Cannon (Carolina Reapers 5)

Anne rolled her eyes but walked out the door, muttering something about tradition.

Persephone and I stood staring at each other for at least a minute after the door closed.

“I’ve been trying to get you alone all day.” I rubbed the back of my neck to keep from fidgeting with my tie. At least it wasn’t one of those pansy-assed bow ties. “If I’d known that taking care of Lillian meant I’d lose my only opportunity to talk to you, I would have stayed outside with you.” She’d been gone by the time I got my sister calmed down and reassured that our father had been hauled off the property.

“You needed to be with her. I understood that,” she said softly, taking a few steps so she could sit on the pink-cushioned window seat. “I was really proud of you.”

I startled. “You what?”

“I was proud of you,” she insisted, gripping the edge of the cushion so hard that her knuckles turned white. “I can’t imagine the effort it took for you to stand there silent and not let your temper loose on your father. You were practically shaking with it.”

“It was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life.” I’d wanted to rip him limb from limb for daring to come, for scaring Lillian and raising his voice at Persephone. But I’d known that if I’d moved one inch or even opened my mouth, I would have given Persephone’s father yet another reason to call me out. “Hell, it was probably the hardest moment of my life before this one.”

Her shoulders sagged in defeat, and her gaze fell from mine.

“No. Persephone, no.” I fell to my knees in front of her. “God, I fuck everything up, don’t I? I can’t even do this right.”

“Do what?” She slowly brought her head up just enough to meet my eyes. Never again, I promised myself. Never again would she wear the look of apprehension that paled her face right now.

“Tell you that I’m in love with you.”

Her eyes flared, and her lips parted. Shit. She was speechless, and I was out here hanging on a limb.

“You put yourself in front of me today. You literally stepped between my dad and me.” That moment had almost brought me to my knees.

Her expression changed from shock to confusion. “Wait, what?”

“Today, when my dad was here, you put yourself between us—”

“I remember. I was there. But what does that have to do with you being in love with me?” She shook her head.

“You don’t get it.” I braced my hands on either side of hers. “In my entire life, no one has ever put themselves between us. Mom was already too bloody by the time he’d start on me, and Lillian was always smaller, so I was usually the one stepping in. No one’s ever put themselves in the line of fire for me. And as much as I wanted to haul you over my shoulder and carry you back into the house—and away from him…” My eyes squeezed shut. “I was in such awe of you in that moment.”

I opened my eyes to find her staring at me in slack-jawed disbelief.

“Cannon Price, are you telling me that you fell in love with me on our wedding day because I yelled at your father?” Her voice rose to an almost scary level as she progressed.

I cocked my head to the side. “No, but I hadn’t seen you since that happened, so I needed to tell you.”

“Tell me that you loved me? Or tell me that you’re in awe of me?”

“Yes.” Fuck, this was not going any of the four million ways I’d planned in my head. “This isn’t going well, is it?”

“Well, it’s not going great.” Now both her eyebrows were sky-high. “You have me so confused that I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“Welcome to my world,” I muttered.

Her eyes narrowed, and then her expression shifted, crumpling a little and taking my heart with it. “Cannon, you just have to tell me if you’re calling off this wedding or not because I’m dying inside. My soul has shriveled a little with every hour that’s gone by, not knowing what’s going on in your head. So tell me right now—are we getting married today?”

“That’s up to you.”

I might as well have told her that Neil Armstrong was outside and prepared to walk her down the aisle for the look she shot me.

“Okay.” I gathered up all the courage I had. “Maybe this will go better if I can just get it all out. Because I’m fucking this up left and right. So, let’s make a deal.”

“A deal?” she repeated.

“Yep. I’m going to talk, and then I’m going to leave. And you will agree not to say anything until I’m gone.” I nodded, quite pleased with my little plan.