Crone’s low chuckle sent visible shivers through the audience, especially the Littles who seemed torn between wanting to hide behind their caregivers or Daddies and inching closer for a better view. His dark blond hair caught the sunlight as he swung onto the bike. The engine’s rumble echoed off the storefronts in an almost primal sound that matched his predatory appearance.
“Got it!” Ines exclaimed with glee after several setups. “Though I think half the town will need cold showers after this.”
“Last stop, Connor’s Steakhouse,” Kay announced, pulling Sienna aside with a conspiratorial grin. “And I’ve got something special for you.”
Once they arrived at the Steakhouse, Sienna discovered that something special turned out to be a black silk dress that draped over her body like a liquid shadow.
“I don’t recall agreeing to be a model for your shoot,” she mumbled as she took the dress from Kay.
“But, Prof, you also said one has to move with the flow, find that one shot… like Bobby did. You and Master Crone are gonna bemyone shot.”
Sienna couldn’t argue with that logic and with a sigh turned to change.
Standing on Connor’s balcony as the afternoon light painted the mountains gold, Sienna felt exposed in more ways than one. Crone in his tuxedo was devastating enough, but it was the tenderness in his eyes as he helped her with the complicated wrap of the dress that undid her.
“Breathtaking,” he murmured. His fingers trailed down her bare arm, igniting sparks beneath her skin. Every touch felt magnified, significant, as if her body was finally allowing itself to truly feel.
Kay directed them through a series of poses, each movement drawing them inevitably closer. Time seemed to slow as his hand found the small of her back, guiding her into a graceful turn until she melted against his chest. At the balcony rail, his fingers threaded through hers, the simple contact sending electricity through her veins. Then he stepped behind her, his breath warming her neck as they gazed together at the mountains bathed in sunset gold with his body a solid wall of warmth against her back.
With each touch and shared breath, something deep within Sienna began to shift and crack, like winter ice yielding to spring’s inevitable thaw. The subtle notes of his cologne and the steady strength of his hands, slowly dismantled years ofcarefully constructed defenses. Tremors stirred in her soul at the intensity of his mesmerizing gaze tracking her every movement.
“Look at each other,” Kay called out. “Forget the camera exists.”
His tender gaze enveloped Sienna as she turned within his embrace, reaching past every defense to touch her heart. The truth she’d been fighting struck her with stunning clarity. How had she not seen it before? Or had she seen it all along and been too afraid to acknowledge it? Her heart had recognized him from the start during whipping therapy, scening in the Dungeon, and even those quiet moments over coffee. All this time, while she had accepted his love, she’d been desperately trying to deny the depth of her own feelings.
The realization crashed over her like a wave. Her heart wasn’t dead. It had been there all along, beating stronger with every moment they shared. She hadn’t been running from his love. No, she’d been running from her own, terrified of its intensity. Because loving him meant trusting him with not just her body, but with every broken piece of herself she tried so hard to hide.
“Crone,” she whispered, her hands trembled against the crisp fabric of his tuxedo. His heartbeat under her palms beat strong and steady, like it had for her from the first time they had met.
He drew her closer with one hand cupping her face. Understanding dawned in his eyes and she realized he had been waiting for this moment. Waiting for her to find her way back to herself, back to the ability to love.
“Ah, love, you finally figured it out, haven’t you?”
A tear slipped down her cheek as she nodded, and his thumb gently brushed it away.
“I love you.” The breathy words were as terrifying as they were liberating. “God help me, I love you so much it scares me.”
His kiss tasted of reverence and tenderness, of faith rewarded and promises kept. It spoke of endless patience andunwavering devotion, of a love that had waited quietly for her heart to heal enough to recognize its own truth. Somewhere in the background, Kay’s camera captured the moment everything changed.
The moment Sienna finally came home to herself, and to him. The moment she gave herself the freedom to live again.
Chapter Seventeen
Later that evening, Crone’s rental house on Rawhide Ridge
Sienna
Wrapped in the safety of Crone’s arms with their bodies still cooling from their lovemaking, Sienna finally voiced the fear that had been eating at her soul. Her fingers traced mindless patterns on his chest as she gathered her courage.
“Crone.” Her voice cracked. “I told you before. Th-the damage Stan did... losing my little girl that way…” Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “I can’t have children, Crone. It’s the one thing I can never give you... a baby, our baby.”
His arms tightened around her as he pressed a kiss to her temple. “Shh, little one. That’s not something we can’t overcome.” He was quiet for a moment while he drew soothing circles over her back. “I need to tell you about Sarah… and Carter.”
She lifted her head to look at him as pain vibrated in his voice. His eyes held old grief as he told her about his wife, their struggles to conceive before cancer took even that possibility away.
“I accepted then already that I’d never be the father of my own child.” He spoke of Denise Beckman, an investigative reporter who had regularly crossed his path in war zones during his SEAL days. He told her how they had both found solace in each other’s arms two weeks before the mission when he was captured.
His voice grew rough as he described the hospital room where he had hovered between life and death after he was found. The memory seemed to overtake him as he told her of Jagger standing by his bed, and the desperation in his friend’s voice to keep him from slipping away into forever darkness.
