Resolve.
“You should. At least for a while.” I didn’t want her hurt. Didn’t want her in harm’s way.
Those sharp eyes stayed steady on mine. “That’s easy for you to say.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Because you’re trained for this,” she said quietly. “You know how bad it can get. You chose that life. I didn’t.”
The words weren’t an accusation. Just a statement of fact.
“And yet,” she continued, “someone still decided I was a problem.”
My jaw clenched.
“You could have died.” The words scraped out rough with an emotion I didn’t have a name for.
“I know.”
The calm way she said it was what undid me.
“That’s not a shrug-it-off statement.” Heat crept into my voice. “That’s a line you don’t cross without it changing everything.”
Her gaze held mine, unwavering. “It already has.”
I stood, the chair scraping softly against the floor as I moved closer, drawn by something I’d been pretending not to feel for days.
“Can you walk away?” she demanded.
The question hit me square in the chest.
I knew she was asking if I could walk away from the case. But I saw her as she’d been on the dock—soot-streaked, pale, and so very still. I saw the version of her that might have been zipped into a black bag if the night had gone a little differently.
I saw the part of myself that had already crossed a line the moment I decided her fight was mine too, and the question I answered was whether I could walk away from her.
“No.”
The truth of it settled over us, into me.
Madden Reilly wasn’t who I’d have picked in a million years. But I hadn’t known her before. She was complicated. Sometimes difficult. And fucking fascinating. This unwavering commitment to doing the right thing, even when it might cost her everything… Brave, stubborn, brilliant, beautiful woman.
I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for her, from gently cupping her jaw. Something flickered across her face—surprise, relief, something softer threading through it.
“You’re an eternal surprise, Counselor,” I murmured.
That surprise brightened to something that might’ve been pleasure as I closed the distance between us and brushed my lips to hers.
For one, two, three heart-stopping beats, she froze, and I worried I’d crossed a line. But just as I would have pulled back, apologized, she reached for me, hands curling into my T-shirt and tugging me closer. I fought not to sink too deep because she’d been through hell. Then her mouth opened beneath mine, and it was like we’d both finally found oxygen. Or perhaps we both just needed the reminder that we’d survived tonight. As the taste of her flooded into me, my pulse stuttered, and my fingers tightened in her hair.
One of her hands slid along my jaw, scraping against the stubble in a way that made me growl like some big damned cat. I leaned into her touch, wanting a hell of a lot more than this…
“Contrary to popular opinion, this particular variety of swapping oxygen is not actually more effective than the classic medical intervention.”
At the sound of my baby sister’s voice, I stood bolt upright. Every cell of my body protested, We weren’t done yet.
Madden blinked up at me, dazed, her lips pretty pink and kiss swollen.
Gabi’s gaze flicked between us, unimpressed and unsurprised all at once. “I’ve got discharge instructions. And before either of you argue, you’re staying at Caroline’s tonight. Both of you. No exceptions.”
