Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
cheyenne
Friday after work, I came home and flopped face down on the couch. I was trying to decide between a workout and a nap when my phone rang. Blair Dempsey calling.
The name on the screen almost made me smile. I flopped onto my back. “Hello.”
“Hey. How’s it going?”
“Same.”
“Still no word from Cole, huh?”
“Nope. And it’s been a week since New Year’s Eve. A week and a day.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry. I really thought he was going to get himself together. And Griffin isn’t saying anything, even though he was over at the new house all weekend!”
“I don’t want him caught in the middle anyway.”
“Want to come over tonight?” she asked brightly. “Watch a movie or something?”
“Thanks, but I’m too tired. I haven’t slept well this week.”
“Okay. Hang in there. Let me know if you need anything.”
“I will.” We’d just hung up when I heard a knock on the front door. Curious, I sat up, tightened my ponytail, and went to answer it. It was Mariah.
“Hi there,” I said, smiling at her. “It’s good to see you.”
“Hi.” She looked serious. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I need help with something. Could you come over?”
“You never bother me. What do you need help with?”
“Homework.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Homework? On a Friday afternoon?”
“Yes. It’s, um, a really hard math problem. And Grandma doesn’t remember how to do it.”
“Okay. Just let me grab my coat and get my boots back on.”
A minute later, we were heading up her driveway. “I didn’t see you much this week,” I said. “Did you have a nice break?”
“It was okay. Sorry I didn’t come to see you. I wanted to, but my dad said it was better if I didn’t.”
Annoyed, I shoved my hands in my pockets. “You can come say hello at school any time.”
We stepped onto her back porch and stamped the snow off our boots. She put a hand on the door handle and looked at me. “Okay, don’t be mad.”
“About what?”
“I lied about the math problem.”
“Why?” But I understood a second later when Cole pulled open the back door.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.” My heart was pounding. What was this?
“Will you come in?” he asked.
I hesitated, and Mariah grabbed my hand. “Please? I really do need your help with something.”
“Okay,” I said, letting her pull me into the kitchen. Right away, the dog came trotting over to say hello, and I knelt down to give him some attention. Then I stood up and looked from daughter to father. “So what’s going on here?”
Cole wore the sweater I’d given him for Christmas. His brilliant blue eyes, as always, put my heart in a vise. “I have things I want to say to you,” he said, “but I promised Mariah I would let her talk first.”
“I’m sorry I lied about the math problem,” Mariah began solemnly. “I’ll never do it again. But I was scared he was going to mess this up.”
“Mess what up?” I asked, bewildered.
“Winning you back,” she said. “And I really want him to get it right, because I miss you so much.”
My eyes filled. “I miss you too.”
“So will you give him another chance? He wants to take you somewhere.”
“Where?” I asked, dabbing at my eyes before I looked at Cole.
“Home.” He reached for my hand. “Let me take you home.”
“What home? Whose?”
He and Mariah exchanged a smile, then he looked at me again. “Ours.”
Neither of us spoke on the drive, but he held my hand the entire time. Mariah had stayed home with her grandmother, and without her chatter, the ride seemed even more tense and silent.
I was too scared to speak, worried I’d break the spell. There was something different about him tonight—something had changed—but I’d gotten my hopes up one too many times before.
He pulled up in front of the house, along the street. To my surprise, there was another car in front of the house—I didn’t recognize it at first, but when we got close enough, Cole’s headlights lit up the license plate, which read BDR.
“Give me one second,” he said, pulling out his phone. After sending a quick text, the car in front of us pulled away from the curb.
Totally confused, I let him come around and open the passenger door. He took my hand once more and helped me onto the sidewalk. It was cold and dark, but all the lights were on in the house, making it look warm and cozy, like a scene from a snow globe.
He stood behind me and wrapped me in his arms. “The night I walked you home for the first time, I remember how you said it was something you used to dream about when we were kids.”
“It was.”
“And maybe I was just too dumb to see it back then, or maybe it just wasn’t our time, but I see it now—you and me, we belong together.”
I put my hands over his forearms, holding them tight to my chest.
He pressed his mouth to my hair. “Nothing is right without you, Chey. I’m sorry I hid the truth from you. You were right—I let you in, but not all the way. I didn’t fight for you the way I should have. But I want to, and I will. Please give me another chance.”
I turned to face him. “I want to, Cole. But I’m scared.”
“I know you are. But let me tell you this. My life has taken some unexpected twists and turns, but I know a few things for sure. I know I was meant to be Mariah’s father.
I know I was meant to live in this house.
And I know I was meant to spend the rest of my life with you.
” He cradled my face in his hands. “You’re home to me, Cheyenne.
You’re family to me. The way you love me makes me want to be a better man. ”
Tears filled my eyes. “You’re the best man I know, Cole Mitchell. You always have been.”
“But I can be better.” He paused to take a breath. “I had my first appointment with a therapist yesterday.”
Gasping, I tipped my head back to look at him. My heart beat even faster. “Really? You did?”
“Yes. And I survived.” His shoulders rose. “My scars aren’t pretty, but if you want to see them, I’ll show them all to you.”
“Cole, that means everything to me,” I whispered, rising up on my toes to kiss his lips. “Everything.”
“Good. Now come inside. There’s one more thing I want to show you.”
He took my hand and led me up the walk, through the front door, and up the stairs.
When we reached the closed door to the master bedroom, he paused and turned to me. “Close your eyes.”
I did as he asked. A moment later, he took both my hands and I felt myself being pulled forward into the room. It was warm, and smelled delicious—like Blair’s bakery in the morning.
“Okay. You can open them.”
I opened them and gasped. My hands flew to my cheeks. I turned in a slow circle, looking at the bedroom of my dreams, lit by dozens of candles. My eyes traveled over the elegant bedding, the soft colors, the plush fabrics, the shining floors.
And the window seat—he’d built a window seat. With a cushioned bench upon which half a dozen pillows rested, along with a soft throw blanket. Not only that, but it was bookended by floor-to-ceiling shelves, freshly painted white and waiting to be filled.
“Cole,” I choked out over a sob. “Did you do all this?”
“I had help,” he confessed, looking happy about my reaction. “The guys were here all last weekend. Moretti was a godsend. And Bianca DeRossi—no matter what he thinks—is an angel. That was her in the car out front. She lit the candles for me and waited to make sure it was safe.”
BDR—Bianca DeRossi. Now it made sense. And yet it was still beyond belief.
“I’m stunned.” I shook my head, wiping my eyes again. “It’s so beautiful. Everything is perfect. Better than I dreamed it could be.”
He came over and wrapped his arms around me. “That’s what I want for you. Something better than a dream.”
Our mouths came together, open and hungry, our hands working to remove coats and sweaters and jeans and boots and what seemed like an endless amount of layers of winter clothing.
Finally, we scrambled beneath the covers of the bed, naked and desperate to lie skin to skin, to make up for lost time, to express with our bodies what words could not.
“God, I swore to myself I was going to take my time with you,” he whispered, moving inside me hard and deep. “And now we’re here and I can’t slow down.”
“Don’t,” I begged, pulling him tighter to me, rocking my hips beneath his. “Don’t slow down. For once, I won’t say there’s no rush. There’s a rush. There’s definitely a rush.”
He laughed, pausing only to bring his lips to mine. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too.”
And then we were lost to each other, and just like he promised, it was something better than a dream.
Afterward, we lay on our sides, facing each other, covers pulled up to our waists.
“I’m sorry I made you wait so long before getting this right,” he said, propping his head up in one hand. “I was dying to call you every day last week, but I felt like I couldn’t, not unless I had something real to offer you.”
“All I’ve ever wanted was this.” I placed one hand over his heart.
“It’s all yours.”
“Finally.”
“Now you tell that girl inside you that I chose her, and I fucking meant it.” He poked a finger playfully against my sternum.
I laughed. “She heard you.”
“Does she believe me?”
“Yes.”
He grabbed me and rolled me on top of him. “Well, just in case she needs more convincing, let her know I’ve got all night.”
“All night?” Surprised, I looked down at him. “We have all night?”
“We have all night.” He kissed me, brushing my messy hair back from my face. “Our first night in our bed in our house. That is, if you’ll agree to live here with me.”
“Can we have pancakes for dinner?”
He grinned. “All the time.”
“Yes,” I said, a shiver moving through me. “I’ll live here with you.”
He kissed me once more. “This is the real New Year’s Eve,” he whispered. “This is the real beginning.”
“Mmm,” I murmured against his lips. “Finally, I get to kiss Cole Mitchell at midnight.”
Suddenly he flipped me beneath him, pinning my wrists to the bed, staring down at me with narrowed eyes. “You weren’t really going to kiss that fucking Mavs player on New Year’s, were you?”
I rolled my eyes. “What do you think?”
His crooked grin appeared, slow and sexy. “No way.”
“So you get it now, huh?” I took his face in my hands. “It was always you, Cole.”
“I get it now.” He kissed me softly. “I get you now. And I’ll never let go.”