Page 51 of Stolen Dreams

“Ugh,” she groans, “that’s like forever.”

All I can do is laugh at her as Emmett comes out of the barn on his horse.His horse is so beautiful.If he’s in the right angle of the sun, his coat looks blue and not black.“Okay, are we going for a ride?”

“Yes,” Lucy says, “finally.”

Emmett and I share a look, and all I can do is shake my head and laugh while he starts leading us onto one of the paths.I ride beside her, just in case Rosy gets a little frisky.

“What are we having for dinner?”Lucy asks when we are headed back to the barn some two hours later.

“What do you feel like having?”Emmett asks her, and she shrugs.“I took out some pork chops and was going to bake them.”

“I can do dinner since you did it the last two nights,” I offer.“I just need to shower, and then I can do it.”

“I can help also,” Lucy adds, “but I have some homework.”

“How about I cook, and you do your homework on the island?”I suggest to her and look over at Emmett.“If that is okay with your dad.”

“It’s fine.I’ll get the horses situated,” he says to us when we get to the barn.He dismounts his horse and then goes over to Lucy and helps her down.

I pet Juliet’s neck and give her a kiss.“See you tomorrow, my girl,” I say as Lucy and I walk into the house.

“How about you get in the shower,” I say, “and I’ll go marinate the pork chops?”I kick off my boots and place them beside Lucy’s.

“Okay, Lilah,” she replies, walking toward her bedroom and bathroom.I head to the kitchen and look out the window above the sink while I wash my hands.It’s been almost a week that I’ve been here, and strangely enough, it feels like I’ve lived here all my life.Like I was made to be in this kitchen.Like I was made to eat with them.I grab the towel hanging on the oven handle to dry my hands before heading to the fridge, taking the chops out before placing them on the counter.The front door opens and slams shut as soon as I place the bowl with the marinated chops back in the fridge.

“Where is Lucy?”Emmett asks when he walks into the kitchen, going to the sink to wash his hands.

“I sent her to shower first so I can go shower after,” I explain to him as he looks over at me.

“All your stuff is in my shower,” he reminds me, “so go shower, and I’ll go after you.”

“Isn’t it going to be weird?”I ask.

“You showered in there last night.”He turns the water off and grabs the towel to dry his hands.

“Yes, but that was because she was in the shower.She’ll be done soon.”

“So you should get in there before she comes out and it becomes weird.”He smirks at me, and I roll my eyes at him.“Hurry, I want to shower.”

“Whatever,” I retort, wanting to step up to him and kiss him, but knowing Lucy is up and can walk into the room at any minute makes me stop.I mean, we’ve slept with each other every single night.I don’t even know what the bed in the other room feels like.

After Lucy goes to bed, we usually wait an hour before we head to his bed.It’s as if the minute we step into his room, it’s okay for us to touch each other.In the morning, before leaving, we share a soft kiss, but once we are out of the house, it’s as if we’ve never seen each other naked.

I walk into the bedroom, seeing the bed made again, and I have to laugh.I would never have thought Emmett would be a “make your bed every day” type of guy, even with the throw pillows.But every single day the bed is made when I come back home from work.I walk into his closet and grab the loungewear I left in there the night before.Once we fall asleep, I usually grab his T-shirt to walk back to the room in the morning.I now have about four of his T-shirts in my bag.A bag that is slowly becoming empty as the days go by while I’m here.I wonder how much longer I’m actually going to be here.

I shower as quickly as I can and get dressed in the long gray jogging pants and matching shirt before heading out and seeing Lucy with her homework on the island.“I put some green beans in water to eat with the chops.”

“Sounds good,” I say as he passes by me toward his bedroom.I watch him walk as he takes off his shirt before he gets to his bedroom.He catches me watching him and smirks.

“Later,” he assures me, and I smile, knowing after Lucy goes to bed, I get to have him all to myself.

Lucy finishes her homework at the same time the chops are ready, and we eat together.When she goes to bed, Emmett waits ten minutes before he gets up and turns off the television.“I was watching that,” I object to him as he grabs my hands and pulls me to his room.

As soon as we are over the threshold, he turns me so I’m in his arms, his mouth on mine.“But this is much better,” I admit, smiling as he kisses my neck.We spend the rest of the night wrapped up in each other.

The next afternoon I get up to walk to the barn to drop off papers when my phone rings, and I see it’s an unknown caller.My hands immediately shake as the ringing stops and then the notification pops up that someone has left me a message.I bring the phone to my ear to listen to it.

“You have one new message,” the automated voice tells me.“To listen to the message, press one.”

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