But Thomas didn’t answer her. When Mercer and two deputies rushed through the woods moments later, Thomas was unconscious. Unresponsive.
They loaded him into the helicopter. Patrick was pushed in beside him.
Patrick was still wheezing. His color had turned ashen. Thomas... She couldn’t hear his breaths at all.
She held him tight. I won’t let you go. “Keep your promise,” she whispered as the tears burned her eyes. Then she looked toward the open door of the chopper.
Aaron stood there. A deputy had cuffed a sobbing Paula.
“Don’t let her go!” Noelle cried out. “She’s the key to this mess.”
Paula’s head lifted. Her gaze darted from Patrick to Thomas.
Paula smiled.
The chopper lifted in the air.
* * *
THOMAS KNEW HE was in a hospital even before he opened his eyes. It was the smell that told him, that antiseptic scent and the steady beeping of a nearby machine.
He remembered getting shot. Remembered the desperate fear he wouldn’t get to Noelle in time to save her. So when he forced his eyes open and struggled to speak, her name was the first word he uttered. “No...elle...”
“I’m right here.” Her hand squeezed his. “Do you hear me? I’m right here.”
He turned his head. The glow of the sun was behind her, and damn if the woman didn’t look like an angel to him.
His perfect dream. Right there.
“You’re smiling.” Noelle sounded worried. “Is that because of the drugs? Because when a person takes a bullet to the chest, a smile after surgery isn’t the typical response.”
Thomas shook his head.
“I’m calling the nurse.” She lunged toward the call button.
“I...remember.”
Noelle paused at his gruff words. “You remember the shooting? That’s good. I was—I was worried you’d—”
He shook his head again, turning slightly against the pillow. Surprisingly, he felt no pain. Must’ve been the drugs. Like pain would’ve mattered to him right then. No, not when he knew. “You...love me.”
He wondered if she would deny it.
“Of course, I love you,” Noelle said as she bent close to him. Her beautiful eyes gleamed with tears. “I’m just surprised you didn’t realize it sooner. I mean, I could barely get within ten feet of you without stumbling over my words every time we talked.”
He’d thought that was fear. That he made her too nervous.
Noelle pressed a light kiss to his lips. “You’re the most dangerous man I’ve ever met, and you’re the only man who has ever made me feel completely safe when I’m with him.”
His heart ached, and that wasn’t due to the wound. “I’d die to keep you safe.”
A tear spilled from her eye and slid down her cheek. “You almost did. How about you don’t ever, ever do that again?”
He wouldn’t make any promises. When it came to Noelle, he’d do anything if it meant she was alive and happy. Her hand still held his. He lifted their joined hands, ignoring the slight burn of the IV, and he pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.
“I love you.” Saying the words to her seemed as natural as breathing. He’d never given those words to another woman, and Thomas knew Noelle would be the only one he ever did say them to. She’d held his heart for so long. Her courage had drawn him in. Her intelligence. Her goodness, which seemed to shine from within her. After spending so much time in the shadows and in the darkness, he’d been drawn to the light that was Noelle.
To him, she was... Hell, she was everything.