Chapter 13
Saturday morning, Venice sat on a low chair on the beach next to Tessa and watched the sun rise, coffee in travel mugs, a light breeze bringing the salty scent of the ocean right to them.
“I really like the chairs,” she said with a smile before she took a drink. “I was a little tired of sitting on the rocks.”
He’d picked them up from a local shop that sold beach supplies. “Nothing but the best for my sweetheart.”
She wiggled down into the chair with a hum, stretching her bare feet into the sand. “Do you think we still need to install a security system at the cottage?”
“I do, just because you’re so close to the public beach. We can talk to the owner and make sure he’s okay with it before we buy anything.”
She hummed again, and he could tell she had something she wanted to say, so he waited for her to say something, but she stayed quiet.
“Yeah?” he prompted.
“How do you always know when I’m thinking about saying something?”
“You get restless.”
“Ah. I have a tell. I didn’t realize that.”
“So what’s on your mind?”
“The future.”
He took a drink of coffee and set the mug in the sand, pressing down to make sure it stayed upright. Then he twisted slightly in the seat so he could look at her. “You have my undivided attention, Tessa. What about the future? Are you worried about Evan coming back?”
“Heck no,” she said with a laugh. “He definitely had the crap scared out of him. I’m thinking about our future.
You and me. The cottage, our jobs. Kind of everything.
Because I don’t know if you realized it, but I’ve only been in town a week.
And while we’ve talked about our relationship being permanent because we’re soulmates, we’ve never really talked about the odds and ends that go along with it. ”
“You said Sable Cove feels like home, and so does the cottage.”
“Because of you.”
He smiled. She always said the right thing. He wasn’t sure how she could make him feel so warm and loved with just a few words, but she did it so easily. “Did you think when you came to Sable Cove that it might just be temporary?”
“I never really thought past coming here, honestly. I didn’t know if I’d like the town or be able to find a job before my savings ran out.
Then I met you, and here we are just a dang week later, talking about forever.
” She put her mug in the sand and shifted in the seat to face him as he had done to her, then she rested her hand on his forearm.
“You’re so special to me. I feel rooted to Sable Cove, and I don’t want to leave.
I want to build a life with you, have a family, put down real roots.
” Her gaze turned shy, and she bit the corner of her bottom lip. “If you want that, too.”
“I do,” he said earnestly. “I carried a lot of guilt for so long because of my choices. Now I see that they brought me to the place where I would meet you, my soulmate. I wouldn’t change a thing about the past because it brought us together.
” He leaned over and kissed her, inhaling her sweet scent mixed with the salty ocean air.
“We can buy the cottage and make some renovations to enlarge it, add a bedroom or two if you’d like, or we can look at other homes in town. ”
“I like the cottage. I like how it’s private, and with the windows open, I can fall asleep with the ocean sounds. It’s magical.”
“I can pack up my place and move in, and we can go chat with the owner and see if he’d like to sell to us.”
She nodded, her eyes shining with happiness.
Venice had never really planned for the future before.
When he fell, he’d had lofty plans about his life afterward, and they’d been utterly smashed and left him floundering.
He’d never made plans again, just living day by day and not having much hope for anything.
Because hope had led him to heartbreak before, and he didn’t want to keep hurting himself.
But with Tessa, he had real, sweet hope for the future. She’d seen him as a man first, and also as a supernatural protector, and she cared about him. He wasn’t a novelty; he was her soulmate. And that was the best feeling in the world.
His phone buzzed, and he saw Brody’s name on the screen.
Swiping to answer, he said, “I’m off for the weekend, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Brody said with a chuckle. “Delaney said the coven needs to replenish their magical stock, and even though it’s your time off, I thought you might like to bring Tessa to the overlook so she can see the magical part of your friends’ lives.”
“Hold on, let me ask,” he said. He pulled the phone away and told Tessa about the coven’s plans to restock their magical supplies that night.
Because they were outside of the protections around the adoption center, they always asked Brody to come along to stand guard, and Venice had often joined in.
He was sure that Zay would be there as well, since his mate was a witch.
“Oh, that sounds so neat, I’d love to,” Tessa said.
He lifted the phone to his ear. “We’ll be there. What time?”
“Six. We’ll meet you at the overlook, and then we can grab a late dinner.”
“Sounds good. See you then.”
He ended the call and told Tessa about the coven. Delaney, Kinsley, and Hadlee were the only coven members, but they had a witch friend named Mother Gibson who helped out when the coven needed a fourth Corner for big spells.
“It sounds so fun,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything magical before.”
“I’ve seen the witches do some pretty incredible things. They’re very protective of each other and the town, and now that you and I are mates, that means they’ve got your back too.”
“That’s so sweet.”
They both picked up their mugs and returned to their sunrise watching, talking about the future in that dreamy way couples do. Planning, hoping, sharing.
Then something struck him oddly, and he knew that Tessa felt the change in him.
Without saying anything, they both rose to their feet and closed up the chairs, carrying them back to the cottage.
He’d protected numerous people over the years without thought, thrown himself into danger without caring about the cost to himself. But creating a future with Tessa scared him in a way he hadn’t expected.
He leaned the chair against the cottage and set Tessa’s against it.
“What’s on your mind?” she asked.
He blew out a breath. “I don’t know how to be a good mate. Or a father. I never had a family.”
“But you see how good Brody and Delaney are to each other, and Zay and Kinsley too. I think that being a good mate doesn’t have to be perfect; it doesn’t have to follow any particular guidelines; it just has to come from a place of love.”
“Angels don’t have families. I didn’t grow up with a mom who tucked me into bed at night or parents who celebrated my birthday. I just was. And when I fell, I realized all the things I never had, and there was some part of me that always felt inadequate as a man.”
“You’re absolutely not,” she said earnestly.
“You’re the best guy I’ve ever known, and I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to have you in my life, to be yours.
You are the only guy for me, Venice. And from this moment forward, we’re going to celebrate all the milestones, and we’re going to have the best relationship because we are not going to give up on each other.
Good times, bad times, whatever comes. You and me, forever. ”
He was feeling very humbled.
“I’m the lucky one, Tessa.”
“I think we’re both lucky.”
“I want everything with you,” he said. “Mornings on the beach, grocery shopping, a house that’s ours, and kids… the whole nine yards.”
“I want that too.”
They’d both been betrayed, but they’d both chosen a new path that had led them to each other.
He stared down at his beautiful mate, feeling so incredibly close to her.
Lowering his head, he kissed her, sweetly at first, and then it tipped over into something hotter, as they clung to each other, hands roaming, and unspoken promises surrounding them.
He backed them into the house, kicking the door shut, and then scooped her up into his arms. “I’ve got an idea.”
She hooked her arms around his neck with a laugh. “I think we have the same one. Take me to bed, Venice. I want to make you mine, again and again.”
“You got it, sweetheart.”
A quiet sort of happiness filled him, the kind he never thought he deserved. With Tessa in his life, he didn’t have to worry about what the future held, because he knew they could face whatever came—together.