I’d known there would be a sound reason for all the secrecy.
Continuing, Amano told us, “Dane was in a coma. Responsive in some respects, but clearly in need of healing. I didn’t know if he would live, so I didn’t do anything—I didn’t let anyone see me, not even Jack Conaway, so I could avoid answering questions. I didn’t tell anyone Dane made it out alive. And I didn’t visit you because Dr. Forrester did not believe Dane was going to survive. I had to wait it all out.…”