He almost free-fell for a foot or so before they had him under control, then they lowered him slowly. Stretched out as far as he could go, Cisco’s arm length of approximately two and a half feet, added to his height of six-two, brought him down to nearly nine feet. Which left only three between him and Hilly.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he choked out.

God, from what he could make out, she was a wreck. Her face was battered and bleeding, her top lip swollen, and there was a nasty looking bruise on the side of her neck. And that was just the damage that Cisco could see. Who knew what other injuries she’d sustained to her body before she’d gone over the edge and when she’d landed?

“Here,” Cisco managed as she looked up at him with one good eye. “Take this blanket.” He let it drop from his fingers, and it landed only inches from her head.

She dragged it close, grappled with the protective sleeve that held it for a moment, then managed to extract the blanket and cover herself.

“Better?” he asked.

She made a small sound, and he could see her attempting to grin. “Better…would have been…following our original plans for tonight,” she managed.

“Original…?” Cisco barked out an anguished laugh. She was talking about sex, and her amusement was either because she was the world’s best actor, or she was fucking good at ignoring her pain. “Oh, Hill,” he lamented. “I promise a whole lot of those nights after we get you out of here and well again.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, her tone low and heart-breakingly tentative.

“I’m so sure,” Cisco answered without hesitation. There was a lot more he wanted to say, but there were…

Why the fuck not?

Screw the audience.

Cisco wasn’t going to hold back any longer. His worry over Hilly’s fate had reminded him just how short life could be.

He cleared his throat. “I know this is really stupid timing on my part, Hilly, but I… Something’s been festering inside me for weeks, and I have to say it.” He took a deep breath. “Hilly Duncan, I love you. I’ve been in love with you since you showed up at my house one night, all sassy, to take care of my injuries.” He knew he should stop there, but nerves had him rambling on, blurting out all his doubts. “I know it’s too soon; I know you’re scared, but I’ll do everything I can to make you⁠—”

“Cisco,” Hilly interrupted him with a quiet, but bold groan of his name.

“Yeah, sweetheart?” He swallowed hard. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut.

“I love you, too,” she rasped.

There were whistles from above and one very loud, “Well shit. Another one bites the dust.”

“Shut up, Welker.” Moira, their sheriffs’ department teammate chastised him grumpily. “You wouldn’t know love if it bit you in the ass.”

“Ahh, you want to sink your teeth into my fine glutes, Bliss?” came the instant reply.

Yup. That was Welker. All bluster and no commitments. Cisco would deal with him, later. Right now, he focused on what Hilly had just revealed.

“You do? You love me?” he addressed her almost giddily, growing dizzy at her words. Or maybe his head was swimming because he’d been hanging upside-down for too long, but his heart was certainly soaring.

“Uh, huh,” she managed.

That was enough for Cisco.

“Hilly, you’ve made me the happiest man in Maine,” he replied, moisture threatening to spill from his eyes. “Now just stay quiet and I’ll be back before you know it.”

Hilly grunted her compliance, and hunkered deeper under the blanket.

“Up,” he told his teammates.

He didn’t want to leave Hilly, but passing out wouldn’t do either of them any good, and he needed to be one-hundred percent in his right mind so he could be one of the team who rappelled down and helped secure her in the litter once it arrived.

He was hauled up, slowly.

Once on solid ground, it took Cisco a minute to clear his head and get to his feet.

Welker—once Cisco was upright—was right there by his side to cuff him in the shoulder while Alvi looked at the damaged wrists he’d forgotten about, tsked, and started treating him.

“Smooth, pal,” Welker snorted. “Telling the girl you love her while she’s half-unconscious. And bro, what am I going to do for wingmen now that you and all the rest of our wuss friends have gotten shackled?” he complained, not quite tongue-in-cheek.

“Maybe get a real life,” Moira grumbled under her breath from next to them before turning and striding away.

Huh. That was interesting, and it wasn’t the first time Cisco had seen tension between the two. There was definitely something more there than met the eye, linking his buddy and the taciturn sheriff.

Cisco focused in on his friend. “Enjoy your delusions while you can, Welk. There’ll come a day when you meet a woman who’ll bowl you over, and you’ll finally understand how it is,” he schooled.

The man grimaced, glanced after the sheriff, then blanched.

Cisco gave an internal laugh. Welker was interested in Moira Bliss, but attempting to convince himself otherwise. It was a fascinating development. Cisco would have to keep an eye on his friend to make sure he didn’t blow it.

Moira was one hell of a teammate, and even if she was all business; didn’t do warm and fuzzy, she was smart, loyal, and pretty damned stunning to look at. Welk couldn’t do better than Ms. Bliss.

Hops, JD, Sandrine, and Briar brought him out of his thoughts as they broke through the trees from the north, humping in the equipment they needed.

“Emergency services are right behind us,” Sandrine told them, dropping some of the rope gear and her end of the litter on the ground at Mason’s feet. “EMTs as well, and the police to take this kidnapper and arsonist into custody.” She eyed the trussed-up form of Cottins, sneering at the asshole where he sniveled.

“Right. The fire,” Cisco recalled.

He’d been so focused on getting to Hilly, he hadn’t given another thought to the shack that had to have gone up in flames by now. He considered himself damned lucky not to have been caught in the conflagration. He’d managed, thanks to Hilly, to divest himself of his restraints, but once that had been accomplished, Cisco had been a little disoriented from the encroaching smoke. Crash—backed up by Cisco’s SWAT team—had braved the small building’s precarious safety to run inside and yank Cisco out in the nick of time. Cisco had never been more relieved to have a firefighter by his side.

“Is it raging out of control?” he asked.

Hilly would be devastated if the blaze spread to her camp.

Mason laughed. “Nope. Crash has it all under control. He stayed back and called an old colleague of his who works for the Maine Forest Service as part of a local helitack crew. The guy had a chopper in the air and was onsite within minutes. Crash told me over the mic that the helitack crew had already rappelled down, are using a fire retardant, and that they had the flames almost out.”

Cisco breathed a sigh of relief. Hilly would be very relieved to hear that. But right now, he needed to focus and gear up. Welker was right beside him, sorting through his tackle, but Alvi was already harnessed up and clipped in, ready to go.

“Come on, you slouches,” Alvero tossed out. “Let’s go get Cisco’s woman.”

In another few seconds Cisco and Welker were also suited up to roll. Securing the lines—as they’d practiced ad infinitum—they went over the lip and down onto the ledge before another word was spoken.

Cisco immediately leaned down over Hilly on one side, and Alvi crouched on the other while Welker took charge of the descending litter.

“We’ve got you now, Hill.” Cisco wasn’t sure where to touch her, for fear of causing her pain, but she solved his dilemma by slipping her small, cold hand into his.