Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2) (5 page)

BOOK: Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2)
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“Oh, yes! Dalton! You’re gonna make me come. Oh, yes! Please make me
come.”

He found her clit with this thumb, making small circles over the little
nub until she was whimpering again.

“Come for me, darlin’.”

And then she did. Her scream would’ve been heard for miles around had
they not been inside his truck. That mixed with the sight of her straddling
him, her beautiful breasts bobbing in front of his face, and the way her pussy
clamped down on him sent him right over the edge.

As his dick pulsed inside her, Dalton wrapped his arms around her waist
and pulled her flush against him, never wanting to let her go. They were both
struggling to breathe, their rapid pants causing the windows to fog up. Or
maybe that was from the heat they generated.

Fuck. He didn’t know, and he didn’t care.

“Please tell me we can do that again,” Katie whispered against his ear.

“I hope you don’t mean now,” he said lightly.

“Ten minutes?” she asked and he could hear the teasing in her voice.

“Thirty and you have a deal.”

Katie laughed and the soft, sultry sound made his heart swell.

Yeah, this woman had wrapped him around her little finger, and he
doubted she even realized it. Tenth date or fiftieth, Dalton knew it was
inevitable… He was falling for her. And he was falling hard and fast.

And for the first time in his life, he didn’t care. He wasn’t scared of
what might happen; he was just ready to experience it.

One incredible day at a time.

Chapter Four

Two hours later and still no regret.

Huh.

Interesting.

Katie was sitting in the front seat of Dalton’s truck, leaning against
him while he sat behind the wheel. They were once again in the parking lot of
The Rusty Nail, and the sun was just beginning to turn the sky a resplendent
shade of orange as it made its ascent.

They had spent the entire night together, making love — in Dalton’s
truck, no less — and then holding one another in the aftermath. The former
should’ve been the reason for her regrets or at least the reason she was
questioning her sanity. But she wasn’t worried about either.

Instead, she was just wishing she didn’t have to leave him, but she
really did have to get home. She’d shucked her responsibilities for the first
time in as long as she could remember, and Katie knew she would pay the price
later.

“I wish you didn’t have to go,” Dalton said.

Katie wished the same. She also wished she could’ve invited him back to
her place, but there was a plethora of reasons why that wasn’t in the cards.
Dalton wouldn’t be going back to her apartment. Not today, not tomorrow.
Probably not ever.

But she wasn’t going to ruin their time together by telling him that or
by thinking about the repercussions of her actions tonight.

Rather than dwell on all the things she had to do when she left him,
Katie decided to blow them off for just a few more minutes, because kissing him
had become her new favorite pastime, and their time together was slowly coming
to an end.

Looking up at him, she smiled, and his beautiful brown eyes returned
the smile without his lips even moving. Then she was kissing him, turning so
she could get closer. His tongue plunged into her mouth, and she wished they
were naked and somewhere a little more private once again.

Preferably, somewhere they could have more space as well. Having sex in
his truck hadn’t been the most comfortable place to be, but her orgasms hadn’t
been all that particular. He’d made her body burn on more than one occasion, and
she had the feeling she was going to crave him the instant they were apart.

She’d have to think on that a little later, too, because as much as she
enjoyed being with him, Katie knew their time together was limited. But that
was something she’d considered before this had all begun, and for what it was
worth, she was going to ride it out for as long as possible.

Her body craved him. Needed him. And she didn’t want to fight it
anymore.

“I really need to go,” Katie said, mumbling against his lips.

“Me, too,” he told her. “I’m heading back to Nashville in a few hours.”

“Really?” There was no way to hide her surprise at his admission. “I
didn’t know you were goin’ back.”

“Won’t be for long. A week at most. I’ll be back.”

Katie forced a small smile. It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy to hear he
was coming back, she was just sad for the time they would have to be apart. But
maybe that was a good thing. More time to think.

Great. Just what she didn’t need.

“Will you call me while you’re gone?” she asked, feeling a little
needy.

“Every day.”

This time her smile was genuine, and she pressed her lips to his.
“Well, in that case, what am I wastin’ my time here for?” she teased.

When she tried to move away, Dalton caught her, his heavy arms wrapping
around her, solidly holding her in place against him. He pressed his lips to
her forehead, and she fought the urge to sigh in complete contentment. She
hadn’t felt this safe, this cherished in … far too long.

“Can I tell you somethin’?” she asked before she thought better of it.

“Sure.”

“This has been the best night ever.”

Dalton turned her in his arms and their eyes met. There were no shadows
to hide behind now, because the sun had breached the horizon, and the brilliant
orange glow was lighting up the world around them.

“I agree,” Dalton admitted, his eyes seemingly looking for something in
hers.

“No regrets?” she asked.

His chuckle made her insides sing. “Not a one.”

“Good.” A quick glance at the clock and Katie knew she was pushing her
luck at this point. “I really do need to go.”

Dalton nodded, his lips finding hers once again. The kiss lingered for
longer than she intended, but she had a hard time pulling herself away from
him.

“I’m building a house here,” Dalton said, his statement taking her by
surprise.

“That’s what I heard,” she replied, her anxiety level ratcheting up a
notch. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the idea of him being there in Devil’s
Bend, but that presented a problem on several levels. Problems that she didn’t
want to face.

“Yep. When the equestrian center is up and runnin’, I’ll need to be
close.”

Equestrian center. Right.

Cooper was building an equestrian center, and Dalton had mentioned that
they were going into business together. Which meant he’d be there for extended
periods of time. “What about your music career?”

“It’s still in full swing,” he said easily. “That won’t change. But
I’ll be here when I’m not on the road.”

Katie nodded, doing her best not to start worrying about what that
meant. A few hours ago, when this had been just a fun little fling, she’d been
fine. Now that she knew he was intending to be around more often, her fears
were starting to flood her mind.

“When will you be back?” she asked, trying to force her thoughts back
to the present. Tomorrow didn’t matter. What mattered was right this minute.
Before the day was out, Dalton would be gone again, and she’d have plenty of
time to figure it all out.

She hoped.

“Next Monday at the latest.”

That was a solid week away. Plenty of time.

Katie leaned forward and kissed him, keeping it playful this time. She
would not ruin this moment. “Good. Well, I’m expectin’ a phone call,” she said
softly.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Katie could see the exhaustion in Dalton’s eyes. She’d kept him up all
night, and although she was used to being up until the wee hours of the
morning, sometimes making it on just a couple of hours of sleep, she wasn’t
sure he was.

“Bye, Dalton,” she finally said after staring at him for longer than
was probably appropriate.

“Bye, darlin’.”

She really did love when he called her that. She’d heard Cooper call
Tessa that, and she figured it was one of those country things, but regardless,
it gave her a sense of comfort that she hadn’t known before.

Reaching for the door handle, she forced herself to look away from him.
Grabbing her purse from the floorboard, she slipped out of the truck, offering
him one last smile before she shut the door and walked away.

That was the moment she realized just how much trouble she was in.

And it wasn’t only due to the fact that she was pretty sure she’d fallen
in love with a man she knew she couldn’t keep.

 

∞ ∞
∞ ∞ ∞

 

Dalton tried to be quiet when he snuck in the front door of Cooper’s
house at dawn. The last thing he wanted to do was either interrupt or wake
Tessa and Coop. The first would result in him getting a stern “be quiet” from
his buddy, which in turn would make him laugh; the second might require him to
have an actual conversation with one or both of them.

He much preferred a quick shower and then hopefully a solid two hours
of sleep before he had to get on the road. Or hell, maybe he’d just sleep in,
catch a good four or five hours of shut-eye, and then be on his way.

That was if he could sleep at all.

His brain was still trying to break down the events of the night. Or
more accurately, the early-morning hours.

Katie.

Holy fuck. The woman had blown his mind in every way imaginable.

Truthfully, he wished he were at her place, falling into bed with her
so he could hold her for the rest of the day. Having to drop her off at her car
had felt oddly like they were teenagers sneaking around.

He didn’t like the feeling, either.

But he couldn’t very well change the outcome. Considering everything
else that had happened tonight, he could easily overlook that minor detail.
Since his brain was more interested in reliving the moments when Katie was
riding his cock, it was easy to forget the way she’d looked when she’d slipped
out of his truck anyway.

“No more,” he told his dick as he made his way to the bathroom in the
hall.

Cooper would just have to deal with the water running, and he knew from
experience that the pipes in Coop’s old house were loud enough to rouse the
dead. In an effort not to piss off his host too much, he shed his clothes
before turning on the water and then hopped into the tub
slash
shower
before the water even heated.

Not that the cold splash bothered him. He’d sweated off at least three
pounds from the incredible sex and the warmth from the heater flooding his
truck, but he wasn’t complaining.

It didn’t take long for him to soap up and rinse off, and then he was
traipsing into the guest room he’d commandeered with a towel wrapped around his
hips. The door had barely clicked shut before he was flat on his face, giving
in to sleep.

 

Unfortunately, two hours of sleep only left Dalton with scratchy eyes
and an oncoming headache.

Forcing himself out of bed, he was met by the alluring smell of bacon
and eggs. Cooper was at it again. The man loved being in the kitchen, which was
amusing, although somewhat satisfying when you woke up hungry in the man’s
house.

Dalton pulled on his jeans and a T-shirt, not wanting to stumble into
the living room undressed. Cooper was rather protective of Tessa, and Dalton
couldn’t very well blame the guy.

Scratching his five-o’clock shadow, which actually was more of a
two-day beard, Dalton padded to the kitchen in search of food and coffee.

“Thought you were headin’ back to Nashville today?” Cooper said by way
of greeting.

“Mornin’ to you, too,” Dalton grumbled as he headed right for the
coffeepot. Caffeine would go a long way to clearing the fog and, if he was
lucky, driving the throbbing in his temples away.

“Nashville?” Cooper asked with a chuckle, reminding Dalton of his
question.

“Headin’ back in a bit.”

“You were out late last night, huh?”

Who was he, his mother?

Okay, so the pissy mood had set in early. Dalton purposely thought of
Katie as he poured coffee into a glass mug, one of the newer things in Cooper’s
recently renovated kitchen. And as the memories from last night made a
reappearance, he forced them into slow motion as he took the first sip of
caffeine heaven.

“That good, huh?” Cooper asked.

At first, Dalton thought the man was referring to the coffee, but then
he realized he’d plastered a smile on his face, so either the coffee was the
best he’d ever had or those memories were the cause. Dalton would have to go
with the memories.

Katie.

Damn.

He wished he could stop by her place on his way out, but he didn’t even
know where she lived.

At that moment, Tessa came waltzing into the kitchen, a smile on her
face. She looked as though she’d been thinking, too, which was probably the
reason her smile looked a little forced.

“Hey, do you know where Katie lives?” Dalton asked before he could
think better of it.

Tessa glanced at Dalton, then to Cooper and back again. “Me?”

“Well, I’d hope he didn’t know where she lived,” Dalton said, nodding
his head in Coop’s direction.

“Sorry, no,” Tessa said, shaking her head and pushing her way past
Dalton.

Clearly, coffee was the breakfast of champions these days.

Dalton stepped out of her way, moving a foot or so down and then
leaning against the counter as he studied the pair in the kitchen. Cooper had
busied himself at the stove, and Tessa appeared to be trying to avoid him.

Interesting.

These two had overcome some major issues, but really, that was none of
his business. He’d thought they had worked things out, considering Cooper had
proposed, but truth was, Dalton wasn’t privy to a lot that went on between
them. Not to mention, it was too damned early in the morning to try to
psychoanalyze his buddy’s love life.

With her coffee poured, Tessa turned to look at him.

“She uses a post office box as her official address.”

A post office box? Really?

That seemed a little odd.

“You’ve never been to her house?”

“Not a house, an apartment. At least that’s what I’ve gathered when
I’ve talked to her. And to answer your question, no, I haven’t been there.
We’re friends, just not that close,” Tessa explained, both of her hands wrapped
around her mug as though it were the only source of warmth in the world and she
was trying to wring out every last bit.

BOOK: Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2)
8.66Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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