Page 85 of Wild Child
Movement drew my eyes overhead. Steve stood at the top of the hill above us, a pistol in his hand. Blood drenched his right pectoral muscle. He breathed heavily. Sweat glistened on his face and dripped down his cheeks. His skin had a grayish tinge.
I glanced back. Neils lay on the ground, a hole torn halfway through his face.
“Don’t look,” I said to Ellie.
She gripped my shirt, her arms wrapped around my waist, and buried her face into my neck. I splayed my hands across her back to keep her close, then canted her so she couldn’t see the destructive mess that she’d once considered a friend.
Above us, Steve’s arm lowered. The gun dropped to the leaves and slipped out of his reach when it slid closer to me. He dropped to his knees with a grunt. His gaze lowered to mine. I’d seen that look before. The slow bleeding of life. The sucking, gasping breaths of the dying.
“Why?” I asked.
“You were both . . . kind.”
I paused. “I’m sorry, Steve. I’m sorry this happened to you.”
He dropped to his side with a groan. “I never wanted this. Never . . . asked for it. Now, it will be gone.”
Ellie buried her face in my head with a little cry. I tightened my hold on her and pressed a kiss into her hair. Steve had just saved our lives. Maybe he didn’t deserve accolades, because he’d played a part in this nightmare, but in the end, he’d done the right thing.
“Thank you,” I said.
His glassy eyes softened, then closed. Slowly, the desperate gasps ebbed. Ellie pulled herself so close she’d merged into me. I kissed the top of her head again, still shocked to have her fitted against me without death between us, and let out a slow breath.
“It’s over,” I whispered as I ran my fingers through her hair. The gesture was meant to soothe me. “It’s over.”
My mind raced with what to do next. First priority: locate the radio. Call for help. Find coordinates and give them. Get to the truck? No, stay here? See what the responder said, then do that. Wait for help to arrive. Hernandez, he’d come. Probably with another ranger. Maybe? The thoughts streamed through my mind one at a time until they nearly consumed me.
Ellie’s sniffle brought me back. Tears dropped onto my neck until she pulled away and tilted her head back. Her lower lip trembled.
“We almost died.”
I reached up and brushed the hair out of her face with my hands. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry about—”
She shook her head. “No. Don’t.”
My heart cracked right down the middle when tears welled back up in her eyes. When was the last time I’d seen her cry? Years. Years ago. So many that I’d forgotten how beautiful the emotions made her.
“Ellie, I love you.”
She went completely still. Her heart leapt into her eyes, both frightened and hopeful and I knew at that moment that my world would never be the same.
“You do?” she whispered.
“I’ve always loved you. From the moment I saw you hiding behind the counter in the Frolicking Moose to this one. The years in North Carolina were torture without you. I thought you hated me. That we’d never speak again. Then after I almost died so many times on deployment, I swore I wouldn’t let another moment pass without telling you how I felt.”
She swallowed, the graceful column of her neck smooth and elegant. I trailed my fingertips to the hollow at the base of her neck, where I’d wanted to kiss her all my life. Feel the pulse of her heart against my lips. The thought robbed my breath until I gave into it. She tilted her head to the side to let me press my lips there and sighed.
“You’re mine, Ellie." I kissed the side of her neck, her jaw, then braced her face in my hands. "You always have been.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, wide-eyed vulnerable.
“It means that I won’t live without you. That you won’t leave my world, my sight, until you have to. That I’m going to spend the rest of my vacation convincing you to give up everything and follow me across the country. It means that if you tell me I can, I will kiss the breath out of you again and again and again. I will kiss you the way I’ve always wanted to kiss you.” My trembling hand touched her cheek. “Ellie, it means I give you everything.”
Her lips caught mine again. She held my face in both her hands. I locked my arms around her as the bottom fell out from my world. She pulled me close until space didn’t exist. Her legs locked around my waist. I clawed her closer until I couldn’t breathe, her lips slanting over mine in a kiss that had been tucked away for years.
Everything I once knew about Ellie totally unraveled. I lost myself in this new side of her. She pulled away with a gasp, and half a sob. Her forehead pressed to mine.
“I don’t want to leave you again. I don’t want you to leave me. I accept that we can’t live every waking moment together, but we can always have each other. Because Mama was wrong. She was wrong.” She pressed her lips to mine, then pulled away. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”
