Page 91 of Keeping Zita

Her shoulders slumped, her head falling back, and it suddenly felt as if she was a thousand years old. How much time had passed? A day? Two? A week? She supposed it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that Sage had done the impossible. He’d found her. Many people—men, women, children—weren’t so lucky.

Zita was well aware that Silas could’ve killed her and left her body somewhere to rot. But he hadn’t. He’d been cocky enough to think he wouldn’t get caught, which was incredibly stupid, because of course he would’ve been the first person on Sage’s radar after his stupid threat in Fallport. How in the world he ever thought he could get away with kidnapping her, she had no idea.

Thank goodness Sage was as smart as he was.

She heard banging on the door, as if someone was trying to break it down. Then swearing and more voices. It seemed Sage wasn’t alone, which wasn’t exactly a surprise. It wasn’t as if he’d wander around this huge hulk of a ship by himself. Maybe his team was out there. Maybe the dog she’d heard was Rain, Mandy and Buck’s dog, the one that had found them in the rainforest in South America.

It didn’t worry her when quite a bit of time seemed to pass. Yes, she wanted out of the damn room, but again, she knew Sage wasn’t going anywhere until he had her in his arms.

One second she was sitting on the bottom bunk, staring into space with a half-smile on her face as she dreamed about what she was going to eat and drink when she got out, and the next, she was almost blinded seconds after an extremely loud clanking noise came from the door.

It flew open, and someone used a flashlight to sweep the room. Even though the beam wasn’t pointing right at her, the light was extremely painful after sitting so long in the dark.

Zita whimpered in pain and threw a hand over her eyes.

Then a pair of arms wrapped around her so tightly, it was hard to breathe.

She knew immediately who those arms belonged to. Sage.

She went boneless in his embrace, keeping her eyes shut tightly against the lights she could see dancing behind her closed lids.

Several people were talking at once, but all her concentration was on the man on his knees in front of her. She felt Sage sobbing against her shoulder as he held her. She probably would’ve been crying as well, but again, she didn’t have the energy…or the liquid in her body to do so.

“You’re alive,” Sage rasped in an agonized voice, as he continued to hold her.

Zita nodded as her arms tightened around him. She hated that he sounded so broken. Didn’t know what to do to make him feel better.

“Obi-Wan,” a voice said gently, “back up a bit. We need to get a look at her.”

For a moment, Sage’s arms tightened instead…then he slowly eased away from her.

Zita kept her eyes shut, knowing it would hurt if she opened them.

“Fuck, Zita. Your neck… And your poor face!”

She could imagine what it looked like. As a redhead, she bruised easily, and those punches weren’t exactly love taps. She also still vividly remembered the feel of Silas’s hands holding her down…tightening around her throat.

“I’m okay,” she whispered. Then she cleared her throat and said it again, a little stronger. “I’m okay.”

“Damn straight you are,” Sage said reverently.

Slowly, Zita opened her eyes a tad, just to slits. It was enough to send pain shooting into her head. But she didn’t close them again. It felt amazing to see. And the first thing she saw was Sage’s face. He was frowning, had dirt on his forehead, but he was still the best thing she’d ever seen in her life.

“Hi.”

The stupid word escaped without thought.

His gaze whipped up from where it had been focused on her neck, locking on her eyes. Then he smiled. It was small, and a little strained, but it was still a smile. “Hi,” he whispered.

“I love you,” was the next thing out of her mouth. Locked in the dark, she’d wished over and over that she’d told him before she was taken. That she’d had the guts to admit it when he’d said those three words to her. It was going to be her biggest regret if she hadn’t made it out of the ship before it was sunk. That this man wouldn’t know how much he meant to her.

The smile on his face grew. Some of the stress lines smoothed out. “I love you too.”

Just then, a cold nose nudged Zita’s hand where it was resting on Sage’s side. Looking down, she saw a black shape standing there. Definitely not Rain.

“That’s Fred. My search dog. He found you.”

Zita had to close her eyes once more. She was overwhelmed with gratitude. For Fred. Sage. This woman. Sage’s teammates. A few officers in the room. The small space was full. She had no idea how many people there were, but it was a lot. And they were all there because they’d been looking for her. She wasn’t sure she deserved all the attention, but she sure was grateful for it.