67. Ella

67

ELLA

I stand in the arrivals section of the airport with butterflies fluttering wildly in my stomach as I wait for the doors to open and my man to appear.

He’s here. I’ve been tracking his plane. I know he landed a little over thirty minutes ago, and I know that any moment, I’m going to get to lay my eyes on him again.

The new piece of jewelry burns around my ring finger, reminding me of what happened the last time we were here.

I’m glad he had a ring, because if it weren’t for that, I probably wouldn’t have believed it happened.

Colton Rogers proposed to me.

After everything we’ve been through.

The highs, the lows, and everything in between.

I shake my head, blowing out a slow stream of breath as our past plays out like a movie in my head.

Sure, there have been times that it’s been incredibly painful to be so utterly in love with a man who’s struggling to deem himself worthy of it. But at the same time, it’s been utterly beautiful and thrilling.

I gave my heart and soul to Colt a long time ago, knowing that he’d never truly give it back. He’s owned a part of me since almost the very first time I met him. And that’s something I’d never ever want to change.

People mingle around me, some of them excited about seeing family members, others drivers collecting clients, but none of them come anywhere close to stealing my attention.

My focus is firmly locked on those doors.

“Come on, Colt,” I whisper, shifting around anxiously on my feet.

My heart jumps into my throat when the doors are suddenly thrown open, but the second someone emerges, it instantly sinks again as disappointment floods through my veins.

Two more people appear, but they’re not him.

But then a shadow appears. A familiar shadow. My heart rate picks up and my hands begin to shake even more violently than before.

“Colt,” I breathe the second he appears.

My feet take on a life of their own, and before I know what’s happening, I’m racing toward him. Long before I’m close enough, my feet leave the ground as I fly through the air.

The small bag in his hand crashes to the ground just a beat before we collide.

The second his arms wrap around me, I breathe a huge sigh of relief. Tears instantly burn my eyes, and a huge, messy ball of emotion clogs my throat as he holds me so tight, so securely that I never want him to let go.

These past few days without him have been torturous. But also needed.

It’s going to take me a bit of time to get my head around everything that’s happened and be able to fully embrace the future, but I know that I’m going to do it. We’re going to do it. Together.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is it now. And it’s not because he put a ring on my finger. As much as I love it, I know it doesn’t secure anything. What I feel is deeper than that. It’s different from every other time.

Colt and I…we’re truly us now. Everything is out in the open, all our ugly and broken bits. Somehow, we’ve found ourselves in all of this mess, and we’ve discovered that we’re actually perfectly imperfect. And that’s okay. I’m happy to embrace the bits of me that I don’t like so much, knowing that he loves me not just in spite of them, but because of them.

My heart swells to the point that I’m pretty sure it’s going to explode.

“Fuck, I missed you,” Colt confesses quietly so that only I can hear.

“Same,” I manage to force out. “I love you. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Bombshell.”

Hearing his voice, feeling his touch…it’s everything.

My skin tingles and my body heats.

It’s been so long since we’ve been physically intimate with each other. Sure, the phone sex this week has been phenomenal, but I’m so ready for us to be together again.

“Take me home,” I whisper, hating that we’re surrounded by so many people.

“I thought you’d never ask,” he says, his voice rough with his own desire.

He finally lowers me back to the ground, but thankfully, he doesn’t let go of me. Instead, after retrieving his bag, he wraps his arm around me and pulls me tightly against his side.

I walk next to him with my head held high and with more confidence than I think I’ve felt in…well, forever.

Finally, everything is right in my world. After all these years, all my puzzle pieces have fallen into place and I feel like I belong.

I completely forget that the man standing beside me is famous. That a huge percentage of the population knows his name, his face, part of his story. But it all comes crashing back when someone shouts for him.

The next thing we know, we’re surrounded by people wanting signatures, wanting to give him their best wishes, and to tell him how they were rooting for him since that dreaded game that may or may not have ended his career.

It’s all really sweet and heartwarming. And at another time, or in another place, I’m sure I’d embrace it. He probably would, too. But right now, neither of us has much patience for anyone but each other.

Colt humors a few of the fans who managed to get to the front of the crowd. He signs a handful of things that are thrust in front of him, and he smiles for a couple of photographs. But after five minutes have passed, his grip on my hand tightens and he tries to find a way through the crowd.

“I’m sorry,” he says politely. “I’d love to stay and chat all day, but I haven’t seen my girl in way too long.”

More questions are shouted, many about me.

My stomach knots, knowing that these photographs are going to end up online for the world to see, but I’m not as terrified as I used to be.

Before, I’d have cared about what they said. But right now…fuck ‘em. Fuck ‘em all. Colt is mine. Colt loves me, and nothing they can say can change that.

“Who is she?” Colt repeats before spinning me into him.

Ignoring the crowd, he stares down at me, his eyes capturing mine.

My heart pounds against my ribs, and it only gets worse when he reaches out and cups my jaw.

“This is Ella Myers, and not only is she the love of my life, but she’s going to be my wife.”

My stomach bottoms out.

Oh. My. God.

He just?—

But then his lips descend on mine and every single thought in my head vanishes as he kisses me right here in the middle of the Fort Worth arrivals hall.

When he eventually lets me up for air, the cheers and congratulations are still ringing around us, but thankfully, a couple of security guards have arrived.

With their help, we manage to make our way through the now even bigger crowd.

“You did this,” I tell Colt with a laugh.

I’m delirious. Deliriously happy.

I can’t keep the smile off my face.

“Meh, don’t care,” he says lightly, and when I look up at him, he’s got the same goofy smile on his face that I know is on mine.

Fuck. It feels good.

Only a few minutes later, we find the truck where I abandoned it in the short-stay parking lot. We climb inside, and the second the doors close behind us, we both let out a sigh of relief.

“Well, that was…”

“Unexpected,” I finish for him.

“I wasn’t supposed to do that, was I?” he says a little bashfully, wringing his hands on the steering wheel.

“You’re so cute,” I muse.

“I’m really not, but I’ll be anything you want me to be.”

“Just my fiancé right now,” I tease.

“Fuck. I love the sound of that,” he breathes before turning toward me, wrapping his hand around the back of my neck, and pulling me over the center console of the rental that I still have. “Did I tell you that I missed you?” he asks, his eyes bouncing between mine.

“Yeah, but I’ll happily hear it again.”

“I missed you, Bombshell.”

He leans in, letting his lips brush mine for a few sweet kisses before he continues where we left off in the terminal.

By the time we pull out of the parking lot, I’m breathless and squirming in my seat, more than ready for what comes next.

“I need to stop at the store,” Colt explains as we hit the freeway.

“The store?” I ask, shocked that he’s willing to make a detour.

I already know he’s as desperate as I am to continue what we started; I can see it tenting his pants.

“Yeah, just quickly. Need to grab a few things.”

“O-okay, sure.”

He navigates us to the store, thankfully not the same one Mom took me to when she dragged me out of the house that day. I might be able to walk around with my head held high these days, but I’m not sure I’m ready to return there quite yet.

“So what do you need?” I ask once he’s got a cart and we head into the fresh produce section.

“Just a couple of things,” he says cryptically before he begins loading vegetables into the cart.

“Mom has plenty of food. You don’t need to buy anything.”

“I’m going to cook dinner.”

My brows shoot up. “Y-you are?”

“Yep. I have a plan and everything,” he says proudly.

“Well, okay then.”

I gesture for him to continue and happily follow him around, cataloging everything he selects, trying to figure out what he’s planning.

By the time we get to the checkout, we’ve practically got a whole cart’s worth of food and other groceries, but I don’t question him. I’m happy to wait to discover what he’s cooking up.

With his ballcap pulled down low to cover his face, we manage to navigate the store without him being recognized, which is a huge relief after the chaos we caused at the airport.

We emerge from the store into the bright sunshine and a clear blue sky, the fall sun warming my skin. It’s perfect. Everything about today is perfect.

With the truck in our sights, we head across the parking lot side by side, but just before we get there, someone comes racing over.

“Colton Rogers?”

At first, I assume it’s a journalist wanting to ask questions, but then, he gets closer and recognition hits.

“Chad,” I breathe, my entire body locking up.

“Chad?” Colt whispers back. “Douche-canoe Chad?”

“The one and only.”

“Fantastic. I’ve been looking forward to this,” Colt says, rubbing his palms together.

“Wow, incredible,” Chad says as he closes in on us. “I didn’t think that could possibly be you. Not in this small Texas town when you should be training in Seattle. What on earth could be important enough to bring you here?”

Chad side-eyes me with that comment, and fury lights me up from the inside.

“We don’t have time for your bullshit, Chad,” I say firmly.

If he’s shocked by my reaction, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he just looks Colt dead in the eyes, seconds before signing his own death certificate.

“Ella Myers? Really?” he asks, his brow wrinkling in confusion. “Can’t you do bett?—”

“Oh my god,” I squeal when Colt cuts off Chad's incoming insult with one quick punch to the nose.

Chad stumbles back, clutching his face, but Colt isn’t content to leave it there.

He moves closer, looming over the smaller man as blood gushes over his mouth as if he’s nothing more than a mouse Colt can squish under his shoe.

“If I ever catch you anywhere near my girl again, you’re done. If you so much as look in her direction, you’re done. If you even say her name, it’s over. I am not the kind of man you want to make an enemy of.”

Chad’s lips move to respond, his free hand curling into a fist as if he thinks he could take Colt.

Chad is an idiot, but he isn’t that stupid, surely?

He must figure that out because, after a second, he takes a step back.

“I suggest that you forget Ella was ever in your pathetic little life. She’s far too good for you. Come on, Bombshell, we’ve got better places to be.”

Colt opens the passenger door for me and helps me inside. He makes quick work of putting our groceries in the trunk before abandoning the cart and joining me.

“Is…is your hand okay?” I ask, reaching for it.

“From hitting that?” Colt spits. “Of course. I’ve hit harder pillows in my time. Fucking pussy.”

I can’t help it, I snort a laugh.

“You think he’ll listen to you?”

“Probably. But if he doesn’t, Letty gave me Reid Harris’ number. That should fix the problem.”

My chin drops.

“Come on, babe. I’ve got a surprise for you.”