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As out of it as I’d been this past week, I’d never lost sight of the fact that Dallas had stayed with me. He’d been there at every turn, and even when I’d mentally and physically pushed him away, he’d stayed.
“Who’s watching the animals?” I asked.
He held me for a moment longer, then shifted so he could get his phone off the nightstand.
Sawyer Brower.
“The vet?” I asked in surprise.
He nodded, then his jaw tightened.
“What?” I asked as I brushed my fingers over his cheek. “Did something happen?”
I’ll tell you later.
I leaned back enough so he could see me. “I’m okay now, Dallas. Because of you. I’m back.”
He nodded, then typed, Maddox was helping him.
“He was helping Sawyer?”
Another nod.
“Did you know he was back in town?”
He shook his head. Don’t know why he’s back. Don’t care.
I suspected he knew more than he was saying, but it was something I’d talk to him about later when things had settled down a bit. I snuggled against his chest. “Dallas, is it just me, or did my mother bitch-slap Jimmy Cornell yesterday during my father’s wake?”
I felt a slight rumble in Dallas’s chest, then he nodded against me.
“Good,” I murmured. “It would have sucked if that had just been a dream.”
I felt him laugh again, then he pulled me in tighter. I felt his mouth moving against my ear. I knew what he was telling me.
“I love you too,” I said softly, and I held onto him until the alarm reminded us it was time to face another day.
My body was still tingling in satisfaction when I walked into the kitchen half an hour later. After getting out of bed and telling Dallas to sleep for a few more minutes, I’d gotten into the shower. I’d barely managed to even get my hair wet before Dallas had been opening the door and climbing into the small stall with me. Things had started off with him just washing my hair, then my body, but it hadn’t taken long for the near-constant desire simmering between us to explode into a white-hot inferno of need.
By the time Dallas had snagged a condom and lube from his shaving bag, I’d been begging him for relief. He’d given me only the minimal prep necessary before he’d pinned me face-first against the wall and worked himself deep inside of me. He’d fucked me hard and fast, a sign that we’d gone way too long without one another. As I’d come, Dallas had been forced to cover my mouth with his hand to muffle my cries of relief. My knees had been so weak, he’d had to hold me up for several minutes. When we’d started to clean each other up, our bodies had begun to respond to one another again and Dallas had promptly pushed me out of the shower stall with a shake of his head. I doubted he would have had the same response if we hadn’t had his doctor’s appointment to go to this morning.
I was surprised to see my mother sitting at the kitchen table. Over the past week, she hadn’t left her room much – the guest room. I wasn’t sure when she’d return to her own room, if she ever did.
“Morning,” I said. Awkwardness washed over me as I remembered how I’d clung to her the day before. Even after we’d gotten to my room, I hadn’t been able to let her go. It was like the dam that Jimmy’s act of cruelty had burst open had refused to be stemmed until every drop of water had found its way through. I still had no clue how long I’d cried on her shoulder for, or at what point she’d left the room. All I remembered was her soft words in my ear telling me it was going to be okay and then waking up in Dallas’s arms.
“Morning, dear,” she said softly. I felt her eyes on me as I went to get some coffee. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Um, good,” I murmured. “I’m, um, going with Dallas to his doctor’s appointment this morning. Will you be all right by yourself for a little while?”
“Of course.”
She sounded like her old self and part of me was actually disappointed by that, but I refused to dwell on the reason why.
I grabbed a second cup of coffee to take back to the room with me for Dallas, but when I turned, my eyes fell on the photo album my mom was slowly flipping through.
And on one picture in particular.
Of my father holding a baby.
Me.
Of him holding me.
I could only classify his expression in the picture as one of…awe.
“You’ve never seen these pictures before, have you?” I heard my mother ask.
I shook my head. I knew I should get moving, but I was stuck in place. I watched as my mother removed the picture and slid it across the table toward me.
