Emily stood in the cold Idaho wind, hugging her leather coat against her, and stared down at her father’s headstone. Kneeling, she set her hand against the date of his death. “I owe you an apology, Pop,” she said.
The trip to the cemetery was long past due, but this afternoon was the only time she’d had in the last week to come here. She’d spent most of the last week at the Boise Memorial Hospital with Zack while he recovered from a serious bullet wound. The rest of her time she’d spent with different branches of law enforcement and even the brass at MIDNIGHT, answering questions and making statements as they tried to recreate the events that had led up to the showdown at the Bitterroot prison the night she and Zack had nearly died.
Avery Shaw, Marcus Underwood and Clay Carpenter were in jail, each of them awaiting trial on various charges that would keep them behind bars for the rest of their lives. Thanks to Zack.
She looked at the granite headstone and smiled. “And you, Dad. I’m sorry I doubted you all these years. You were a hero, and now I’m going to make sure your contribution to ending the horrors of RZ-902 are officially recognized.”
“I might be able to help with that.”
Emily rose and spun at the sound of the familiar voice. Then she was staring at Zack Devlin and the rest of the world melted away. He’d lost weight in the week he’d been hospitalized. His face was pale. But he was smiling, and at the moment it was exactly what she’d needed.
“I didn’t know you were being released,” she said.
He arched a brow. “I hurried the doc along a bit. I bloody hate hospitals.”
“Me, too.”
He motioned toward the headstone. “I told the people at MIDNIGHT about your father. What he did. They’ll see to it that his name and reputation are cleared.”
“Thank you.”
An uncomfortable silence fell between them. Emily could feel her heart pounding. Even though she couldn’t meet his gaze, she felt his upon her, digging into her, searching for something she wasn’t certain she wanted him to see. She was torn between running to her car and driving away and throwing herself into his arms. She’d never been in love be fore, but she knew this moment was profound. Whatever happened here today, she knew it would affect her the rest of her life.
ZACK KNEW BETTER THAN TO push a woman like Emily when she didn’t want to be pushed. But he’d been patient for a week now and she still hadn’t given him any indication as to what was going through her mind. The not knowing was killing him.
“When I woke up and you were gone, I didn’t know if you’d come back,” he said.
She met his gaze, and Zack was taken aback by her beauty, by the courage he saw in the depths of her eyes. Most of all, he was taken aback by the sheer power of his own feelings for her.
“I didn’t know if you wanted me to come back,” she said.
He stared at her, wondering how she could not know that he was crazy in love with her. “The nurses told me you didn’t leave my side for three days.”
“You saved my life, Zack. I wanted to make sure you were going to be okay.”
“Is that all?”
She blinked, then her gaze skittered away. “I don’t know what you want me to say,” she said. “We haven’t talked about…the future.”
“The future is what we make it.”
“Your base of operations is in Washington, D.C. My life is here in Idaho.”
“I suppose for two people in love that could present a problem.”
The words, so simply spoken but so chock-full of meaning, went through her like a blade. Emily gaped at him, then choked out a laugh. “It does,” she managed. “But I don’t know what comes next. That scares me.”
“Why does it scare you?”
“Because I’m in love with you.”
His jaw flexed, like steel under tremendous pressure. When she’d professed her love after he’d been shot, he’d wondered if it had just been an extreme reaction to everything they’d been through together. But now as he gazed into her loving eyes, he knew that they hadn’t just been words to see him through his medical ordeal. They had come straight from her heart.
He crossed to her in two resolute strides. Her eyes widened an instant before his fingers wrapped around her arms. Then he was pulling her to him. His hands tangled in her hair. He breathed in her scent, let the sweetness of it fill his lungs. He caught a glimpse of her startled expression, but he couldn’t wait any longer and crushed his mouth to hers.
The kiss was long and slow and languid. The way he wanted all their kisses to be. Now and forever. “I love you, Emily Monroe,” he whispered.
Putting his hand gently beneath her chin, he forced her gaze to his. “I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. I’m not going to give that up without a fight, so if you have any ideas about ditching me, we had better have it out right here and now.”
“But your job with the agency—”
“Is such that I can live in any city I please as long as there’s a decent airport.” He grinned. “I think the airports in Boise will suffice just fine.”