Page 43 of Too Guarded to Love (Project VIPER #3)

N ic swung his body toward the window.

“Don’t even think about smashing through the glass.”

With all the wrath of a man about to lose the woman he loved, he ignored Edgar and crashed through with his steel arm. Landing in a crouch, his super leg taking the brunt of the impact, he ignored the pain that shot up his legs.

“That wasn’t part of the plan, but I’m right behind you. I’ll secure the ortho rep.”

He silently thanked Linc and ignored the stunned hospital staff as he sprang to his feet and ran around the table to Olivia.

Dropping to his knees next to the nurse giving her chest compressions, he gripped Olivia’s hand. “Wake up, sirena. Please, mi amor. Wake up.”

Someone nudged him. He pushed them away.

Strong hands gripped him from behind and pulled him back. “Give them space to work.”

He let Linc drag him up as they removed Olivia’s surgical mask and cut the front of her surgical gown. Another readied the defibrillator. The sight of the paddles triggered a desperate helplessness inside him.

He gripped Linc’s arms. “I was too late. The fucker hit the button on that damn device before I…” He kicked out hi s steel leg and caught the Diablo in the arm. “She can’t die. She just can’t. Not when…”

“Breathe, brother.”

Nic sniffed back hot tears. He could still feel the connection pulling him to her like an SOS, but for how long?

“She’s so determined and impulsive and she made me let my guard down, and I don’t want those walls back up.

I’ve let her in completely and she has to stay.

She can’t go back to Atlanta, and she sure as hell can’t fucking die. ”

The door behind him burst open. He heard Chris and Kane’s voices but didn’t take his eyes off the woman he’d fallen so hard for; he’d defied a direct order without a care for the consequences.

The only consequence he cared about was losing the smart, daring woman he loved because he’d been too late.

Kane stopped short behind him. “Oh my God.”

Linc clapped a hand on Nic’s shoulder. “Olivia is tough. Like Gran. She’ll be around a long time to lead you on a leash like a little bitch.”

A small gasp jumped from Olivia’s mouth as her eyelids fluttered.

“ Sirena.” Nic fell to his knees beside her. “Can you hear me, baby?” He stroked her cheek with his steel. “Can you feel me? Feel us?”

Long seconds passed as he watched her chest rise and fall. “Don’t make me beg, Olivia. Open your damn eyes.”

Slowly, her stormy blue gaze met his. “About time you’re the one in this relationship doing the begging.”

He breathed again as he gathered her in his arms and rose. “Thank God.” Burying his face in her hair, he inhaled her floral scent that even a sterile hospital couldn’t counter. “And you bet your ass we’re in a relationship.”

The kind where they’d never leave each other again.

He rained kisses on her cheeks as he carried her through the doorway and set her on a gurney in the hall. Cradling her against his body, he lost himself for a few moments in the feel of her heartbeat against his chest. “Are you okay?”

“Forget about me.” She tore off her cap and wiggled out of her torn surgical gown as she swiveled her head toward the operating room. “How’s Harlee? Did any broken glass get on her?”

Chris pushed past two security guards at the operating room door. “The team in there says she’s stable, and the shattered glass was contained to a small area. They are moving her to recovery shortly.”

“Great.” She turned back to Nic. “I repaired the damage and did the procedure that could get her back to competitive riding.”

“I’m so fucking proud of you. Now tell me how you’re feeling.”

“A little woozy, and it burns where the tracker is, but I’m okay.” She pulled back from him and cupped his face with her hands. “Better than okay.”

He slipped his hands under her scrub top and rubbed her clavicle. “You’ll be even better once we get this thing out.”

Kane sat next to them. “Scarlett and Patience will be here in about fifteen minutes.” He laid a kiss on top of his sister’s head. “Don’t ever fucking do that to me again. Between you and Gran, I’m going to have a heart attack.”

Nic banded his arms tighter around the woman he didn’t want to live without. “Get in line.”

“Sorry.” She snuggled into Nic. “Did you get the ortho rep?”

Linc met them by the gurney. “Yeah, we got him.”

“See?” Olivia planted a kiss on Nic’s lips. “My plan worked. I identified the threat so you could stop him from killing me. ”

An image of her chest being compressed burned his memory like a blowtorch. “You. Weren’t. Breathing.”

“And if you hadn’t come to my rescue, I still wouldn’t be.” She touched the tip of his nose. “Smashing through the window seemed kind of reckless, though. Was that part of the plan?”

He gripped her ass cheek. “We’ll discuss that later, sirena .”

Electrifying tingles blossomed between Olivia’s thighs as she wiggled her bottom into Nic’s hand. Dipping her head to his, she flicked out her tongue and licked the shell of his ear. “You bet your sexy ass we’ll be discussing a lot later.”

Voices sounded from down the hall.

“Oh shit.” Nic scooped her in his arms. “We need to get out of here.”

Olivia clung to him as he dodged hospital staff and security guards. Sliding behind a construction barrier, he deposited her on another gurney. “What was that for?”

“I heard Joe’s sister. She’s going to be pissed I broke a window.” Running a finger down Olivia’s cheek, he nudged his leg between her thighs and stepped in. “More importantly, I needed a few minutes alone with you before Patience takes you to surgery.”

Time alone with him sounded like the best plan she’d heard all day.

Wrapping her hands around his neck, she tugged his head toward hers. “Thank you for smashing through a window like a superhero to get to me. It was alpha-hero hot, and I appreciate it with all my heart.”

He took her hand and placed it over his VIPER ink. “I would have smashed through this whole hospital to get to you. We all would have, but I would have led the way. I’m so sorry you got caught up with Richardson and the Diablos.”

She dug her fingers into his tactical vest. “It’s not your fault.”

“I know that. Your relation to Kane is what made you a pawn. Meeting me made you a target. There’s always going to be consequences because you’re tied to VIPER.

If the threat isn’t Richardson and the Diablos, it will be someone else.

And while the consequences of being with me might not be my fault, I will always protect you from them, I swear on my life. ”

He dropped his lips to hers. She felt every ounce of promise he poured into the kiss.

As the connection between them flared, heat bathed them in a cocoon that blocked out the commotion in the operating room.

She wished they could stay here and make good use of the gurney, but the tracker needed to come out and she had things to say.

Panting, she pulled back from the lips she would never grow tired of kissing and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’ve learned through trial by fire that life in the VIPER-verse is dangerous.

The lack of privacy is frustrating. The being ordered around is annoying.

And if we ever go to Level Black again, they’d better get us a bigger bed.

As for the consequences of being with you, we’ll face them together. ”

“Does this mean you’re planning on changing your address to the VIPER-verse?”

She dropped her hands to his ass and molded her body to his. “It’s where I belong. With you.”

He tipped her chin up with his fingers and met her gaze.

Any doubts she had about a future with him burned to ash as she saw the truth in his eyes.

“When I was out, I heard you ask if I felt you. Felt us . I did.” She didn’t know if the connection that transcended her consciousness was akin to Gran’s soulmate sense, and she didn’t care.

“I was pulled toward your voice. I felt you in here.”

“I felt it too. Dios, I was so afraid I was going to lose you.”

She placed her hand over his heart. “I don’t know how, but I know not even Richardson, or the Diablos, or unstable exes can sever our mystical, beautiful connection that doesn’t need to be explained.” She touched her lips to his. “Only felt.”

“Sirena.” He gathered her hands in his and brought them to his lips. “You make me feel things I’ve guarded myself against my whole life. I love you and your bravery and compassion, and your patience and understanding, and even your impulsive and reckless streaks.”

She stared at him as she steepled her fingers over her lips, her heart so full she couldn’t form words.

“This connection between us could take decades to explore.” He dropped a hand to the hem of her scrub top and slipped his fingers under. “Getting started as soon as we can is mission critical.”

She moaned low in her throat as he trailed a path up her belly, certain she’d never grow tired of his touch. “How about we make a deal?”

He cocked his eyebrow. “Still a devious sirena, even after a near-death experience?”

“No, not devious. Just a mermaid who’ll tell the soldier she’s lured with her magic what’s in her heart if he says he loves her again.”

Wrapping his hands under her thighs, he lifted her against him and kicked the gurney out of the way. “I love you, Dr. Olivia Darren. I swear I can’t breathe when you aren’t near.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist as he pressed her against the wall.

“And I can’t think straight when you say things like that.

I love you, Captain Nic Romero. I love you more than my horse.

More than my job, more than my impulsive streak that I’m never going to get over, and more than my cowboy boots. ”

“Wow, that last one says a lot. Do you think Gran will approve of us being together?”

“I don’t care what anyone thinks, but yes, she’ll approve. She’s a female. Don’t they all fall at your feet?”

He slipped his hand from beneath her thigh and gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “The only woman I want at my feet is you. Open those pretty lips for me, sirena.”

She laughed. “Isn’t that how we got started?”

“And that’s how we’re going forward. You, on your knees, worshipping me like the god I am every night.”

She swatted his chest. “Fine. You can worship me on your knees in the morning.”

“For the rest of your life, baby.” He pressed his lips against hers. “Now let me in so I can stay forever.”