Just as a bullet flew through the air. It slammed into the dock, sending wood splintering.
Kenneth didn’t get up. Blood trickled down his chin. “You’re dead, Agent Foxx. You think I would’ve come back here without backup? I was two steps ahead all along! Two damn steps!”
And they were out in the open with no cover.
There were civilians just a few yards away. They’d screamed at the blast of gunfire.
Another bullet blasted out. It hit Dylan, seeming to fly right into his chest.
“No!” Rachel cried.
Dylan fell back into the water.
Thomas grabbed Noelle, shielding her with his body.
The other agents still on scene rushed to protect the civilians.
And Kenneth—he dropped the cuffs. They just fell from his wrists. “Those really weren’t as secure as you thought.”
More gunfire erupted, thundering all around Rachel, but not hitting her. She froze. The shooter had to be up high and to the right. She turned her head and glimpsed the glint off the weapon.
“He’s in our room,” Kenneth said as he took care of the restraints at his ankles. “You know that cozy little place I kept you in last night? And this is going to be the really fun part... Guess who it is. Come on, guess.”
Another bullet blasted, hitting the wood less than an inch from her right foot.
“Chris Harris,” Kenneth whispered. “You should have followed his case a bit longer. You got distracted and, yesterday morning, he escaped from confinement. With a little help, that is.” His smile widened. “He owed me big. Not only did I kill the judge, but I took out the bastard father that he hated, too.”
Chris’s words rolled through her mind. One way or another, I’m getting out of here! I won’t stand trial again—I’m getting out.
They hadn’t realized the guy meant he had an escape plan in place.
She didn’t see Dylan. He hadn’t surfaced. He had to surface.
Kenneth caught her hand. “This is how it ends. You come with me and we get on the Dreamer...” His smile flashed. “I always planned for us to leave on that one. Senator Duncan...let’s just say he owed me, too. For past services. The boat will make us even.”
The phone was still in her hand. Still on, so that if anyone was listening on the other end...they’d hear his words.
“Now you come with me, right now, or I’ll give the signal for Harris up there to shoot you in the heart.”
“The way he shot Dylan?”
“Dylan was a dead man walking! But why do you care? You never loved him, you said—”
“I lied,” she told him, voice shaking. Thomas was gone. He’d run toward the building. For the shooter? “I lied, and you didn’t know me well enough to tell.”
Kenneth shook his head. “You didn’t kill me. You had the chance. You didn’t—”
Rachel dropped her phone once more. When his gaze automatically followed the phone’s descent, she yanked out her weapon and pointed it right at his chest. “I won’t miss this time.”
“Rachel.” Kenneth lifted his right hand. “You surprise me. You always have. You weren’t what I expected.”
She tightened her grip on the weapon. She had to get in the water, had to find Dylan.
Kenneth backed up a step. His left hand also rose, as if he were surrendering to her. “I like that you could surprise me.”
No more bullets were being fired. Was that because Thomas had gotten to the shooter? Or because the “surrender” gesture that Kenneth was making actually was just a signal for the shooter to pause?
And what if Kenneth gives him the signal to shoot?
Kenneth took another slow, gliding step back. He was nearly at the edge of the dock. “I wanted you to be the queen. My Queen of Hearts.”
His left hand started to drop.
“Don’t!” Rachel screamed.
“But I’m not going into a cage, and if you have to die—” His hands flew down. “So be it. So damn be it—”
Hard arms wrapped around Kenneth’s legs, catching him beneath the knees. And Rachel saw Dylan’s face appear just above the dock. His expression was locked in lines of fury. Dylan yanked Kenneth back. They both hit the water.
No bullets rained down on Rachel. She spun around, looking up at the window.
“Clear!” Thomas’s voice shouted.
Her breath heaved out and she rushed to the edge of the dock. The men broke the top of the water. Fighting, punching viciously.
Then they went back under.
Rachel aimed her gun, ready to take the shot when Kenneth came back up.
But he didn’t come back up.
Dylan did. Dylan broke through the surface. He stroked toward her, heaved up on the dock. She helped him, grabbing him tightly. Her arms wrapped around him and she held him close, shuddering because she’d thought he was dead.
This is the way he felt about me.
“I love you,” Rachel whispered. “Please, don’t ever leave me.”
But his body started to sag against her. “Dylan?” Rachel whispered.
He fell back. She staggered beneath his weight and slid down with him.
The sunlight fell on him, showing that it wasn’t just water that soaked him. It was blood. “No.” She put her hands on him and tried to apply pressure to the wound. “Noelle, help me!”
The profiler ran toward her. Rachel heard the other woman, talking on her phone, demanding help.
But who would come? The EOD was gone.
“Don’t do this to me, Dylan,” Rachel begged him. Her gun was on the dock, near her knees. Her hands were hard on his wounds. “You stay with me, you got that? You stay with me.”
His eyelids flickered. She saw the darkness of his gaze for a moment. It fixed on her.
“Love...” he rasped.
“I love you,” Rachel told him, leaning close, desperate now. “And you’re going to be with me for fifty more years, got it? This isn’t the end. You’re a SEAL. SEALs are tough—”
His breath heaved out.
Noelle’s hands joined Rachel’s. They both put pressure on the wound. “The bullet tore right through him,” Noelle said, voice ragged.
Rachel felt as if the bullet had torn through her. “You’re the good guy,” she said to Dylan, remembering their first meeting. “You promised to keep me safe. Keep that promise. You have to stay with me. That’s the only way. You have to make sure that I’m safe—”
Because without him, Rachel thought she’d be lost.
His eyes tried to focus on her. “Safe...”
She nodded, too aware that tears were sliding down her cheeks.
“Hate...when you...cry...” he whispered.
“Dylan—”
His eyes widened. He was looking right over her shoulder. With a sudden strength that stunned her, Dylan pushed Rachel and Noelle back. She followed his gaze and saw that—
Kenneth stood on the dock, dripping water. His lip was bleeding, and a snarl twisted his mouth. His eyes were on Dylan. “I’ll finish you!”
Kenneth leaped forward.
Dylan staggered to his knees. He was trying to shove Rachel behind him as he still attempted to protect her.
Only it was her turn to protect him.
She lifted her gun. Aimed.
Fired.
Kenneth stared at her with wide, stunned eyes. He glanced down. “Such...fighter...” His legs buckled.
Then his face slammed into the dock.
Rachel wrapped her arms around Dylan. “Now it’s over.”
Sirens screamed in the night.
Dylan shuddered against her.
“Hold on just a little longer,” she told him. “Please...”
His hand l
ifted. Found hers. He had to be in agony but he said, “For you...always...”
Tires squealed. Doors slammed. Rachel looked over and saw what looked like a mini-army of vehicles in the harbor’s lot.
Familiar vehicles. Those black SUVs were favored by one particular D.C. group.
The EOD.
Mercer jumped from the first vehicle. Mercer?
Rachel shook her head and held tighter to Dylan.
“We’ve got an injured agent! Get him a medic now!” Mercer thundered even as he ran to the dock.
He paused for just a second next to Kenneth’s body. He bent, checked for a pulse. Disgust tightened his lips. “You got off easy,” he muttered and he left the dead man.
Two medics swarmed Dylan. They took him from Rachel and loaded him onto a stretcher.
Mercer grabbed her hand. “I heard it all, Agent Mancini.”
She shook her head. “How are you even here? The blast—”
“We were already out of the EOD when I got your call. I just didn’t have time to tell you before the whole place went to hell.” His jaw locked. “I remembered what Noelle said, about you being the thing the guy cared about the most, and he was so hell-bent on getting you out of there...”
She barely heard him. Rachel couldn’t take her eyes off Dylan and the medics. They were taking Dylan away.
“When my instincts scream at me, you can believe that I listen to them.” He moved, shifting his stance so that he blocked her view of Dylan. “My instincts about you and Agent Foxx were dead-on from the beginning.”
She could only shake her head. She didn’t even know what instincts the guy was talking about.
“I knew right from the start that Dylan Foxx would be willing to die to keep you safe.”
She spared a glance for Kenneth’s still body. And I killed for him. Her gaze went back to the person who mattered. She eased a bit to the side of Mercer so that she could clearly see Dylan.
The medics were about to take him away. “Sorry, Mercer, but he’s not leaving without me.” She raced to keep up with them as they left the dock.
Dylan was still conscious. She saw that as she neared him. He was injured so badly, but he still reached out to her.
She caught his hand. Held tight.
“This won’t...hold me back...for long...”
His words seemed to be a warning.
“When they...stitch me up...”
The medics loaded him into an ambulance.
“I get to...savor you...”
Her heart jerked in surprise. He hadn’t just said—
He had.
“Takes more than this...to stop me...”
Yes, it did. Then, right in the middle of a nightmare, Rachel found herself laughing.
She knew then—Dylan was going to be just fine.
And so was she.
* * *
THE CABIN WAS SECLUDED, far away from any prying eyes. It sat at the top of the mountain, seemingly in the middle of the clouds. When Dylan stepped on the balcony, he inhaled a deep gulp of fresh air—and he thought about how quickly his life had changed.
He’d gotten out of the hospital after two days. Two damn long days. Rachel had been there to see him, staying close, because he needed her close by.
Mercer had been at the hospital, too. The boss had come in to update him on the EOD’s efforts to apprehend the others who’d helped Kenneth bomb the EOD.
For now, Dylan wasn’t working that particular case. He was on leave.
The door slid open behind him.
And I’m with Rachel.
He turned and glanced back at her. There would be no interruptions up here. No danger. No threats.
Just him. Just her. The way he wanted it to be.
Dylan lifted his hand toward her. Rachel smiled at him, a sweet, slow smile that started with the curve of her lips and ended with a gleam in her eyes.
She came to him with soft steps, and her fingers locked with his.
The cabin was his, an escape that he’d built years ago because he hadn’t wanted his life to be only about blood and death. Rachel was the only woman he’d ever brought there.
Rachel was the only woman he ever wanted at his side.
She leaned up onto her tiptoes, and her lips brushed over his.
He stilled at the sensual touch, aware of a heavy surge of emotion within him. Did Rachel understand just how much she meant to him?
She eased away from him. “So this is where you snuck off to on those vacation days of yours. You left me behind in the city and—”
“I never want to leave you again.” The words pushed up from deep inside.
Her eyes widened.
He should probably try to be suave about this. Be charming. But he wasn’t the charming guy. He was a fighter, an agent and a man who would kill in an instant if it meant he could protect the woman he loved.
He still held her hand in his. Dylan glanced down at their hands as he tried to find the right words for her.
“For a few days,” Rachel said, speaking softly, “why don’t we just pretend that the rest of the world doesn’t exist?”
Dylan shook his head. “I want more than a few days with you.” He wanted everything she had to give. In return, he’d give her all that he was. “It was never a charade for me, you know that, don’t you?”
Her eyes searched his.
“I wanted you for years. Dreamed of you. Needed you.” He swallowed. “Loved you.”
“Dylan—”
He should probably be on one knee for this. Damn it, what was wrong with him? Get on your knee, Foxx. He slipped down, letting his knee hit the wood of the balcony.
“What are you doing?” Rachel demanded as she immediately tried to pull him right back up to his feet. “Your stitches! You’re going to hurt yourself.”
Doubtful. He could walk through fire then and barely feel the burn as long as she was with him.
He looked up at her. “I want you to marry me.”
Her jaw dropped.
And he’d messed up. Said the wrong thing. Try for charm. “No.” Dylan jerked his head quickly. “What I meant... Rachel, you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. The only woman I want. The woman that I love so much—” He heaved out a breath. “I love you so much I can’t even think of being in this world without you.”
Rachel was silent.
“I can’t promise that things will be easy.” They’d never had easy. “I can promise that I will always be there for you. I will love you every day of my life, and I will...” He tried to smile. “I will savor you every night.”
“Dylan...”
“Please, Rachel, marry me?”
Her hand lifted. Stroked the side of his cheek. Her soft palm rasped over the faint stubble that had grown there. “I love you.”
He found that now he couldn’t speak.
“You were the first light I saw...after I was kidnapped. You promised to take care of me, and you did. On missions, at home... I’ve never felt alone since I met you.”
She would never be alone again. “Tell me that’s a yes,” he managed to say. Beg? With Rachel, he damn well wasn’t too proud to plead.
She smiled and took away his breath. “It’s definitely a yes.”
He was on his feet in the next instant. His arms were wrapped tightly around her. His mouth crushed down on hers. Dylan lifted her up against him.
“No!” She’d torn her mouth from his. “I told you—your stitches—”
“Let them come out. Nothing is stopping me now.”
Because he had the one thing that he’d wanted most. He wasn’t letting her go.
Dylan carried her back inside. He kissed her, caressed her. Their clothes were tossed a
cross the room, and then he had her spread out on the big bed.
Their fingers twined together. Their mouths met. She was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted. The one woman he could not live without.
He kissed his way down her body. Had her moaning and twisting beneath him. He loved her breasts—so perfect and full. He licked her. He kissed.
He explored every inch of her body.
Her nails raked over him.
Good. She wasn’t worrying about his stitches any longer.
Dylan positioned his body between her legs. He looked up and met her gaze.
He saw his future when he looked into Rachel’s gleaming eyes. A future he’d only dreamed of before that moment.
He thrust into her.
She wrapped her legs around him and met him, thrust for thrust.
When the pleasure hit, it swept them both away. So intense that the world seemed to go dark.
He looked only at her—because to Dylan, she was all that mattered.
He kissed her once more.
He wouldn’t live for the next mission any longer. From now on, Dylan knew he’d only be living...
For her.
Epilogue
Bruce Mercer stared up at the EOD building. The explosions could have been much worse. He could have lost a lot of good men and women.
All because someone wanted to kill me.
He knew the list of his enemies stretched far and wide. He’d always made waves in this world.
He glanced around at the wreckage. Two vehicles had been placed near the building. One in the front. One in the back. Loaded down with explosives. Set to go.
But his security personnel had noticed those vehicles as soon as they arrived. The EOD had cameras all along the street. No vehicles were ever allowed to park immediately near the building.
And in light of the fear that he’d already been feeling, red flags had gone off immediately when those cars arrived.
There were numerous exits from the EOD building. Not just those that the public saw. Getting his agents away from the building and away from those cars had been easy.
But his teams never had the chance to disarm the bombs. They’d gone off too quickly.
The men who’d driven those vehicles? Dead. His agents had taken care of them. They’d tried to bring the men in alive, but, in the end, there hadn’t been a choice.