by Kaylea Cross
“An avalanche?” Mason blurted. “Jesus, no wonder you look like hell.”
“What about the shooter?” Tate demanded, his muscles tense.
“Dead,” Braxton answered. “About two klicks behind us.”
“You take him out?” Mason asked.
“Yeah.”
“Good. Fucker. Come on.”
Tala lifted her head to see Braxton trudging for Mason’s snowmobile. He climbed on and caught her gaze, gave her a little smile that belied the exhaustion on his blood-stained face. A rush of emotion slammed into her, her heart swelling until it was on the verge of exploding.
She loved him. Completely and without reservation. She was done with holding back. If having him meant making more sacrifices, then so be it. She needed him.
Tate put a hand on the side of her face, bringing her attention back to him. His hazel eyes were full of concern. “You sure you’re not hurt?”
She blew out an unsteady breath, willing the searing pressure in her chest to ease. It wasn’t too late. She would talk to Braxton once they were alone tonight. “Yeah.” Her stump was killing her and she was cold and bruised in a few spots, but that was nothing compared to what could have happened. “Just glad it’s over.”
“Let’s get you warmed up.” He bent and lifted her into his arms, then carried her to his snowmobile and placed her down on the back of the seat. He bundled her up in a couple blankets and handed her a thermos. “Coffee with sugar. I didn’t have time to make your tea before I headed out.”
“Thanks,” she murmured. “How’s Rylee?”
“She’ll be fantastic once she finds out you’re okay.” He squeezed her shoulder and pulled out a radio. “I’m just going to alert the others and get a team up here to deal with the body.”
She nodded, and as soon as he began talking into the radio, her attention strayed back to Braxton. He was seated on the back of the other snowmobile while Mason put a bandage on the cut over his eye. His dark brown gaze snagged hers and locked there, and the answering swell of emotion inside her made it hard to breathe.
He’d saved her life so many times. The harrowing experience out here together had merely intensified everything that had already been there between them.
She’d never loved anyone the way she did him. What the hell was she going to do if he still didn’t want a relationship after everything they’d been through?
There were so many unfinished things between them. She was desperate to change that. To put all this behind them so they could be alone. To make something real and lasting together.
She also wanted him naked and on top of her as soon as possible. His weight and warmth holding her down while he filled her, temporarily erasing what they’d just gone through and replacing it with something she’d craved for years. She wanted that so badly she could scarcely breathe.
Tate finished talking, put the radio away and tugged on his gloves as he turned to the others. “Let’s head back down. Avery’s sending a team up here to deal with everything else.” He glanced down at her, his hard features softening with love and relief. “Real glad you’re okay, Tal.”
She smiled at him. “Me too. And you can thank Braxton for that.”
“I plan to. Now, let’s get you guys down the hill so you can get checked out and then back to Rifle Creek.” He climbed on in front of her and started the engine. “Hold on.”
She looped her arms around his middle and leaned her cheek against his back, allowing her eyes to close. “Love you, Tater.”
“Love you too.” Tate turned them around and sped back down the hill, Mason with Braxton right behind them.
The cold air whipped over her face but the rest of her was warming up beneath the blankets. Exhaustion weighed down her limbs and eyelids. Twice she caught herself drifting off, managed to shake herself awake by pure will.
It seemed like no time at all before they reached the end of the trail. The building site came into view, now a hive of activity, full of people.
Tate drove straight to the waiting ambulance someone had called, and Tala spotted Rylee standing near it with Nina. She gave a glad cry and pushed up onto her left foot as soon as Tate stopped the vehicle.
Rylee raced over and flung her arms around Tala, her face streaked with tears. “You’re really okay?” she choked out, hugging her hard.
Tala squeezed her daughter tight and closed her eyes, her own eyes stinging. “Yeah. Promise.”
Nina came up and engulfed them both in a fierce embrace. “Thank God you’re both okay.”
Yes. After everything that had happened, it truly seemed like a miracle that she and Braxton had made it out alive.
Tate waited for them to stop hugging, then immediately bent and lifted her in his arms. “Rest of the hugs will have to wait. We’re transporting them both to Missoula to get checked out, and then I’ll need to take their statements before I bring them home after that.” He began carrying her to the back of the waiting ambulance.
“I don’t need an ambulance,” she protested, dreading the thought of being poked and prodded in the back of a cold vehicle all the way to Missoula. And knowing she was about to be in another hospital sent a cold shiver through her. She’d had enough of hospitals for several lifetimes. “Just take me to the hospital in your truck.”
“Nope, you’re going in the ambulance,” he told her gruffly. “Both of you, and don’t bother arguing. I’ll follow you down.”
She snapped her mouth shut and waved at Rylee, who was watching her anxiously with Nina, giving her daughter a reassuring smile. “I’m fine, sweetheart. I’ll be back before you know it,” she called out. Then to her brother, “Make sure she’s okay.”
“Nina, Avery and Mason will keep her company until we get back.”
Braxton was walking toward the ambulance as Tate carried her there, and she was thankful they at least wouldn’t be separated. Her brother placed her on the edge of the rear deck, and Braxton lowered himself next to her, wincing.
She tugged off her gloves and reached for his hand, twining their fingers together. Hers were numb, their hands both half-frozen, but she needed the connection anyway.
“Tal,” he said, and she lifted her gaze to his. He set his other hand on the side of her face, his expression so intent her heart began to pound. “I love you.”
Shock ripped through her, even as joy eclipsed it. “You do?” she whispered, her voice rough.
“Yeah. I’m in love with you, and have been for a long time. I needed you to know.”
Her throat thickened. She’d never expected him to say it first. Had never imagined he would admit it out loud. “I love you too. So much. Have for a long time,” she managed.
A slow smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Her laugh was cut off abruptly when his lips closed over hers. She melted into him, holding his head in her hands as she kissed him back, pouring all her love into it and not caring who saw them.
Just when things were starting to get good, the moment when everything around them began to fall away, the paramedics converged on them to begin their initial assessment. They broke apart, still gazing into each other’s eyes, and she couldn’t wait for this all to be done so they could finally be alone to finish what they’d started.
Frustrated, Tala answered various questions for the paramedic, her gaze wandering over the crowd of people in the background as the woman checked her over. She spotted Rylee, Tate and Nina talking together over to the right near Tate’s truck. Then Mason appeared with Avery, who waved at her and gave her a big smile as Tate’s neighbor, Curt, stepped up next to Avery, holding a rifle.
It humbled Tala, to know so many people cared. They had all come together to find her and Braxton and bring them down the mountain safely. And for that she was unspeakably grateful. But the reality was, she owed her life to Braxton and no one else. She never would have made it without him.
The paramedics finished their initial assessment. Watching her, Br
axton brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, closing his eyes as his lips lingered on her cold skin.
She squeezed his fingers in return, wishing they had some privacy so she could say all the things crowding her heart and throat. They loved each other and now their feelings were finally out in the open.
“We made it,” she whispered to him, torn between wanting to sleep for two days, and just be alone in bed together. Also for two days, and shut out the rest of the world for a while.
He lowered her hand, one side of his mouth tugging upward, the yearning and devotion in his gaze almost undoing her. He loved her. Hopefully, enough to fight for a future together. “We sure as hell did.”
“Let us through,” an assertive female voice called out from the back of the crowd.
Tala looked up to see Pat and her quiet sister pushing through the knot of people, their arms laden with blankets and a big basket.
“Lord, you two are a sight for sore eyes,” Pat said when she reached the back of the ambulance, her tone almost scolding as she looked from Tala to Braxton. “We were worried sick. Stayed up all night, baking and finishing up some repairs on these old patchwork quilts because we didn’t know what else to do to help. Here.”
She shook out the one she was holding and draped it around Tala’s shoulders. “Now you,” she said to Braxton, taking the second quilt from her sister and wrapping it around him. “There.”
“And this is for both of you,” Bev said softly, holding out the basket to them. “We thought you would be hungry.”
Braxton took it with an appreciative groan. “I don’t know what you put in here, but I don’t even care, because I already can’t wait to taste it,” he told them.
The sisters beamed at him, then Pat sobered and shook her head, clucking her tongue. “Poor things, stranded out in that blizzard with a cold-blooded murderer on your trail.” She shuddered, then stopped and raised an eyebrow. “Well, go on, I know you both have to be starving.”
Tala opened the basket to find homemade rolls that were still a little warm, along with a carefully wrapped crock of butter and jam, some decorated gingerbread cookies—
She stopped and lifted out the cookie on top. A female gingerbread person…missing a foot.
She looked at Pat, surprised. Had it been deliberate?
“It came off as I was icing her,” Bev blurted, her cheeks turning a darker shade of pink as she wrung her hands in distress. “I was going to stick it back on with more icing, but then I thought I shouldn’t because it made her just like you. So I left it alone.”
Oh, hell.
Tala stared at the shy woman, momentarily rendered speechless by her thoughtfulness. But when she looked down at the cookie, the gingerbread amputee with her little chocolate candy buttons and the wide icing smile and the huge pink icing heart in the center of her chest, something cracked inside her.
Everything hit her all at once in a rush. Exhaustion. Relief. Gratitude. And the lingering anxiety about what would happen with her and Braxton.
She hadn’t felt brave out there, but she’d done her best. And now that she and Braxton had both finally admitted their true feelings, they only had a few more days left together before the military took him from her and he headed back to a war zone on the other side of the world.
Tears blurred her vision, scalding hot. She clapped a hand over her face to hide them, and Bev let out a horrified gasp. She tried to shake her head, opened her mouth to explain that it wasn’t the cookie, that the gesture touched her deeply, but she couldn’t speak.
Braxton’s low chuckle came from beside her, then his long, strong arm curled around her shoulders and tugged her into his side. Tala buried her face in his sturdy shoulder as the floodgates opened, the cookie still grasped in her right hand.
“Don’t worry, ladies,” Braxton told them, nuzzling the top of Tala’s head. “I think it’s safe to say she loves it.”
Chapter Twenty
“I can confirm that the shooter was Jason Fenwick, the missing fugitive we’ve been searching for. His body has been recovered and we’ve got a team up there searching the hunting shed and surrounding area now,” Tate said to him.
Braxton nodded. Tate was involved with the investigation, but another officer had taken Braxton’s statement earlier, and someone else had taken Tala’s.
“And you were right, he was wearing a vest. It took a round low center mass, just like you said.”
So Tala had definitely hit him.
Braxton nodded, filing the information away, proud as hell of his lady. But right now, more than anything else he was itching to sign the paperwork for his release so he could get the hell out of here and be with Tala. His scans were clean, his core temp was back to normal, and they’d given him pain meds and anti-inflammatories for his bruises and contusions.
“How’s Tala?” He needed to see her. It had been over four hours since they’d been separated, and it felt more like four days. He was dying to hold her again, and to get her alone either back at Tate’s or Mason’s place. He had a lot of things to say, and they had a lot to talk about.
Right after he got her naked and underneath him. He didn’t care if his back and ribs were black and blue or if his head was still pounding, he needed skin on skin with her, to give her every ounce of pleasure he could, and then bury himself as deep as he could get in her delectable body.
His pulse pounded at the thought, need and impatience riding him.
“Better now that they gave her something for the bone and nerve pain. No long-term damage done, she just needs a few days without her prosthetic to let her skin heal and take pressure off the stump.”
Good. He’d make sure she stayed off her feet. If he had his way, she wouldn’t leave his bed at all until he had to fly back to Ottawa, but he couldn’t be a selfish asshole. Rylee and Tate would want to spend time with her too before she flew back to Kelowna at the end of the week. “Are they discharging her yet?”
“They’re in the process of it now. As soon as you’re both cleared, I’ll have you out of here and in the truck. You hungry? I can grab you something while we wait.”
“No, I’m good.” He’d wolfed down a couple sandwiches and a hot bowl of soup earlier, soon after they’d admitted him. Now he just needed Tala, and eventually, some sleep with her tucked against him.
Tate eyed him. “How you feeling?”
“All right.” His back and the right side of his ribs throbbed the worst. The skin there was already turning interesting shades of blue and purple.
Thankfully his concussion had only been mild, and now that he was warmed up and hydrated again, the headache was only a dull throb and his vision was back to normal. He’d be sore for a few days yet, but should be back to pretty much normal by the time he flew to Ottawa on his way overseas to finish his tour.
He was already dreading the moment he had to leave Tala to finish his tour and the remainder of his contract. But she’d told him she loved him, so hopefully she would be willing to wait for him. Although, he wouldn’t hold it against her if she wasn’t.
His job was high risk, and his future was still uncertain. He was so damn torn. While he loved what he did and knew he’d miss it if he gave it up, he could never give Tala up. Not unless she wanted him to, and fuck, that would rip his heart out.
“What do you know about Fenwick’s background?” Braxton asked, putting all that aside for now. “He knew what he was doing out there. A lot more than your average street thug.”
Tate nodded. “Intel says he learned survival and firearms training in his teens from an expert, likely a SOF veteran. He’s also got a younger sister he was close to. He’s been supporting her for years, and that’s how he got involved with his gang. We just found her out in California. Apparently, he’d sent her there a few days ago by bus. The plan was to meet her there once he felt safe enough to leave the hunting shed, and start over there together. But the storm messed up his timeline.”
Yeah, along with his and Tala’s
. “Any idea why he targeted us?”
“We think he assumed you were either cops, or going to report him. You’d seen him and his hideaway, and he knew he couldn’t get out of the area before you reported him.”
“So he thought he’d just take us out and what? Escape on foot over the mountains?”
“Until he stole your snowmobile.”
Hell. So he and Tala had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He shook his head, incredulous.
Tate laid a hand on Braxton’s shoulder. “I’m just gonna go check on Tala. You need anything?”
“No.” But as his buddy turned away, Braxton grabbed his arm. “Wait.”
Tate stopped and looked at him. When Braxton didn’t say anything, Tate raised his eyebrows. “What?”
“Look, I need to tell you something.” He ran a hand over his scruffy jaw and shifted his weight. This wasn’t how he’d wanted this conversation to happen, but he needed to come clean with Tate here and now, before things went any further. Braxton respected the hell out of him, and he valued their friendship. “It’s about me and Tala.”
Tate turned to face him fully, his expression turning wary. “What about you?”
“I’m in love with her. And I finally told her so.”
His buddy’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh.” He stared at Braxton for a long moment. “Is this… I mean, how long have you…?”
“Since last summer.”
Tate looked stunned. “That’s a long time.”
“Yeah.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t want you to. I didn’t want anyone to. Anyway, I just needed you to know, because I’m still not sure how things are going to go between us yet. I’ve still got the rest of this contract to finish, and after that, I’d planned to re-up…” He drew a breath. “But no matter what happens, just know that I love her and that I’d do anything for her.”
Tate nodded, still looking a little astonished. “Okay, man. I appreciate you telling me. And does Tal… I think she’s had a thing for you for a long time, but is she on the same page as you?”