Still, itwasher blood, oozing from her leg.
If Buck could punch Drew all over again, he would, but instead he towed the man’s limp body, upward. It was tempting just to drop the asshole and let him drown, but that would be the easy way out. The prick needed to face justice, then spend the rest of his wasted life stewing about his sins in jail.
One thing was certain. It wasn’t going to be Buck giving rescue breaths to the asshole once they dumped him on Bobbie’s boat. Buck wasn’t getting his mouth anywhere near the man. As a matter of fact, he perversely hoped that Drew had swallowed and breathed in half the ocean while he was unconscious, just to make the ejection of seawater from the man’s lungs as painful and prolonged as possible.
Buck shook his head. He wasn’t normally the bloodthirsty type, but it seemed like all his caveman instincts were rising heavily within him with Bobbie’s wellbeing in question.
He broke the surface just behind Spencer, and saw that hands were already dragging Bobbie up onto her deck. Uniforms were everywhere, and although he didn’t note that anyone was familiar, just seeing Coast Guard white made him breathe easier.
He swam Drew’s comatose body over to the side of the hull, treading water with his limp burden.
“He’ll need to be revived,” Buck told the Coasties who reached down and hauled Drew up. Buck needed no help getting aboard, and when he found himself on deck, on his feet, he rushed to hover above a coughing Bobbie almost before he was aware he’d moved.
He crouched, placed a gentle hand on her head, and brushed the hair back off her bleached-out face. “Are you okay?”
He glanced down at her leg where a medic was already taking a look.
“She got lucky,” the medic answered first. “It’s just a graze, and the ocean water did its job cleaning up the slice. I’ll still give her a shot of antibiotics, but a quick couple of stitches, and she’ll be fine.”
Buck turned back to Bobbie, who’d been silent this whole time, blinking up at him.
“What were you thinking?” he growled, trying to get a handle on his racing heart now that everything had resolved. He didn’t mean to be an asshole, but…
Bobbie coughed again, but instead of snapping back at him as he probably deserved, her eyes softened. “I had a weapon,” she said, referencing the wrench she’d had in her waistband. “Even though I didn’t get to use it on Drew, I was armed. So you can stop being all snarly. I know you were really worried, but I had no choice. Drew pulled his gun, and was aiming it at the authorities who were going to board. I couldn’t let him shoot them.”
Buck heaved out an emotional breath. “Soyougrappled with him, andyouwere the one who got winged. Then you…what? Took him over the rail?”
Bobbie grinned. “I knew you were down there, and I also knew you’d get to me. Which you did. So, see? My brain was functioning just fine the whole time.”
Buck groaned. “You took years off my life, woman. When I saw all that blood…” Buck had to tamp down his sudden urge to vomit as the reality hit him. “You could have died.”
“But I didn’t,” she told him with more strength finding its way into her voice. “Because there was something I knew I had to do. Which gave me superpowers. I wasn’t about to tap out on life before I accomplished one important task.”
“Yeah? What’s that?” Buck asked. His mind was drawing a blank on what could have been so critical to her, other than staying alive.
Bobbie raised one hand to Buck’s dripping face, and palmed his cheek. “This probably isn’t exactly the right time, with a huge audience and all, but I’m not holding back any longer. I love you Buck. I always have, and I always will.”
When he went to speak, she laid her fingers across his mouth.
“I’m an idiot for not saying it before this, but if you’ll forgive me, I promise I’ll say it to you every day for the rest of our lives.”
Buck’s heart went from the depths of despair, to soaring euphoria. His smile, he knew, took over his whole face, and the joy that suffused him was almost too much for him to handle. He felt a few happy tears mix in with the seawater that still dribbled down his face, but he didn’t care if anybody saw.
Bobbie loved him.
Amidst a smattering of applause, he bent down and kissed her cold lips reverently, then laughed.
“What?” she asked, puzzled, but clearly amused at his rapid change in demeanor.
“I certainly got the better end of the bargain, here,” he grinned. “I get to taste your lips, while over there, some poor joe is having to give your brother the kiss of life.” He faked a gag.
“Which is why we’re all watching you two, instead of them,” Spencer chuckled, pulling Tabitha close to his side.
“Speaking of watching…” a newcomer said from behind them.
Bobbie struggled to sit, and Buck helped her, keeping his arm around her shoulders because…he didn’t want to let go.
“Hey. Hi, Steve,” Bobbie grinned as the man came front and center. “Glad you could join the party. This is, uh, my…”
