He hung up as he swept me back into his embrace. I pushed my nose into his chest, absorbing the scent of him. The smoky pine and sea scent mingled with fear. I wasn’t sure if the fear was wafting off of me or him or both of us. Terror.
He separated us so he could look down into my face. He put his hands on my cheeks, scanning my eyes, and then going down every single part of me before returning to my face.
“You’re really unhurt?”
I nodded, unable to find my voice as my body shook from head to toe. That was when I noticed the blood. The blood pooling on the sleeve of the white Henley he’d put on before leaving the B&B that afternoon.
“Dawson, you’re bleeding!” Alarm twisted my heart that had been trying to unwind back into a clenched knot. Dread filled me. More blood. More wounds leaving scars. He looked down in surprise, seeing the blood and shaking his head.
“Just a graze,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”
I picked up the lab coat from where he’d dropped it, tore a piece off of it, and wrapped it around his arm with fingers that trembled so badly I could barely tie it. Sirens lit up the night around us.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he said, voice gruff and deep with a fear and relief that matched my own.
“What?” I asked.
“Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
I couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped my chest because how could I have prevented it when I’d been terrified myself?
Then, his lips were on mine, kissing me as if it were the last chance we’d ever have to do so. As if we’d never done it before. As if the tides were trying to pull us apart when they were really bringing us together.
“I love you,” I murmured against his lips. “I love you more than chemistry and atoms and saving the world. Don’t leave me. Don’t walk away trying to save me, because I don’t know if I could survive it.”
“I couldn’t if I wanted to, Vi. I belong to you. I always have.”
And then, we were kissing again, devouring each other in the middle of the park in the glow of the moonlight as paramedics and police and bodies filled the empty space around us.
When Malone showed up demanding answers, he still didn’t let me go. The shaking in my body slowly ebbed. My breathing returned to a somewhat normal pace, and the tired ache I’d felt before filled me once more.
I tried not to watch as they hauled the body of Ken’Ichi onto a stretcher that would only take him to the morgue.
“You should have that seen,” Malone said, pointing his phone at Dawson’s arm.
“It’s nothing,” he said. “I just want to take Vi home.”
“Go. I’ll call if we need more,” Malone nodded brusquely.
We turned and slowly walked back up the road to the Victorian with our arms and hands tangled together. His Aston Martin was parked askew at the edge of the driveway with the driver’s door flung open.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“Tami and Saul heard a gunshot. Saw you taking off. I was already on my way back. Thank God, I was.”
“What happened…” I swallowed, looking at the plain sedan sitting across the street.
“He’s okay. Knocked out.”
Relief flooded me.
Dawson grimaced as he went to shut the car door with his wounded arm. I pulled away from him and stopped the door from shutting.
“Get in,” I said, waving my hand toward the passenger door.
“What?”
“I’m taking you to the hospital.”
