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

by Nicole Edwards

  “Guess she got tired of playing mom.”

  “What about your dad?”

  “Oh, he hauled ass the minute Lexi was born. Took me a while, but I finally learned that he hadn’t wanted kids. My mother thought having another would force him to stick around. She was wrong.”

  “So she just left?”

  “The day I turned eighteen. Not quite the birthday present I had expected, but I came home from school to find she was gone. I was surprised to see that she’d left the furniture, but all of her personal things were missing.”

  Dalton squeezed her tightly, willing her to continue.

  “So you just picked up where she left off?” he asked.

  “I guess you could say that. Although I had been taking care of Lexi for a couple of years by then. I took her to day care, picked her up in the evening. My mother wasn’t much of a mother, even when she was around.”

  “Why don’t you share that with people you know?” Dalton knew the question might piss her off, but he needed to know.

  Katie sighed before answering. “I don’t want her to go through it again. I don’t want people to walk in and out of her life. She doesn’t deserve that.”

  “But you have friends who care about you.”

  “I do. My best friend, Sarah, lives with us. She helps take care of Lexi when I work. She’s the only one I trust.”

  Katie’s admission hit him like a sucker punch. He realized then that he wanted her to trust him. More than anything. More than he wanted to roll her onto her back and climb over her, sliding deep inside her, he wanted Katie to trust him.

  But he wanted to make love to her, too. He wanted to rekindle that connection they’d made all those months ago, the connection that had been there in the barn earlier. The need to be close to her overwhelmed him.

  Turning so that he could look at her, Dalton took her chin between his finger and thumb. “I want you to trust me, Katie. I know it might take a while, but I promise I won’t be that guy. I won’t walk away from you.”

  “But you did,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

  “You kinda gave me no choice,” he told her, keeping his fingers on her chin, insisting that she look at him. “I tried to get in touch with you, but you didn’t want to talk.”

  “It would’ve been too hard,” she admitted. “I needed… I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”

  “We both got hurt, Katie.”

  She nodded, her eyes still meeting his.

  “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she told him. “Forcing you out of my life made raising Lexi seem like a cakewalk, Dalton. I didn’t want to, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “I know,” he whispered. “We both could’ve done things differently.”

  “Part of me wished you would come after me. That you would fight for me.” Katie swallowed hard. “It wasn’t why I left. I wasn’t trying to force you to do that. I really was trying to protect you. I’ve just … never had anyone fight for me before.”

  “It’s one of the only things I’ve regretted in my life. Not forcing you to listen to me, to give us another chance… I live with that decision every day. But you’ve given me a second chance now. I refuse to let you down again.”

  “I love you, Dalton.”

  Katie’s soft admission had his heart pounding painfully against his ribs. She’d said it earlier, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to hearing it. Those were the most precious words he’d ever heard.

  “I love you, too, darlin’,” he told her. “I hadn’t planned to fall in love with you so quickly, but it happened. And I want to spend the rest of my life loving you.” It was a revelation he’d made a long time ago. The only logical reason for his obsession with her. He loved her, and he knew that because what he felt for her was unlike anything he’d ever felt for a woman before.

  They were finally getting past those walls she had erected around herself, and he wasn’t going to take that for granted.

  Leaning down, Dalton pressed his lips to hers. He’d intended to pull away, but when Katie’s hand slid behind his neck, holding him to her, he gave in to the kiss. Sliding his tongue past her sweet, warm lips, he melded his tongue to hers. And when she pulled him closer, he eased over her, pressing his knee between her legs.

  “Katie,” he whispered, pulling back slightly. “You don’t know what you do to me.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” she said softly, a smile tipping the corners of her pretty pink lips.

  “Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked her. “What happened earlier, that could be considered spontaneous. But this… If I make love to you tonight, I want you to stay in my bed. I want to wake up to you in my arms, Katie.”

  “I want the same thing.”

  He stared into her beautiful gray eyes, trying to understand what she was telling him, hoping he wasn’t mistaken.

  “Don’t make me wait, Dalton. Love me.”

  Unable to resist her plea, Dalton sealed his lips over hers, coaxing her lips open with his tongue. When she let him in, the hunger ignited, taking him by surprise, and he found he couldn’t hold back any longer. He’d dreamed of this for months, held out hope that he’d be here again.

  Not that he’d ever expected it, but he had hoped.

  Now that he was here, Dalton realized he wasn’t nearly as strong as he’d thought he was. Staying away from her had been painfully difficult. And now that she was in his arms again, he knew that he would never let her go again. He couldn’t resist her.

  Nor did he want to.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Katie knew she wasn’t thinking with her brain. She was giving in to a carnal desire that had consumed her since the first time she’d been with this man. Wanting him, needing him … it was all she’d thought about for so long, and now she was here.

  In his arms.

  In his bed.

  She loved him. She’d told him as much, and the words he’d spoken back had been what her heart longed to hear. And she didn’t want to lose this moment. She wanted to push out the rest of the world, pretend that all of her problems weren’t waiting just outside his bedroom door.

  So that was what she decided to do.

  Sliding her hands over his back, Katie tugged on his T-shirt, forcing it up until Dalton helped her to remove it by reaching behind his head and gripping the cotton, pulling it over his head. He knelt on the bed in front of her, and she admired him for a moment. When he started to lean back down, she stopped him with her hands. “I want to look at you for a minute,” she told him, surprised by her forwardness.

  Dalton nodded; their gazes held for a brief moment before she allowed her eyes to trail over his body. He was all hard planes and angles, lean muscle, ripped abs. He was, in one word, perfect. Reaching up, she slid her hands over the contours of his stomach, then up the hard planes of his chest as she sat up. Returning her gaze to his, Katie knew then what she’d denied them both for so long. She loved this man. She had loved him at the beginning and she loved him now. He had the ability to crush her heart, but he also had the ability to make her whole. She needed this. She needed everything he had to give her. Right here. Right now. She wanted to be with him, to be complete the way she’d been for the brief time they’d been together.

  “Make love to me, Dalton,” she whispered before pressing her lips to his chest.

  She could feel the heat of his breath against her head as he wrapped his arms around her, his hands sliding down her back.

  She kissed a trail up his smooth chest, over his collarbone, then to his neck, savoring the salty taste of his skin on her lips.

  Dalton eased her shirt up until she had to pull back so he could slip it over her head. Her bra went next, his deft fingers unhooking it quickly. She allowed him to pull it from her body, and then they were both naked from the waist up. It wasn’t enough, but it would do for the time being.

  Katie eased back down, pulling him to her as she trailed her hands along his body, eas
ing between them so she could free the button on his jeans. It was then that Dalton pulled away. He glanced behind them, and Katie knew what he was looking at. Lexi was just down the hall, sleeping in the recliner. If she woke up, she’d surely come to find them.

  “Let me close the door,” he said, and Katie nodded in agreement.

  She watched as he stalked across the room, the muscles in his broad back flexing as he moved. The man was so beautiful it nearly hurt to look at him. He disappeared from the room, leaving her to wonder where he’d gone.

  He came back a moment later, smiling at her.

  “Where’d you go?” she asked.

  “Checking on Lexi. She’s out like a light.”

  Katie’s heart swelled at his thoughtfulness. He had checked on her sister, making sure she was okay. After all, she was in a strange place. It meant more to her than Dalton could possibly realize.

  Expecting him to rejoin her, Katie held her breath when he stopped at the foot of the bed after closing and locking the door. She waited, wondering what he would do next.

  When he reached for the zipper on his jeans, her mouth watered with the need to taste him. And when he lowered his jeans and boxers down his legs, she found herself admiring all of him. The first time they’d been together had been in the backseat of his truck, both of them fully clothed. Earlier that day had been spur of the moment, both of them completely clothed as well. She felt as though the few times she’d seen him completely naked hadn’t been nearly enough. She was right, because now, as he stood before her, she knew she would never get enough of him.

  “I noticed you changed clothes,” he told her, nodding his head toward her skirt.

  “I showered,” she informed him. “I seemed to be missing pieces of my clothes when I got home. Thought it was only appropriate.”

  Dalton reached for her, pulling her skirt over her hips and then sliding the material over her legs, taking her panties with it. He smiled, and she knew he was thinking about the fact that she’d replaced her panties after he’d torn them from her body earlier. The memory sent a frisson of heat sizzling through her veins.

  And then they were both naked, staring back at one another. The heat she saw in his gaze as his eyes traveled the length of her body had her insides stirring, her pussy clenching.

  His hands began a slow perusal of her body, as though he were seeing her for the first time. In many ways, he was. She looked different than before, she knew. Her breasts were fuller, her belly more rounded. Yet she still saw heat in his gaze.

  She needed him.

  Katie held her breath when he leaned down and pressed his lips to the inside of her knee, his tongue sliding up her thigh, then to the juncture between her legs. Oh, God. She was going to implode. His mouth was hot, the stubble along his jaw sensually scraping her sensitive skin. And when he nudged her legs wider, situating himself between her thighs, Katie wasn’t sure she would survive what he would do next.

  “Dalton,” she whispered, a moan escaping when his tongue caressed her delicate flesh. “Oh, God, it’s too much.”

  He didn’t seem to care that she was writhing on the bed beneath him. He began circling her clit with his tongue, his thumb brushing her entrance, slowly dipping inside.

  “You’re so wet, darlin’. I can’t wait to bury my cock into your warm, wet heat.”

  “Please,” Katie begged. “I need you inside me.”

  “Just one more minute,” he told her, flicking her clit with his tongue between words. “But first I’m gonna make you come with my mouth.”

  The dark, sultry sound of his voice sent another bolt of sensation coursing through her. She loved when he talked to her, loved the sound of his voice, the sinful words that he spoke.

  It wasn’t long before he accomplished the goal he’d set out for. Her orgasm started in her core, radiating out through every nerve ending until she could hardly breathe from the sheer intensity of it.

  And then he was hovering over her, guiding himself into her. He was gentle, but the urgency was still there.

  “Aww, damn, baby,” he growled when he was fully seated within her. “So tight.”

  Katie wiggled her hips, trying to increase the friction. He felt so good. The warmth of his body, the gentle scrape of his leg hair against her calves, every sensation overpowered her thoughts until there was nothing left but pleasure.

  “I love you, Katie,” Dalton said, reaching behind her head and grabbing the headboard as he thrust into her, slowly sliding out. Their bodies were slick with sweat, and his chest brushed her nipples, making her crazy with the overwhelming ecstasy of it all.

  He continued to rock into her.

  Cupping his face with both hands, she stared up at him. “Fuck me, Dalton.”

  His eyes flared briefly, but then he thrust into her harder than before, his pace increasing, the friction adding another layer of sensation to the overload on her circuits until she couldn’t take any more. It was too much; it wasn’t enough.

  “Dalton. Oh, my…” Katie bit her tongue to keep from screaming as her head thrashed back against the pillow, her orgasm racing through her, more powerful than the first one moments ago.

  Dalton continued to fuck her, continued to drive into her over and over, and Katie held on, another orgasm building.

  “Katie, baby. Oh, love,” Dalton crooned. “I’m gonna come. Oh, fuck.”

  Katie felt him pulsing deep inside her, the gentle pressure of his pelvis against her clit sending her over the edge and into oblivion one more time.

  As Dalton spooned behind her a few minutes later, Katie gave in to sleep, linking her fingers with his as his hand hovered over her belly.

  “I love you, Dalton.”

  “I love you, too, darlin’. Forever and always.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Dalton lay in his bed, unable to sleep as he held Katie close to him. He’d only left her side once, and that was to clean up. He had used a warm washcloth to clean Katie as she slept, and surprisingly she’d never stirred. After pulling on a pair of shorts, Dalton had made his way to the den to check on Lexi. She was still sleeping soundly right there in the recliner. He’d pulled a blanket over her, and she’d rolled onto her side, curling into a ball.

  His first thought was that he needed to get her a bed. But then he realized she probably didn’t do well with change, so he needed to talk to Katie.

  As he lay next to Katie, his arms wrapped around her, he knew he had to tell her. He was ready. Ready to move forward, ready to take this to the next level. He wanted them to move in with him.

  More important, he wanted to marry Katie.

  He could practically hear her rebuttal already. She would come up with some excuse. Maybe she would tell him that Lexi wouldn’t be open to moving. Or maybe she’d tell him that she wasn’t ready.

  He wanted to be ready for anything she could throw at him, so he stared into the darkness, thinking of all the reasons he wanted her there.

  It boiled down to the fact that he loved her. Hell, he’d just met Lexi a few days ago, but he already loved the little girl. She had made an impression on his heart much the same way Katie had when he’d first met her. He wanted to protect them, to take care of them.

  And the baby, too.

  His heart swelled when he thought about the fact that they were going to have a baby. They were going to be parents.

  Unable to hold everything in, Dalton tapped on Katie’s shoulder, whispering her name against her ear. “Wake up, darlin’.”

  “Is everything okay?” she asked as she rolled onto her back, looking over at him.

  “Everything’s perfect.”

  Katie smiled, her eyes slowly coming open. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

  “Just thinkin’,” he told her.

  “About?”

  “Us.”

  Another smile, this one bigger than before, turned Katie’s lips up. “Wanna tell me what you were thinkin’ about?”

  Dalton swallowed hard, steelin
g himself for the argument he was expecting when he told her what he’d been thinking about.

  “Katie,” he began, swallowing again.

  “What is it?” Her eyes widened slightly, and he could tell that she was beginning to worry. So he decided to ease her mind.

  “I need to tell you something.”

  “Okay.”

  Dalton took a deep breath, exhaled slowly. “When I was eighteen years old, just a few months away from graduating from high school, I got pulled over one night for speeding. What should’ve resulted in me getting a ticket, paying a fine, and moving on with my life ultimately altered everything.”

  Dalton noticed she was watching him intently, her head turned on her pillow looking right at him, so he continued. “The only thing I had ever wanted in life was to be an FBI agent. I don’t know what spurred it on originally, maybe a movie, maybe something I read. Don’t know. But it had been my plan from the moment I was old enough to have a plan.

  “That speeding ticket turned into a felony drug charge. Still, to this day, I have never bought or used an illegal drug. Never had the desire to. It would’ve affected my end goal. Unfortunately, the guys I was hanging with at the time didn’t have any fancy plans to be in law enforcement, and the weed they stashed in my car was proof.

  “I went down for marijuana possession. There was a lot of pot found in my car. I knew exactly who had done it, but I never gave him up. Instead, I accepted my punishment, knowing I would have to deal with the felony I would carry with me for the rest of my life. When my music career started to launch, the press got hold of the information and had a field day with it. Took forever for that to die down, but it eventually did.”

  Dalton closed his eyes briefly, trying to rid himself of the memories from so long ago. “What I’m trying to tell you is that we all make mistakes. We make choices that affect our lives. We learn from them, and hopefully, if we’re lucky, we come out on the other side as better people. We all have secrets, Katie.”

  Katie’s eyes glistened with what looked like unshed tears. She didn’t say a word at first, and Dalton wondered what she was thinking. He didn’t regret telling her his story. She needed to know. It was something that would forever tarnish his good name. But it was something he’d learned to live with. And he’d put it behind him.