AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Whatever he was trying to do, he was obviously trying not to be seen. I hung back for a moment, enjoying the spectacular view. The desert wind toyed with my hair. The horizon stretched in every direction, strikingly beautiful in its desolation.
Eventually Cole completed his scan, then turned to face me.
“You should be back at the motel,” he admonished.
“Yeah,” I smiled. “About that…”
I beckoned him over, not wanting to blow his position at the edge of the cliff. He came slowly, lumbering down to where I stood. His huge, hulking body towered over me. I was reminded sharply of how exquisitely small I felt beneath that body, whenever he was really, seriously taking me.
“Whatever happens next, I want to be with you,” I told him. “I know it’s not ideal. I know it’s dangerous—”
“You don’t know the half,” he grunted.
“True,” I acknowledged. “But leaving me alone isn’t ideal either. At least here, I’m with the three of you. I know you’ll protect me.”
He stood there impassively for a moment, those crystal blue eyes scanning the horizon behind me. Eventually they settled on me again. His look softened.
“Quinn, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“For putting you through this. For getting youintothis. It wasn’t something we ever—”
I reached up and put a finger against his lips, and Cole stopped talking instantly. It felt comical, shushing someone so big, so gargantuan. Especially compared to me.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I told him. “I understand everything. YouknowI understand everything. So give me that much credit at least, okay?”
Slowly I withdrew my finger. Cole remained as still as a statue, staring down at me with that big, furrowed brow. Eventually though, he nodded.
“You’re the type of men who protect the weak,” I told him. “You charge into danger.”
“Exactly,” he grunted. “Being around us is dangerous.”
“Yes, but the three of you always win. You always conquer.”
He inhaled slowly, filling those big lungs as his gaze shifted over my shoulder somewhere. Staring blankly into the distance, he let out a long sigh.
“Not always.”
I knew he was thinking of the ambush, and his fallen brethren. He was thinking about their families, and his broken promise to them.
“Cole…”
There were a thousand things I wanted to say. I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault — that he wasn’t with Joshua or Evan when the whole thing happened. They were his brothers, and they would always protect him. They’d never let anything happen to him, the way he’d never let anything happen to me. Most desperately of all though, I wanted to make things better for him. Like I had with Joshua.
But I knew enough, for now at least, to leave it alone.
“Wherever you go, I want to be with you,” I told him instead. “Now… and even afterward.”
Now his gaze shifted. His eyes focused solely on mine. “You mean after the baby is born?”
“Yes.”
His whole demeanor changed. Suddenly he was no longer interested in watching the ridge.
“Quinn, we’re not what you want. You need a husband, a life, a future—”
“I love you.”
