Chapter 29
I love you – three little words Fender has never said to anyone before
Fender
“We’re almost there,” Dylan says and I realize I’m grinding my teeth. I don’t stop, though. I can’t. I won’t be able to relax until Leia and Isla are in my arms.
Jett points to the police car up ahead. “Uh-oh, it’s the fuzz.”
“Don’t worry.” Cash continues to defy the speed limit as he passes the police car. “It’s my brother, Peace. He’ll escort us to Leia’s house.”
I’m still shocked every time Cash says ‘brother’. When we met, he was an orphan with no family to his name. Now, he has six half-brothers. One of whom is Leia’s boss.
Leia. I hope she’s okay. The only thing I know is how the paps swarmed the courthouse but were forced away by the town’s residents.
What happened to Leia and Isla? Were they there? Did the paps upset them? Did they tell my girls lies about me to get their reactions? Did they believe the lies?
We reach the street where Leia’s house is and I grab the door handle. As soon as Cash slows down, I open the door and jump out.
“You could have waited until I stopped,” Cash shouts after me.
I ignore him and rush toward the house.
“She’s okay,” Peace calls from the open window of his police car.
I won’t believe she’s okay until I see it with my own eyes. I reach the porch and the door flies open.
“Fender!” Isla yells before throwing herself at me.
I catch her. I will always catch her. This precious girl has burrowed herself under my skin and I’m not letting her go.
“Are you okay, cutie pie?”
“I missed you.”
I kiss her hair. “I missed you, too.”
“Really?”
“Of course, I missed you. I had no one to play tag with the entire week. Who was I supposed to play with? Jett? Everyone knows he cheats.”
Isla giggles. “Gibson cheats, too.”
Leia clears her throat. I rake my gaze over her. She doesn’t have any outer injuries, but she is standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest and her mouth set in a flatline. My firecracker is pissed.
“Isla, baby girl. Go to your room. Fender and I need to talk,” Leia orders.
I set Isla on her feet.
“But he just got back,” she pouts.
“Fender and I need to discuss adult stuff,” Leia says. I hope adult stuff isn’t code for her dumping my ass.
Isla’s nose wrinkles. “Are you going to kiss and be disgusting?”
I chuckle as I herd her inside the house. “Kissing isn’t disgusting.”
“Yes, it is. Astro kissed me at school. His lips were cold. It was gross.”
I growl. “Who’s Astro? Why did he kiss you? Did you want him to kiss you?”
Isla rolls her eyes. “You’re as bad as Mom.” She skips to her room without answering my questions.
I close the door and shut out Gibson and Jett who are standing in the front yard watching the show. They whine and complain but I ignore them. They’re not important now. Leia is.
I step toward her. I want her in my arms. I need to feel for myself that she’s uninjured but her nostrils flare as she stares at me, and I freeze.
“You’re okay? The paps didn’t hurt you?”
She snorts. “The paps didn’t hurt me. I didn’t give them the chance.”
Relief pours through me at her words. The vultures didn’t hurt her. “What did you do, firecracker?”
“I showed them my softball skills.”
“I didn’t know you played softball.”
She smirks. “I don’t.”
“You didn’t hurt anyone?”
She rolls her eyes. “Why does everyone keep asking me if I hurt anyone? All I did was brandish a shovel at a bunch of reporters in front of the chief of police.”
I hope I’m mishearing her. “You brandished a shovel?”
She shrugs. “Brandish sounds cool. In actuality, I carried it on my shoulder.”
Leia is barely five feet tall and reminds me of a pixie with her blonde hair and blue eyes. But if anyone can pull off intimidating a bunch of paps, it’s her.
“I wish I had been there.” I clear my throat. “I’m sorry I wasn’t.”
She waves away my apology. “It was bound to happen sometime. My only concern is keeping Isla safe.”
“We’ll keep Isla safe. After the incident with Virginia, the town is on the lookout for anyone who doesn’t belong.”
“I figured as much since Indigo got a message to let her know when the press had arrived.”
“You seem awful calm about the situation.”
“I’m not an idiot. I knew what I was getting myself into when we started this relationship.”
I can’t handle it any longer. I can’t be in the same room as Leia and not touch her. Especially not after being apart for the past week. It’s torture. I grasp her hands. Relief pours through me when she doesn’t pull away.
“It’s one thing to know you can be hounded by the press. It’s another thing to experience it.”
“Stop walking on eggshells. I’m fine. Isla’s fine. The press can go stuff themselves.”
I haul her into my arms, but she stops me with a hand to my chest and steps away.
“What’s wrong? You said you were fine. Is this a trick? You say you’re fine but it really means you’re pissed off?”
She scowls at me. “I don’t play games. If I say I’m fine, I’m fine.”
“You look pissed off.”
“Because I am.”
I growl. How is this not playing games?
“Not about the paps. You can’t stop them from doing what they do. It’s part of the package of being with you.”
“Okay. If you’re not mad at me because of them, what are you mad about?”
“What am I mad about? You really have to ask?”
Is this another trick question? Before I have a chance to figure it out, she continues.
“How dare you? How dare you speak to Brody about my workload? How dare you speak to my boss as if I’m some little woman who can’t handle her own life?” She pokes me in the chest. “You don’t own me, Fender Hays.”
I capture her hand and place it against my heart. “But you own me.”
“Don’t try to deny it. You…” Her brow wrinkles. “What did you say?”
“I said you own me. Heart and soul.”
Her nose wrinkles in confusion. My little firecracker is adorable when she’s confused.
“Hold on. Did you just try to end an argument by claiming I what? Own your heart and soul?”
I kiss her nose. “I love you, firecracker.”
“No. No. No.” She tugs on my hand but I don’t allow her to retreat.
“No what? I don’t love you?”
“No, you can’t end an argument by claiming to love me. It’s cheating. I’m supposed to be mad at you.”
I smirk. “But you aren’t.”
Her eyes narrow and she spits daggers from them at me. “Don’t gloat.”
I clear my throat and wipe the smirk from my face. “I love you, Leia.” I raise a hand to stop her when she opens her mouth to speak. “I talked to Brody because I wasn’t allowing the woman I love to work herself to an early grave.”
“You have to let me fight my own battles, Fender.”
“But you weren’t fighting this one, firecracker. You were letting Brody stomp all over you.”
She growls. “You’re lucky I love you, Fender or I’d seriously kick your ass right now. I don’t care how you’re a foot taller than me. I will—”
She loves me? I slam my lips down on hers. She gasps in surprise and I shove my tongue into her mouth. Her tart taste hits me and I moan. How does she taste better every single time I kiss her?
I pinch her chin and tilt her head so I can deepen the kiss. She moans and her tongue meets mine. I wrap my arms around her and lift her up. She wraps her legs around me and I walk forward until her back hits the wall.
A thump sounds before Isla shouts, “I’m okay.”
Leia wrenches her lips from mine. “Did you break anything?”
“No!”
“Good,” she mutters before she jolts and her eyes widen. “We’re in the living room. We can’t do this here.” She wiggles to be let down.
“Don’t move,” I growl at her. “You love me?”
Her eyes cloud in confusion. “I didn’t ….Crap. I did say those words, didn’t I?”
“Say them again,” I order.
“No.”
I nip her bottom lip. “Say them again and I’ll say them again.”
“You can say them anyway.”
I don’t deny her. I can’t deny her anything. She has me wrapped around her little finger.
“I love you, Leia Wilson. I’ve never said those words to anyone before.”
She frowns. “You’ve never said I love you before? Not even to Vicki?”
“No.” I thought I loved Vicki but I never actually said the words. And now I’m glad I didn’t. I’m glad Leia is the first woman I can give those words to.
“What about your mom?” I scowl. “Someday you have to tell me about her.”
I nod. “I will. I promise.”
There’s a knock on the door before Jett shouts, “Can Isla come out to play?”
I set Leia on her feet. “I’ll deal with the idiot.”
“Idiots,” Gibson corrects.
I open the door and snarl at Gibson and Jett. “Leave.”
“Fender.” Leia slaps my shoulder. “Be nice.”
“Why?”
She sighs. “I apologize for him. He thinks he’s an actual king when in reality he’s only the King of the Grumps.”
“He’s going to be thanking us in less than a minute,” Jett claims.
I grunt. Why would I thank these yahoos?
“Assuming mama bear lets Isla come over for a slumber party at our house,” Gibson says.
“We have movies, popcorn, candy, and a tent.”
Jett barely finishes speaking before Isla shrieks. “Say yes, Mom!”
Leia worries her bottom lip as she studies Gibson and Jett.
“We’ll be next door. If anything happens, you can be there in seconds,” Jett says.
“Okay,” Leia gives in and Isla rushes out of the house.
“Bye, Mom. Bye, Fender. See you in the morning!”
“You owe us,” Jett says before following her.
“Big time,” Gibson adds.
I shut the door in his face.
“What are we going to do without Isla?” Leia asks with a mischievous smile.
I stalk toward her. She giggles before running away. I chase after her. I will always chase after her.