“Okay. Talk to you later, then.” She wrapped her arms around him, giving him a hug then a quick kiss before hurrying inside her house, shutting and locking the door behind her.
The sound of the lock clicking into place made a weird sort of sensation settle in his bones.
As he walked back to the car, he couldn’t stop the hollowness filling him. He didn’t want to leave. He had the sudden thought that he wished they lived together, which was insane. But he wanted to wake up to her face every morning. Wished that right about now they were both crashing in a bed they owned together.
But it was way too soon to be thinking about that. Right?
Chapter 14
Carson waited as long as he could. And maybe he should have given Sienna more than a few hours, but screw that.
He’d decided not to give her the chance to put walls up between them again. Hell, he never should have left earlier, but he’d been sleep-deprived and unsure of what to do about her.
Not anymore. Well, he was still sleep-deprived, but he didn’t care. He knew exactly what he wanted.
When he pulled into her driveway, he saw both her brothers’ vehicles there and gritted his teeth. He hadn’t wanted to deal with her family right now, but it was what it was.
Moments after he knocked on the door, Daniel answered it, frowned at him. Brodie was right behind him, not exactly frowning, but…watching him intently.
“You don’t need to answer the door!” Sienna called out from somewhere in the house, annoyance tingeing her voice. “I’m more than capable.”
Her brothers ignored her.
“What are you doing here?” Daniel asked.
“Is everything okay?” Brodie continued.
“I’m here to see Sienna.” He’d barely gotten the words out before Sienna appeared.
She was quickly followed by his own sister, Kathryn, who looked surprised to see him. But then she grinned almost knowingly.
“Can I talk to you? Alone?” he asked Sienna after giving Daniel a pointed look. Brodie was just hanging back by this point. Then Carson handed Daniel the coffee and bag of pastries he’d brought for Sienna. “And put these in her kitchen. Don’t touch them. They’re not for either of you.”
“Someone is testy this morning,” Kathryn murmured as Sienna stepped onto the front porch with him.
“Did something happen with the case?” she asked as she shut the door behind her.
In response, he cupped her face and slanted his mouth over hers. He’d definitely made a mistake leaving before. He should have taken her straight to bed and held her in his arms while they both crashed.
She moaned against him, leaning into his body as she kissed him back with a fierceness that matched his own hunger. Blinking, she finally looked up at him, her expression dazed. “Not that I’m complaining. At all. But what was that for?”
“I wanted to stay earlier. But I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to, and for the first time that I can remember, I felt like a teenager, unsure of myself. And I don’t want to leave things up in the air between us. I know I could’ve called but I wanted to see you in person. I’m in love with you, Sienna,” he said bluntly, because it was the truth. “I let you put walls between us before and I’m not doing that ever again. Right now I’m laying it out there and letting you know that I want more than just dating you. I want to be exclusive. I want to be able to stay over. I want you to stay over at my place. I want you to take up half my closet or more if you want. I want to worry about you when you go off to work—”
She grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him to her, kissing him hard and long. He wrapped her up in his arms, savoring every sweet kiss as he pressed her up against the front door.
“I love you too,” she rasped out finally. “And I wanted you to stay earlier too, but I was sleep-deprived and you’re really hard to read. I didn’t want to be all needy and have you stay out of a sense of duty or whatever. But I’m so glad you’re here now.”
“I knew I should’ve stayed,” he murmured, kissing her again.
The door flew open and Daniel glared at him. “Why don’t you just come in here? It’s better than making out on her front porch for the whole neighborhood to see.”
Sienna simply rolled her eyes but wrapped her arm around Carson’s waist as he tugged her close to him. “You better not have touched my pastries,” she said, jabbing Daniel in the ribs with a light punch.
“I might’ve.” He grinned, completely unrepentant.
Carson locked the door behind them, kissing her on the head as they strode toward the kitchen. He loved this woman and she loved him back.
It was almost too much to believe. Soon he was going to figure out a polite way to ask her brothers and his sister to leave. Or maybe he’d just forget being polite and tell them to get the hell out so he could have Sienna to himself.
Epilogue
Four months later
Carson held his wife in his arms—his wife, something he would never get tired of saying—as they danced at their wedding.
Her family had wanted longer to plan a wedding but that had been unnecessary, and Sienna hadn’t cared one way or the other. So they’d settled on a December wedding, which meant he got to end this year as a man married to the woman of his dreams.
“What are you thinking about?” Sienna murmured, burrowing closer against him.
“Our honeymoon.”
She threw her head back and laughed, the sound music to his ears. As always.
She was stunning today, no surprise. In her strapless white dress, her hair down in gorgeous waves, it had taken all his restraint not to thread his fingers through her thick tresses. But only because his sister had warned him that even though her hairstyle looked simple, he would mess everything up. Then Brodie’s fiancée had threatened him with a curling iron—so he’d listened to the women.
But soon he was going to mess up Sienna’s hair, strip her dress off and bury his face between her legs. Very, very soon.
“I have a feeling you’re thinking something dirty for sure,” she murmured before going up on her toes and kissing him.
“Maybe a little.” He grinned against her mouth as the music played around them.
Both their families were there as well as a decent-sized crowd, but all of his focus was on her. The woman who had definitely made him a better man.
They’d been living with each other practically since the moment they got back from Miami, and while he sometimes worried about her at work, he knew she could take care of herself. He was honored to be married to such a strong, wonderful woman.
A smart-ass he would never let go.
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