leave and we’ll send the car to come get you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, dear,” she replied in a reassuring manner. “Now, go see my baby.”
Smiling appreciatively, I turned and followed the doctor down several corridors toward the recovery suites. She paused outside one of the doors and slowly pushed it open, allowing me to enter, then left me alone.
The sound of monitors surrounded me, the decibel level seeming to get increasingly louder and higher as I put one foot in front of the other. With each step, Tyler’s tall, built body, drained of all color, came more into focus. Bruises covered his face, stitches stretching across his chin and brow. His arms were covered in bandages, as was his midsection. Everything made him look frail, as if he were teetering on the brink of living and dying. Seeing Tyler in this state, confirming with my own eyes that he had narrowly escaped death, brought forward all the emotions I had been suppressing all evening.
I fell to the chair beside him and grabbed his hand in mine. Burying my face against him, I shivered as a chill flew through me. “I’m so sorry, Tyler,” I sobbed into his chest. “I was so stubborn the other day. You just want to share your life with me and, being who I am, I completely blew it out of proportion. I get it now. I promise I’ll stop being a pain in the ass. I want a new beginning with you. I want to start over again where we can watch our son play in the leaves and make snow angels. I want my new start with you…in Boston.”
I glanced up to see his eyes still closed, his breathing light and even. I soaked in his face, memorizing everything about it. My tears continued to fall as I thought how different tonight could have gone, how it was a possibility I could have been sitting in a morgue instead of next to Tyler’s unconscious body. Life was fragile, and I vowed to never take it for granted again.
Lowering my lips to his, I kissed him, his mouth unmoving against mine. “I love you, Tyler Burnham.” I rested my head on his chest and listened to the drumming of his heart, the rhythm soothing me.
“So is that all it takes to get you to agree to move in with me?” a husky voice commented. My eyes widening, I pulled back and gazed into a pair of tired green eyes. “Surviving an explosion and a two-story fall?”
“Tyler!” I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around him. I was breathless, a tingling spreading through me.
He yelped softly and I immediately drew back.
“Sorry.” I bit my lip. “I got carried away.”
“You’re worth the pain,” he replied, clutching my hand in his.
“I thought I lost you,” I choked out as he closed his eyes once more, obviously trying to fight off the drugs.
“Impossible, Serafina,” he crooned. “You think a small little fire can keep me from you? It’ll take a lot more than a few burns and some cracked ribs.”
I laughed at how nonchalant he was over nearly dying, allowing the warmth of his presence and heart to surround me as I rested my head next to his.
“I love you, Tyler.”
“Even with my stank ass hospital breath?” he joked.
“Especially with your stank ass hospital breath.”
He let out a content sigh as a small smile crossed his face. “Stay,” he murmured in a lazy voice.
“For how long?”
“Forever.”
I took a satisfied breath and held onto his hand, remaining by his side throughout the night. Forever sounded like a good plan to me.
~~~~~~~~~~
LOW VOICES ECHOED AROUND me, but I tried to tune them out. A sort of glow filled me and I didn’t want to wake up only to find out it had all just been a dream.
“You can’t really think it was someone on the inside,” a voice said softly.
Tyler.
“I don’t know what to think,” Alexander whispered in response. “Who knew what you were doing?”
“Just Benson, Maxwell, Eli, Martin, and me. Hell, Benson and Maxwell had just tracked down the lead. We hadn’t even contacted either subject to let them know we were coming.”
“And Martin already did a sweep of your house for bugs.” He sighed loudly. I could sense his frustration.
It was silent for a moment before anyone spoke again. “You said Maxwell hacked into some army database and that’s how he found out about the mission in Bosnia, right?” Tyler asked, his tone growing urgent.
“Yes. You don’t think…?”
“What other explanation is