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“It’s just a theory, but like I said, I felt the explosion come from below. Maybe it wasn’t coming from the basement, maybe it was -”
“Coming from the fucking ground,” Luke bit out. “I’ll call the bomb squad and get the dogs out there. Maybe we can put this to bed tonight.”
***
Hallie returned to Caden’s bedside while the guys went back to the church. She was grateful for their commitment to seeing this through. But if she was wrong and they didn’t find any explosives underground, then she was out of ideas.
She sat in the chair beside Caden’s gurney and cradled his hand in hers. The room was quiet except for the hum of the IV pump, the steady beeping of the heart machine, and the ticking of the clock on the wall.
Hallie placed her cell phone in her lap, wanting it close in case one of the guys called her with news or any questions, not that she could give them any more information than she already had. She was helpless in her helplessness and she hated that almost as much as the fact that Caden had been hurt because of her. Blake’s words echoed in her mind. Not your fault. Logically she knew that, but it was easier to blame herself than to look for other reasons why this might have happened.
The doctor said Caden could wake up at any time, but the longer it took, the less likely it was that he would. Hallie couldn’t let her mind go there. It had only been a few hours, but he’d already been quiet for too long. She missed his voice, and those steel gray eyes looking at her like she was the only thing in the world that mattered. Anytime she wanted to escape her life or momentarily forget a glimpse, she could lose herself in those dreamy pools of gray, and it was like her entire world shifted.
“Come back to me,” she pleaded, rubbing his fingers and massaging his palms. His strong arms had become her home, her safe place, her everything. She pressed her lips over his knuckles and traced his veins with her fingers.
Her phone buzzed, startling her. She checked it, thinking it was one of the guys, but it turned out to be an application update. She set the phone on a small tray table and turned her attention back to Caden.
He was so handsome, even with his eyes closed, lying there, not talking or moving, he was still the most gorgeous man in the world. She never thought she could love anyone as much as she loved him, but every day they were together, she only fell more in love with him.
She stroked his face, tracing the faint lines on his forehead like she was memorizing them. She brushed her fingertips across his eyebrows and down his cheek, running her finger pads over the top lip and then the bottom one. She closed her eyes and let her fingers trail down his chin, and along his jawline, letting his short stubble tickle her fingertips. “I love you,” she breathed, her eyes still closed as she imagined them being anywhere else but in a hospital room where he lay still and unresponsive.
“I love you too.”
Hallie nearly shot out of her chair as her gaze landed on a sleepy Caden with the smile of someone who’d just gotten away with something. “Caden,” she breathed, and threw herself at him, not caring of the tubes and wires attached to him. She landed with her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him as best she could.
He draped his arms over her and she sighed in relief. “I was so worried about you. Let me get a doctor.” She started to straighten, but he held her to him.
“Not yet. I was dreaming about this. About holding you. You were touching me and kissing me, and I almost didn’t want to wake up.” A sneaky smirk spread across his face, the kind that reached his eyes, making them shine with a mischievous glow.
“How long have you been awake?” She demanded. “I can’t believe you did that to me. I was sitting here worried sick about you and you were just lying there pretending to be asleep?”
“No. I was lying here, basking in your touch because it is seriously the best thing I’ve ever known or felt in my life, and I didn’t want you to stop.”
Hallie couldn’t help but smile at that. He was the sweetest man in the world. She covered his mouth with hers in a soft kiss. When she pulled away, he looked at her with a teasing grin. “Surely you can do better than that after everything I’ve been through.”
She threw her head back in a laugh, then did just as he asked. They kissed until they were both breathless with desire and she had to pull away before things got too heated. Their gaze met and she saw the moment his passion sobered and reality set in. “Do you remember what happened?” She asked.
“I remember we went into the basement, there was a guy shooting, and then something exploded behind me. What was it?”
“An old can of spray paint,” she said.
“Damn. So that was it, huh? Your glimpse?”
Hallie sighed, and of course, he picked up on her hesitation. “What?” He asked. “Tell me that was it, Hales.”
She shook her head. “I thought it was, but -”
Luke came into the room with a huge grin, followed by Tanner, Garrett, Martin and Blake. “We got it,” Luke announced. “Hey, look who’s awake.”
“Welcome back, Man.” Garrett said. “Someone was worried sick about you.”
Caden smirked. “Not you, Asshole.”
“Obviously,” Blake said, and Hallie smiled, preferring the sarcastic Blake to the passive aggressive one.
“So what did you get?” Caden asked. “Hallie said it wasn’t the paint can.”
Martin stepped forward. “And she was right. It turns out the leaking from the water heater valve was leaving a puddle on the ground, which was dripping down through a crack in the foundation into an old abandoned bomb shelter that had a single hand grenade left in it, probably from the fifties.”
