She didn’t see him. Where had he gone? Was he hurt?
Her stomach dropped. She couldn’t stand the thought of it.
Then movement at the edge of the woods caught her eye.
Her breath caught.
Was that . . . Wyatt?
She stepped closer, and his features came into view.
It was! It was Wyatt!
He held his shoulder with his opposite hand, and his jeans were torn at the knee. But he was upright and his eyes clear.
When his gaze found hers across the distance between them, he stopped walking.
Kori didn’t.
She covered the ground between them and threw her arms around him. He pulled her in with his good arm and held on.
She let herself stay tucked into his embrace.
When she finally pulled back she looked at his face, everything she’d been holding together for the last several hours loosened all at once.
“You could have been killed.” Her voice shook. “You just . . . you ran out there with your hands up, and I had to sit in that truck and watch, and I couldn’t—” She stopped before starting again. “What you did back there. For all of us. For people you barely know?—”
She didn’t finish the sentence.
Instead, she stepped closer and put her hand against his jaw. When he didn’t move away, she leaned toward him and pressed her lips into his. It was gentle at first and tentative.
Then he kissed her back, and it felt like something that had been working its way toward this moment since the first time they’d seen each other at the ranger station.
They separated, and Kori laughed softly, a little breathless. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I?—”
She stopped.Yes you do, the honest part of her brain reminded her. She’d known since she’d watched Wyatt walktoward that line of people with his hands raised, and she’d felt something in her chest crack open.
“Actually,” she murmured, “I think I do know why.”
“Good.” His hand brushed her cheek. “Please, never apologize for kissing me.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard.”
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” He stared at her, his eyes pools of emotion.
“You had me worried.”
He pulled her into another hug, and Kori let herself feel safe there for a moment as she listened to his steady heartbeat against her ear.
Wyatt let himself have about three seconds to relish what had just happened. The fact that everyone was safe. Kori’s kiss. The feeling he’d been denying suddenly seeming so clear.
He couldn’t dwell on that too long right now.
But he’d definitely explore these feelings a little later.
He straightened, rolled his shoulders, and turned toward the road.
He spotted Graham moving in his direction, Micah behind him.
