Page 102 of Cross That Line

He pulled her back into his arms and pressed her head against his chest. "Then, cry. I'm here for you."

No one had ever really been there for her, and his words broke down the last bit of willpower she had. She broke into a torrent of sobs and tears that she couldn't seem to stop no matter how much she wanted to.

All the stresses of the last few days, all the fears, all the gratitude that she was alive poured out of her until she'd covered Tyler's shirt in wet tears. He didn't say a word. He just held her. And that was exactly what she needed him to do.

Finally, she was spent, and she lifted her head. "I'm a mess," she said with a sniff, her nose plugged, her eyes feeling red and swollen. "I should clean up."

He smiled as he tucked her hair behind her ears. "You've never been more beautiful."

"You are totally lying. But thank you for saying that. Thank you for rescuing me."

"You don't have to thank me. You were almost out there completely on your own."

"Only because the door blew off; I don't know why that happened. We were locked in there. The windows were boarded up. I didn't think we were getting out."

"There were medical supplies that were exploding throughout the warehouse," he said.

"Oh, those were the noises I kept hearing. I thought a bigger bomb was going to go off at any moment, and when the door blew off, I thought it might be over for us. But then the smoke cleared and Naomi went running."

"She should have stayed to help you."

"She should have, but I'm not surprised she didn't. I'm okay now. You can go back to work."

"I hate to leave you alone."

"I've been taking care of myself for a long time."

"I know. But I want to take care of you now."

"You just did, and I'll feel even safer when you round up the bad guys. I'm going to take a bath and then I'm going to order room service. I'll get extra so you'll have something to heat up when you come back. But don't come rushing back if you're needed elsewhere."

"Okay. But I will text you."

"Great. I'd love updates. By the way, how did you find the warehouse?"

"Jack remembered details that Evan passed on to me."

"That was lucky. How is Jack doing?"

"He's better. My team is all with him. I don't know if I told you that earlier. But Evan, Gary, and even TJ are keeping him company."

"Even TJ? Wow. I'm glad."

"Me, too." He leaned over and gave her a long, tender kiss. "Damn. I really hate to leave, Rachel."

"You have a job to do, and I would never stop you from doing it."

"Maybe that's why I want to stay."

She kissed him again. "I'll be here when you get back. I'm not going anywhere."

Rachel's words stuck in his head all the way back to the office. Leaving her in that suite had been one of the hardest things he'd ever done, which seemed ludicrous to admit, but he'd never felt so connected to a woman as he did to her. There were a lot of things he wanted to tell her, but all of them would have to wait.

His phone rang. It was Zane.

"Levitan must have gone back to his office after we went there earlier. Wes has been listening to the bug Rachel planted in his office. Levitan made arrangements to meet someone at the Holston Airfield in New Jersey in twenty minutes," Zane said. "Looks like he is about to get on a private plane."

He put the address into his navigation system and then made an immediate U-turn. "I'm twenty minutes out."