Chapter 17
“Nahla, I promise you—if you laugh, we goin’ back to the hotel.”
She opened her mouth to speak but closed it when she realized a giggle was about to escape it.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
She promised herself that when she opened her eyes again, she wouldn’t laugh, because she really wanted to stay on their date.
She tried. She really did, but as soon as she opened her eyes, she failed immediately.
Cannon waved her off and tried to remove the apron he had on. Nahla rushed to him and grabbed his hands. “No, don’t take it off, please. I’m not even laughing because you look funny. You look adorable, baby.”
Cannon kissed his teeth. “Ain’t nothin’ about me adorable, La. And if you ain’t laughin’ at how I look, what you laughin’ at? Lyin’ ass.”
“I’m laughing because you’re acting like it’s killing you to wear a simple apron.”
“Simple? It’s pink, Nahla.”
“And it’s a great color on you. Now, come on. This is about to be epic.”
She pulled him to their workspace, and the chef immediately began. He had booked a pasta-making class for them, and Nahla was beyond excited. Cooking was one of her favorite things to do, and Cannon knew it.
“Molto bene!” the woman said, smiling at Cannon. “Very tall! You will knead dough like a stallion,” she said excitedly.
Nahla had to take another deep breath because she refused to laugh in the middle of their lesson. Instead, she nodded at the woman.
“I think so, too,” she said, turning to Cannon. “My man, the stallion.”
He cut his eyes at her. “You think I won’t carry ya ass outta here, but I’m about to show you.”
Their instructor clapped twice then introduced herself as Chef Ricci and explained that they would be starting by kneading their dough. She spread flour then placed a mound of dough in front of each of them and demonstrated the proper way to knead it.
After watching her for a minute, Nahla got started.
“Very nice! Natural,” Chef Ricci said, eliciting a proud smile from Nahla. Cannon watched the chef a little longer before starting, and when he did, he pressed down hard.
Chef Ricci gasped. “No! Not like you are fighting with dough. You want to press with love.”
Nahla glanced at Cannon’s work. He was handling the dough like it was a basketball or something, because he kept picking it up and slamming it back on the table.
“She said press, not throw, Cannon. Stop assaulting the pasta,” Nahla said, earning herself a nasty look from him.
“Leave me alone, Nahla. I’m tryna do what I was told,” he said, sounding irritated. He did stop picking it up. Instead, he began repeatedly sticking his fingers into different parts of the dough.
Chef Ricci shook her head at him. “Too rough. Be gentle. Like you are touching your lover.”
He kissed his teeth but tried to adjust. “My lover is soft, unlike this shit here.”
Nahla giggled but continued working on her own pasta. Eventually, Chef Ricci helped Cannon finish kneading his pasta, and they moved on to the next step.
Nahla thrived at pasta-making, while Cannon just looked as if he were trying to survive. It was a slow, methodical process, but the class was fun, and at the end, they had two bowls of Pici all’Aglione.
The chef led them to a nicely set table that had a bottle of wine on it already then left them to enjoy the meal they had prepared.
“That was so much fun,” Nahla said and picked up her fork.
Cannon kissed his teeth. “It was aight. Switch plates with me.”
Nahla frowned and leaned back a little. “Why would I do that?”
“’Cause you said mine looked better than yours when we were cookin’. I want you to have the best, so give me yours.”
Nahla laughed, but Cannon actually picked her plate up and moved it to his side of the small table. He placed his in front of her and grabbed his fork again. Nahla just stared at him in disbelief as he tasted her food.
“Damn, this is good.”
Nahla kissed her teeth and stood. Grabbing her fork, she pushed her chair to his side of the table and sat. She got some of her pasta on the fork and tasted it. Closing her eyes in delight, she nodded to agree.
“It is.”
Cannon shook his head. “I knew your ass was lyin’.”
They spent the rest of the date eating out of the same pasta bowl and talking about everything under the sun. Just like all the other things they had done in Venice, this was perfect, and Nahla never wanted to leave.
Cannon stood on the terrace of their suite with his hands in his pockets. It was the last night of their trip, and he had one more surprise for Nahla Avery. She had been loving all the architecture and sights in the city, so he figured he would end their trip with one last amazing view.
He heard the soft click of heels behind him, so he turned around to see that Nahla had joined him outside.
He gave her a thorough once-over. She was wearing a champagne slip dress that looked amazing against her chocolate skin.
Her hair—which was usually bone straight and parted down the middle—was pulled back into a sleek ponytail that fell to the middle of her back.
Her face was bare of makeup, but her clear skin glowed under the moonlight.
“You look damn good,” Cannon said, earning him one of her smiles.
“Thanks.”
Placing his hands on her hips, he pulled her close and kissed her.
“You ready?”
Nahla nodded. “Yep.”
Grasping her hand with his, he led her back through their villa and out the door.
A private gondola sat waiting, trimmed in roses and floating lanterns that shimmered in the night.
“This is beautiful,” Nahla said softly.
Instead of responding, he kissed her hand as she stepped into the gondola. Cannon then settled in beside her and slipped an arm around her waist. The gondolier wasted no time beginning their ride.
They drifted through the quiet canals until the gondola curved around a sharp corner. Cannon’s eyes were on her as her hands flew to her mouth.
“Cannon,” she said softly, looking past him.
“Wassup, baby?”
She didn’t respond. She just pointed in the direction she was looking. Cannon turned around. Although he had coordinated the date, he was thoroughly impressed with how it came together.
Just past them was a large floating platform. It was topped with a small dining table, dozens of candles, and lanterns everywhere. There was a table with several covered dishes and two people in suits standing beside it.
There were four posts at each end of the floating deck that supported a flowy canopy. The canopy was lined with light, and fresh petals drifted in the water around the dock. It really was beautiful.
“You did all this?”
Cannon chuckled. “I paid for all this.”
“This is too much,” she said.
“What I told you ’bout that? Come on.”
Cannon helped Nahla onto the deck, and once they were seated, the staff began to serve them their meal.
“This is amazing,” Nahla said again. “You just thought of everything,” she said.
Cannon shook his head. “Not everything. Just you.”
As they ate, they enjoyed small talk and reflected on the amazing week they’d had.
Cannon was just glad to see her smiling.
Nahla had brought him more happiness than he had felt in years, and for that, he felt like she deserved the world.
Even more than making him happy, Nahla had given him peace. She’d given him closure.
It was because of her that he had been able to confront wounds that he thought would stay covered up forever. She inspired Cannon to open up in ways he couldn’t with anyone, and because of that, he was able to let go of a huge weight that had been hindering him all these years.
He reached across the table and took her hand.
“There’s somethin’ I wanna talk to you about.”
She paused. “Okay,” Nahla said slowly.
“I was talking to Mace the other day, and he said somethin’ that stuck with me,” he said, his voice low.
“He was talkin’ about all the vets who have gone through situations similar to mine—heroes who lost their careers over some bullshit.
When you’re in the military, it becomes your life.
When it gets snatched away from you, the day it happened for me . . .”
Nahla squeezed his hand.
“It has the potential to break a person. Luckily for me, I had my family to keep me sane, but it’s people out here who don’t have anything anymore. I’ve been thinkin’ of ways to help people like that.”
Nahla smiled. “I love that. What do you have in mind?”
“I was thinkin’ about expanding Porter Protects like Capri has been beggin’ me to do for years. Capri gave me the idea to start the company because she knew I was lost without a mission. I felt steady when I had an assignment. Maybe I can hire people who need that kind of purpose again too.”
“You’re gonna change lives,” she said, rubbing his hand with her thumb.
He nodded. “I hope so. But I feel like I can’t do it if I’m still burying my own truth. The people I’m searchin’ for need to know that they ain’t alone in this.”
Nahla didn’t say anything, but she was clearly hanging on his every word.
“So,” he continued. “I want you to tell my story in the way that only you can.”
Her lip dropped. “Are . . . are you serious, Cannon?”
“I am. I trust you with it, and it’s because of you that I can talk about it now. It’s because of you that I want it out there. What you think?”
Nahla bit her lip. Standing, she walked over to Cannon and sat on his lap.
“I think you’re a hero who deserves to be celebrated as one. I think you were done wrong, and people should know that. I think I’ll be honored to tell your story, baby.”
She lowered her lips to his and kissed him gently.
When their lips separated, Cannon buried his face in her neck. He pressed his lips to her skin softly. Nahla moaned.
“Don’t do that unless you’re ready to leave and—”
Boom.
A loud thud echoed across the canal, prompting Nahla to jerk in his lap slightly. She gasped as she looked past him.
“Aw, Cannon, I love fireworks,” she said, hugging his neck tightly.
He turned in his seat so that they were both facing the firework show, but he kept his eyes on her. He could see the firework in her eyes as they burst in different colors.
They continued for a couple of minutes, until a crackling ring of white sparks shimmered above the water. The show was seemingly over, and Nahla finally looked at her. That was the perfect end to such a perfect—”
Again, a loud boom interrupted her, and she focused on the sky again. This time, there weren’t just regular bursts of color in the air. This time, the sky glowed with red lance work lines. They were thin trails of fire that linked together, as if someone was writing across the air.
The writing read: NAHLA, I LOVE YOU.
Not taking her eyes off the sky, she whispered, “How in the world did you do that?”
He kissed her neck then looked toward the sky himself.
“Keep watching,” he said. And she did.
The fireworks weren’t done. More lines appeared—curling and bending in the sky until another message formed.
BE MINE
At that point, she was squeezing him so tight, he had to adjust them so that he could breathe. A red heart was the last message in the sky before everything went still again.
Nahla focused on him again. “I already am yours, Cannon.”
He shook his head.
“I told you, I wanted to slow us down for a minute. Not what we feel for each other, because that’s solid. But the way we started was wild. Everything moved fast, and we just kind of fell into a relationship.”
He kissed her. “I love where we’re at, but I don’t ever want you to feel like you were an accident, an afterthought, or just part of the chaos.
“We’re not together because you needed my protection. We’re together because I want you bad. Because you’re the peace I never knew I could have, and because I’m in love with you. I want to be intentional in how I show that.
“So, Nahla Avery . . .”
One of the servers brought another covered dish to the table. When she uncovered it, it was a fancy-looking dessert with the words “Will you be my woman?” written in chocolate on the plate.
She wiped the tears that fell and kissed her teeth.
“Duh,” she said before hugging him again as a violinist stepped onto the deck and began to play.
He tightened his arms around her and pressed his lips to her temple, relishing in the reality that this was his life now.
Cannon Porter—the guarded, antisocial recluse—was a man in love.
It was funny how life sometimes worked. Cannon had spent so many years building walls around his heart to feel safe, but Nahla built a home inside them.
And he wouldn’t trade that for anything.