An Exceptional Twist (55 page)

“He'll come crawling back. You'll see. He
always comes back to me.”

Then she did see.

Lisa was standing in the doorway, wearing an
outfit that could only be found in a Hookers-R-Us catalog,
see-through clear acrylic high-heels and all. Her bleach blond hair
flowed down her back as she turned and walked away.

“She's right.” Stefen lifted his head as he
smirked down at her. “I won’t be faithful.”

Feeling herself being shaken, she heard,
“Leah, wake up.” Her tear-filled eyes opened to find the man of her
dreams—and now nightmares—above her. “Are you okay?” Panic filled
Stefen’s voice.

“Oh shit.” She placed her hand on her
hammering heart as she jolted up, forcing him to move back. “It was
just a dream,” she spoke softly. Closing her eyes, she wiped away
her tears.

He lifted his hand then put it back down,
seeming to fight the urge to touch her. “What were you dreaming
about? I heard you moaning my name, then when I came in, you
screamed for me to get off of you.” Clearly, he was shaken.

Inhaling deep calming breaths, she said,
“I'm okay now.” Her skin was instantly on fire when she grasped
that he'd ran into her room only wearing underwear and was now
straddling her shins.

There went her pounding heart again— for
entirely different reasons this time.

“Do you want me to stay?” He leaned in
close. They’d agreed to continue to sleep in separate rooms until
their relationship became physical. It was Stefen’s idea, and Leah
had been so thankful for his consideration.

She reached to pat his chest, then regretted
it once her palm touched his skin. “No. I’m fine. I need to go back
to sleep, and you have to go.” Pulling the blanket over her tank
top, all she really wanted to do was throw it on him so she
wouldn't be tortured by his impeccable half-naked body.

“You scared the shit out
of me.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Can I
please
stay with you?” he
pleaded.

Staring at his bare chest,
she closed her eyes. “Fine, but you have to go get dressed. You
can't sleep next to me only wearing
that
.” She pointed to his nicely
fitted underwear.

A smile slowly crept up on his face. “I'll
be right back.” He leaped off her legs and trotted down the
hall.

Leah groaned, pressing a hand to her
forehead. There was no way she’d be able to fall asleep next to him
after that dream.

The room was dark, but she knew when Stefen
returned that he was sporting his blue plaid pajama pants. Her
favorite pajama bottoms.

“Better?” He motioned to the pants.

“No, go put on a shirt, too.” She pointed
her index finger at his chest.

“But I'm really hot,” he complained.

She grunted, then flicked her wrist at him.
“I know you are, that’s why I need you to put on a freaking
shirt!”

Hope sparked to life on
his face, and she sighed.
“Maybe you
should just sleep in your room.”

“No.” His shoulders slumped, that hope
completely gone. “I’ll go put on a shirt.” He ran out of the room
again, almost falling as he turned the corner. Catching himself, he
grabbed onto the doorframe and pulled himself up. “Be right
back.”

Leah ran her sweaty palm on her thighs, and
it dawned on her what she'd worn to bed. Jumping up, she pulled on
a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra under her lacy tank top, then
she scooted back into her warm bed before he returned.

“Do you mind if I open the slider a little?”
He pointed to the glass door attached to her balcony.

“Stefen, it's December in Santa Barbara.
It’s freezing.” Maybe that was what she needed, though, because her
body was about to combust.

Lowering his chin, he
grumbled, “
Please,
Leah. I'm from Chicago. This is not cold.”

She could see his
disapproving scowl in the dimly-lit room. Shivers traveled down her
back, then her eyes landed on his lips.
Damn
. Those lips. She could see
their outline even in the darkness of her room.

“Fine,” she gave in. “Can we just go to
sleep? I’m exhausted.” Pulling the covers over her shoulders, she
watched him move the thick drapery they'd picked out together. He
opened the sliding door just a crack, then turned and busted her
ogling him.

She threw her head back
onto her pillow and stared up at the ceiling.
This night is never going to end. Maybe I’ll move to the
other guest room once he falls asleep.

Rounding the bed, Stefen pulled the blankets
down and scanned Leah's completely covered body before climbing in.
After placing a pillow between them, Leah turned her back with a
huff.

“Can I ask you a question?” His deep voice
vibrated through the room.

“Uh huh.” Chewing her lip, she dreaded what
he was going to ask.

“Were you having a naughty dream about me?”
It sounded like he stopped breathing, but she couldn’t really tell
if it was him, or just her.

“Goodnight, Stefen,” she sing-songed.

Concern coated his voice as he asked, “What
happened? You seemed so upset.”

She was beyond self-conscious. This was the
man she loved and wanted to spend the rest of her life with, but
she’d never had a sex dream before. And she’d certainly never
talked about it with her co-star.

As bold as she was in other areas of her
life, she was, without a doubt, very shy when it came to things of
a sexual nature. But if she planned on sharing her life with
Stefen—a man who oozed sensuality—then she’d have to get over
this.

Not tonight.

Plus, she was still a bit shaken over the
part that Lisa played when her fantasy turned into a nightmare.
“Can we talk about it later?” Biting her lip, with her back still
facing him, Leah hoped he wouldn’t push her further.

“I'm not trying to
embarrass you,
amor
. I'm just wondering why you were yelling at me to get off of
you. Did I hurt you?” His hand lightly touched her arm.

He was worried if he'd hurt her in a
dream?

She finally turned toward him. Bringing her
arm up, she bent her elbow and tucked her hand under her head. “It
was only a nightmare. It doesn’t mean anything.”

He pulled the pillow away that separated
them and moved closer. “Tell me. Did you dream that I hurt
you?”

Huffing, she finally resigned, “I was
dreaming that we were, you know,” she mumbled, “about to have sex,
then Lisa showed up and said you would never be faithful to me. It
just shook me up, that’s all.”

“Leah, I hope you don’t really believe that.
I may be many things, but I’m not a cheater. You must have that
somewhere in your subconscious if you dreamt it.” Running his hand
up and down her arm, he said, “I would never do that to you.” In
the dim room, she could barely make out his expression, but he
looked hurt.

Leah brought her free hand up to his face,
caressing all of his worry lines and smoothing out his eyebrows. “I
know you won’t.”

In an attempt to lighten the mood, she
explained some of her other nightmares. “I've dreamt about zombie
shark people and vampire cats before. It doesn't mean they’re
living in my subconscious. It just meant that I ate too much
chocolate before bed.”

The bed rustled as he scooted closer,
caressing her face. “I know you’re a master at redirecting
conversations, but I want to make sure we’re okay. You’ve never put
on a suit of armor or asked me to get fully clothed before when we
lay next to each other. I swear I’m not going to make any moves.
I’m leaving that ball in your court.”

“We're fine.
Really
.” Unsure if he
could see her reassuring smile, Leah leaned up and kissed his lips.
As she pulled away, he held her face with both hands.

“Leah, I'm serious. I would never hurt you,
and I’d beat the shit out of anyone who tried.”

“I know.” She kissed him once more before
turning and nestling her back on his chest. “I have to get some
sleep since I’m working the McCormick wedding in the morning before
we meet up with everyone for lunch.”

Stefen wrapped his arm
around her stomach and nuzzled his chin into her neck. “You know,
even though we aren’t actually having sex, there’s no shame in
dreaming about it.” She didn’t need to look at his face to know
that he was smiling. “I fantasize about you every night,” he
growled. “Pleasant dreams,
mi
amor
.”

With all eyes on them, Stefen pulled Leah’s
chair away from the table before sitting beside her. He leaned in
and whispered, “I think everyone is still trying to adjust to
seeing us together, now that we explained that we aren’t engaged.”
He kissed her temple. Although they seemed fine after her dream
last night, Leah looked a little lost.

“Look, Mama and Daddy, I told you that Uncle
Stefen was going to marry Auntie Leah,” Madison blurted out from
the opposite side of the table.

Smiling up at his favorite little girl,
Stefen said, “Not yet, squirt. But you’ll be the first to know when
that happens.” He winked at Madison, and she rewarded him with a
gap-toothed grin.

Stefen caught his girlfriend eyeing her
sister at the other end of the table, and he silently questioned
what was going on. Both Dani and Bri had come into town that
morning and asked that the family get together for a late
lunch.

After helping Leah with her wedding that
morning, she and Stefen rushed off to make it on time to the
restaurant. The couple hoped their sisters were here to tell them
what they’d wanted to hear for a while.

Caleb, Abby, Stefen, Leah, and Madison all
sat and watched as Bri made an announcement. “So as you all know,
Dani and I have talked about becoming roomies and finding a place
here in town. Well, when we visited during Thanksgiving, we snuck
out and looked at a few places and signed a lease not too far from
Leah and Stefen’s. The movers came this morning, and,” both Dani
and Bri stood up, looking at each other before squealing, “we are
now officially Santa Barbarians.”

Excited energy filled the table as everyone
responded simultaneously.

“Are you serious?”

“I can’t believe it!”

“Why did you keep this a secret?”

The girls sat back down and Bri told them,
“It seemed like a good move, and to be near all of you is a dream
come true. But we wanted to have the wiggle room to back out last
minute without any of you giving us shit.” Although Madison was
sitting next to her, Bri had apparently forgotten there was an
impressionable child at the table.

With her mouth gaped open, Madison pointed
at Bri. “Ooooo, you said a bad word, Auntie Bri.”

Bri cringed, then kissed the tip of the
finger pointing accusingly at her. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry. That was
a very adult word to say in front of you.”

Madison wiggled her shoulders and settled
into her chair. “That’s okay. My daddy says that word, too.”

Caleb squeezed his giggly daughter. “Way to
throw your old man under the bus, pumpkin.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Leah
asked.

His
Leah. Always the first to offer her help. Damn, he loved that
woman and her generous heart.

Dani spoke up, using her thumb to point at
Bri. “Apparently, girlfriend here doesn’t know anything about
hiring some homeboys down at the local lumberyard to help out, so
she paid for professional movers to bring our stuff up the
stairs.”

Bri snickered and smacked Dani on the
shoulder. Dani laughed before she continued, “We could use some
help hanging pictures and that kind of stuff. Do you guys want to
go see it after we eat?”

The entire group nodded, so they made plans
to head to the new condo after they left the restaurant.

Stefen and Dani had a lot of fun teasing
each other, but he’d noticed that she seemed to carry a lot of
stress. He was happy that both sisters were here getting the fresh
start he’d just experienced.

Stefen looked at his
caller ID as his phone vibrated in his pocket.
Steps In Time
’s flashed across the
screen. It was the dance studio where Leah taught.

That was odd. He’d call them back later.

Right now, he was going to enjoy the fact
that his closest family members, as well as his girl were all
sitting and enjoying their time together, chattering about the
future they were all going to share, in the same town.