63. Ella

63

ELLA

W ith only a few crumbs and two empty glasses left, I push my chair back and stand.

My muscles are weak and the room around me spins a little, but it’s getting better.

Mornings are the worst, but then I guess that’s to be expected. I just have to hope that the doctor is right, and that it’ll lessen now that I’m taking better care of myself.

I’m already stronger. And I know that if I focus, in only a few more days, I might feel more like myself than I have in a while.

“Where are you going?” Colt asks as I move toward the door.

“I want to shower and change. I smell like the hospital.”

“O-okay.”

“Can you grab the bags? Mom put them by the front door.”

“Shit. Yeah, of course,” he says as he jumps to his feet and rushes my way.

He’s trying so hard, and I don’t think he has any idea how much it means to me.

Before I have a chance to stop him so I can say the words, he’s rushed around me and has both our bags over his shoulder.

“Down here, yeah?” he asks, pointing toward the back of the house, the part he hasn’t yet had a tour of.

“Yeah.”

Hurrying behind him, I stop at my bedroom door and push it open.

“Colt,” I breathe, making him stop and spin around.

With his eyes locked on mine, he steps up to me.

“That your room?” he asks. It’s a stupid question, and he knows it, if the way his brow wrinkles tells me anything. But I also know that he doesn’t do this.

He doesn’t go to girls’ houses, meet their moms, and get invited into their childhood bedrooms.

Hell, this isn’t something I do either. My stomach is a riot of butterflies as we continue to stand there.

“Yeah,” I whisper. “Never had a boy in here, though.” I smirk.

His Adam’s apple bobs with a thick swallow, his eyes twinkling with naughty thoughts.

“M-maybe you should keep it that way. I’m not the kind of guy a girl should take home.” He might be playing along, but the amount of truth in his words makes my chest ache. He believes them, too.

“Or,” I say, slipping my hand into his, “I should live on the wild side.”

I barely pull on his arm. Let’s be honest, even if I wanted to drag him somewhere, he’s so big and so strong, I wouldn’t stand a chance. But he happily steps over the threshold and into my room. Not that it really matters. He doesn’t look around. Instead, his eyes remain locked on mine.

His smirk turns almost predatory as he eats up the space between us, and it makes my thighs clench.

The truth is, I don’t have the energy for any of that right now, but my baser desires haven’t got the memo.

Just being near Colt has always affected me. It’s nice to know that hasn’t changed.

“Fuck, Bombshell,” he breathes as one of his giant hands wraps around the back of my neck and the other grips my hip. “I love you so fucking much.”

He ducks down, pressing his head against mine. Our noses touch and our breaths mingle, but he doesn’t do anything else.

“The only woman I’ve ever truly wanted has been you. My world doesn’t turn unless you’re in it.”

“Colt,” I whisper.

“I mean it, Ella. I’m in. I’m all in.”

Tears burn my eyes as I stare up at him.

“I believe you,” I tell him honestly as my hands slide up his strong, thick arms, holding as tightly as I can.

“Doesn’t matter,” he rasps, shaking his head slowly. “I’m going to keep telling you anyway.”

“I don’t need you to tell me. I just need you to keep showing me. Every single day. Even the hard ones.” I press my hand to his chest, right above his heart. “Trust me to keep this safe, no matter what happens.”

His studies me closely. His eyes are dark and full of emotion and honesty. “I will. I fucking promise I will.”

“Me too,” I say, dragging his hand from my neck and copying my pose. “I trust you too.” And then I drag it lower, over my stomach.

He sucks in a deep, ragged breath as his eyes follow.

“I’m going to be a dad.”

When his eyes return to mine, I find a mixture of fear and excitement staring back at me.

“You’re going to be incredible.”

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” he confesses.

“And you think I do? Pretty sure it’s one of those things you learn on the job. Just ask Kane and Letty.”

His eyes widen in panic before his hand dives for his pocket.

“What?”

“I promised I’d call them and let them know how you were this morning.”

“Later,” I say, plucking his cell from his hand and placing it on my vanity. “I need you first.”

Taking his hand again, I tug him in the direction of the bathroom.

“No, El. We’re not?—”

“You’re right. We’re not. But I’m also not showering alone. I’m exhausted and?—”

“Anything,” he blurts. “I’ll be anything you need.”

My smile starts small, but I can’t contain it and it spreads wide across my face.

“Help me shower, then hold me while I nap, yeah?”

“Couldn’t think of a better way to spend the afternoon.”

My movements are slow, and the second Colt turns from putting the shower on and notices me struggling to remove my zip-up hoodie, he quickly takes over.

He’s so gentle with me it makes a lump form in my throat.

“In you get,” he says, softly swatting me on the ass before holding my hand so I don’t slip as I step into the shower.

His actions are so at odds with how I know him to be, and I love it. I love seeing this side of him. A side that is exclusively for me.

In record time, he strips down to nothing and leaves a pile of discarded clothes behind as he attempts to squeeze himself into the shower with me.

It’s tight, but we make it work.

Colt does everything, allowing me to stand there and enjoy having his hands on me.

His touch is innocent, but he still leaves a trail of tingles wherever we connect.

And I know I’m not the only one affected, because his hard length is happily nestled against my ass as he washes my hair.

Absently, his hips thrust back and forth. Not to get off. There is none of that. He just…he can’t help it, and I don’t want him to.

Once my hair is done, he starts on my body, ensuring every inch of me is fresh and sweet smelling, not a trace of the hospital left behind.

As his fingers massage over my skin, my eyes grow heavier and heavier.

No sooner does he notice than I’m lifted off my feet, wrapped in a fluffy towel, and carried back to my bedroom.

“Where are your pajamas?” he asks after depositing me on the edge.

I point them out and watch as he chooses a set before he dresses me and tucks me in.

I lie there uncaring that my hair is soaking my pillow, watching him as he dries off and drops the towel.

My teeth sink into my bottom lip as my eyes trace every line and curve of his body. It’s a work of art.

“See something you like?” he shoots over his shoulder before digging around in his bag for a pair of boxers.

“You could say that, yeah.”

Finally, he turns around, giving me a full-frontal shot.

“Mmm,” I moan, just like he did when he had that first cookie earlier.

“You see what you do to me, Bombshell,” he says, nodding down to where his cock is standing hard and proud from his body.

I nod, my blood heating in my veins as a sense of power rushes through me.

I do that. Me. Even when I’m broken down and at my worst. I affect him like that.

He wants me with all my flaws and my darkness.

Just like I do him.

Reaching out, I grab the other side of the duvet and lift it in invitation.

He pulls on his boxers, for all the good that scrap of fabric does, and then hesitates.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’re in your mom’s house. Maybe I should—” His eyes shift to the closed door, and I can’t help but laugh.

“I think it’s a little too late for that kind of chivalry, Colton Rogers. The ultrasound picture in my bag clued my mother into what we’ve been up to already.”

Lifting his hand, he scrubs it down his face.

“I’ve done this all wrong, haven’t I?”

“Nope,” I say confidently, summoning him over again. “We’re doing it our way. The wrong way doesn’t exist in our world.”

A small, thankful smile spreads across his mouth, and my stomach knots as my heart pounds harder.

Unable to deny me, Colt’s wide stride eats up the space between us and in seconds, he climbs into my twin bed.

The moment his body hits the mattress, I swear the entire thing shrinks in size.

“This wasn’t made for a football player, was it?” he asks lightly as he rolls onto his side and drags me back into his body so my back is pressed against his front.

“Nope. We’ll figure it out, though.”

His lips press against my shoulder. “We will. We’ll figure everything out.”

Despite my tiredness, I don’t immediately drift off. Instead, I lie there enjoying Colton’s warmth and strength.

I think back over the events of the day, and one moment lingers in my mind.

“What happened in the kitchen earlier?” I whisper.

He’s still awake behind me—I can tell by his breathing, and the way it hitches.

He knows exactly what I’m talking about.

He was freaking out. He looked like a deer caught in headlights standing in the middle of Mom’s kitchen.

His fingers flex against my stomach, and his breath races across my neck and shoulder, making my skin erupt with goosebumps.

“Your home. It’s…” He trails off, but despite wanting to probe, I remain silent. “It’s the kind of family home every kid deserves.”

His confession forces all the air from my lungs.

“From the moment I stepped inside, all I could feel was love and warmth. It took me by surprise. I’ve never felt it quite so strongly before.”

As much as I hate that he hasn’t experienced it before, I also love that I get to show him what real love and family should be like.

“You’d better get used to it,” I whisper. “Your life from here on out is going to be full of it. I won’t have it any other way.”

“I can’t wait, Bombshell. I can’t fucking wait.”

No more words are said between us. They’re not needed.

Eventually, I drift off to sleep, happy that I’m safe in his arms.

We have a way to go until everything is fully right between us, until I’m able to put what happened firmly in the past. But it’ll happen.

It has to. We’re a family now. And it doesn’t matter how hard life gets; families stick together.

Always.