Chapter 32 Pane
Pane
“Why are we at Luke and Sally’s?” Rowe asks through a sniffle when we arrive at their front door.
“Because those were unicorn prints back at the fence. They let the unicorns do this.”
Her jaw drops. “What? How?”
My body tightens in anger. It takes everything I’ve got to keep it cool and together. “Remember earlier today when Nat saw that strange bird?”
“Yeah.”
“It wasn’t a bird. It was a drone. I didn’t put the two together until I saw the tracks.”
“Oh my God, and Luke said something about a drone when we were, you know . . .” She cocks her head toward the pasture.
“I know,” is all I can manage right now.
Sunbeam’s cheeks are tearstained. Her nose is red. Her eyes are swollen, and her lips look good enough to devour.
I want to devour all of her.
But first, I want to destroy Luke for what he’s done, tear him to pieces, show him that real men do not sabotage a woman’s livelihood.
I push the bell and hear it ring on the inside of the two-story Southern-style home, complete with Greek columns on the porch.
Luke throws open the door, takes one look at the two of us, and guards his face. “Now just—”
And that’s when I punch him, aiming for a spot just above where his hands are shielding—his nose.
The sound of cracking bone fills the air, and Luke reels back into the house, falling onto his ass on the wooden floor.
Behind me, Rowe gasps.
My knuckles throb, and I shake out my hand. It’s tempting to pounce on him and punch until there’s nothing left to punch.
“Ow, ow!” Luke howls in pain. Blood seeps between his fingers, splashing in fat drops onto the floor. “You son of a bitch! You broke my nose!”
“What’s going on?” Sally Ray calls from inside the belly of the home.
I take a step and bend down. Luke cowers like I’m going to punch him again.
I shove my finger in his face. “That’s for destroying Rowe’s property.”
“You’re crazy!” He spits while keeping his nose cupped in his hand. “You’re full of shit. Sally Ray, call the cops!”
Sally Ray enters the hall, sees Luke, and screams, dropping a plate she was wiping dry with a towel. It hits the floor and splinters into a thousand pieces as she slides to her knees and cradles his head.
She’s screaming at me to leave, screaming at Rowe to get me out of there. Telling Rowe that she will pay for this.
Her cries become muffled like I’m underwater. All I can see is red, all I feel is fury as I point another finger at Luke.
“You never deserved Rowe. You don’t even know who she is.”
As soon as the words begin to pour from my mouth, emotion closes my throat.
I push through it like I’m clearing a pipe, one that’s been clogged with brush and rubbish for years, all of it clumping together until its plunged away, freeing the water trapped behind it.
But what’s coming out of me now is the farthest thing from water.
It’s a tender emotion, something small and sacred.
Something worth tending to and fighting for.
I claw my way through the words, restraining the emotions surging inside me. “Rowe is the goddess of this land, the one person this earth responds to, its lifeblood and source. You are nothing. You’re not even worthy of looking at her.”
Luke stares at me blankly. Sally Ray tips her head toward me as well, looking shocked that I’d dare say anything like that.
From behind me, I can even feel Rowe’s energy change. Or maybe it’s the magic in this earth. It’s impossible to know the difference sometimes, where she ends and the magic begins.
Because this place is her. Rowe is a part of this land as much as it’s a part of her. She doesn’t see it, but I do. Anyone with eyes can.
Sally starts screaming hysterically, this time at an eardrum-popping octave as she threatens lawsuits and police.
I slowly tilt my head toward her. “You will leave Rowe alone. You will not contact the police. If you do, I will make one phone call to my lawyer, and he will see to it that within less than a week, this place will belong to the state. Do you understand?”
Sally puffs out her red cheeks. “Listen here, you—”
Luke waves her off with the hand that’s not covering his nose. “We understand,” he garbles out.
Rowe grabs my sleeve, tugging me back, silently telling me that it’s time to go.
I take one more look at Luke as he whimpers in Sally’s arms. He’s done trying to destroy Rowe. I have no doubt.
Sunbeam tugs me again and I relent, letting her pull me off the porch.
Anger coils in my gut as I storm back across the road. My knuckles throb, and I flick my hand to alleviate some of the discomfort.
“Pane, are you—”
And then I whirl around and kiss her. Deeply. With everything I have, pouring every emotion I’ve been keeping to myself for weeks into this. Into her.
My tongue parts her lips, and she moans.
I’m instantly rock hard for Rowe.
For nobody but her.
Her fingers tangle in my hair, and it’s my turn to moan. I tug her close, pressing my hard cock against her stomach. She whimpers in response.
Around me, the tree branches shiver as if they’re cheering us on. I can almost hear them whisper, Never thought this would happen!
Don’t stop.
Go all the way!
Tell her everything.
Let her know how you feel.
When we part, she says, “Pane—”
“No.”
She blinks. “What?”
“I listened to you talk for a good two minutes back there, giving me every excuse, and that’s what you’re about to do again. No more excuses, Rowe. I don’t want them. I can’t hear them. Because here’s the truth . . .” Her gaze drops. This won’t do. “Look at me.”
She closes her eyes, completely ignoring me. “Pane—”
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say,” I explode.
Her jaw drops and she pulls back. “Of course I do.”
I fold my arms. “Then what’s about to come out of my mouth?”
“That you’re leaving. This won’t last. It can’t be more than just a fling.”
“Wrong.”
She sucks in a breath, and it’s shaky. I’ve unbalanced her, knocked that little sunbeam right off the stable pedestal she’d been standing on, the one drifting in the middle of an ocean where her heart can’t be reached.
It takes a moment, but I wait for her to whisper meekly, “Then what are you going to say?”
“Rowe.” I take her face. I love taking her by the cheeks and staring into her soft brown eyes.
There is no better place on earth. “I’m going to say that you have undone everything about who I thought I was.
You walked into my life and upended all parts of it.
This wasn’t supposed to be anything other than a project that I worked on for two months and used to claim my inheritance. But it’s become more than that.”
“What’s it become?” she asks, so shyly that I nearly dissolve into laughter.
The smile on my face is so wide my cheeks ache. “It’s become you. Every part of me wants you. And no, not just physically. I need you. I breathe you. You have lodged yourself into my core, and if you left today, if I let you leave without knowing how I feel, I would be destroyed.
“You have destroyed me, and I am here for every single part of it. So I’m asking you, Sunbeam.
Will you, for once in your life, let someone else take care of you?
You don’t have to do this on your own, and I don’t want to leave you.
I want to be with you more than I’ve ever wanted to be with anyone, and I think you feel the same way. ”
She doesn’t blink. She doesn’t run.
So I take a breath and keep on. “And if you let me in, then I will spend every moment I can proving that I’m not the other men you’ve known. I’m not going to walk away from you.”
She has hearts in her eyes. They shine bright for two seconds before disappearing. “But what about—”
“I’m not walking away.” I kiss her lips and press my forehead to hers. “Everything else, we can talk about later.”
“Why later?”
I rock back on my heels, knocked over by her. All of her. Just her. Good God, I’m pouring my heart out, and all she can focus on is the details? This woman. “Because right now, I’m taking you into that house and doing things to you that I’ve been wanting to do since I first met you.”
Her brows cock. “Oh?”
“Yes. You can say no. You can. And I’ll be devastated. But I can wait. For you, I can wait—”
She throws her arms around my neck and presses her lips to mine, sliding in her tongue and making my cock strain against my jeans.
When we part for air, we’re both breathless. She curls her hands around my collar and tugs me close. “Pane Maddox, if I have to wait one more minute for you, then . . .”
“You’ll what? Explode?”
“Yes. I will.”
I kiss her again, smiling against her teeth. “Then let’s get you inside.”