Page 45 of Starting Over with You (Beer League Belles #2)

CHAPTER

FORTY-TWO

Kenni

I should have listened to my gut.

I should have canceled the meeting because I wasn’t into it. I really wasn’t, but I tried to push through. Then it all happened so damn fast.

Winston asked me for a drink, and being the good host I am, I offered him the lemonade Skyye had made before she left for Missy’s.

Then I heard Nyle yell my name. But when I looked to find him, I realized he hadn’t come in the front door but the back instead. He was running for me, and when I turned, the gun went off.

I screamed.

Nyle grunted.

Then…pure lava fire.

And then another shot.

It wasn’t until I hit the floor and the black crept into my vision that I recognized Winston on the floor, a gun in his hand and half his face blown off .

So much blood pooled around me, but it wasn’t just mine; it was Nyle’s too.

He tried to help, but I think he lost consciousness.

Then I did.

I feel like Dean came for me. Really, I know he came for me.

It’s Dean. Something like this wouldn’t happen without him coming to save me.

As I try to wake up from whatever drugs they’ve pumped into my system, I swear I hear his voice.

His rough Darlin’ . Him begging me to be okay. It is all so fuzzy.

My mouth is dry.

My head is pounding.

My chest is burning and not in the good way that Dean makes it burn.

Almost like that hot lava is burning up my collarbone and down my arm.

Not cool. Not a fan.

I hear the beeps of machines, and I think there is an oxygen mask on my face.

My eyes flutter open, and everything is hazy until it’s not.

I see Dean pacing.

He isn’t in his firefighting clothes. He’s in a pair of my favorite Carhartt jeans and a pink Beer League Belles’ shirt.

His hair is an utter mess, and I know it’s because he’s been running his fingers through it like a crazed man.

His shoulders are taut, his eyes wild, and he is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen in my life.

I swallow hard, tears blurring my vision as I drink him in.

“Dean,” I cry out, and his head whips toward me, his watery blue gaze leaving me needing the damn oxygen mask. I pull it off anyway, needing to tell him more.

“No.” I arch my brow in confusion before he closes the distance between us with purpose.

His knee lands on the bed before he cups my face in his hand, his eyes locking on mine as he leans in.

He presses his head to mine. “Do not say a damn word.” My eyes widen in confusion.

“I have told everyone else in this fucking world how I feel about you, and I refuse to go another second without telling you to your face.” His fingers bite into my skin, his eyes so blue and full of reverence.

For me.

“I love you, KenniLeigh Colburn.” My breath catches, and then he smiles.

The panty-dropping one that has his mustache hitching up at one side.

A tear rolls down his handsome face, and I’m breathless as I gawk at him.

“I have loved you for longer than I care to admit, but I’ll never stop admitting it.

I am yours, darlin’, and I love you. Fuck, I love you.

I love you so much.” His voice breaks on a sob before he smashes his mouth to mine.

I welcome the kiss, covering his cheeks with my hands as his tongue meets mine, and we both groan in unison.

He tastes like mint, and his mustache tickles my nose in the best way.

Our kiss is urgent, dirty, and full of so much need, I’m bawling by the time he pulls away.

Even with my voice so hoarse, I tell him what I’ve been wanting to say for days. “I love you too, Dean. I know a part of me was always yours, but now you have all of me.”

Our tears and our breaths mix together as we stare into each other’s eyes. “Forever.”

“And then some.”

Dean’s grin is quick, his eyes full of awe before he slants his mouth over mine again.

This time, our kiss is a little softer, but still so needy.

Dean pulls away to kiss along my jaw, my cheeks, then both my eyelids before he nibbles on the tip of my nose.

The giggle I let out hurts, but I don’t care.

Dean Moore is kissing me.

“How are you feeling?”

“Oh yeah, I was shot,” I say, and he lets out a bark of a laugh that startles me.

“Yeah. Knocked ten years off my damn life!” I grimace, and he cups my jaw. “Pain?”

I nod. “Some.” Then my eyes widen. “Nyle! Is he okay?”

Dean sighs deeply, and my heart clenches.

“Yeah, he’s fine. And now I have to like the guy because he saved my girl.

” My eyes fill with tears as relief hits me.

Don’t get me wrong—the guy is a dumbass, but I don’t want him to die.

He’s Missy’s person. They’re having a baby.

“He woke before you did. You hit your head and have a concussion, by the way.”

“Fantastic,” I mumble, and he chucks my chin.

“But he said he had gone around the back of the house to drop off my hose that Missy had borrowed. And when he came in, Suit Guy had the gun pointed at your back. Nyle tried to push you out of the way, but by pulling you to him, he took the brunt of the bullet. It went through his bicep and hit you in the shoulder.” My mouth parts as I move my hand to the bandage that covers my chest. “Matt heard Nyle, turned and saw what was happening, and shot. Killed Suit Guy without a thought.”

“Oh my goodness. Why? Do we know why?” Dean doesn’t answer right away. His eyes move back and forth between mine, his breathing accelerating. But then it hits me. Stratford. My eyes blur with tears. “Stratford?”

Dean bites into the side of his lip in the way I love. He nods slowly. “He hired him to kill you, so that you couldn’t divorce him.”

I cover my mouth and shake my head. “No.”

“Yeah,” he almost whispers. “I had confronted him, and when dispatch called to say you had been shot, I knew he had something to do with it. I beat his ass, Kenni, and then I had Jackson come arrest him.” He shakes his head, visibly in pain.

“That woman he has kids with folded like a house of cards. Spilled everything. They hired the guy to make you think that he wanted to work with you, when really, he was there to kill you.”

Dean slowly wipes my eyes, and I can’t look away. “Do the boys know?” He shakes his head. “We can’t tell them.”

Dean’s brows shoot to his hairline before he brings them in tight. “What?”

“I don’t want them to know,” I cry, hiccupping on a sob. “It’s bad enough that they know he was cheating on me. But trying to kill me? That’s some fucked-up shit.”

“Yes, because he’s a fucked-up person. ”

My heart is in my throat. “They can’t know. They’ll cut him out, and then they won’t have a dad. I didn’t have a mom, Dean. I don’t want them to feel that.”

“Just like you didn’t need your mom, they don’t fucking need him,” Dean seethes, his eyes darkening. “You three have me.”

My heart catches as more tears begin to fall. “Dean?—”

“No, Kenni. You are mine, and those boys are mine now too,” he says, nothing but steel in his voice. “I don’t care if they’re adults. They have me.”

A sob bubbles from my lips as I cup the back of his neck to bring him closer to me. Our noses press together, and I let my eyes drift closed. “Why do you want me? All this damn baggage.”

“Because I love you,” he whispers, his lips moving against mine. “And I think my name would look great with yours on the baggage tags.”

I let out a watery giggle and open my eyes.

Of course, he is giving me that big ol’ grin that I love.

His beauty hits me square in the chest, and I hate that I lived so long without him.

Sure, we had to live different lives, and sure, our roads came back together.

But if I’d had a choice, I would have been honest from the beginning.

I would have made Dean Moore mine and never let him go.

I move my pointer finger and thumb along his mustache and beam at him, ignoring the noise in the room, the pain in my chest, and the throbbing in my head.

None of it matters when he’s looking at me like I’m the center of his world.

“We didn’t have the last nineteen years, but I want you to have the rest.”

He winks, so damn sure of himself, it makes me smile. “Those years are mine, darlin’, and I have no interest in giving them back.”

Dean presses his lips to mine, and I cuddle him close, despite the pain shooting up my arm. He deepens the kiss, and I sink into him like I always wanted. I draw out the kiss, loving the taste of him, the feel of his lips and tongue on mine, and needing to know this is real.

That we’re real.

I pull back, but not far enough that our lips aren’t touching. When I open my eyes, he’s watching me, and once more, I’m hit with the reality that this man is mine. “I love you, Dean.”

He rubs his nose along mine, his fingers digging into my jaw.

But before he can say it back, the door flies open and my boys rush in.

That is, until Dean throws his hands up.

“One second.” Then he looks at me, and I’m gawking at him, wide-eyed.

“I told you, I won’t not tell you I love you when I want to.

And right now, I need you to know I love you too, KenniLeigh. ”

My lips curve as the tears spill over, and then he gives me the sweetest peck. He kisses my nose, then stands up before jerking his head to me for the boys. “Go ahead.”

Ash glares, but Flint is already moving. They wrap me up, both a blubbering mess as we hug and tell one another how much we love one another. Apparently, Missy told them what “their fucking bastard-ass father” did, and as I expected, they no longer want anything to do with him.

Through the whole visit, Dean stands beside my bed, smiling and joking with the boys and me. Skyye comes in and cries all over me, before letting us know that Nyle is doing great. I’m thankful for that, but not as thankful as I am for the four people in this room.

As I look from my kids to Dean’s and then to him, my heart explodes with love. I was beyond scared to start over, but I knew it was the best thing for me.

I just didn’t realize that starting over would involve falling in love with the man of my dreams and my niece turning into my daughter.

Jesus. I’m surprised Jerry Springer hasn’t risen from his grave for this crazy shit.

“So, you two getting married?” Flint asks, waggling his brows at me.

Before I can look at Dean for help, he says, “Yeah, when I ask her. But she’ll say yes.”

I cock a brow. “I will?”

His eyes burn with desire, and that damn grin makes me weak. “You will. ”

“I know,” I mutter, and he winks.

Then he turns his attention to the kids and claps his hands. “Just so y’all know, there won’t be any of that step shit around here. Nope?—”

It’s Skyye who groans, and we all look at her expectantly, but Dean just beams, rocking on his heels. Then he points his finger guns. “We’ll be full-on cha-cha with extra dance partners.”

I snort, but the boys grimace as Skyye looks to the ceiling. “Was that supposed to be a joke?”

Skyye nods. “Yeah, he likes dancing.”

“But I don’t, and I’m not dancing,” Flint complains, while I snicker at his dismay.

“That was awful,” Ash says, looking at me. “This is the guy you chose?”

I flick my gaze up to Dean’s, and I sigh deeply as my heart overflows. Then I nod, and my voice is gruff as I tell everyone the honest-to-God truth.

“Only him.”