Barry said goodbye and Cody turned toward Harper, but she slipped out of his arms. “Harper—”
“I just…I need to clean this blood off my hands.”
He looked down at the dried crimson on her skin. “I’ll help you.”
“You need to lock up. Join me when you’re finished.” Then she was gone before he could stop her.
Harper’s chestheaved with her panicked breaths as she jogged up the stairs. Her heart raced in her chest, and a million different emotions competed inside her. Relief that Dayne had been arrested and taken away. Comfort in knowing that Cody and Barry were okay. And shock and guilt. God, so much guilt.
Miles had saved her. Jumped in front of abulletfor her.
Her. Someone he barely knew.
He was still breathing, but was that enough? Would he make it through the night?
Her chest pulled tight, sharp pain cutting through her. It should have been her. Dayne had been aiming forher.
She stepped into the apartment and went straight to the bathroom. Immediately, her gaze ran over her reflection, and she saw everything she was feeling. The way the blood had drained from her face. Eyes that were wide and disbelieving.
She glanced down, hating the sight of the blood. She’d given her hands a quick rinse before being questioned by the deputies, but there was still so much red. Under her nails. Etched into the fine lines of her fingers.
She turned on the taps and scrubbed her skin.
The distant click of the apartment door sounded, but she didn’t look up as the footsteps neared or when warm arms wrapped around her.
“Storm…are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” It was a partial lie. Physically, she was fine. Mentally, she was struggling to come to terms with what had happened.
Cody’s finger trailed down her arms before wrapping around the backs of her hands. Then his breath brushed against her ear. “He’s alive. He’s alive, and thanks to him, so are you. It’s a debt I’ll owe him forever.”
She blinked away the tears in her eyes. “I feel so guilty.”
Gently, he applied some pressure to her hips and turned her. She gasped when he lifted her to the counter and stepped between her thighs. Then his forehead touched hers. “Don’t feel guilty. He made a choice to save you. I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you in time to save you myself.”
She glanced up, a tear spilling over. “We need to visit him as soon as possible. And take him food. Lots of food because the hospital food sucks. And books in case he gets bored.”
A hint of a smile curved his lips. “I’m not sure he’s much of a reading guy, but I’m sure he’ll appreciate the food.”
She nodded, a semblance of calm returning to her. “This is it, right? It’s over? The attacks. The fires. The constant worry.”
“It’s over.” He swiped the tear from her cheek. “But you and I are just beginning, Harper Rain.”
Another speck of calm returned to her, and suddenly she needed to get words out that she’d been keeping inside her for too long. “I don’t know if this is the right or the wrong time to tell you this, but I love you, Cody Walker. And each time something happens, the thing I fear most is that I’ll never get a chance to tell you. So I’m telling you now. I love you.”
His intake of breath was sharp, his fingers tightening on her waist. “You love me.”
It wasn’t a question, yet she answered like it was. “So much that I feel that love everywhere. From my toes to my heart.”
Both his hands came up to cup her cheeks, and with closed eyes, he leaned forward, touching his forehead to hers once again. “You have no idea what those words do to me, Harper.” He eased back, his eyes boring into hers. “When that gun was pointed at you tonight, I felt everything stop. Because that’s what happens when I think about losing you. My world stops, because I love you too.”
A new wave of tears pressed at her eyes. “You love me?”
“So damn much it hurts.” Then his mouth crashed to hers, and she let his kiss heal her.
CHAPTER 32
Cody laced his fingers through Harper’s as they drove back to the bar from visiting Miles in the hospital.
