She wasn’t breathing.
He breathed for her again. He’d keep breathing for her as long as it took because he wasn’t going to let her go. Rachel couldn’t do this to him.
He pressed against her chest once more.
She choked. Her body spasmed and water poured from her lips.
Dylan grabbed her and turned her onto her side once more, holding her as tightly as he could. She was back. Back. And he’d never let her go again.
Trem
bles shook her slender frame. When the water stopped spilling from her lips, he pulled her back against him, wrapping his arms around her and curving his whole body over hers.
He kissed her head. “Don’t ever leave me,” he whispered. His hold was too tight on her, he knew that, but Dylan couldn’t ease his grip.
He’d just fought death for her. He knew that he would fight anything and everything for Rachel.
She didn’t speak, but her fingers threaded through his.
There was silence on that dock. Jack had stopped screaming.
Dylan glanced up.
Thomas shoved the killer down to his knees. “Damn, Rachel, you just scared the hell out of me,” Thomas said. Since very little ever seemed to scare Thomas, Dylan knew that was a big admission.
And he also knew that he felt the same way.
Then Jack started to laugh. The sound was chilling.
“It’s not over...” Jack told them. “It’s just starting...”
Dylan rose, keeping Rachel in his arms. The guy had lost his ski mask. His head was bowed, so Dylan couldn’t see his face clearly. “You’re going to spend the rest of your life in a cage.”
Jack tilted his head back. “Don’t be so sure of that.”
Dylan found himself staring down at a familiar face. The face he’d seen in O’Sullivan’s pub. The face of the man who’d seemed so concerned about Rachel hours before.
The man who’d kidnapped her.
Aidan O’Sullivan.
* * *
RACHEL SAT IN the back of an ambulance with a blanket around her shoulders. The EMTs had checked her out about five times now, and her body had finally stopped shaking.
“Are you all right?” The soft question came from Noelle. Noelle had been by Rachel’s side during all of those EMT checks. The woman was still watching her like a hawk.
Rachel nodded. “Jack’s in custody. He won’t hurt anyone else again.” She swallowed. Her throat ached. Probably due to all of the water that she’d swallowed. “So, yes, I’m definitely all right now.”
She wouldn’t think about the dark water or about the burn in her lungs. She’d gotten tangled in some kind of rope down there. She’d managed to break the surface once, to wave for help, but the rope hadn’t let her stretch out enough to actually suck in air.
So she’d gone back down. She’d fought, twisting and turning, and she’d finally managed to yank her way free of the rope.
There were so many boats docked at the harbor. The rope could’ve come from anywhere...
And it almost killed me.
By the time she’d gotten free... “I just didn’t have the strength to get back to the surface.” She’d tried. She’d kicked.