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Tyler settled in at Kate’s side and realized he was going to have a hard time not being there forever.
Without thinking he’d wrapped a hand around her thigh, behind the knee, ready to hoist her up to him and carry her to safety. The storm had evaporated but Tyler’s worries hadn’t. He needed to get her out of this field. Javi and the others stood around cheering but all he could focus on was the way Kate was breathing, on the possibility she could have bruised a rib or had some other hidden injury besides the cuts from shrapnel that caused that trail of blood down her face.
He heard the sirens before he turned from Kate to see the lights, muted flashes of red and blue through the swirls of mist and dust in the air. He saw at least six ambulances, driving as far into the wreckage as they could before the paramedics jumped from the trucks and ran looking for the wounded. Tyler rested his free hand on Kate’s knee and squeezed.
“We gotta get you checked out,” he said gently. A corner of her mouth hitched up as she looked at him, as if it took all the energy she had left to smile. She covered her hand with his, but didn’t immediately pull away like she had before.
“I’m fine,” she murmured. “Just take me back with you.”
Tyler didn’t argue with her. “Javi?” He turned. He knew the man had deserted Storm Par and wasn’t sure if he needed a ride.
Javi shook his head. “You go on,” he said. He didn't need to give Tyler permission, but: “Take care of her.”
Dani and Dexter had their vehicle nearby. The camper had beds in the back. Tyler lifted Kate who didn’t hesitate, grabbing on to him and holding close. With each step on the uneven ground her body jolted in his arms and she seemed to curl in on herself, pushing her face into Tyler’s chest. Amid all the noise and commotion Tyler could still hear his own heartbeat, hammering in his ears, and figured Kate could hear it now, too.
“Ty,” she said when they were about halfway to the camper.
His heart squeezed.
“You’re hurt, too,” she said, as if just now remembering his leg.
“Too? I thought you said you were fine,” he accused. He felt a puff of air against his neck as she let out a little laugh, barely more than an exhale.
“You know what I mean.” Her voice broke a little.
“All this means is we’ll take care of each other. Right?”
“Yeah.” Her fingers twisted in his shirt.
Tyler quickened his pace as the camper came into view. His leg was throbbing, and he wasn’t sure how badly he’d mangled it, but it was probably only a scrape and a few bruises. Looked worse than it was—which is what he was hoping for Kate’s wounds, too. A lot of blood from a small cut.
There was a First Aid kit in a console and a water bottle in the big cooler where they stored sandwiches for the meals. Tyler laid an extra blanket out on one of the beds and Kate stretched out on it, flexing her hands and rotating her joints. Good, he thought. She was ruling out breaks and fractures.
He doused a rag in water and started by wiping the blood from Kate’s face. He turned away to fold the rag over and use the clean side, and when he turned back he saw a fresh tear running down her cheek. Her hands were fisted in the blanket and she was looking away from him. “All those people,” she whispered. “We couldn’t save all of them.”
“Hey.” Tyler put the rag down and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, turning her head so she’d face him in the same movement. “You did a damn good thing today, Sapulpa. You did something that a week ago I never would have dreamed was possible. Not until I met you. Because you…” He clenched his teeth and hung his head, feeling his eyes sting and the lump in his throat rising, his own words choking him. “Kate, you’re the only one who could do it. That was your destiny out there today.”
When he looked up at her his vision was swimming. He blinked through it, sniffed and turned to wipe his face into his shoulder.
She squeezed his arm. “It really worked,” she said. Tyler couldn’t imagine how she felt. Years of grieving, the survivor’s guilt. And now to see it through, to see her experiment work, not just in theory, but in reality.
“Yeah. Guess I’ll have to give up my title. It’s yours now, Tornado Wrangler.”
She grinned tiredly. Her hand lingered on his arm, her fingers running soothingly back and forth. “How ’bout we share it?”
“You’ve got yourself a deal.”
Tyler didn’t hesitate. He bent down and slid his arms between her body and the blanket, cradling her head with one hand and supporting her back with the other. He clung to her, feeling so lucky just to be in her life, no matter what his title was, no matter what the arrangement looked like. He just wanted, needed to be near her. This he knew for certain.
He felt her hum softly, relaxing into the embrace. He didn’t want to let go, but that was the only way he could look into her eyes again, at her beautiful face.
“Boone’s got the right idea,” he said, almost without thinking.
“What’s that?”
Hell, it had only been a week. Hell, less than that.
Hell—well, hell if he could help it.
“I think I love you.”