“Sir, we need to finish examining you,” a voice called.
“I got him,” Dare said. “If you can get Emma over here this will get a lot easier.”
“Emma,” Caine said, his gut roiling with the fear that he’d failed again. He wouldn’t survive it. He wouldn’t want to. His hands fisted in Dare’s cut. “I gotta protect her.”
“She’s coming. Just slow your roll and get your wits about you. You took a bit of a header and redecorated the ground with a little skin. You don’t want to worry her, right?”
Caine nodded, the words slowly but surely making sense. As if parts of him were coming back online one system at a time.
“You should know,” Dare said, nailing him with a stare. “She’s the one who took the guy out.”
He hadn’t even processed that when something else demanded his attention more.
“Caine!” The voice was like a magnet. He turned and he and Emma were in each other’s arms. “Caine,” she moaned, shoulders shaking.
“Oh, sweetness, are you okay?” he asked, his hands running all over her. Making sure she was really real. It was hard as hell to break their connection, but he held her back from him, needing to know. Needing to see. And, aw, God, she was beautiful. Dirt on her face and hair a mess and angry-looking road burn on her chin. Beautiful.
Her hands cupped his neck. “I’m okay. I’m okay, Caine. All because of you. You saved me…”
“Christ, I’m sorry you had to be the one to end this,” he said, hating that she’d forever have that memory. He knew firsthand how such things could eat at you in the dark of night.
“I’m not,” she rasped, those blue eyes so bright with life. “And we ended it together, Caine. But how are you? I was so scared. You wouldn’t wake up at first.”
He pulled her into his arms, needing her heat against him more than he needed his next breath. “I’m fine. But, oh, fuck, I’m not fine. I’m so goddamn sorry.” His voice cracked as he suddenly remembered everything that led up to the crash. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I never want to hurt you. Can you ever forgive—”
Emma kissed him. Her tongue in his mouth. Her arms around his neck. Her body pressed tight. It was forgiveness and acceptance in a physical act, and he felt it into his very soul.
Deep and slow, he kissed her back for everything he was worth. And for the first time, he actually believed he was worth something. To her. His injuries faded. The people disappeared. And they were alone and safe.
“Did you hear me before?” she asked when she pulled back from the kiss. Her eyes were blue fire looking at him, looking into the very depths of him.
“I…I don’t know.”
She rested her forehead against his. “Then let me tell you again. I love you. Every bit of you. Your past and your present and your mistakes and your strengths. I love you, Caine. Nothing else matters to me. And trust me, I’ve considered it all.”
A sob ripped up his throat. His arms went around her and he pressed his mouth to her hair. “I…Christ…I fucking love you, too. I wasn’t sure I knew what it was, Emma. Or maybe I didn’t believe I was capable of it. But I came awake and you weren’t there and in that moment I knew my whole world began and ended with you.”
They fell into each other again, but suddenly there was a mob around them.
“When did all these people get here?” Caine asked.
“He really needs to be seen,” a paramedic argued. And was that Dare’s voice? Phoenix’s? Everything was too much for Caine to make sense of it.
“We’ll go,” Emma was saying. “We’ll both go. But only if you can transport us in the same ambulance.”
Caine pulled Emma into his chest, not caring in the slightest that he suddenly felt about two dozen bruises all down his front. Or that all these people might’ve heard their words. Funny how nearly losing the most important thing in your life suddenly made what mattered most so fucking clear. And that was her. Them. Together.
Caine nodded. “What she said. Because no one’s ever separating us again.”
* * * *
Five Weeks Later
“I protest you going back to work,” Caine said, tempting Emma to stay right there in their bed where they’d spent so much of the past month. After the accident and the investigation into the stalking, she’d taken a leave of absence that was now coming to an end. And she regretted it, too.
She chuckled and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. The one with ink covering scars. God, he was so beautiful. “No one will pay me to stay in bed all day.”
He reached for his wallet on the nightstand, the stretch making him groan just a little. Neither of them had broken anything, and both were nearly fully healed up, but it was amazing how long a body continued to feel a head-on collision with the large immovable object known as the ground. He counted bills out onto his naked chest. “I got sixty-seven dollars. How much more time will that get me?”