“I love you, Cassie! Just want you to know that before we hit the water.”
“I love you too, Kevin!” Her voice vibrated with despair. “That stupid air intake, I thought we fixed it!”
The helicopter drifted toward the ocean. Autorotation would keep them going for a while, but if the RPM’s got too low, they could be in trouble.
Finally, Dearborn propped the gun on his lap and placed both his hands on the cyclic.
“Good man,” Kevin gasped. “If we can keep the blades about like this, we might have a chance. Damn, it feels like a frickin’ freight train. Hang on tight, might be something else I can do. You got it?”
Dearborn grunted, and Kevin let one hand go. He reached for the instruments, which was just a fake-out—he planned to knock Dearborn out with an elbow to the throat.
But before he could do that, a thump sounded from the passenger seat. The Robinson quivered as Dearborn’s grip on the cyclic loosened. Kevin grabbed on again and wrestled it back where he needed it.
When he was sure they weren’t going to crash, he swung around to see what was happening.
Dearborn slumped in the passenger seat, blood welling from a gash on his temple.
Cassie was on her knees behind the passenger seat, brandishing a fire extinguisher over Dearborn’s lolling head.
Kevin reached over and grabbed the gun, made sure the safety was on, then tossed it into the back. “Well done. He’s out.”
She dropped the fire extinguisher with a thud. “Are we going to crash? Do you need help up there?”
“Nope, I got it. You don’t have to knock out the bad guy and rescue us from crashing. I can help out a little, you know.”
She burst out laughing, then disappeared for a moment. When she came back, she held a length of nylon rope, the kind used in rescue gear. She wrapped it around Dearborn and his seat, over and over again. “What kind of idiot uses a bungee cord to tie someone up? I thought he was such a good planner. He didn’t even have rope!”
“We threw him off his game,” said Kevin. He needed to throttle up again, but the cyclic needed all his attention. “Grab this, would you?”
Cassie crawled close enough to grab onto the cyclic. Good thing she had such strong hands and forearms, not to mention such a cool, collected head on her shoulders.
Quickly, he throttled back up, and the engine roared back to life. For a few moments, he devoted all his attention to getting them back to a safe altitude and flying level.
Then, finally, he could relax. Cassie was still huddled close, watching him work the controls. “How did you know how to do that?” she asked, a hint of awe in her voice. “You said helicopters weren’t your specialty.”
“I used to be a stunt pilot, remember?”
“For helicopters?”
“I didn’t mention that part? Yeah, there aren’t too many of us. I did helicopter stunts for movies, shows. Deadstick landing. Fun, huh? Never did it with a gun aimed at me though.”
Cassie whooshed out a long breath. “Wow! That was the most amazing thing. So you got him into the chopper so you could pull that maneuver and freak him out?”
“Yup.” He managed a grin. Sweat was dripping off his forehead. “It’s been a long time since I did anything like that. Glad it came back.”
“Please don’t say it was like riding a bike.”
He laughed. The adrenaline was wearing off and he had to get this bird back on the ground. And all he wanted to do was kiss Cassie.
“Can you take the controls again? Just hold a steady course. I have to get the radio plugged back in so we can notify everyone in creation.”
“Sure.” She slid her hands on top of his so he could let go. “You saved my life.” Her voice hitched.
He reached for the comm connection on the instrument panel. “I don’t know about that. I don’t think he intended to hurt you—at least not until I showed up. God, I nearly had a stroke when I saw him with you.”
“No.” Her hands shook wildly on the cyclic. “You saved me. You saved us. Our whole family. My mom. Aiden. Oh my God! Aiden! He told me he has Aiden locked up somewhere. We have to tell Will! The police! Everyone!”
“Hey, hey. We will. That’s what I’m doing here, getting the radio going. It’ll be okay, my love.”
“Your—your what?”
He glanced back at her and caught her wide eyes, her surprise. At least she wasn’t panicking anymore.
“My love,” he repeated firmly. “Did you think I was pretending when I said it before? I wasn’t. That’s what I came out here to tell you. I love you, I’m crazy about you. I didn’t know if you’d ever speak to me again, after the way I acted. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. Maybe as soon as we get this chopper back on the ground, you’ll tell me to take a hike. But if you do, I’ll just start over. I’ll be patient, I’ll keep working right beside you, I’ll take you to the movies, I’ll cook you dinner, then maybe sometime Holly will have an overnight—you know, in about three years, when she’s not grounded anymore—and I’ll take you to bed and convince you all over again that we belong together.”
He finally got the radio connector back in place. He was about to turn it on and send out a May Day, but she forestalled him with a hand on his arm.
“You think we belong together?” she asked.
He took control of the cyclic back from her. “Like a nut and a bolt. A hook and an eye. A block and a tack—”
“I get the idea.”
Since she was laughing at his mechanical references, he decided to branch out. “Like nachos and cheese. Ice and cream. Jalapeños and…everything.”
She drew in a quick breath, somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “I love you too, Kevin. I wasn’t just being dramatic when we were headed straight down. I really love you.”
His heart sang with joy. It wasn’t too late. He hadn’t screwed everything up. “Hold that thought.”
He turned on the radio and dialed the transponder code to seventy-seven hundred, the code for inflight emergencies. “May Day, May Day, May Day. This is November Eight-Niner-Niner-Sierra, declaring an emergency.” He rattled off their position.
A dispatcher came on the line. “This is dispatch, go ahead, November Eight-Niner-Niner-Sierra.”
“This is Kevin O’Donnell and Cassie Knight. We’re seven miles off the coast inbound for the Knight and Day airstrip with a suspect on board. He was armed and dangerous, now unconscious, and he may have information about a hostage. And if anyone can get ahold of Will Knight, or any of the other Knight brothers, they’ll probably want to be part of this.”
“Roger that. Sending a team over there now. Are either of you in any immediate danger?”
“No, the suspect has been restrained. We’re okay, but maybe you could send a medic.” With one hand, he reached back and cradled Cassie’s face, where blood from the cut was already drying.
“I’m okay,” she called toward the radio. “No need for a medic.”
“You don’t always have to be tough,” he said gently. “That bastard hit you. He put a gun to your head. He terrorized you.” They were closing in on the Knight and Day tarmac, so he initiated the descent.
Her eyes filled with tears. She dashed one away as it spilled down her cheek, but another followed right away. “He wouldn’t have hurt me. You heard him. You, on the other hand? He would have gotten rid of you without a second thought if you weren’t flying for him.” She gave up on stopping the tears, instead just letting them flow. “I saw the look in his eyes. He would have shot you and called it an accident like with my father.”
She buried her head in her hands for a moment. He longed to take his hands off the collective and comfort her, but in the midst of a descent was not the time.
“But he didn’t,” he said. “We’re both alive. I love you. I want everything with you, Cassie. I want you in our family. I want you in my bed. I want you in my wedding photos.”
“Your what?”
“You heard me. I alrea
dy told Holly that’s what I want, so it’s not just because I saw that asshole with a gun to your head.”
“Wedding photos,” she said faintly. “It’s true that we looked really great on that brochure Deirdre made.”
He chuckled as he brought the Robinson into a hover over the tarmac. “Is that a yes?”
“Everything okay up there?” the dispatcher asked.
Before Kevin could answer, Cassie leaned forward. Even though her face was wet with tears, her eyes were shining. “Yes, everything’s fine. We’re getting married!”
Now that was more like it. Tossing her a slow grin and a thumbs-up, he began lowering the chopper toward the ground. In the distance, he saw two police cars heading down the road toward Knight and Day, with a sheriff’s department cruiser and Will Knight’s rig close behind.
The cavalry was arriving. The town of Jupiter Point closing forces to protect them.
“Congratulations,” the dispatcher said dryly. “Maybe this is the right time to mention that this frequency is strictly for emergencies.”
Kevin flicked off the radio. Once again, it was just him and Cassie. “Ready to go home, my love?”
She dropped a kiss onto his shoulder, the closest part she could reach. “Pretty sure I already am.”
29
After the helicopter’s skids touched down, everything happened very quickly. Matthew Dearborn was still unconscious. The police bundled him into a squad car, but before they left, Cassie told them everything he’d said about Aiden.
“I don’t know if it’s true, he could have been bluffing.”
Will was already on his phone, calling Aiden’s cell. He got no answer. “Aiden, it’s Will, give me a call as soon as you get this,” he said. Grim-faced, he headed back to his car.
“Wait,” said Kevin, right by her side. Ever since they’d stepped out of the chopper, he’d kept his arm tightly around her shoulders. “I saw something the other day during a bear-spotting flight. Smoke coming from a cabin. It’s not hunting season yet, and it’s still pretty cold up in the mountains. It seemed out of place. Does Dearborn have a cabin?”
“He does. We checked it out once but we’ll do it again. Right away.”
“Be careful,” Cassie called after him. “He’s crazy but he plans everything out. He might have set up traps out there.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take Tobias and Ben with me. Kevin, you want to come too? Honorary Knight brother?” Will gave him a fleeting smile.
“I think you guys got it. I’m good here.” He hugged her a little tighter to him. She snuggled into his side, knowing there was no place in the world she’d rather be.
“One thing,” Will added before he got into his truck. “Someone should tell Mom.”
“I will,” Cassie said instantly. “I’m the one who bonked Dearborn on the head. She’ll love that.”
“You sure? She might get upset that he went after you. You might have a Mom meltdown on your hands, and you’re already pretty shaken up.”
“Actually, I feel great.” As if she could fly even without a helicopter. Because Kevin loved her. “Keep us posted, Will.”
A paramedic came over to clean her cut, so Kevin released her. As he got on the phone—calling Holly, maybe?—she thought about their future. She and Kevin still had a few things to work out—like how this new family of theirs was going to work. Was she really stepmother material?
Finished, the paramedic offered her a Band-Aid. Adorably, it had a pink baby unicorn on it. It made her smile…and also it reminded her of something.
Holly was a teenager. Nearly grown. That made it easier, right? She didn’t have to be a stepmother, in the traditional sense. She could be more of a friend. Another concerned adult.
“Kevin,” she said after the paramedic and everyone else had left. “I should apologize. I should have called you about Holly. I shouldn't have let you be blindsided like that. I was trying to respect her wishes, but she’s your daughter. You had a right to know.”
He met her gaze levelly. “Maybe, but I shouldn’t have lashed out the way I did. You were being so kind to Holly, and I should have trusted you. I won’t make that mistake again.” He took the Band-Aid from her and peeled off the backing. “We’ll probably both make mistakes, and that’s okay. We’ll figure it out, one crisis at a time.”
As he smoothed the Band-Aid tenderly onto her cut, her heart cracked wide open again. God, she loved him.
“Another thing. You can’t go around doing things that might get you killed, like taunting Dearborn. Where would that leave Holly?”
He gathered her into his arms, his strength and warmth flowing into her. “Holly knows I can’t stand by and let someone get hurt. Why do you think she was so afraid of how I’d react to…you know. Her very bad decision.”
Apparently he still had a hard time saying it out loud. “Someday I’ll tell you about all the ridiculously stupid things I did at her age. Maybe I’ll even let you read my journals.” She pulled back and smiled up at him. “Think you could handle that?”
“I just took out an armed maniac while flying a chopper,” he pointed out with righteous indignation.
“Yes, but you have no idea how much angst goes into a teenage girl’s diary.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Okay, you talked me out of it. I’ll stick with my own teenage drama queen.”
“You know, you should be really proud of how Holly’s trying to handle this. It was brave of her to tell you. She could have kept her head down and let it all disappear.”
“I know.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I am trying to see it that way. But God, the observatory…that’s her happy place, and she took a dump all over it. They might never trust her again.”
“And that’s something she has to deal with.”
“With your help.” His lips touched hers in a kiss filled with love and life and hope. “Because you’re amazing, and I’m so lucky you’re still speaking to me.”
“We don’t have to speak. We can just kiss.”
“Okay.” He kissed her again, and they clung to each other for a long moment. The sun beat down on their heads and a breeze whispered through the long grass near the airstrip. Joy sang through her heart and soul.
“I need to talk to Mom,” she said, finally, reluctantly pulling away.
“I’ll come with you,” he said instantly.
“No. I have to do this alone. But I’ll see you later?”
He kissed her again, a brief brush of his lips against her forehead. “Man, it’s hard to let you go. Come to my place tonight. We’ll tell Holly there’s a wedding in our future. That you’re joining our family. That I took her advice, basically. That will probably be her favorite part.”
“By the way, you guys are joining my family too. She’s about to inherit a lot of Knight uncles.” Kevin laughed, but the reminder about her brothers made her sober. “Do you think Aiden’s okay?”
“I do. Dearborn wasn’t out to hurt him, just use him as leverage. You go talk to your mom. I love you. And I really look forward to proving that in every way under the sun.”
30
Cassie still felt Kevin’s love flowing through her as she related the entire story to her mother. Janine sobbed, of course. Got angry, then horrified at Dearborn’s plan, and terrified about Aiden. But also elated that he was finally in police custody. And that there were witnesses to his craziness.
“I used to doubt myself. I thought maybe I was being paranoid about his letters. I wondered if I was overreacting, if I was losing my mind. Sometimes I did, a bit.”
“No, you didn’t lose your mind, whatever that means. You were dealing with trauma. He’s the one with mental problems,” Cassie said firmly. “It was written all over his face. Know something else, Mom? Now that I’ve been face to face with him, I’m glad you left Jupiter Point. You did the right thing. He’s insane. If you’d stayed here, who knows what he would have done. But this way, we were ready for him. We got him, and he won’t hurt any
one else.”
Janine dropped her head into her hands and sobbed. “Everything I’ve done for all these years has been because of that bastard! Even living here at the Reinhards’. I thought that would be safer for you. Instead, he attacked you!”
“It’s not your fault. None of it is. Look at me, Mom.” When Janine finally met her eyes, Cassie said firmly, “No regrets. I don’t have any. It all worked out just fine.”
Janine gazed at her for a long moment, then a smile spread across her face. “You and Kevin.”
Cassie couldn’t contain her joy, and laughed out loud. ““Yup. Me and Kevin.”
“I knew it. He’s perfect for you!”
“He might be too good for me.” Cassie said it lightly, but she wasn’t entirely joking. “And he has a daughter, who’s going through a lot right now. Me, a stepmother? Can you picture that?”
“Absolutely,” Janine said firmly. “I can’t think of a better person to help a struggling teenager. Or a struggling adult, for that matter.” She reached for Cassie and hugged her. “I love you, chickadee. I’m so proud to call you my daughter. And so grateful.”
Grateful.
What a perfect word to describe this moment.
A few days later, she and Kevin stood hand in hand near the gazebo on the grounds of the observatory. Inside, Holly was confessing her crime to her boss, the director. She was determined to do it on her own—especially after she’d heard Aiden’s incredible story of how he’d escaped from Dearborn’s cabin. It was quite a tale; one that ended when Tobias, searching with the chopper, spotted him hiking out of the wilderness with the help of a backpacker. A female backpacker.
It turned out that Aiden had gotten himself free the day before Dearborn had come after Cassie. Once Dearborn had discovered Aiden was gone, he’d switched to Plan B—Cassie.
Too Hot to Handle Page 24