I backed into my bedroom. “Oh my, that does sound like terribly deviant behavior. I think you’d better proceed with that arrest.”

Moving fast, he shut my bedroom door and turned me roughly against it. Yanking my arms behind my back, he had my wrists in place and secured them with his belt.

I struggled just for fun. “Really, Officer. Is this necessary? Can’t we work something out?”

He leaned up against me and whispered in my ear. “You have the right to remain silent—but I like it better when you’re loud.”

“Are you going to give me a reason to scream?”

“Yeah.” He pushed his cock against my ass. “A fucking big one.”

Afterward, we got dressed quickly in case my mother came home.

“Do you have to leave right away?” I asked.

He zipped up his jeans, hesitating. “I guess I could stay a little longer.”

I smiled and hopped onto my bed. “Good. Come lie with me.”

We stretched out on top of the covers, Cole on his back and me tucked against his side. Outside, the wind whipped at my bedroom windows, and I shuddered at the thought of his having to go out there. “So cold tonight. I wish you didn’t have to leave.”

“Me too.” He kissed the top of my head. “If your mom comes home, do I have to go out the window?”

I laughed. “No, silly. You can use the door. We are grown adults, and besides, I’m pretty sure she would let you spend the night.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. She’ll be thrilled about this—when you’re ready to tell people.”

“You can tell her. My mom knows.”

“She does?” I picked up my head, surprised.

“I’m pretty sure. I went flying through the living room on my way out, and I think I yelled something like, ‘Going to Cheyenne’s for a quick fuck, don’t wait up!’ And I may have already been taking my pants off.”

Giggling, I slapped his chest before lowering my head again. “You did not say that. Although, it’s like seventeen degrees outside and you were not wearing a coat when you got here, so that might have tipped her off that you were excited to see me.”

“Probably. She suggested on the way home from the wedding that we might enjoy each other’s company. I could barely keep a straight face.”

“My mother kept going on and on about how handsome you looked, and how eloquently you spoke, and did I hear the part where you quoted her?” I laughed, slipping my hand beneath his sweater and T-shirt, resting it on his warm, bare skin. “It was nothing but Cole, Cole, Cole on the drive home.”

“Sorry.” He squeezed me.

“You know I didn’t mind.” I stroked his chest beneath his clothing.

“And I’m sorry we have to sneak around and rush all the time. I hate it.”

“It’s only temporary.” I snuggled closer. “Tell me more about your talk with Mariah.”

“There’s not much more to tell. She seemed genuinely happy and excited. It was actually kind of . . . weird.”

“What do you mean, weird?”

“It just seemed too easy. Like shooting fish in a barrel.” He paused. “In all honesty, I can’t shake this feeling that something was off about it.”

“Like you think maybe she told you what she thought you wanted to hear?”

“Maybe. I can’t put my finger on it. But I’m not convinced she’s as okay with it as she acted today.”

I sat up again and looked down at him. “You really think she was acting?”

“I don’t know.” He thought for a moment. “I was prepared for resistance, you know? Tears. A meltdown or something. I had notes in my pocket that I never even had to consult.”

“Cole, this is a good thing.”

“I know,” he said. “But I feel like I was prepared to slay a dragon for you, and the dragon didn’t even show.”

I laughed. “You were going to fight for me and you didn’t get to, huh? Is that where all tonight’s aggression came from?”

“Maybe.” He tugged me down again. “And I don’t mean to say that I’m not happy about her reaction. It is a good thing. It’s just . . . good things can be deceiving, you know?”

Something in his voice set off the faintest alarm bell in my head. “How so?”

“Well, it’s important never to take for granted that everything is fine. You can’t be too complacent.”

I was completely still, letting his words sink in, trying to make sense of them. “Or else what?”

“Or else life will bite you in the ass when you’re least expecting it.” Then he said, quieter, “I suppose, now that I’m really happy for the first time in years, I’m just . . . a little bit afraid.”

“Of what?”

He hesitated. “Of something I can’t see coming.”

I curled up tighter against him, throwing my leg over his thighs and wrapping my arm around his torso, as if I could protect him from whatever it was he was scared of. I spoke fiercely. “Nothing bad is coming, Cole.”

He chuckled. “You sound so sure of that.”

“I am sure.”

“How?”

I picked up my head and looked at him. “Because I have been waiting for this moment my entire life, and the universe knows it.”

His lips curved into a smile. “This moment right here?”

“Mmhm.”

“What’s so special about it?”

“You’re here next to me.”

“That’s it? No, no, no. Let’s make it more special than that.” He rolled over so that I lay beneath him and looked down at me. “I love you, Cheyenne. And I’m so happy you never gave up on me. I hope you know that.”

My heart threatened to explode. “I love you too.”

He pressed his lips to mine. “Say it again.”

“I love you, Cole,” I whispered. “And everything is going to be okay. The best is yet to come.”

Twenty-One

Cole

That night, I couldn’t sleep.

I lay awake in the dark, anxious and sweaty, aware of every creak of the house, every click and whoosh of the furnace, every gust of wind whistling against my bedroom window.

There was a fucking dragon. I was sure of it. I could sense it. I could hear it creeping up on me. I just couldn’t see it.

It was waiting for me to drop my guard, that was all. It was waiting for the exact moment I was alone and unprotected. The moment I thought I had it all. Then it was going to attack. I felt it in every blood cell, every nerve ending, every bone in my body.

The next morning, I called Jessalyn. I knew she had Saturday morning office hours, and even though I was technically on shift, I felt like I had to talk to her.

“I need to see you,” I said. “It’s an emergency.”

“Cole, is everything okay?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m fully booked this morning, but I could see you on my lunch hour.”

“Fine.”