Alex's Destiny (Racing To Love) (17 page)

“I appreciate that. I know Alex thinks a lot of you. I trust her judgment.” He placed a quick peck on her head. “Just don’t hurt her, okay, man? And talk to my dad first.”

Ruby’s ears perked up. Going straight to the kitchen door, she waited until it opened and the new person entered.

Levi whistled. “Geez. Can she hear a car coming a mile away, or what?”

“No shit. I swear she thinks she’s human.” Dallas said nodding. “If it weren’t for the fur and the four legs, I’d be tempted to believe her. It’s like she can understand everything Alex or I say.”

Tasia floated through the door. Upon giving her approval, Ruby came back to them as his sister bounced around the kitchen handing out hello hugs to the family still helping make dinner. At some point Dallas knew Alex would go back to the routine, and she’d be in there with the commotion, the food and the wine. For now she was quiet and tucked in by his side.

His sister, the animal lover, headed straight for Ruby. On her knees, she rubbed and hugged on the furry sweetheart with a smile spread across her face. “I’ve heard all about you. Yes, I have. You’re so pretty aren’t you, Ruby? Yes, and you’re so sweet. You’re just precious.”

“You have a thing for dogs, huh?” Levi teased.

Her head flew up, looking at the chair off to the side of couch—and the man sitting in it. “Levi?”

“Hey.” He smiled.

“Hey.”

Dallas
wanted to look away, but it was like a wreck—he couldn’t. His sister’s face said it all. And Dallas caught the wink and grin Levi gave her, right before her cheeks flamed. He glanced down at Alex and she had a genuine smile. Not the forced ones he was used to lately. There was a hint of the girl he knew was still in there somewhere and she was beginning to peek through.

It would be as much fun as getting stitches, but maybe he could endure going out to dinner with the new couple, once Alex was ready to venture off the property.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

She tasted blood, and felt it pooling in her mouth. Then her tiny denim shorts started to dig into her lower back.
He
was in front of her, pinning her to the wall. Alex couldn’t control her rapid breathing, and knew what was coming next as
he
started to slide
his
grimy hand down inside her underwear. With a scream she called out before the blow stilled her.

A voice was in her ear, and she was sandwiched between two walls of heat. She struggled, but the voice got louder. Something hot and wet was against her face as light started to filter in again. Then it was black once more.
Dallas. She had to get to him. She had to get away.

Far off in the distance she heard her name.

“Alex, baby.”

Baby
. Dallas called her that. He was looking for her, he was coming. She knew he would save her—if she could just find him, but it was so dark, and she could hear
him
breathing near her face. Alex could feel the warmth of
him
close to her.

“Baby.”

“Dallas.” She yelled out, praying to find him in the darkness. Looking around, Alex scoured the area, despite her inability to even see her hand in front of her face. Something squeaked. There it was again, but it was more of a squawk.

“
Dallas. Help me! He’s got me. He’s going to…” She fought the control, struggling against his hold. “I waited for you. All these years—I’ve waited. Don’t let him have me. Don’t let him touch me. No—stop! Get your hands off me! Please, Dallas, hurry! He’s going to…no! I’m yours…only yours, Dallas. Please…” She cried, the sobs making breathing even more difficult as she tried to escape.

Then she was running, with
him
chasing her. There was dirt, they were on the track, and she tripped while she was running up a jump, the steepness making it harder to get away. There was a noise. Looking around, she couldn’t see anything but black. There it was again, a low, soft bark. Again. A dog. Her dog. Ruby. They were there.

“
Dallas! Ruby!”

“Shh, we’re right here, baby. We’re right here.”

Her eyes opened with a start. Blinking against the soft light of the lamp it was Dallas’s face that came into focus first. A wet slobbery tongue was running up her cheek. Panting, she pulled them both closer to her, gasping for a deep breath that wasn’t coming fast enough as adrenaline flowed through her. The adrenalin made her shake and she cried even harder. She tightened her hold on both the man and the dog and tried to focus on his soothing voice.

He was keeping a mental tally of the nights he’d spent with her, lying beside her warm soft body with a huge furry lump stretched out on her other side. It was almost morning and the count would have reached four. Four nights beside her. Four nights holding her, smelling her sweet perfume. Four nights running his fingers through her long golden curls and caressing her skin. Four nights without a flashback.

Turning into her, Dallas kissed her forehead. She snuggled into him, and Ruby scooted closer to her back. At the rate he was going, both girls were going to make him fall out of the bed completely. He grinned in spite of himself, mainly because he needed the blip of humor. Otherwise, he’d probably break down and cry.

The torture that still had her in its grasp was killing him. What had started out as a casual mention, he needed to start ramping up. She needed to talk to someone. Whether it was post-traumatic stress, or the horror of coming close to being raped,
Dallas didn’t know, but she needed more. Her stubborn streak reared its head when he’d mention finding a counselor or group, and he knew she’d dig her heals in, demanding she was fine.

She wasn’t. She was far from
fine
.

After hearing the words she had so desperately spoken to him in her nightmare, his heart had broken wide open. With her clinging to him, he pulled her tighter and worked his leg in between hers. She let go of Ruby, and with her eyes still closed, she wrapped her arm around him. Lying intertwined he watched her face relax in the light of the lamp. Brushing her hair off her face, he tucked a strand behind her ear, and continued to run his fingers over her forehead, her hair, her cheek, and gently over her ear.

He fingered the earring she had in, the same pair she’d worn for years. Dallas remembered picking out the diamond studs, carefully wrapping them in Christmas paper, and painstakingly tying the bow—multiple times. He still couldn’t wrap a present to save his life, but the surprise on her face when she’d opened them that Christmas morning was a joy he’d never forget. Alex wasn’t an emotional girl, he’d seen her break an arm while racing and never shed a tear. As a matter-of-fact, she had been royally pissed that day when no one in their family would let her back on her bike to finish the race.

But that Christmas morning, her eyes pooled as she stared at the black velvet box. And five years later, he had yet to see a different pair of earrings replace the pair he’d given her.

He needed to get her back to that place. Where happiness was the norm, and she didn’t struggle to eat and sleep.

“I love you, Dallas.”

Glancing from the diamond sparkling in her ear to her eyes, he saw they were wide open. And though the words had been said softly, he heard them loud and clear—for the first time. “Oh my God, Alex—I love you too, baby.”

“You called me that,” she admitted quietly.

“What, honey?”

“Baby. You’ve called me that over the years. Like Grandpa, and Dad sometimes, too. I heard you call me that—in the darkness. I was running to you. Away from
him
. When I heard you say ‘baby’, I knew it was you, I just couldn’t find you. Or…or Ruby. But I knew it was you.”

It was the first step.

The first time she’d mentioned anything about that night, or what her fear of the dark was. What she saw when she closed her eyes. The sadness washed over her face.

Without thinking, he tipped her chin up and gently kissed her lips—for the first time.

Another first in a night of firsts. Some painful, two however, were perfect.

They had shared thousands of
I love you’s
, hugs, and kisses over the course of their lifetime together, but they both knew tonight was different. He had waited patiently for years to hear those words come from her in a different light, and though the night had brought them pain, those three powerful words also brought a sense of healing as well.

Pulling back from her soft lips was excruciating, wanting more, but knowing that wasn’t a step she was anywhere close to being ready to take yet.
Dallas opened his eyes to see the wonderment dance in hers.

Her first kiss.

The knowledge pushed the air from his lungs.

The truth she’d rushed out in the pleading to her captor had been like a punch to his stomach. Assumed information her nightmare confirmed. She had only ever wanted him. That night’s horror was compounded by that bastard’s attempt to get more than just even with her, a blow to her face wasn’t enough. He had been after so much more. The fact she was a virgin, amped the terror up of the unknown, and by her love for him.

She had no clue of the visions running through his mind.

Alex still had a bedroom smile tipping her lips, though she had no idea of the effect that could have on him. He wasn’t thinking about what he wanted to do with and to her. All he could picture was her pinned against her office wall, and what that monster almost took from her. What was his to take—on their wedding night.

Right then, he made up his mind. It would be a long, slow road, one he demanded she set the pace for. But she was his. His to love and to cherish, till death. She was his to caress and explore. Alex was his to make love to when she was ready. And Dallas was going to stop at nothing, doing whatever it took to heal the woman he loved more than life itself.

~~~

There was a tree in their backyard that slowly stretched to the sky over the years. In a branch that nearly reached her bedroom window there was a perfect fork that was the home of new bird nest each spring. Recently the newest babies hatched and with the morning sun, Alex heard them chirping away, demanding their mama bring them breakfast. It was something that never grew old, a comfort of sorts, knowing she was so close to them. The mama knew Alex would watch them from her bedroom window, but she never seemed to mind, and Alex never moved quickly, not wanting to startle her.

The babies quieted down, and she knew without looking they’d been served breakfast. Grinning, she stared at the man lying beside her.
Dallas was flat on his back, with one arm under her neck and wrapped around her, the other under his head. The blankets had fallen down around his waist, and although he had on pajama bottoms, his chest and abs weren’t covered. Pulling in a deep breath, she looked at him…really looked at him.

He was hers now. She knew it finally.

Alex had been swimming in so many layers of guilt it had been hard to define them all, but one rose to the top. She wasn’t the same anymore. Another man had touched her. She’d passed out without knowing for sure just what had happened, but they confirmed in the hospital Levi had gotten to her just in the nick of time.

She and Levi hadn’t spoken about it either nor did she want to.  All she cared about was at least she still belonged to only
Dallas. For years she had only seen Dallas. Tunnel vision to an extreme. She was so focused on only wanting one man, other men hadn’t existed in that way. Since that night, she had been too ashamed to let
him
get close to her. There had to have been more she could have done to fight
him
off. She could have swung, could have bitten
him
, something—anything.

She had been terrified
Dallas wouldn’t want her. After the whole thing with Heather was worked out and explained in detail, Alex still hadn’t let herself believe. Even though he told her she was the one, even after she sat surrounded by pictures that confirmed in color what he said…there was still a huge part of her that couldn’t let go of the fact she was in a large way—tainted, gross, dirtied, by another man.

Alex needed confirmation.

Dallas had said the words. And the first night he said I love you she’d been running so low on fumes she was incoherent. The words had done nothing but bounce around in her empty head. Since then, he told her he loved her many times. She could feel it. It was there, and Alex knew he had always loved her. But last night…when he kissed her, it was real. And it had been as perfect as she always imagined it would be.

His chest expanded with a deep breath. Grinning, she wanted badly to run her hand over his skin, feel the steel he worked so hard to build. The man he’d become was sculpted to perfection. Beneath the muscle though, was his heart, and she’d loved that from day one.

She didn’t want to wake him. They’d had a rough night, and though she’d finally drifted off thinking about their first kiss, Alex knew he hadn’t. Sleeping lightly, she was aware of the squeezes, caresses, and kisses to her forehead and knew he was still awake.

Propping herself up on her elbow, his arm slipped from her shoulder and his palm now rested against her lower back. Soaking in every inch of him, Alex swallowed hard. With her bottom lip between her teeth, she crept her other hand toward his chest. Glancing up, she looked to see if his eyes were still closed. He was fast asleep, and he needed to stay that way. He was exhausted.

He was giving everything of himself to her. She needed to give him something back.

At the last minute she pulled her hand back. Right now, she’d give him sleep. Easing ever-so-slowly out of his hold, she crawled backward out from between the two sleeping bodies. Once out of the bed, she sneaked up near Ruby’s head, and wrapped her arm around the one hundred pound love bug. Grinning, she was always tickled watching the dog’s eyes move as if she understood. “Ruby, I need your help today, girl. Can you do that?” Alex whispered.

With a wet nose, Ruby nuzzled her face against Alex’s. Breathing deep, she kissed the dog’s head, peeked at Dallas one more time to make sure he was still out, then tip-toed to the bathroom for a quick shower.

As soon she turned her back, he opened his eyes and stared at the partially shut bathroom door with a raised eyebrow. Rolling to his side, he petted the best idea he’d ever had. “You’re a good girl. You need to go outside, Ruby?” He asked, whispering to the dog. She picked her head up and wagged her tail. Scratching behind her ear, he smiled, “Okay, let me throw on my jeans, but you gotta tell me what our girl is up to.”

It wasn’t even eight yet, but he knew Carter would already be at the track. Reaching the bottom step, Molly turned toward him, a plate of hot muffins in her hand.

“Morning, hon. I’ve got fresh coffee ready also. Sounds like you’re going to need it.”

The smile didn’t reach her eyes. They must have been awakened by the nightmare as well. Dallas hadn’t given a thought to how loud Alex had screamed out but her parents’ room was just at the end of the hallway. Looking back, there was just no way they could have slept through it. “I’m sorry.”