Chapter 56
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
elena
It’s quiet now.
The storm passed. The flames are out though the scent of smoke permeates the air and the stables are in severe need of repairs. Much like the lingering chill beneath my skin, the effects of what happened won’t just disappear.
But the threat is gone—for the moment at least.
The local Sheriff took Diego and the dickheads he had with him in, but they said they’d keep an eye out for more of the members of the motorcycle club that was supposed to have left town long ago just in case.
They have local ties so they expect to track them down soon.
Hopefully before Isaac and Wyatt do.
We filled out reports. I played them the recording on my phone. They checked it into evidence. Then Isaac took me to the hospital to get every test known to man.
The baby and I are both fine, but we’re getting to be regulars at the ER at this rate.
Isaac declares, loudly, that our child is obviously a badass since he or she has already survived a fall off a horse, a sort of kidnapping, a car chase, and a rumble involving criminals and cowboys.
The ER nurse looks understandably alarmed.
Even when we get safely back to his place, the fear is still here. Lodged in my throat. Tangled in the way my heart hammers in my chest as I watch him move around the kitchen in sweatpants and bare feet, making me tea in the middle of the night like we didn’t just live through hell.
I’m sitting at the island wrapped in one of his soft worn-in high school football hoodies, the sleeves swallowing my hands, the scent of him everywhere.
And I can’t take it anymore.
“Isaac.”
He turns, mug in hand, worry etched into every line of his beautiful, stubborn face. “Yeah, baby?”
“I need to tell you something. Something I almost didn’t get to tell you.”
He sets the mug down carefully, eyes locked on mine. “What is it?”
My fingers curl around the hem of the hoodie but the truth comes out easily.
“I love you.” The words fall out of my mouth like a breath I’d been holding for far too long.
His jaw clenches, and for a second, I think maybe I’ve said it too late.
“I didn’t want to leave,” I whisper. “I thought I had to. Thought keeping you safe meant letting you go. I didn’t get to say it, and when everything was on fire, and you were chasing me down like a man with nothing left to lose, all I could think was what if I never got the chance to tell you?
With the way I behave . . . I didn’t know if you knew. ”
He’s across the kitchen in two long strides, lifting me into his arms like I weigh nothing.
“I knew. I always knew.” He kisses me reverently, feverish at first then softer, like he’s memorizing my mouth. “But it feels good to hear. I love you so fucking much, Elena. I didn’t know it was possible to love another person this much.”
“Me either.” I cling to him, face buried in his neck.
He pulls back and presses his forehead to mine. “Say it again.”
“I love you, cowboy. More than my own life.”
A shudder rips through him like the weight of those words rearranges something deep inside him. That’s how it feels for me, how it’s felt since that first night. It wasn’t love then, but it was a stronger connection than I’ve ever allowed myself to have.
“You are my life now, Elena. You and our child. My whole life. My whole heart. And I’m never letting either of you go.”
He kisses me like it’s the only thing he ever wants to do. Like he’s starving.
When he finally pulls back, he’s grinning through misty eyes.
“You’re not getting rid of me now, you know that, right?”
I smile. Then gesture to my growing mid-section. “I figured.”
He brushes his thumb over my cheek. “Swear on everything, I’ll never step foot in a bar or strip club again.”
I snort out a laugh. “I wasn’t actually that upset about that. More so that Carly Whatsherface knew before I did.”
“That will never happen again either,” he promises.
“Better not,” I say, pinching his side firmly.
He chuckles. “The guys did ask how you felt about me having a bachelor party. But I told them I wasn’t ever risking pissing you off and losing you like that again.”
“Serious question. Not that the ceremony in Santa Fe wasn’t beautiful and special, because it was. And it means the world to me that my dad got to be a part of it. But do you want to have a real wedding, one here for your family?”
Isaac regards me like a little boy I just told we’re having two Christmases this year. “You would do that?”
I nod. “Of course. I mean, I’ll probably still have to invite my family and they will show up. Probably some we wish wouldn’t.”
He grins. “Ivy and my mom will invite the entire town. People I don’t even know.”
I laugh, because I know they will. “I know. Maybe we can wait awhile though, until production wraps at least? So I can focus on our special day and not cram it in between takes.”
“Our certificate is good for one hundred and seventy-three more days,” he tells me.
“Are you keeping count, cowboy?”
“I thought that was how long I had to convince you to marry me for real. Clock was ticking.”
I love this man. And I love how much he loves me.
“You can have a bachelor party as long as I get a bachelorette party.”
He thinks this over. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I can let you out of my sight ever again.”
“Well, that’s going to make both of our jobs more difficult.”
Especially since the production company decided to resume filming immediately once Isaac and I were married.
His grin is wide. “I don’t know. I think we can manage. You make an excellent wrangler and I’m a hell of a stand-in for the love scenes.”
He’s playing, but he’s not wrong. I’ve seen some of the early footage and the blocking scenes. Ivy called it magic, and she was right.
“You’re not a stand-in, Isaac Logan. You’re the lead in my love story. You always have been. From day one.”
His eyes gleam the way they did the night we met. “You do know I’m literally never letting you go now, right? Like ever?”
“You could always tie me to you. I think I have your favorite reins around here somewhere . . .”
Later that night, during some extremely creative use of his favorite reins, Isaac convinces me to wait at least a few days to get back to work. He informs me they’ve been using Willow as my stand-in since we both have long dark hair and similar builds.
I imagine that’s making things interesting for Eli, who is pretty obvious about the schoolboy crush he has on her.
For once, I decide to give myself a break.
I agree to wait a week before going back to work. A few days to recover and smother myself in my strong, sweet cowboy so we can fully enjoy one another.
Without hiding, without lying. Without faking anything.
We’ve earned it.