Page 109 of Starting Over with You
“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.”
