Summer's End (Wildflowers #5) - Jill Sanders Page 0,92

the boathouse and punctured a hole in it, sending them to the bottom of the bay,” Owen answered quickly. “Aubrey used a knife to cut him loose.”

“He’s bleeding,” someone said as he was shoved into a chair.

“It was dark, I tried…” Aubrey said with a cry.

“Shh,” he reassured her. “I’m okay,”

“I’ll get the bandages,” someone else said. Since he still had his eyes closed and was fighting to stay awake, he couldn’t tell who was talking. But every time he heard Aubrey’s voice, he tuned back in.

“Help me get him in my office. We’ve made up a bed. He can rest there while you bandage him up.”

Just as he was helped up, someone mentioned Brett and he stilled.

“What about Brett?” he asked, opening his eyes to look around.

“He just called and said he can’t make it to come get those two until after the storm passes,” Owen answered.

“What two?” he asked. He looked around the room and spotted Bridgett and Martha. The two women were sitting on the floor with a rope tied around them. Bridgett was holding a very broken arm close to her chest. Both women looked tired and like they’d been beaten, badly.

“What the hell are they doing here?” he asked as Aubrey nudged him towards the hallway.

Owen was helping him walk and answered, “Later. We’ll make sure they stay locked up and out of the way until Brett can come get them. For now, you’re bleeding all over the place.”

“Don’t let them near Aubrey,” he said as he was shoved onto the sofa in Elle’s office.

Owen chuckled. “The way I hear it, we need to keep Aubrey away from them,” he said with a shake of his head.

“You’re safe.” He reached for Aubrey and brought her into his arms. Finally, his head was starting to clear. “I was looking for you.”

She held onto him for a moment before pulling back. “I love you,” she blurted out. “I didn’t mean to take so long to tell—”

He brought her to him and kissed her lips. How long had he waited for her to say those words? Why hadn’t he realized that it didn’t really matter. What mattered was that she was there, safe, in his arms.

“I love you,” she said again when he ended the kiss. “I should have told you years ago.” She shook her head. “I was a stubborn fool.” Her hands went to cup his face. “You’re the only man I’ve ever said this to. The only one I ever could say it to. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. Everything I’ve ever needed, and I was a fool.”

He brushed a strand of her wet hair out of her eyes. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I’m going to have to work on getting you to agree to marry me,” he said with a smile.

She laughed. “Yes.”

“Yes?” he asked. “Yes, I’ll have to work on it or—”

She shut him up by kissing him again.

“Yes, you fool. I’ll marry you.” She laughed as she rested her forehead against his.

He took a deep breath and already felt much stronger than he had before. Maybe it was the oxygen getting to his brain finally or maybe it was the fact that he had everything he could ever want. Either way, Aubrey was his finally and life could only go uphill from there.

“Let me look at your arm,” she said, glancing down at it.

He noticed the sting of his torn skin for the first time and ignored the pain while she cleaned him up.

“You won’t need stitches,” she said with relief. She moved back, and he noticed the blood on her shirt.

“You’re hurt.” He pulled her up to sit next to him and noticed that she winced when he pulled the blood-soaked material away from her skin.

There, just below her last rib on her right side, was a large nasty gash.

“Bridgett’s handiwork. Actually, it’s thanks to her that I had the knife to cut you free. I knocked it out of her hands earlier when they jumped me in the boathouse.” She shrugged as he bent down and started cleaning the blood from the wound.

“You’ll need stitches.” He was worried about how deep the cut had gone.

“I’m fine,” she said, taking his hands. “Throw some of those butterfly Band-Aids on it and…”

“Let me,” he said, looking up at her. “You took care of me, it’s my turn to look after you.” He nudged her until she was lying down on the sofa. He took his time cleaning