His eyes opened and focused. “Did Raze just break my ribs?” He coughed.
“You’re okay.” Sami leaned down and kissed him all over the face, laughing and crying at the same time, her heart swelling. “You’re all right.”
He breathed out. “What happened?”
She smiled through the tears. “My love saved you.”
He blinked.
“Well, maybe it was the enzyme.” She laughed out loud, crawling over him to land by his side and curl right in. “I brought the enzyme, and Lynne figured it out. You’re alive.”
He stretched his arms and then ran a finger along the cut near her temple. “Are you all right?”
“I’m perfect.” She buried her face in his arm, smelling man. “You jumped into a helicopter to save me.” She lifted up. “You’re a hero.”
Jax snorted from the doorway. “Jesus. Everyone get back to work. We need to assess damage.” He lifted a hand. “Justice? You scared the shit out of me, so you have to stay there for the night and let the doctors watch you.”
Were those tears in the Vanguard leader’s eyes? Sami sniffled.
Raze backed away, his light blue eyes full of emotion. “Sorry about the ribs. You’re kind of a pansy.”
Tace rubbed his chest. “I’m fine. You hit like a member of the Elite Force.”
Raze grinned. “Oh, you’ll pay for that. Later.”
Tace played with Sami’s hair and pressed a soft kiss to her head. “I have a later. Who knew?”
Chapter Thirty-Six
I’ll love you from this life to the next . . . and backagain.
—Tace Justice
Tace finished moving the rest of his stuff into Sami’s quarters, admitting silently to himself that her place was much nicer than his. Oh, he’d groused enough that she’d kissed him quiet, but maybe she just wanted to kiss. His woman liked to kiss, and since the day before, she hadn’t taken a moment for granted.
Their kitten slept peacefully on the countertop as a reminder of the soldier who’d been their friend. They’d give the little guy a good home.
Sami leaned against him from behind and snuggled her face into his back. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine.” He turned and pulled her closer, inhaling her fresh scent. “I think I’m cured.” He felt great, actually. It had only been twenty-four hours since Lynne had shot him up with the enzyme and B concoction, but he felt stronger somehow. “We only have a few minutes until we get back to work, and I wanted to talk to you really quickly.”
She breathed out and ran her hands over his chest. “What about?”
“You and me.”
She paused and looked up, her pretty eyes sparkling. “What about us?”
He breathed out slowly. Vanguard had been damaged, and they’d lost twenty soldiers in the attack. Their primary goal was to build the defenses back up as well as deal with the Pure church. Then they could branch out and find those other Bunkers. But Sami had work to do as well. “I’ve talked to Jax, and the plan is to stay here a week to work, then go to the Bunker for a week. We’ll have to alternate.” There was plenty for him to do at the Bunker as well. “If that works for you.”
“So long as we’re together, I’m fine with any plan,” she murmured.
“Good.” He brushed her hair back from her face, frowning at the red scratch along her forehead. “I was so scared when he had you with a gun to your head.”
“I know.” She leaned up on her toes to kiss his mouth. “We’re both fine now.”
Yeah. They were. Scouts had already found the wrecked helicopter, but neither the president nor the vice president had been in it. However, by the pools of blood they’d found, at least one of the men should be dead. “We’re staying here to fix Vanguard, but at some point, we’ll need to go north.”
“One thing at a time. For now, let’s just relax and heal a little.”
