Page 79 of Coming Home to Crimson
“I tell you I love you,” he said, coughing violently, “and you dunk me?”
She shook her head and took a step back. “I dunked you for breaking my heart in the first place.”
He stilled for a moment, then grabbed onto the bars of the cage and pulled himself forward. “I’m sorry.”
“Dunk him again,” a man from the crowd shouted.
“Shut up, Shep,” Cole shouted back, then unlatched the cage and started out of the tank.
“You have five minutes left on your time, Sheriff,” Marlene called.
“I’ll donate a hundred dollars to the community center as a forfeit,” Cole said, hoisting himself over the metal side. Water sluiced from his body and his sheriff’s uniform clung to the hard muscles of his chest and thighs. Sienna had a ridiculous thought of Poseidon emerging from the sea.
Cole was a god in that moment and she was a mere mortal and how could she resist a god? His words had cut through the newly built defenses she’d erected around her heart, and she automatically turned away, afraid of how much she wanted them to be true.
He circled her wrist with his hand. “Please don’t go.”
His fingers were icy cold, but she could still feel the heat of his body behind her, and she wanted nothing more than to turn and wrap herself around him and never let go.
“I’m staying because this is my home,” she said, keeping her gaze straight ahead. “I belong here. I made that decision for me and no one else.”
He shifted his grasp on her arm, sliding his fingers across her hand and interlacing them with hers. “You’re my home,” he said quietly. “I belong anywhere you are, Sienna. I’m sorry I was too much of an idiot to tell you that when you needed to hear it.”
“Me, too,” she whispered.
Ignoring the crowd still watching them, he moved in front of her, keeping their hands linked together. “I’m saying it now, sweetheart. I love you with everything I am and if you give me another chance, I’ll prove it to you every day for the rest of our lives. I know you don’t need me. You’re so damn strong, and I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that you finally know it.”
She drew in a breath. “You helped me understand that,” she admitted. “I’m not sure I would have believed it about myself if you hadn’t believed it first.”
“There was never a doubt in my mind.” He stepped closer, crowding her a little. “I know I hurt you, and I probably don’t deserve your forgiveness. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I can learn. I finally understand that I have to take some risks to get the life I want. A true home and a family—someone who will make my life complete. You, Sienna. I want you and I get that I have to be brave to earn my place at your side.”
She laughed as hope filled her, making her feel lighter than she had in years. “You know how to be brave. You’re the sheriff.”
“Not with my heart,” he told her. “Not until you. If you want me to walk away—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips. “Don’t you dare.”
“I’ll never go far,” he finished quickly. “There’s no place I can imagine being except by your side.” He traced his thumb against the inside of her wrist, his touch sending shivers of awareness across her skin.
“I love you, Cole,” she whispered, then yelped as he lifted her in his arms and gathered her close. “But you’re a soaking wet mess.”
“I’m your mess,” he said. “Forever if you’ll have me.” He pressed his mouth to hers, the kiss at once tender and possessive. She was swept away on a wave of happiness so massive she wondered if she’d ever come back down to earth.
“I’ll take you on, Sheriff,” she whispered against his lips. “Forever.”
He spun her in a circle as their friends and family cheered. Sienna grinned, realizing she’d found so much more than she’d ever expected in Crimson. A family. A home. And love. Whatever came her way, she could face it fully with Cole by her side. Forever.
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