Page 57 of Boomer
Her breath hitched. “Carter?” Louder this time. “Where is he?”
The EMT warned her in accented English, “Don’t move.”
She struggled, fought. “Where is he?”
Then she saw him, emerging from the smoke-filled corridor of the warehouse like a goddamn revenant.
One man slung over each shoulder, unconscious, blackened with soot. Her heart squeezed.
His gait was heavy, but his grip didn’t falter. He walked like the building wasn’t collapsing behind him. Likenothingwould stop him. Taylor’s heart seized in her chest. He set the men down gently, like they weighed nothing, those muscular legs flexing. He turned, and her breath caught. He was looking for her. When their eyes met, the power of her feelings overwhelmed her, and her only thought was that she had to have him under her hands, the taste of him in her mouth, his body deep inside hers.
Her voice caught in her throat. Dirty. Bloodied. Powerful. There were no words for how she felt about him. This man, who had gotten her clear when she’d blacked out from the concussive blast.Magnificent.
She pushed up, evading the EMT’s hands as he tried to get her to lie down, but his words meant nothing. There was only one set of hands, one man who could silence this turmoil inside her, and he was in reach. Oh,Gott. He wasfinallywithin reach, and she wanted him. Not under duress, not because he could fill a void her pain caused, not because she wanted his body. She wanted him, only him.
She pushed up, took two staggering steps. Then she was running full out toward him. When she reached him, she threw herself into his waiting arms. It wasn’t professional, it wasn’t quiet or private. It was full-out public and personal, and she didn’t give a goddamned who wasSee watching.
She was unraveling as he held her so tightly, she could barely breathe.
In the beginning, he felt like a risk she couldn't control, but he saw what she was holding back, and he didn't try to fix her. He waited, and he hurt, and he yearned, but he never pushed her, never overwhelmed her. His quiet, aching patience, his presence, the solid feel of him, it was all starting to make her crack.
Her breakdown hadn't been about him, but cleared a space for her to experience it, to give in to her pain that had weighed her down foryears…guilt, sorrow, grief, regret…all of it had been trapped inside. She'd broken down right in front of him,knowing, Gott,trustingthat he would catch her.
She'd known he would, instinctively, knew that this man would give her his strength when she was weak...nonotweak...vulnerable. Her control had served her, yes, but it had also caged her. True connection couldn't exist without mutualtrust. Love wasn't a threat to her. It was a reinforcement of it. She didn't have to carry everything alone. Could she love him without losing her identity? She shivered at the implications. Through it all, he'd just stood like a bulwark against a storm passing through him, and she couldn't deny any longer that she was allowed a life.
That all those feelings regarding Ansel were just and right. He needed her, and she wasn't going to turn away from Ansel like she had Emil. She couldn't save her brother, but she could give Ansel the life he deserved, the love he needed, and the space and support he required to grow into the man he was destined to be.
“Hey,” he said, voice rough with smoke. “You okay?”
She nodded, but her hands were already on him, frantic and firm. “I couldn’t find you. I didn’t like it one damn bit.”
His expression altered, and even in the faint moonlight filtering in, she could see his eyes darken, his gaze becoming soft and intimate. “They were trapped,” he said. “No one gets left behind, ever. My guys. The Brits. Your guys.”
She pulled him in, just for a second, her forehead against his shoulder. “I thought I’d lost you.”
Boomer’s arms wrapped around her with infinite care. “I’m right here,” he said.
She took a shuddering breath. “I should have known you would be right in the thick of it. That’s who you are…the kind of man who gives so much yet takes so little.” His throat worked, and he looked away. She grabbed his chin. “Don’t do that,” she whispered. “Don’t hide from me. It’s too late anyway. I see you, Carter, and I really, really like what I see.”
He blinked several times, swiping at his eyes. “Damn smoke,” he muttered. But she guessed it wasn’t the smoke. “I mean every word I said.”
His jaw clenched tight, and his eyes had that distant, far-off focus that only came with pain he wouldn’t admit.
Taylor saw it, and she wasdonewatching him bleed for everyone else. She turned, wobbling once, then steadied herself against his arm. “Kodiak!” she barked.
The big medic turned, halfway through wrapping a bandage on Hazard’s forearm.
“Yeah?” She stormed toward him, grabbed his sleeve, and yanked. He blinked, startled. “Tay?—”
She yanked again. “Move, now.”
“He was my next priority,” Kodiak said with a soft laugh.
She kept pulling. “Well, he’smyfirst.”
If her words hadn’t gutted him before, these landed with a hard punch to his throat. Fuck. What the hell was she trying to do? Kill him herself?
Boomer tried to wave her off as they approached, but changed his mind the moment he caught the thunder in those Nordic eyes.
