Page 31 of Hidden Dane
“No—the local universities weren’t hiring. I was going to sell real estate.”
“That sounds horrible.”
“Just until I find a college that wants someone with my degree.”
“Maybe you should move to Boston? There are lots of universities near me.”
She grabbed the sheet and held it closer but otherwise didn’t budge. Was he serious? She’d never lived with a man before. Her heart beat faster as she laughed again to pretend she wasn’t nervous as she joked, “Are you going to let me crash on your couch?”
His gaze narrowed. “Couch? No.”
“Oh.” A hum grew in her veins. He was asking her to move in. This was new and she wore a stupid smile on her face like she’d been dealt a good hand at cards.
She’d never been good at a bluff.
His fingers traced her arm, leaving a trail of tingles. “You’d share my bed.”
She rolled back and looked at the ceiling as her heart thundered. If she could trust any man, it was probably Dane. He was so different, but she hadn’t expected this. She turned her head toward him and took his hand. “Ah. Now I’m seeing this life you planned for us.”
He leaned on his side and met her gaze. “Every night can be like last night.”
Emily wanted to just sayyesand let the chips fall, but her own father flashed in her mind, stealing her joy. How he’d claimed to be too busy to take her in after her mother died. She nibbled on her lower lip. “We’re going to have to see though.”
He turned and his muscular body brushed against her smooth skin. “Why? What’s holding you back?”
Admitting she was scared bloomed like a warning sign in her mind and she shook her head. She was nothing like her mother who chose loser guys and Dane was honorable and way better than her father had ever been. She knew that without a doubt. “I like to be useful. I don’t want to be a housewife, not yet.”
This time he laughed and his voice was deep and demanded her attention as he said, “I would expect nothing less.”
If only this was possible. She patted his cheek. “Dane, we’re just dreaming.”
His gaze narrowed like he saw straight through to her soul. “Why? You can tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”
The night she’d called her dad when her mother hadn’t come home and the police showed up at the house replayed in her mind. When she’d learned her mother had died, her father still hadn’t come. Sophie had been the only one to hug her. Then she remembered in the same moment how Dane had walked away after prom and never called. She lowered her lashes to avoid his direct gaze. “You left me once. I don’t know how to fix that hole in my heart.”
He lifted the sheet and looked at her chest. “I left a hole? Where?”
Her pulse slowed down. Maybe she needed to not hold Dane accountable for her father. She looked up into his eyes. “Silly. Yeah. I had such a huge crush on you.”
“I didn’t know that.” He kissed her knuckles.
Emily was good at pretending nothing bothered her in life. She sat up and stretched her arms. “That’s because I’m tough.”
“I’ve noticed. But you’re also sweet.” He sat and joined her, hip to hip.
“Doubtful.” A tremble raced through her. Sweet wasn’t her. “You must have noticed Michael’s training.”
“Not what I was talking about.” He winked, but then let out a sigh. “But I’m glad he was good to you.”
Perhaps his biological father wasn’t the best conversation for first thing in the morning but she pressed her hand on Dane’s thigh. “He’d be good to you, too.”
“He might not approve of us.” Dane crossed his legs in a yoga pose on the bed.
The yoga stretches shocked her. No man she knew stretched with such precision. Emily ignored it and raised her eyebrow, “And you’d care?”
Coffee would be a better wake-up call than exercise. She stood. He got out of bed too, and bowed his shoulders forward, then shook his muscles loose. “I wouldn’t. You would.”
“Michael is not related to me.” She headed to the small coffee pot in the room and picked up the glass carafe. “Except through marriage to my sister.”
