Page 38 of Camilla & Dallas
Dallas must have read some of the anguish in her expression because his hold on her tightened. “Don’t.”
Her eyes cut to his.
“Don’t pull away from me, Camilla. Not now. Not when I finally got the door open.” He frowned, his gaze searching hers. She couldn’t tell if he found what he was looking for, but it probably didn’t matter. One second he was holding the back of her neck and staring at her hard, and the next, he’d scooped her into his arms and crushed her against his chest. Dallas dug his face into her hair, his breathing growing tight. “Please, Camilla. Can we…”
He sounded like he was spiraling, and it broke her heart. At some point she must have released him because she felt boneless, weightless, as he clung to her. Slowly, she lifted her hands and wrapped them behind his back, gripping his shoulders.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered.
Dallas relaxed but only slightly. His breathing still didn’t seem normal. There was a tension deep in his muscles she wasn’t sure he’d ever release. And she lost track of how long they stood there in the hallway like that.
“Can we…” Her voice cracked and Dallas pulled back to look at her fully.
“What do you need, Camilla?”
She bit down on her lip. As much as she wanted to look away from his penetrating stare, she couldn’t manage the strength for it.
“What is it, Camilla?”
Blinking back her own emotion, she exhaled and nodded more to herself than anything else. “I think we need to talk.”
Dallas grimaced but nodded his assent as well. “That’s probably not a bad idea. We could go out?—”
“No.”
He frowned, brows pulling together. “You need to be ready to talk about this. I want you to be able to think clearly.”
“If we don’t do this now, I don’t know if I’ll be…”Brave enough.
That hint of fear flooded his expression, and for a moment she second-guessed herself. She didn’t want to push Dallas into something he wasn’t ready for. It must have taken a great deal of courage for him to lay his heart out like he had when he’d come to her.
Maybe this was selfish.
Maybe she was more worried that he’d realize he’d spoken too soon and didn’t actually want to dive into a relationship with her after all.
Camilla pulled back from him, granting him access to her room. She gestured with a tilt of her head—an invitation—for him to come out of the hall and open the lines of communication further.
His eyes darted to her room and back to her. This was it. The second he crossed over the threshold, they’d be moving into murky waters. They’d need each other to get through it.
Dallas ran a hand over his hair, nodded, and stepped into her room.
She’d never thought her bedroom was small. It was an average size for homes built in Colorado. She had enough spacefor a queen bed, a decent dresser, a chair, some bookshelves, and a vanity.
But the second Dallas entered, the room practically shrank three sizes. She watched him move toward her bed. He looked at it, trailed his fingers along the comforter, then sat down on the edge. He’d been in her room before when they’d dated years ago. The bedding might be new, but nothing else in this space had changed.
Camilla leaned against the dresser to her back, her fingers digging into the edge of the mahogany wood. Her nerves were pulled taut. Whatever was said in the next several minutes would dictate their future. The weight of what they were about to discuss pressed in on her.
Where was she supposed to start?
Dallas heaved out a breath. “Cheyenne?—”
“Cheyenne?” she blurted. “What does Cheyenne have to do with any of this?”
He worked his jaw, then shifted on the edge of the bed. “Will you come sit by me?”
She shook her head.
The pain in his eyes was almost unbearable and she nearly buckled, but she knew if she sat by him, she wouldn’t be thinking clearly at all.
