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His arms came around me, squeezing me tight to him, and in his embrace, I’d never felt safer. “Let’s get to our girl, yeah?”
That was the best offer I’d ever been given.
* * *
Trent
The past twodays had to have been the longest days in the history of time. Graham Knightly was dead. The threat constantly lurking around the corner, the nightmare that had plagued every one of Cheyanne’s days, was gone for good.
I’d driven my girls straight to the hospital from the scene so they could be looked over. Cheyanne had assured me she was fine, but I wasn’t willing to take any chances with either of them.
While we were there, deputies had shown up to question us. We’d done our best to remain patient, but after the events of the last several hours, we were holding on to calm by the tips of our fingers.
Fortunately, the cam footage we had of the whole thing made their case pretty cut and dry. An abusive, psychotic husband had tracked down his wife and daughter, hiring criminals to kidnap his own flesh and blood and kill his wife. That was all the sheriff’s department needed to know to close their case, something they did quickly in order to allow Cheyanne and Renee to put this all behind them.
Thanks to my brothers at Alpha Omega, that footage was leaked to every media outlet in the country. The truth about Graham Knightly was out there now, and the world knew once and for all the kind of man he really had been. To put it plainly, he wasn’t going to be missed.
I hadn’t been able to pry myself away from either of them for more than a second in the past two days, terrified that if I looked away, they’d somehow disappear.
I kept seeing the fear on Little Bit’s face. I kept seeing that piece of shit on top of Cheyanne. It had fucked with my head in a really big way.
I stood on Cheyenne’s back deck, staring out at the turbulent water crashing against the shore as the sun set, thinking that was exactly how I felt inside.
Charlotte and Dalton were back at my rental, but I was still here, unable and unwilling to leave.
I was pulled from my melancholy by Cheyenne’s soft, musical voice.
“What are you out here thinking about so hard?”
I turned around just as she reached me, and to my pleasant surprise, she didn’t stop until her arms were wrapped around my waist and her lush body was snuggled into mine.
For the past couple days, our sole focus had been on Renee, on guiding her through the trauma of what had happened and reassuring her she was safe. There had been no more admissions of love or talks about what all of it meant for our future. But that was okay. I was willing to wait as long as it took.
I returned her embrace instantly. “Nothing much,” I lied. “I was just watching the water, thinking about how beautiful it is here.”
“Liar,” she mumbled into my chest before tipping her head back to look up at me. “I know you’re out here worrying, but I’ll let it slide for now and say, I’m glad you think it’s so beautiful here. Maybe...” She trailed off and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “Maybe the beauty of this place will be enough to get you to stay.”
My muscles locked tight, my arms clenched around her. “What are you saying?”
She closed her eyes and pulled in a fortifying breath. When her lids flitted open again, those eyes were alight with a passionate fire. “I’m saying, Charlotte and Dalton are going back to Hope Valley in two weeks, and... I don’t want you to go with them. I want you to stay here. I want you to build on to this life with me and Renee. I want you to make Whitecap your home, because I’m so in love with you, Trent. My life is better for having you in it, better than it ever was before I met you. If that’s not what you want, I totally understand. I just—”
I silenced her with a hard, searing kiss. “I had no intention of ever leaving,” I rasped, feeling something inside of me click into place, making me whole. “I decided at the falls there was no way I could ever leave you. Wherever you and Renee are, that’s my home. Besides, I’ve become pretty fond of a certain hot spring, and I’d hate not to be able to visit it regularly.”
Her smile was so beautiful it lit up my whole world. “I’m glad to hear that,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “Because you’re my protector. And I’m never letting you go.”
I didn’t have a single problem with that.
Epilogue
Trent
Three weekslater
Sam gruntedas he lifted the box out of the back of the moving truck, a sweat beading across his forehead.
I’d told Cheyanne that I was never going to leave her, but that hadn’t been completely right. When Dalton and Charlotte returned to Hope Valley a week ago, I had, in fact gone with them, but only for as long as it took to pack my stuff and drive it back across the country to my girls. To my forever.
Now I was back where I belonged, at the beautiful beach cottage full of so much love and life.
