Page 129 of Lethal Threat

“I think Bryan is going to be fine. He might need rehab. That will take time to sort out. The operation went perfectly and your brother helped. Actually, it went better than we could have expected. One of the guys in there was a plant. He’s an undercover federal agent of some sort who was trying to crack the drug ring.”

She burrows closer. “I’m so glad it’s over. I have a million questions.”

We just breathe for a few minutes. I bury my face in her hair again, soaking in her closeness. “We’ll get you answers. I promise. Right now, this is all that matters.”

She lets out a sharp squeak.“Ribs.”

I freeze. “I’m sorry, baby.” I ease my hold. “We need to get those x-rayed. There could be unstable fractures that could threaten your lung. Your wrists are a bloody mess. I’ve got to get you somewhere and get that cleaned up. Infection could set in?—”

She slides her arms from around me, grabs my face. “Cole.Cole!Stop talking and kiss me, for heaven’s sake. That’s all I need right now.”

Her hands coax me toward her as a little smile turns up her beautiful lips.

I take a deep breath and try to rein in my obsession with her injuries. “You’re right.”

She leans toward me. When our lips touch, I forget everything.

The world spins down to the sensation of her delicious, perfect, soft mouth against mine. The little moan that escapes her throat is the only thing I can hear. The feel of her body in my hands is the balm my wrecked soul needs.

It’s perfect.

Driving my tongue into her mouth, I inhale her.

She moans and devours me back. My body starts to hum to life, the adrenaline being replaced with lust. I don’t just need to get her somewhere to clean up her wounds, I need to get her alone. Burying myself deep inside of her is the only thing that’s going to make me feel like this is truly over.

When we break apart, our ragged breaths fill the space between us. Her fingernails dig into my forearms. I cup herface in my hands. She looks back at me lovingly as she begins to smile.

The anger is gone.

My heart trips up again and again. The reality of how close I came to losing her crashes into me. A fresh wave of fear rushes through me. “You,” I growl at her, “I ought to spank you for taking off. You promised me you wouldn’t leave. I got home and found out you were gone. Worst moment of my life.”

“Wait. Cole, what?”

“It crushed me when you weren’t there.”

She closes her eyes. Shakes her head slowly. “You didn’t get the message.”

I stiffen. “What message?”

“I called you before I left.”

“I didn’t get a message.”

She winces. “God. It must have been when I lost cell signal. I tried to leave you a message.”

I’m frowning. “You called me?”

“I did. I didn’t want you to follow me, but I called you. I told you to leave me alone.”

I pull her closer and rest my forehead against hers. “I would have come anyway. You’re not getting rid of me.”

She shakes her head. “I’m glad. I’m sorry if I acted like an idiot and took off. You didn’t answer your phone. I knew you were on the training mission. I couldn’t think straight. The only thing I wanted to do was get home to search for Bryan.”

I growl at her with a new kind of emotion filling me up. She called me. She didn’t leave without telling me. I lean down and brush a kiss over her lips. “I knew you were trouble from the day I met you.”

Sierra grins through her tears. “Like you’re not? Andyou aren’t out of the hot seat, buddy. I get to spank you for running back into a gunfight.”

Overcome with emotion, I press my lips to hers and speak against her mouth. “Woman. We’ve got a lot of things to talk about.”