Crimson stains made her tank top appear more red than green. His hands grazed over the thin material, searching for the source of the blood. The shirt had to come off. He lifted the hem of her shirt over her pale skin and sucked in a sharp breath as the material peeled away from her stomach. A hole pierced her skin on her right side. His fingers gently skimmed the backside of the wound…no hole.
“Shit. The bullet’s still in there. We need to get it out.” Sweat broke out on his brow and his hands shook.
Harper crouched down beside him with white gauze in his hands. “Don’t be an idiot. You’re not a doctor, and moving the bullet around might cause more damage. We pack the wound with sterile gauze and try to stop the bleeding as best we can.”
He used the back of his hand to wipe the moisture from his face and reached for the gauze. Harper shook his head and pushed him aside. “Let me do this. You talk to her until the paramedics get here. You never know what she can hear.”
Graham nodded, sank to the floor beside her head, and folded Mickey’s hand in between his own. His teeth bit into the inside of his mouth to stop more tears from coming. He had to keep his composure, had to be strong for her. “Help’s on the way, baby. You’re going to be fine.” He held his breath and waited for a response…but nothing. Her arm came off the ground as he lifted their hands to his forehead and closed his eyes against the soul-crushing pain.
A knock sounded at the door, followed by hurried footsteps. “Police and EMS in response to a gunshot wound,” a loud voice called out.
He opened his mouth, but emotion lodged in his throat and no sound came out.
“In the dining room,” Harper called. “We have one suspect cuffed and unconscious with us, two women in the back bedroom who’ll need medical assistance, and one critical civilian shot in the side who needs immediate medical help.”
Two police officers ran into the room with a medic on their heels. One of the officers whistled and asked, “What the hell happened here?”
Harper stood and authority vibrated from him. He took charge of the scene while Graham sat paralyzed with fear beside Mickey. Another medic rushed in with a gurney and stopped beside them. He glanced at Graham and said, “We’ve got her now. Please step back.”
“No,” he whispered. He couldn’t bear to let her hand go, to sever the connection. The two men in their white uniform tops and blue pants carefully shifted her onto the gurney, raised it, and started for the door. Graham kept pace beside them, his grip never wavering from Mickey’s cold hand. He helped them load her into the back of the ambulance and he sat beside her.
Please God, don’t let her die.
The sirens blared and they sped through the city. The ambulance screeched to a halt and the back door banged open. “You have to let her go now, sir.”
They pulled the gurney out of the ambulance and his grip slipped from her fingers as they took her away and rushed her into the emergency room. Graham’s mouth dropped open and he stared into the dark city outside the open door. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think.
Dropping his head in his hands, he let the dam break. His shoulders shook and his lungs burned as sobs racked through him. He might have just lost the love of his life and he’d never gotten a chance to tell her.
…
The hard cushions of the chair in the waiting room shifted under his weight. Time had stood still as he waited to hear from Mickey’s surgeon. The staff at the hospital had made a fuss about only letting family know about her condition, but Harper had shown up and smoothed the way for him to get whatever information they had.
And then he’d stayed. He still couldn’t believe it. The man who’d made his life a living hell the past month, the man who he had thought capable of horrible things, had come through for him in more ways than one tonight.
Graham leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head. He stared at the clock. Two hours had passed since Mickey had been taken into surgery. His toe tapped against the cheap carpet under his shoe.
Harper walked in with two cups of coffee in his hands. He offered one to Graham. Heat penetrated the white Styrofoam and Graham set the cup on the floor. Anxiety bounced around in his stomach. No way could he drink caffeine right now.
A surgeon with green scrubs walked into the waiting room and glanced around. His tired eyes landed on Graham and he shot to his feet. Harper stood next to him and rested a hand on his shoulder as the surgeon walked toward them.
“How is she? Can I see her?” Graham’s voice shook as he spoke and his eyes searched the man’s face for answers.
The doctor sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “She made it out of surgery and is in the ICU. She’s not awake, but you can go in and sit with her for a few minutes.”
Graham nodded and followed the doctor out of the room. He stopped at the doorway and glanced back at Harper. Harper waved his hands as if shooing a fly. “Go on. I’ll be here when you’re done.”
He drew in a large breath of sterile air into his lungs and tried to steady his nerves. He braced himself as he rounded the corner and passed the flurry of activity in the ICU. Nurses rushed in and out of rooms, doctors checked charts, and the steady beeps of life rang out from the rooms.
The doctor led him to the second room from the nurses’ station. Graham took a step inside and his knees buckled. Mickey lay in a large hospital bed with an IV attached to her arm. A machine beside her bed showed her vital signs, and beeped along with the rest of the activity outside. A blanket had been pulled under her armpits and her long, red hair fanned out on her pillow. The bruising on her cheek from where Pete had hit her had deepened and bandages covered her hands.
“The bullet missed any internal organs and I was able to get it out. She lost a lot of blood, but we gave her a transfusion. We’ve done all we can for her. The rest is up to her. Does she have more family coming to see her?”
Graham’s head spun and he tried to focus on the doctor’s words, but all he wanted was to see Mickey. “I called her parents when she went in for surgery, but they were out of town. They’re on their way, but it’ll be a few hours before they get here.”
The doctor gave one stiff nod and then left him alone with Mickey.
His feet moved toward her as if a magnet drew him to her side. Her pale skin was ashen under the florescent lights and he reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. A chair sat beside the bed, and he all but fell back into it. He propped his elbows on his knees and leaned toward her. He laid his hand over hers, warming it with his touch.
“Mickey? Can you hear me? I found Becca.” Moisture filled the corners of his eyes. “The girls are safe and back with their families. We did it, Red. We got them home.”
Beep…beep…beep.
Disappointment smothered him. What did he expect? It would take time for her to wake up. He couldn’t really think she’d open her eyes the moment she heard his voice.
“Are you still calling me Red?” Her voice was small, her words rough as if spoken through quicksand.
He straightened and his pulse quickened. “Mickey?”
She opened her eyes and then grimaced, shrinking away from the light. She turned her neck to look at him. “Did you really find Becca?”
He nodded and joy burst inside him. “I did.”
Her lips curved into a small smile and she closed her eyes again. “Good job, G.I. Joe.”
“How do you feel?” He had so many things he wanted to say to her.
“Like I was shot.”
He chuckled and then turned serious. “You could have gotten yourself killed. You shouldn’t have done that.”
Her eyes fluttered open and her amber irises bore into him. “I had to do something.”
“You should have let me handle it.”
Her eyebrows arched high on her face. “And why’s that? Because you’re a man and I’m a woman?”
“No,” he said, gathering his courage. “Because a man should always rescue the woman he loves.
”
Mickey’s mouth dropped open and her eyes searched his. “You love me?”
“More than I realized. When I saw you lying on the floor and I thought I’d lost you…” His throat closed up and words failed him. The moisture lingering in his eyes coursed down his face. He stood, leaned over the bed, and framed her round face with his hands. “I love you, Mickey. I don’t want to ever lose you.”
“I love you too, Graham. Who would have ever thought something so good could have come out of all of this.”
“Lord knows I didn’t,” Graham said with a laugh.
“Can you promise something?”
“Anything,” he said, as his thumb caressed her cheek.
“When I get out of the hospital, can we leave the excitement behind us? I don’t think I can handle any more drama.”
“You got it. I’ll do my best to make sure your life is as dull as possible.” He laughed and then pressed his lips to hers. His heart soared and he pulled away and stared down into the most beautiful face he’d ever seen. A face he planned to see every day for the rest of his life.
Mickey’s husky laugh skimmed over him and set his blood on fire. “I’m going to hold you to that, G.I. Joe.”
He grinned and took her mouth in his. No matter what the future held for them, life with Mickey would never be boring.
Epilogue
Mickey’s eyes fluttered open and she blinked to adjust to the morning sun streaming in through the window. They’d forgotten to close the curtains last night. She stretched her arms high above her head, and only a dull ache lingered in her body.
Between physical therapy and a little TLC from Graham, her body had healed nicely from the trauma from a few months ago. Thank God for that. Being stuck in a bed, hopped up on pain medicine, hadn’t been for her. Now that Becca was home, Paula was safe, and Eric was locked behind bars for the rest of his life, things could get back to normal.
A strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her against a hard wall of muscle. Her toes curled and she leaned into him. Graham kept his eyes closed, and she reached up to run the pad of her finger along the whiskers on his jaw.
“Why are you awake?” he asked and she snuggled closer to his side.
“I need to go home and change. I came straight from work, and I’m meeting Becca and Suzi at the zoo in a couple of hours. I don’t have any more clothes here.”
His hand gripped her hipbone and his fingers inched their way inside her shirt. “Just wear your uniform. Becca likes it when you look professional.”
“Really? She’s never mentioned that before.” Mickey laughed and she sucked in her stomach as his fingers brushed against the bottom of her breast. “Besides, even the uniforms I have here are dirty. Do you mind if I pack a bag and leave more stuff here? I’m staying with you most nights, so it’d be nice to have more of my things around.”
Graham rolled on top of her and captured her mouth in his. Her heart rate picked up and she wrapped her arms around him. At this rate, she’d never get out of here. But that was okay. In her wildest dreams, she never imagined she could be this happy.
He pulled away and stared down at her, his lip hitched up in his cocky half-ass smile. “I was thinking you should bring it all over here. It’s hard to be married when you’re living in different apartments.”
She gasped and Graham slid off of the bed and down onto one knee. The hard muscles on his bare chest bunched as he turned toward his nightstand and pulled open the drawer. A small velvet box sat in his hands when he faced her. Mickey covered her hands with her mouth and sat up on the edge of the bed. Her eyes looked from Graham to the box and back up to Graham. This couldn’t be happening.
“Mickey, I knew I loved you a week after meeting you. It didn’t take much longer for me to realize I don’t want you to just be a part of my life when we find the time. I want you in my life all day, every day, until the day I die. I want you to be my wife.”
Her heart leaped in her chest and she threw herself into his arms. “Yes. Absolutely yes!”
He leaned back and pulled the diamond ring from the comfort of its box. Her hand trembled as he slid it onto her finger. Her heart swelled with joy and tears misted her eyes. How could the man who had dragged her into a nightmare be the one to make all her dreams come true? “It’s a perfect fit,” she said.
“You bet it is. And, Mickey, you might want to call Suzi.”
She glanced up from the ring sparkling on her finger and raised her brows. “Why?”
“Because you’re going to be late.”
He sprang to his feet, picked her up, and threw her on the bed. Laughter erupted from her mouth and he trapped her beneath him. He smiled down at her, his gray eyes alight with love. His wide smile transformed into a wicked grin. He lowered his mouth to hers and began to show her just how much he loved her.
Oh, she’d be late all right. And it would well be worth it.
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Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I’d love to thank my amazing family. I wouldn’t have the courage to sit at my computer if it wasn’t for your constant support and encouragement. To my husband, Scott, thank you for being my biggest cheerleader and giving Bound by Danger your official stamp of approval. I can’t begin to tell you how it feels to hear you hype up my work to anyone and everyone who will listen. To my children, Abigail and Vaughn, thank you for your patience and understanding. I know it’s hard to share me with the characters I make up in my head, and the guilt I have for not giving 100% of my time to you will never go away. But seeing the beautiful books you create, Abigail, and hearing the amazing stories you tell, Vaughn, shows me I’m doing something right by teaching you both to always follow your dreams and pursue your passions.
To my mom, thank you for being my most avid listener as I read chapter after chapter to you. I know it can’t be easy to listen to me stumble through my words, making corrections and talking to my children as I go. And to Celeste for being by my side through this crazy journey! Even if that means an across the state road trip to be a part of my first author event. Without you in my life, I’d have crumbled into a million pieces by now. To my awe-inspiring critique partner, Samantha, thank you for pushing me into Romantic Suspense. This book started outside of my comfort zone, and you helped me realize my passion for writing fast-paced romantic suspense books. You also helped me wade through the hurdles and road blocks along the way to getting this book published. I also want to thank my cousin, Jessica, for her inside knowledge of Chicago and my beta reader, Angela, who pointed out the crucial errors that needed fixing. Without both of you, Bound by Danger wouldn’t be half the book it is today.
A huge thank you to my amazing editor, Alethea. You breathed life into this book, and to me, when you pulled it from the slush pile and took a chance on it. I will forever be grateful to you. Also, to Jessie, my agent, thank you for holding my hand through this daunting process of publishing my first book! Your support and knowledge have kept me as calm as I could possibly be.
And finally, to my readers! Publishing this novel was something I doubted many times would actually happen. Even as I sit here writing out my gratitude, I still can’t believe this dream is coming true. There are so many amazing and wonderful stories out there to be read, and the fact that you picked my book is mind boggling! I hope you fall in love with these characters and this story as much as I did. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading Bound by Danger. I hope you enjoy it!
About the Author
Danielle Haas resides in Ohio with her husband and two children. She earned a BA in Political Science many moons ago from Bowling Green State University, but thought staying home with her two children and writing romance novels would be more fun than pursuing a career in politics. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, as well as her
local North East Ohio chapter. She spends her days chasing her kids around, loving up her dog, and trying to find a spare minute to write about her favorite thing: love.
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