I loved him, and even though only a few weeks ago I set out to forget about Mitchell Parker, my heart had other plans. Now I needed to be there for him, let him know that I wasn’t ever going to leave him either. That he could trust me to know that whatever happened I would be strong enough to handle it.
I headed back through the house. As I stepped outside, I forced a smile and headed to the family table. All the other guests were engaged in conversations. I couldn’t help but notice Mitchell’s voice as I grew closer.
“Mom, please don’t do this.”
“I’m just saying, being in a relationship is a two-way street, Mitchell. If you start off hiding things, it’s not good.”
Pushing his hand through his hair, Mitchell let out a groan. “You think maybe I had a good reason for not saying anything to her?”
Tripp saw me and cleared his throat. “Mitchell, Mom. Let’s put this away. Y’all are getting loud and this is Amelia and Wade’s reception dinner.”
“Have you said the L word yet?” Melanie asked, peeking in my direction.
What in the heck? Is she trying to put him on the spot?
I shook my head and walked faster toward the table. I wasn’t going to let someone make Mitchell utter those words until he was ready.
“Momma, please let it go,” Waylynn said, making her way to her seat after setting down a bottle of wine.
Melanie shrugged and looked my way again. She quickly let an evil smile play over her face. “Well, someday when you fall in love you’ll be ready to say it.”
Mitchell let out a small, frustrated laugh. “I am in love, Mom.”
I froze.
“I’m pretty sure I was in love with Corina when I met her. Then I fell in love a little more when I heard her laugh for the first time. I fell harder when she kissed me. When she got pissed at me, hated me, and then loved me again. Through all of it, I was in love. I just didn’t know how to admit it to myself.”
I covered my mouth and didn’t even attempt to hold back my tears. Amelia, Paxton, and Waylynn looked at me, each of them wearing a goofy grin.
“I knew you were, Mitchell,” Melanie said with a wink. “You just needed a little push to say it out loud.”
Standing, he shook his head. “You’re an evil woman, do you know that?”
The whole table erupted with laughter. Mitchell looked back and our eyes met.
His smile faded, and his face filled with disappointment. There might have been a touch of sadness, but not because of what he had said. It was because I knew this wasn’t how he wanted me to hear it for the first time.
“Hey,” he softly said.
“Hey,” I replied.
He took my hands in his. “That wasn’t how I wanted to tell you.”
I couldn’t help my smile. “I know. I wanted you to say it when you were ready.” I shrugged. “It’s still kind of soon, maybe.”
Mitchell shook his head, leaned down, and gently kissed my lips. It was a sweet kiss—short and simple—a kiss I would remember the rest of my life. “What do you say we blow this popsicle stand?” he asked.
My eyes widened. “What about Amelia and Wade?” I asked, peeking over to them. They were lost in conversation.
“I hardly think anyone will notice if we sneak away. I mean, can they blame us after the bomb I just laid out for everyone to hear?”
A giggle slipped from my lips. I glanced around at the tables. No one was paying any attention to us. Well, except for John and Melanie. I could practically feel their eyes burning into us.
“Your parents are staring.”
Mitchell laughed. “My father is probably trying to figure out if the cameras are going to come out and say gotcha! And my mother, well, I’m sure we can guess what she’s thinking.”
A flutter rose in my chest as we gazed at one another.
Mitchell placed his hand on my lower back and guided me into the house. We were in his truck and driving down the long driveway faster than I could wrap my head around everything.
Mitchell loves me.
He’s loved me the entire time.
Warmth radiated throughout my body. My heartbeat picked up, and I swore if Mitchell listened hard enough, he would be able to hear it.
When I peeked at him, he glanced my way and winked. Everything was going to be okay.
Simply because…
He loves me.
I couldn’t be angry with my mother even though I wanted to be. That shit she pulled at dinner had pissed me off, but at the same time, it had lifted something off my shoulders I hadn’t realized was there. Sure, I had known deep down I was in love with Corina. It had been on my lips more than once…especially this past week.
But there was something about hearing myself say the words. It hit home and made everything so damn clear.
I was in a committed relationship, and I fucking loved it. And the woman I was in the relationship with might be carrying my child.
Okay, so that bit of information still freaks me out.
We drove in silence for a bit before Corina finally said, “I think we need to talk.”
The old me would have flipped if a girl said those words, but I knew it wasn’t a Dear John type of moment, where Corina was going to say things weren’t working out between us. It was the opposite.
“I’m heading to the old house,” I said. “I’ve got a surprise for you. How about if we talk there?”
I chanced a look her way, only to be greeted with the most radiant smile I’d ever seen. “I like surprises.”
A small laugh slipped from my mouth. “So I’ve been told…by Paxton.”
Corina chuckled and told a story about when she and Paxton were in college.
“Paxton discovered my love of surprises by accident. One of our neighbors had a cookie bouquet delivery, and they weren’t home to get it. So, Paxton took it and told the delivery guy she’d make sure they got it that evening.”
I grinned like a fool. “Why do I have a feeling I know where this is going?”
She giggled and the innocence made my heart skip a beat. “I came home from classes. Did I mention it was finals week?”
My smile grew bigger. “No, you didn’t.”
“Yep. I was super stressed. Paxton always played it so cool and never made it seem like that week bothered her in the least. I was on the phone with my brother that morning and he told me he would send me something to get me through the week.”
“Oh, Corina. You didn’t.”
“I did!” she replied, laughing hard. “I walked in and saw the cookies. The whole apartment smelled amazing! I ripped open the card and read it.”
“What did it say?”
“Good luck on finals. Don’t stress! We love you.”
“That was it?” I asked.
“Yes! I figured they were from my brother and Mom. I mean, who doesn’t sign the card when they send something?”
I shrugged. “I wouldn’t think very many people.”
“Right? So anyway, I must have eaten half the cookies by the time Paxton got home. She freaked out and went into full-on panic mode. She was sure the neighbor was going to fall into a major funk because she didn’t get the cookies.”
“What did y’all do?”
Corina looked off in the distance and smiled. She was lost in the memory. Finally, she shook her head and laughed. “We stayed up nearly all night making cookies and decorating them, studying in between batches. The next morning, Paxton gave our neighbor the cookie bouquet. Her parents had sent the original basket, and she was so happy she cried. She offered some to me and Paxton and I felt so guilty I broke down right there in the hall and confessed my cookie-eating sin.”
I let a roar of laughter out. “Why does that not surprise me? What did the girl do?”
“Well, after she looked at us like we were insane, she busted out laughing. We all had a cookie-eating party that night and celebrated finals week being over. Turns out she was pretty cool.”
“That’s awesom
e. Y’all still friends?”
Corina shook her head. “We lost touch shortly after that. Paxton and I came back from summer break, and she was gone. Never did find out what happened to her.”
“That’s a bummer.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, she was a nice girl.”
I pulled into the driveway that led to my house. Corina’s cheeks flushed, and I knew she was thinking about me making her come against my truck. I was going to see more of that blush in a bit when I pushed balls deep into her.
Corina jumped out of the truck and started for the front porch while I grabbed a few things out of the back seat.
“There’s a light on in the house, Mitchell.”
Walking up behind her, I leaned in next to her ear. “That’s because I was here earlier today.”
She turned to me, a sexy little grin on her face. “This is where you went off to earlier for your errand.”
With a quick kiss on the cheek, I replied, “Yep. Come on, I want to show you what I did.”
I unlocked the door and we stepped inside. The smell of roses filled the air and Corina gasped. “Mitchell! You did all of this?”
Glancing around the living room, I smiled. Red roses were everywhere. They were in vases, some in small baskets, petals were carefully sprinkled across the floor, stems laid across the fireplace mantel. Everywhere.
“I did.”
She spun around. “You have no idea how many nights I dreamed of the two of us together like this.”
I set the stuff in my arms down and drew her to me. “I promise to never walk away from you again. I need you to believe me when I say that.”
“I believe it with my whole heart. I truly do.”
A single tear slipped from her eye. Leaning down, I kissed it away.
“I had a few things delivered to the house over this past week.”
Her brows lifted. “You did?”
“Yep. Figured we might be needing them if we planned on staying out here more. I hope you don’t mind, I sort of picked out a bedroom set for the guest room. I didn’t want to pick out ours without your input.”
I started to walk toward the kitchen to show her the new appliances. She was frozen in place.
My breath caught in my throat. What if she didn’t want to move in here with me? I had assumed since she was living with me, she’d move right on into this place when I did. Shit. We hadn’t even talked about it.
“I mean, that’s if you want to pick it out. I figured once your place is put back together we’ll be spending time between the two houses.”
She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.”
I swallowed hard. “Do you want to go sit on the back porch?”
Corina nodded. I took her hand and we started through the house. When we walked into the kitchen, she gasped.
“Mitchell! You got the appliances I said I loved!”
Smiling, I rocked back and forth on my feet. “You said you wanted them for your place, but you loved them so much, I wanted you to have them here too.”
She shook her head, and then our eyes met. “I don’t know what to say. You did all this for me?”
My finger went to her chin. Lifting her eyes to meet mine, I answered. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you, Corina. I’ve got a lot of making up to do, and I plan on making you the happiest you’ve ever been and spoiling you every day of your life.”
Her lower lip trembled. “I am happy, Mitch. So very happy. And all I need is you.”
I rested my hand against her face, and she leaned into it. “I know you want to talk, and one of the things we need to discuss is why I didn’t tell you about the shooting this week.”
Corina’s gaze fell to the floor, and I knew it was because she didn’t want me to see the fear in her eyes.
A few seconds later, her gaze was back on mine. “Let’s go outside. I’m feeling a bit queasy, and I’m not sure if it was something I ate, or nerves.”
We sat on the rocking chairs that had been left by the previous homeowners. The sun had already dipped below the skyline, but there was still a touch of daylight.
The silence between us wasn’t awkward or worrisome. It felt natural.
“Mitchell, I’ve been thinking the last few days. One of the things I’ve been thinking about is your job. I know one of your biggest fears was to fall in love only to have something happen to you, leaving behind the person you fell for.”
My heart dropped in my chest.
Corina turned in the rocking chair, her legs pulled up so that she could sit sideways.
“I knew you were a cop when we spent that night together. I knew your job was dangerous and even though things didn’t work out right away, I still gave you my heart that night. Call me crazy, but something beautiful happened between us and I…”
She looked down at her hands. “I knew when you made love to me that morning, before you left, that there was something between us. I told myself I was stupid to be in love with a man who would walk away and never look back, but there were so many times I saw it in your eyes—I knew you had to feel the same thing I felt that morning.”
Corina chewed on her lip then took another deep breath. “There’s a reason neither of us truly moved on after that night.”
I nodded. “I agree.”
“But that’s in the past, and like you said, it only brings out hurt feelings when we revisit those memories. I just wanted you to know that I knew what I was getting into the first time we were together, and I know what I’m into now. I know your job is dangerous and I know there are going to be days when it puts your life at risk. But I don’t want you to hide that from me, Mitchell.”
My stomach dropped. “I didn’t tell you because—”
Her finger came to my lips. “I know why you didn’t tell me. That makes me love you more. But even if I am pregnant, we’ve got nine months of this. You can’t hide everything from me. I want our relationship to be built on trust. I trust you and you trust me. If I’m feeling a certain way, I want to communicate that with you, and I want you to do the same. Like your parents. I’ve watched them together and they’re not only in love, they’re partners in every sense. I want that for us.”
Guilt ripped through my body. I knew she was right, and I wasn’t about to start our relationship with secrets.
With a somber look, I nodded. “The past few weeks have been so damn amazing, Corina. I guess I was afraid something would happen and you’d leave.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Mitch, I’m not going anywhere. I swear to you.”
I reached for her hand and rubbed my thumb over her soft skin. “If anything ever happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”
Her hand covered mine and our gazes connected. I could hear every sound around me. The wind blowing the branches up against the window of the house. An owl calling out as the sky grew darker. The sound of my heart beating in my chest.
“Talk to me, Mitchell. I see something in your eyes.”
I didn’t know how to start, so I just went for it. “Someone broke into your place the other day. They spray painted something on the kitchen wall.”
A look of pure terror moved over her face. “W-what did it say?”
I swallowed hard. My mouth went dry and I had to force the words out. “It said…um…”
“Just tell me, Mitch.”
Closing my eyes, I whispered, “Lieutenant’s whore.”
Corina’s gasp made my eyes snap open. A small part of me wished I hadn’t told her. The fear in her eyes was evident. I also couldn’t help but notice that her arms were wrapped around her stomach. Was she doing it because this made her sick to her stomach? Or was she worried about the baby she might be carrying?
She had to know that I would never let anything happen to her or our baby.
I opened my mouth to speak. Nothing came out. Mitchell picked me up out of the chair and carried me through the house and upstair
s to a bedroom. Not the master, but one of the other rooms. There was a bed, dresser, and a few other pieces of furniture.
He set me down, and I glanced around the room. It didn’t look like new furniture.
“Where’s this furniture from?” I asked.
“It’s the bedroom set from my old room at my folks’ place. I asked them if I could have it.”
After scanning the room, I placed my eyes back on Mitchell. He looked nervous. Scared, even. I wanted to ask more about the break in. A part of me wanted to know if he had any leads. I thought about Cassidy. He seemed agitated with her. Did he think she’d done it?
I closed my eyes. I wanted to forget all of it. None of it mattered. This whole ‘let’s communicate openly’ now seemed like the stupidest idea I’d ever had. Even though I knew it was important, it didn’t seem so important right now. The last thing I’d expected was a sudden bomb like this.
Mitchell’s hand pushed through his beautiful dark hair, and he cursed under his breath. “I should have waited to tell you.”
“No,” I said, finding my voice. “I’m glad you did. Do you know who did it?”
He wore a somber expression. “We dusted the place for fingerprints and came up with nothing. I’m almost positive the stupid ass foreman left the back door unlocked.”
“I don’t really have anything left in the house. Were they trying to steal something?” All of my important papers that had made it through the fire had been taken out when I met with the insurance adjuster. Everything upstairs was a total loss. The furniture downstairs needed to be sent out for smoke and water damage. The rest of the house was going to be gutted so there really wasn’t much left in the house.
“I don’t think anyone was going in to steal, Corina. I think it was a prank. Most likely some local kids I’ve picked up for stuff trying to be funny.”
I looked directly into his eyes. “And if it wasn’t?”
He smiled so sweetly, and I could almost read his thoughts. He would never let anything happen to me. “Then I’ll take care of it. I promise no one will ever hurt you.”