Page 51 of Risk Everything

“Why? Are you hurt? Why didn’t old man Henrikson put some ibuprofen in the shelters, for goodness’ sake?”

He smiled and held out his good hand. “Actually, I’m sure if you mention it to him, he will.”

“Well, that’s not exactly going to help you, is it?” Her voice was tight. Shaky.

“Bree.” He patted the space beside him. “I’m okay. Come sit with me.”

She did, although a little reluctantly. “We need to get back into town.”

“We will. We’ve had rest, food. It will be much easier now. Let’s just give the storm a few hours and see what happens.”

If anything, that made her tenser.

He took her hand in his, twining their fingers together. “Why were you crying in your sleep, freckles? Not because of shooting that guy, right? His name is Paul Wyn. We have a file on him in the office and I recognized him when we were fighting. He’s one of Jared Ellis’s good friends.”

Her eyes widened. “He was in Risk Peak the night of the fire. He’d been dressed as a paramedic and tried to get me to leave Sam and Eva with him while I got looked over in the ambulance.”

Tanner let out a low curse. “Yeah, I think they knew about this trip and have been planning a kidnapping the whole time. But you shouldn’t feel guilty about shooting him. You know you had to do that, right? He would’ve killed me.”

Tanner would give anything if he could take that weight off her. Carry it himself. Taking a life, even in self-defense, or defense of a loved one, was still weighty.

But evidently, not too much to Bree. “Oh, no, I know I had to shoot him. He definitely would’ve killed you with that club. Honestly, if I had had a clear shot while you were fighting, I might have taken it.”

Tanner let out a short bark of laughter. God, he loved this woman. She was so damn practical.

“Well, as a law enforcement officer, I’m much happier that if you had to shoot Wyn, you did it when he was about to kill me, rather than when we were fighting. That’s much more defensible in my report.” He rubbed her hand. “If that wasn’t it, then why the tears? You were crying in your sleep.”

“It’s nothing.” She looked away.

“Freckles, you’re the least prone person to hysterics that I know. So if you’re crying in your sleep, it’s a big deal. Is it everything we’ve been through in the last couple of days? That’s understandable.”

“No, I—I... Forget it. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just worry about you getting back home in one piece. I’m fine.”

Now he was really worried. He hadn’t even thought to ask her if she’d been injured in some way. Was she hurt and trying to play it off?

He swallowed a groan of pain as he shifted his weight so he could get a better look at her.

“Tanner, what are you do—”

“What aren’t you telling me? Are you hurt?”

He didn’t see any marks on her naked body, but a lot of her was covered in blankets. “Bree?” He caught her chin in his hand, forcing those green eyes to look at him. “We’re a team, right? That means you tell me when you need help too. It goes both ways.”

His heart sat heavy in his chest as big tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Fine,” she finally murmured. “I was crying because I was relieved, okay?”

That definitely wasn’t what he’d been expecting. “Relieved that we made it to shelter? That we are warm and dry?” That made sense, but why not just admit that?

“No, relieved that I finally came up with my wedding vows!”

She closed her eyes and bowed her head as if she’d just admitted to committing the most atrocious of crimes.

“You were crying over our wedding vows?”

“You do know we’re getting married in four days, right? And we have to say vows.” Her whole body seemed to deflate. “I’ve just been in a state of panic, thinking of standing up there in front of everyone... I’m already such a social spaz, and you’re so important in Risk Peak. I wanted my vows to be perfect so I don’t embarrass you in any way. It’s just been stressful.”

He trailed his fingers down her cheek. “More stressful than running through the wilderness with people trying to kill you?” Because she hadn’t cried then.