He leveled the gun at her, his finger nestled against the trigger.
Nikki took one last breath and pushed against the desk.
Colin launched himself toward Parnell.
The echo of the second shot had barely sounded before the window shattered in an explosion of glass. Colin fell backward with Parnell and was pinned momentarily by the kid's weight.
He struggled to his feet, frantic to get to Nikki. He'd heard the shot, watched in horror as her chair flipped over. She'd obviously been hit, but where and how badly he didn't know.
He didn't spare a glance for Parnell's prone form or the two crimson stains that bloomed on the front of his shirt, then slowly bled together. The only thing that mattered was Nikki.
"Nic?" He ran his hands over her, frantically searching for any sign of injury, any hint of blood.
Her eyelids flickered, opened.
"My head hurts," she murmured.
His relief was so overwhelming he almost laughed. "You must have hit it on the filing cabinet."
He glanced at the metal cabinet, now dented where the chair had slammed into it as it tipped over. His blood froze as he saw another, smaller indentation only a few inches above.
He tore his gaze from the bullet hole. He wouldn't even consider how differently this situation might have ended. Instead, he framed Nikki's face in his trembling hands and silently thanked God for answering his prayers.
"Colin?" Nikki said hesitantly. "Are you okay?"
He managed a smile. "Yeah."
There was so much more he wanted to say, so much he needed to tell her, but suddenly the room was swarming with police and crime-scene technicians and medical personnel and .he and Nikki were separated to be interviewed about what had happened.
When Nikki found Colin again, he was standing beside one of the police cruisers, shaking hands with a man she'd earlier learned was Detective Brock. He spotted her in the same instant, and they met in the middle of the parking lot.
"About the things I said in there," Colin began, nodding toward his office.
"I know you didn't mean them," she said.
"What about the things you said in there?"
She smiled. "I meant every word."
Then she raised herself onto her toes and touched her mouth to his.
Nikki might have initiated the kiss, but Colin took control of it almost immediately. His lips crushed down on hers, hot and hungry, blazingly possessive. She felt the earth spin in dizzying circles as she clung to him, kissing him back with a passion that matched his own.
Slowly the edge of desperation subsided. The bruising pressure of his mouth eased, the arm banded tightly around her loosened. But still he kissed her. Softly, sweetly, lovingly.
Nikki sighed contentedly. "I do love you—"
"Colin. Finally."
He cursed under his breath at being interrupted, then again when he looked up and saw the source. "My agent," he explained to Nikki, turning away from her with obvious reluctance.
"I've been all over this place looking for you," Ian said.
"And as usual," Colin told him, "your timing sucks."
Nikki stepped back, out of the warmth of his embrace, to give them some measure of privacy.
"You won't think so when I tell you what I've got." Ian grinned, waving a sheaf of papers in front of him.
"How did you even know I was here?"
"The hostage thing was on the news," his agent said.
Colin shook his head. "You know what happened in there, and still you tracked me down to talk about a damn contract?"
Ian huffed indignantly. "Will you at least look at it before you reject it?"
"No." He shook his head again. "I'm not going to sign."
Nikki could no longer pretend she wasn't listening. She couldn't let him make what would obviously be a huge mistake. "What do you mean—you're not going to sign?"
He turned to her. "I thought you'd be on my side here."
"How could you ever think I'd want you to give up something that means so much to you?"
"You and Carly mean a whole lot more," he told her. "I want us to be together, to be a real family."
It was what she'd wanted to hear for so long, but she still couldn't let him make this kind of sacrifice. "We can do that in Texas."
"You would move here?"
"I'd go to the ends of the earth to be with you," she said. "All that matters is that we're together."
"Do you really mean that?"
"With all my heart."
Colin pulled her back into his arms and planted a firm kiss on her lips.
Beside him, Ian exhaled an audible sigh of relief. "Does that mean you'll finally sign?"
He drew back from Nikki, grinning. "No."
"But—"
Colin was quick to cut off his agent's protest. "No," he said again.
"You're making a huge mistake," Ian grumbled.
"It's my mistake to make."
"You won't ever see another offer like this again."
"I don't care." He smiled at Nikki, making her believe that he really meant it.
Muttering under his breath, Ian unzipped his briefcase and shoved the papers Colin had rejected inside.
"Let me know when you have something from Channel 12," he said.
His agent shot him a narrow-eyed look before he withdrew a legal-size envelope from his case and passed it to Colin.
Nikki watched the exchange with apparent bafflement.
"What are you doing?" she finally ventured to ask.
"Just trust me on this." He opened the envelope and withdrew what was obviously a contract of some kind. He scanned the contents only briefly before nodding his approval.
"Give me a pen."
Ian did as he was instructed, shaking his head the whole while.
Colin signed all three copies of the contract, then handed the package back to his agent.
She waited until his agent had moved away, still muttering under his breath, before she asked, "Are you going to tell me what that was about?"
He grinned. "As of now, I am Fairweather Cable's newest sports commentator."
Her jaw fell open. "You gave up coaching for a desk job?"
"It's not a desk job," he chided. "It's television."
"But … why?"
"Because even if you and Carly were here, I'd be on the road with the team so much that we'd hardly ever see each other. And because I don't ever want to spend a single minute more than I have to with you out of my sight again."
"But…" She wanted to run after his departing agent, to tear up the contracts Colin had signed, because despite the conviction in his words and the sincerity of his tone, she was so afraid he'd someday regret what he'd just done. "But you love coaching."
"It's not what I want," he told her. "Not anymore."
"You better be very sure of this, Colin. I don't ever want you to regret—"
He touched a finger to her lips. "The only thing I've ever regretted is the time we were apart.
"I love you, Nicole, more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone. And I want to be with you forever."
His unwavering certainty stilled the questions in her heart.
"I love Carly, too," he said. "And I want to spend time with her. I want to watch out for her and watch her grow.
"I want us to have other children together. I want to see the changes your body goes through during pregnancy. I want to hold your hand during labor, and watch you nurse our baby. I want to be there when he or she cuts a first tooth, takes a first step, speaks a first word.
"But most of all, I just want to share my life with you. I want to go to sleep beside you every night and wake up beside you every morning. If you'll give me another chance, I'll spend every day of the rest of my life showing you how much I love you."
It was the longest speech she'd ever heard him make, and Nikki wasn't prepared for the wealth of emotion that swept over her. This was so much more than she'd ever expected. More th
an she'd ever dared hope for. Everything she'd ever dreamed of.
Then, just when she thought he couldn't surprise her any more, he dropped down to one knee on the hard asphalt, in the middle of the now near-empty parking lot.
"Will you marry me, Nicole?"
She wasn't sure she could answer, wasn't sure she could even breathe. She swallowed. "You didn't say anything about diapers."
"Diapers?" Colin frowned.
She nodded. "If we have any more children, you'll have to agree to take your turn changing diapers."
Some of the tension seemed to ease from his body. "I promise to take my turn changing diapers."
Nikki took a deep breath and prepared to leap. "Then I'll marry you."
Colin whooped with joy and scooped her into his arms. He swung her around, and laughter bubbled up inside of her, spilled over. Just like the love that was overflowing in her heart.
He set her back on her feet but kept one arm around her as he fished the ring out of his pocket with the other hand.
"You must have been pretty sure I'd say yes."
He grinned. "The only thing I was sure of was that I wasn't going to stop asking until you did."
Nikki chuckled softly and held out her hand to him. Her fingers weren't quite steady, but neither, she noticed, were his. He paused with the circle of gold and diamonds at her fingertip.
"Be very sure of this," he said, turning her words back on her. "This time I won't settle for any less than forever."
She helped him push the ring onto her finger. "This time, neither will I."
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Extreme Measures Page 21
