“She needs calm,” Ella says. “She needs you steady. And I need you steady too.”
I exhale shakily, running a hand through my hair because she’s right, and it kills me. Aria’s small body, trembling in my arms, flashes behind my eyes again. “I just… I can’t stand that she touched you. That she scared you.”
Ella steps closer, voice low, firm. “She didn’t scare me. She pissed me off, but she didn’t scare me.”
The corner of my mouth twitches despite everything. “That’s not the point.”
“No,” she agrees. “It’s not. The point is we’re here. Safe. Together. I need you to let it go, Cole. For Aria. For me. Please.”
Her hand comes up, fingers brushing the front of my shirt, lingering for just a breath. It’s soft enough to break me.
“She’s okay,” Ella whispers. “And I’m okay.”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. “You’re bruised. You shouldn’t be hurt because of my past.”
“That was not your past,” she counters. “That was her. Her choices. Her anger. Not yours.”
The night presses in around us, quiet and wide. I look at her for a long moment, trying to steady my heartbeat, trying to calm the instinct clawing at my chest. Ella is close enough that her scent—warm, subtle, familiar—comes up with every breath I take. My hands ache to touch her, to do something other than hold myself back.
She watches me with those charcoal-grey eyes that see too much.
“Cole, let it go,” she pleads.
My voice drops to a near-growl. “Okay, but only because it’s you asking. Otherwise—“
She nods. “I know. Thank you.”
I step closer without meaning to. She tilts her head up, the porch light paints her cheek in gold—bruise and all—and the sight does something devastating to me.
I cup the uninjured side of her face with one hand. She leans into it, closing her eyes for a second like she’s letting herself rest.
“Thank you,” I whisper. “For protecting my daughter. For stepping in. For being… you.”
Her breath catches, and when she looks up at me again, the heat in her eyes damn near buckles my knees.
“Cole…” she murmurs.
I don’t even know who moves first.
One moment we’re breathing the same air; the next, her mouth is on mine—soft at first, then deeper, hotter, like she’s been holding herself back just as fiercely as I have. I kiss her back, hard enough to make her gasp, sliding one hand behind her neck and pulling her fully into me.
She presses into my chest like she belongs there, fingers curling around the front of my shirt. The kiss turns hungry—not the desperate kind but the claiming kind—slow and intense, a promise pressed between our lips.
I break away only when her breath turns shaky, resting my forehead against hers. Her chest rises and falls against mine,warm and real. I slide my hands down her arms, grounding myself in the feel of her.
“You’re unbelievable,” I say quietly. “I don’t deserve the way you care.”
“Yes, you do,” she whispers back.
We stay there until the world feels steady again.
“Let’s go back before your brothers come to hunt me down,” I tease, taking her hand and leading her back into the house.
Ella might have talked me down tonight, but only God knows what I’ll do if Calista and I cross paths in the future. But for tonight, I choose peace.
21
ELLA
