The Brightest Sunset (The Darkest Sunrise #2)

Laughing, he carried me back into the house.

I did my best to keep my giggles soft as he toted me down the hall and into the bedroom.

And then both of our laughter stopped when his mouth covered mine.

Twenty minutes later, as we lay sated in a tangled heap, I told Porter once and for all that I loved him.

He stared deep into my eyes, a million emotions cascading through his handsome features, and replied, “Too late now. I’ve already moved on.”

He was seriously insane.

But it was safe to say I was, in fact, wholly and completely in love with that man.





* * *





“What if they hate me?” she asked.

I took her hand in mine and laced our fingers together. “Oh, my mom definitely will.”

Her head snapped up. “Porter!”

Laughing, I kept my gaze aimed out the windshield and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “You didn’t let me finish. I meant, she’ll hate you for about ten seconds until she sees him and then she’ll love you.”

Charlotte looked at the kids in the back seat. Hannah was sound asleep in her car seat, as she was so often when we were in the car. Travis was sitting beside her, peering out the window, an epic smile covering his face.

He’d been smiling like that for a week.

And, soon enough, he’d be able to smile like that permanently.

For the last seven days, Charlotte and I had been playing a dangerous game. We were still a week out from a court date when we could hopefully have the order of protection lifted. However, we weren’t letting it stop us.

Since the day Charlotte had first called me to come over, there hadn’t been a night we hadn’t fallen asleep together. Half of those nights, when she had been positive no one would be stopping by, we’d stayed at her apartment. The other half, we’d stayed at my house. But it didn’t matter where we rested our heads. All that mattered was that we were doing it together.

And God, was I happy.

Every day, she laughed. Every day, my kids smiled. And, every day, I fell more and more in love with a life I desperately wanted to keep.

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” she whispered. “Maybe we should wait until after our court date.”

I smirked. “Baby, my family is celebrating. That means you are celebrating.”

“I know, but the police literally just dropped your investigation, like, three hours ago. Maybe we shouldn’t push our luck with the law today.”

I turned down Tanner’s long, oak-covered driveway. “There was no luck involved in this. Quit stressing. We’re safe here. My parents aren’t going to be alerting the authorities.”

“I don’t know,” she mumbled. “It feels—”

“Good. That’s the word you’re looking for.” I smirked and shot her a wink. “But, if you think it feels good now, wait until you see me in a bathing suit.”

She’d been winding herself up since I’d told her that my family was having an impromptu cookout to celebrate my release from potential jailbird status. I’d yet to tell any of them about Charlotte and me being back together. And, since I hadn’t left her side at all, I’d been avoiding them. In that time, Travis hadn’t stopped asking about my parents or Tanner. Today seemed like a great opportunity to kill two birds with one surprise stone. And, with the temperatures well into the nineties, it was the perfect time to break Tanner’s pond in for the season.

Glaring at me, she asked, “It’s that bad, huh?”

“Bad?” My mouth fell open in mock horror. “Sweetheart, I fill out a pink Speedo better than any man you’ve ever seen.”

She blinked, her beautiful face completely blank. “Please, God, tell me you’re kidding.”

I was. But she knew that.

“Nope.”

“I’m such a lucky girl,” she deadpanned.

I lifted our joined hands to my lips and kissed her knuckles. “And don’t you forget it.”

“Hannie, wake up. We’re here!” Travis exclaimed as I put the car into park.

“Yay,” she croaked before her lids were even open.

I glanced to Charlotte who was staring up at the tall plantation house, nerves crinkling the corners of her eyes.

“It’s going to be fine,” I told her.

“You should have warned them that I was coming,” she whispered as the kids scrambled out of the car.

“And ruin the surprise? No way.”

She licked her lips and turned her panic-filled gaze on me. “I don’t want to be the surprise.”

I barked a laugh and slung my door open. “Good, little miss self-centered, because you’re not. He is. They probably won’t even notice you’re here for the first hour.”

“Right,” she whispered but made no move to get out of the car.

With two fingers, I brushed her long hair off her neck. “Charlotte, my parents are good people. They have two sons. They know what you’ve been through. They aren’t going to judge you for the way things have gone down recently.”

“I know… I just feel like the enemy in their eyes.”

Travis knocked on her window. “Charlotte, let’s go! I’m going to teach you how to fish.” He grinned and lifted his blue-and-white tackle box.

Keeping my voice low so Travis couldn’t hear me, I told her, “You aren’t the enemy in my eyes or in his eyes, and the minute my family sees that, they will become the only eyes that matter.”

She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out with practiced control. “Okay. You’re right.”

“Mmm,” I purred. “Stop trying to seduce me with sexy words like that and let’s meet my parents.”

She laughed, and it curled over my skin like the sweetest touch. I’d never get enough of that from her.

Shoving her door open, she stepped out of the car. Travis immediately took her hand and started dragging her around the side of the house. After scooping Hannah off her feet and planting her on my hip, I caught up with them and threw my arm around her shoulders.

Together, the four of us walked around the house.

We hadn’t made the final curve before the smell of steaks and the sound of Mom and Tanner laughing filled the air in the most amazing combination.

It was home and happiness all wrapped up in one.

Since Tanner had bought that house, we’d had a lot of these cookouts. He always cooked. My mom took care of Hannah. My dad fished with Travis. And I would numbly watch them all while I tried to force the overwhelming hate and anger from my heart.

My life over the last three years had been survived in various degrees of hell.

But not that day. Not with Charlotte at my side. My kids. Her son.

No. There was nothing hellish about that day.

It was pretty damn perfect.

As we made our way toward the stone patio, Tanner saw us first.

“Holy. Shit,” he said behind a giant stainless-steel commercial grill that had cost him a small fortune.

“What?” Mom chirped from the picnic table as she stirred what I prayed was her bacon ranch pasta salad. Her head slowly lifted to my brother, but her eyes found mine on the way up. She started to smile, but her gaze slipped to Charlotte and then down to Travis.