Sinner(176)
“Landon, I never wanted you to-”
“No, Serena.” He pulls me tight against him. “You make me want to break every single rule I have. You make me want to break them a hundred times, just so I can keep on breaking them for you.”
His hand moves to my cheek, his eyes searching mine.
“I’m tired of the rules, Serena. I’m tired of running from the light, and I am done pretending you’re not the best thing that’s happened to me - to us - in a very, very long time.”
I blink, slowly shaking my head. My lips are moving, but no words are coming as I gape at his breath against my lips and his eyes burning into mine as I start to nod.
“I made you break all your rules, huh?”
“Well, almost.”
I grin. “Anything I missed?”
“Yeah, I love you. And you missed this.”
I gasp as his lips sear like fire across my own, crushing mine, tasting me, dipping me slightly as he kisses the breath from my lungs. Beside us, Emily cheers, giggling and jumping around as I lose myself entirely in that kiss. Slowly, his lips pull from mine as he pulls me up.
“That answer your question?” he asks as he grins down at his daughter.
She beams, nodding her head up and down.
“Oh, and there’s something else.”
My brow shoots up, my cheeks still flush and my breath still gone from my lungs. “You’re going to top that?”
“Oh, watch me.”
He pulls an envelope from his back pocket and hands me the folded legal-looking document from inside of it.
“What’s this?”
“This is a formal vote with the full weight of your twenty-four and a half shares to block the sale of the Denver Rattlesnakes. All you need to do is sign it.”
I blink up at him, my brow furrowing. “But what about the board?“
“I retained my board shares. Which means your twenty-four and a half shares, and my twenty-four and a half shares, plus the extra five-”
“Puts us at a majority,” I finish, suddenly more breathless than I was a second ago.
Landon nods. “It means what we says goes, and it means…” he glances at the date on his wristwatch. “Huh.”
“What?”
“It means that in eight hours at midnight tonight, you’re going to be worth an obscene amount of money, Serena.”
My hand flies to my mouth as I stare at him, shaking my head. “No, this is insane! I shouldn’t- I mean, I can’t-!”
“No, you should, and you can. You’re just not used to good things happening to you even though you deserve every damn one of them.”
“Dad. Swears?”
“Sorry,” he grins at me before glancing at his daughter.
“Are you coming back to Denver with us?” Emily says, her eyes darting to me.
I bite my lip, looking down at her. “Well.” Her face falls, but I grin. “I do have this dinner tonight I’m supposed to go to at my friend’s house, and I think we’re having tacos.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun,” she says slowly, eyeing me.
“I could probably use some help with the guac.”
She grins.
Landon’s hand finds mine again. “Serena, I want to tell you that you can do what you want, and that you can stay here, and that we can figure this whole thing out apart.”
His other hand moves to my cheek, cupping my jaw.
“But that’s a lie,” he whispers, his eyes searching mine. “The truth is, I need you. The truth is, going home isn’t going to feel like it much if you aren’t there. Come back with me. Come back with us.”
I could say there’s a moment of hesitation. I could say everything slows, and that there’s this slow dawning realization, and that a million thoughts go through my head.
But that’s not at all what happens, and there’s only one thought in my head.
I’m saying yes before he can even finish his sentence. I’m screaming it, actually, as I leap into his arms, throwing mine around his neck, and kiss him with everything I have.
“Yes,” I whisper into his lips, kissing him again and again. Emily’s arms go around us both, and I reach down to hug her too.
“Yes.”
Epilogue
Serena
“Can you feel it?”
Emily goes absolutely still, holding her breath. There’s a tender kick, barely a hiccup, but her eyes suddenly go wide as they dart up to mine.
“I felt her!”
I grin, wagging my brows at her. “Pretty cool, huh?”
“Can she hear us?”
“Maybe? Do you want to tell her something now, and then later after she’s born, we can ask her if she remembers?”
Emily rolls her eyes. “Serena, that’s not how it works.”