Page 56 of Stolen Dreams

“Lilah,” he calls my name softly, “he’s going through a lot right now.”

“Well, he’s not the only one,” I say over my shoulder.I walk past Sammy, who takes one look at me and then my arm, and his eyes almost bulge out of his head.“Don’t,” I snap, and he holds up his hands.“Sorry, I’m fine,” I tell him.“Just fine.”

“Got it.”It looks like he’s about to say something else when he turns his head, and I see Emmett storming into the barn.“Later,” he says, turning and running for cover probably.

I don’t give him another second of my time before heading to the office.I spend all day long working, and when I have to go into the barn, I wait for someone to come into my office before sending the papers back.

Only when Emmett comes into my office at four thirty do I realize Lucy isn’t back from school yet.“You ready to go?”

“Where is Lucy?”I ask.

“She and Saige are having a sleepover at Brock’s place.It happened this morning when I dropped her off.She’ll be back tomorrow morning after breakfast.”He leans on the top of my desk.“I was thinking we could go out tonight.The guys are all going to Thatcher’s.”

“Um,” I hesitate, not sure what is going on.

“We’ll eat dinner, and then we can go.”He looks over at the side.“Or we can go out and eat and then hit the bar.”

“Um.”That is all I can say.

“Actually, let’s do that,” he adds as if this is a two-sided conversation.

I turn off my computer as I walk side by side with him to his truck.When we get back to his house, he unlocks the door and disarms the alarm before heading toward his bedroom.“Did you want to shower together?”

“No.”I shake my head, still pissed at him for acting like a jackass this morning.I walk toward the bedroom, but I feel his arm around my waist, pulling my back to his front.“Let me go.”

“No.”That’s all he says before he kisses my neck.“I was worried”—his voice is soft—“and I thought you were hurt.”

“I wasn’t.”I look to the side, seeing his face buried in my neck.

“You were, and I hated seeing it.”I swallow down the lump in my throat and feel the weight of his words fill me.“Now, let’s shower and go get something to eat.Then we can go get a drink, but I want to come home early since it’s just the two of us.”

“Okay,” I agree softly, “but it’ll go faster if I shower in one and you shower in the other.”

“Fine,” he concedes before heading to his shower.I walk back to the bedroom where my clothes are, grabbing a pair of panties and a bra before heading to the shower.I shower as fast as I can, putting more ointment on the burn before going to my bag and picking out the only dress I brought with me.The white eyelet ruffled dress goes into a V in the front, the sleeves are tight until the elbows, and then flare off a bit until the middle of my arm.The waist is tight before it goes almost A-line, with a ruffle hem at the bottom.

I walk back into the bathroom, combing through my hair before flipping my head upside down and shaking my hands through it.When I walk back into the living room, he’s waiting for me on the couch.He’s wearing another pair of jeans, with a black T-shirt, his feet in a clean pair of boots.“You look nice,” he compliments, getting up and coming to me.His hair looks like he just ran his hands through it, and I know that is exactly what he did.His hand grips my waist as he pulls me to him.“I like this.”His thumb rubs the little holes in the dress.“A lot.”He looks at me, smirking.“Going to like you out of it more.”

“We could stay home?”I raise my eyebrows, wanting nothing more than to stay with him inside this house, where I can touch him, where he can touch me, where it’s just the two of us.

“No.”He slips his hand in mine.“You got all dressed up.”He walks to the front door, turning off the alarm before arming it for us to be out of the house.

He doesn’t let go of my hand when we walk out, which is new.Even when we get to the bar and I get out, he walks to the back of the truck, meeting me there.“Do you want to eat at the bar?”

“We can,” I reply, expecting him to walk beside me, which he does, but his fingers graze mine a couple of times before he finally gives in and holds my hand.Our fingers intertwine with each other’s.My head spins when we walk in, and I see a couple of the people we work with here smile at us, and then their eyes fly to our hands.

I’m expecting him to drop my hand, but instead, he pulls me to the table where the guys are.“Hey,” he says, pulling out an empty chair and finally letting go of my hand so I can sit down.Then he goes to the empty chair beside me.“You guys eating or just drinking?”he asks, as if it’s the most natural thing for us to arrive together, holding hands.He reaches out to grab the two menus that are on the table.

“How’re you feeling?”Sammy finally asks me, and I look up at him, the beer in his hand on his way to his mouth.“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I reply, clearing my throat when it sounds like a frog is sitting in it.

“You want a burger?”Emmett says from beside me, not taking his eyes off the menu.

“That sounds good,” I say as the server comes to the table and takes a couple of the orders.I turn to Sammy to talk to him while Emmett turns to talk to Bobby on the other side of him, his arm going around my chair.

“Do you know why she got spooked?”Sammy asks me, and with everything going on, I’m tongue-tied.“Probably a bird,” he says.“I went to check her after, and she was quiet.”

“I’m going to go and check on her later,” I tell him as the food comes to the table.

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