Chapter 43 #2
Swallowing, I held up another finger, “Or option two, they take my confidence and dominance as a direct threat and spend all their time trying to break me down and turn me into less. To turn me into a submissive who will just roll over to them and give in completely. But I can’t do that.
No matter how hard I try. And I have spent the entirety of my adult life looking for someone who can stand beside me, Tanner.
A male partner who can let me be me, who can let me joke and ball bust and be good at what I do without taking that as a direct hit to his own masculinity.
Someone who can be there to be my partner, my equal, but who can also stand up for me when I need someone to lean on.
Someone to lead. Someone to trust. And I didn’t think I would find someone who could do both, but you do.
And it has hit me like something I’ve never experienced before.
Something powerful. And I want you to know what that means to me. How much that means to me.”
He waited a beat, making sure I was done before he took his turn to speak.
And then I was stunned silent.
“I love you, Rhea.” He said evenly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to say. Like he was telling me he was eating eggs for breakfast instead of a bagel.
“Wh—what?” I snapped my jaw shut that was hanging to my chest in shock.
He smiled, that gentle and easy smile of his, as he reached up and palmed my cheek.
“I’ll be honest with you; I didn’t have the foggiest idea that you were into me these last few years.
But that was on me, not you. Looking back, I can see how you flirted, and I shamefully remember how I ran in the opposite direction because I didn’t understand it.
I didn’t understand you. I thought we would be two bulls with our horns locked together, fighting nonstop if we tried to be romantically involved.
But I was wrong. And we have Goldie to thank for seeing how compatible we all were together, long before you or I even understood it, really.
And taking the risk to pull us all together.
I’m so fucking glad she did though,” he leaned in, running his nose against mine.
“Because I’ve fallen headfirst in love with you and your strength and bravery.
I’ve fallen in love with the way you challenge me to be better, to be more.
The same way I have with Goldie’s open, loving, and gentle nature and how she gives you and me a place to rest, truly rest our bodies and our minds from the chaos we meet every single day with her comfort and care.
Together, we all blend together perfectly.
Without a single piece of this triad, we would fall.
It wouldn’t work, not as well as it does right now. It would be out of balance.”
“You love me?” I whispered, terrified to say the words out loud. Terrified to ask for his confirmation of it.
“More than I thought was possible.” He said, tenderly kissing me before leaning into that dominant side of himself that I loved, taking the kiss deeper and pulling me onto his lap to straddle him.
“More than I thought I was ever capable of loving another person, to be honest. And somehow, I love you both that much. You both mean the world to me, Rhea.”
“I—” I swallowed, fire burning through my body with fear and anxiety. “You—”
“You don’t have to say anything else to me tonight. I just want you to know my feelings.” He breathed, and I let out a sigh of relief and disappointment in myself.
“I do though,” I pushed, forcing myself to be brave. “Because I love you too.”
“I know.” He smiled against my lips, and I groaned at his know-it-all nature. “We both know it, Rhea. Goldie and I feel it, because you show us every single day.”
“What if I—” I slid my hands up his muscular arms to his shoulders to hold on to him tighter. “What if they don’t believe me?”
“They don’t have to believe you, Rhea. But they will believe the proof we’ve found. And then they will retract everything they accused you of.”
“Then what?” I asked, voicing another massive fear I had about my future. “What happens then?”
“Then we blow this popsicle stand.” Goldie said in her cute, bubbly voice, and we both turned to find her leaning on the doorjamb wearing her frilly pink apron over her black business attire she wore to the courthouse.
They were both still in their professional clothes, and I had a seriously powerful urge to rip them both bare, to be free of it all with me.
“We say fuck this place, good riddance, see ya never. And we leave. Together.”
I laughed, and then sobered when she didn’t break character, blinking at me blankly. “Wait, seriously?” I turned to Tanner and scowled a little as I tried to imagine him leaving Cedar Bluff.
“Name a place on this earth that we couldn’t go, the three of us, and build a new life together if that’s what we wanted to do?
” He said evenly. “You can’t. Because we can do whatever we want.
We have that luxury in life; we’re three talented and educated people with a drive that no one can stop.
And if Cedar Bluff isn’t where we’re meant to lay our roots, then we will pick somewhere else to do it.
Just like you and Goldie did when you came here in the first place. ”
“But your family,” I said, shaking my head.
“Is so fucking big they won’t even know I’m gone.” Tanner deadpanned. “Besides, two of my brothers have moved away, and the world still turns every day without them. We will be fine as a family, even if we’re not all in the same county anymore.”
“I—” I stammered, feeling anxious at the thought of picking up and leaving again, even though I didn’t know how I was going to walk down Main Street ever again.
“Or we stay.” Goldie said, joining us on the couch, sitting on her knees next to us as Tanner put his arm around her, pulling her in.
“We can stay and build our futures right here, just like we have been doing. Either way. We are in control. Because you’re going to be found innocent of everything, and we will have our whole lives together to cause chaos for this sleepy little town that seriously needs a snow globe style shake up. ”
Tanner snorted and turned back to me. “You missed it, but Goldie has been causing quite the chaos in town with her newfound wildcat energy where you’re concerned.”
“Come again?” I asked her, surprised.
A cute little blush formed on her cheeks as she shrugged. “Turns out I have a little bit of a Hotshot attitude inside of me that likes to come out when someone dares to threaten those I love.” She smiled and my heart started racing again. “And I love you, Rhea.”
“God,” I cried, tipping my head back as tears burned my eyes, overwhelmed by how the day had gone.
She leaned up until she was right in front of my face, hands on both sides of my head, tipping it down to face her head on.
“I won’t overwhelm you with it, but I didn’t want another minute to go by without you knowing that I do.
” She smiled. “I love you so much that I turn into a freaking wild raccoon when you are in trouble, and I try to claw the eyes out of anyone who dares to get too close to me.”
I laughed, a teary-eyed, overwhelmed, slightly manic laugh of disbelief and incredible wonder as I sat with the two people I loved with my entire self, unworthy of their love. But I had it.
And it was up to me to make sure that I spent as long as they’d have me, earning it.
“I love you too, Marigold James. With everything inside of me.” I grabbed her hands on my face and kissed each of them, crying stupid tears I would deny the existence of tomorrow as she leaned in and took my lips in a scorching hot kiss that told me exactly how she was looking forward to showing me her feelings.
My sweet, gentle, little hippie lover with a sex drive that was hotter than any inferno I’d ever walked into before.
And my strong, steady, dominant golden boy who held us both in his powerful embrace as we collided together like fire and gas right there in his lap.
“Thank you both for being here, for me and with me.” I said, taking a deep breath against Goldie’s lips as Tanner’s hands found their grip on my waist. “And for loving me.”