Only In His Sweetest Dreams (Secret Dreams Book 2)

by Dani Collins

  Mercedes reached for the woman’s hand. No way was Shonda getting paid enough. There wasn’t enough money in the world. “Thank you.”

  Doors finally opened. L.C. stood up from the bench and watched Porsha walk out, clinging to her mother, eyes dead. Shonda nodded a brief acknowledgement of his presence and guided them past L.C. and down the hall.

  Mercedes followed, crying but not distraught. She gave him a watery half-smile and he knew it was going to be all right. The kids were staying where they should be. His knees felt weak, but peace settled over him. He held out his arms to her.

  She fell against him, tremors rippling through her. He did his best to ease them, just holding and hugging and soothing.

  “So they’re staying with you?” he asked, because he needed to hear the words.

  “For now.” She pushed away a little. “It’s still a mess. It always will be.” She glanced up. “That’s a warning.”

  “Have you seen my life? Messy is my comfort zone.”

  She laughed and wiped mascara from under her eyes. “Yeah, how is your life? You can’t move back here and I can’t go there. God, I’ve missed you.” She hugged him again.

  “No, I’m here, Merce. You need me and your kids need me.”

  She looked up, hopeful yet biting her lip with misgiving. “They do,” she said with longing, stroking his jaw. “I do. Very much. But...”

  “We’ll take it slow,” he said, forestalling arguments. “That’s not just for you, it’s for me, too.”

  She frowned, so worried.

  He loosened his hold on her to pat his pockets. “Although I do have a ring here somewhere.”

  “You do not!” She choked on another laugh, giving his shoulder a small shove.

  He grinned and caught her close again, her pretty eyes and freckles and goodness reaching out to him, filling him with such love, it made his throat ache. He wished he had a ring on him. He wanted it all, right now.

  “Do you have a ring?” she asked with an askance look up at him.

  “Are you kidding? I’m no boy scout. I barely carry condoms.”

  “Oh. So that’s not a Swiss Army knife in your pocket? Are you glad to see me?” She leaned into him, hips deliberately nudging his wood.

  She had to be the only woman who could make him blush. He chuckled.

  “I’m very glad to see you. And I want to give this a try, but I mean it about going slow. I have stuff to work out back home. A job to finish. The good news is, after I wrap it up, I’ll have enough in the bank to keep you in the style to which you’ve grown accustomed.”

  “No-name cereal and dollar store silverware?”

  “Exactly. So could we give it a try? It’ll be long-distance and weekends and letting your sister get used to the idea. Me proving to myself, and you, that I can stay sober. It’s easier when I’m with you, by the way. True story.”

  She smiled crookedly. “I love you, you know.”

  “I love you, too. Like you can’t even imagine.”

  She circled his neck with her arms and hugged herself tight against him. “How are we going to get through this? I want you to stay right now. I need you.”

  “Me, too. And I’m dying to see the kids, M, but somehow I don’t think today is the day.”

  “No. Maybe not this visit,” she agreed, letting him turn her to guide her out of the courthouse, arms around each other. “But the kids’ll be in day camp later in the week. If you stick around, I could take a long lunch. We could work out when would be a good time.”

  “A long lunch, huh? Sure you don’t want to call it a honeymoon? We could go back in there and ask a judge to marry us now. I mean, how could Porsha say your husband isn’t allowed to see her kids?”

  She laughed and shook her head. “The first time I saw you, I thought you were the type of man who could lead me astray with very little effort.”

  “Astray?” He was insulted. “I’m offering to make an honest woman of you.”

  “Getting married right now would not be ‘taking it slow,’ L.C.”

  “No,” he agreed, and he had meant it about going slow, he really had, but now she was standing against him, smiling, and she smelled good. She felt so damned right under his arm.

  “No one would be available anyway.” She looked at her watch. “And I don’t have time. I need to pick up the kids from Holly. This so isn’t the time to get married.”

  “You’re right.”

  They didn’t move, just stared at each other, grins widening in a kind of dare-ya excitement.

  “We could book an appointment for day after tomorrow,” he suggested. “You’re taking a long lunch anyway.”

  “You’re a bad influence.” She attempted to sound disapproving, but her gaze drifted down his front in admiration. “Look how nice we’re dressed. I don’t have to tell Porsha today.”

  “It could be our little secret,” he agreed, and leaned closer to coax, “Cancer and Scorpio. I looked into it. We’re a stellar match, you know.”

  “Sin city,” she said through lowered lashes, sultry as a hot, Arizona night. Taking one step back toward the entrance, she said, “Since we’re here, we might as well ask how it works.”

  Chapter 27

  Seven years later...

  Mercedes nodded and made reassuring noises, but Mrs. Vander Klei would not stop talking. “...because the dripping sound is keeping me awake.”

  “I understand. I’ll have L.C. look at it first thing tomorrow, I promise,” Mercedes said, touching the elderly woman’s elbow. “But right now, he’s tied up.” Hosting his son’s engagement party. Kind of a big deal here, Mrs. Vander Klei.

  “I worry about flooding is all I’m saying. It could seep under the wall.”

  L.C. wouldn’t let that happen. After going to all the trouble and expense to get his millwright certification, he had wound up with a commute he didn’t like while the seniors in the complex complained because he wasn’t available for their odd jobs. Within that first year, the board had negotiated a contract with him for fulltime handyman duties. He stayed on top of anything that could get out of hand into bigger expenses. He also supervised the odd first-time shoplifter putting in community hours. Between him and Mercedes, they kept this place running like a well-oiled clock and kept their kids fed and clothed besides.

  “May I offer you a cup of punch, Helga?” Edward Hilroy asked from behind the nearby table.

  Mercedes sent him a grateful smile as Mrs. Vander Klei turned to accept.

  Mercedes loved that old sweetheart of a man. While he wasn’t one to put himself forward in a big way, he had an indefatigable willingness to sit behind a table and serve cake slices or make change from a petty cash box. More importantly, he put a smile on his wife’s face, transforming the former Mrs. Garvey into a much more approachable and cooperative Mrs. Hilroy.

  She stood beside him, encouraging people to sign the guest book and offer the young couple their best wishes. She had insisted with all her equally indefatigable sense of propriety, that she be allowed to pay for printed invitations to this party. It was incredibly old-fashioned, but so was the population of Coconino. Ayjia had been intrigued with the quaint bit of etiquette. She had spent an evening with the Hilroys, addressing and sealing envelopes, then had taken great care placing them in the appropriate mailboxes. She had asked Edith if she could sit with them another evening soon, to discuss how society had changed in their lifetime, as part of an assignment for school.

  The Hilroys had become such trusted friends of the family, they stayed with the children at the duplex a few times a year, whenever Mercedes and L.C. stole a weekend away.

  “Hey, M,” a male voice that sounded like L.C.’s made her turn.

  “You’re here!” She hugged Zack, missing him now that he and Holly lived permanently in Liebe Falls.

  “We’re here, and hey, thanks for doing this. So not necessary.”

  “Oh, please,” she murmured. “You know we’d be drawn and quartered if we didn’t d
o something so everyone could see you guys and wish you well. They’re so invested in you and the kids.”

  “Yeah.” He kept his arm hooked around her shoulders as he surveyed the seniors milling around the cantina. “It’s like having a million grandparents. You’re going to be one, you know.”

  “Shut up!”

  He grinned and she nudged him.

  “Fogarty genes.” She made him bring his face down so she could kiss his cheek. “That’s so great.” Joy and lightness overwhelmed her. She looked for Holly and caught sight of L.C. pulling Lindsay up into a big hug. His bicep flexed beneath the sleeve of his shirt where a ferocious dragon slayer and a fey nymph with dragonfly wings were imprinted under his skin.

  He was a bit of a sexist, sure, but the broader message meant a lot to all of them. He claimed Dayton and Ayjia every bit as much as he claimed the kids he’d made. Then he had claimed her with a simply scrolled M over his heart. She’d had a similar scripted L.C. inked over hers.

  Lindsay twined her arms around his neck, legs dangling, head resting trustingly on his shoulder as she reconnected with her dad.

  Mercedes smiled, loving that their bond withstood the distance.

  “I’m so glad we get to keep her for spring break.” Zack was going back early. He had to work, but Holly was staying to visit with her parents and would take Lindsay when she flew home.

  “’cause Dayton’s going to David’s?” Zack guessed.

  “That too.” She wrinkled her nose. Ayjia had lots of friends and wouldn’t miss her brother too badly, but she and Lindsay were peas in a pod when they got together. It would make the time pass quickly for her. “Mostly just that we miss Lindsay. It’s nice when we get her in person, not just over the tablet.”

  “Yeah, I miss you guys when— What the hell,” Zack murmured, looking past Mercedes with his eyes boggling.

  She knew what he’d seen and nodded. “Your father is threatening to buy a shotgun.”

  “No, kidding. The last time I talked to her, she was in pigtails and a hoody.”

  This morning Ayjia had combed out her hair, tugged on a lacy little dress she’d bought the last time she’d stayed with Porsha in Phoenix, and her narrow body had suddenly revealed its young filly curves. A swipe of lip gloss and she was no longer a little girl.

  “Who is this grown up and what has she done with my kid sister?” Zack asked as Ayjia hugged him in greeting.

  She grinned the way she did when L.C. called himself her father, full of self-conscious pride. “I’m still the shortest in my class,” she told him.

  “And the smartest and sweetest, I’m sure. Hey, I hear you might have a little brother or sister soon.” His tone lowered with concern.

  “Yeah,” she shrugged and glanced at Mercedes, not elaborating on what had been concerning news at Christmas from Porsha and her latest boyfriend.

  “Maybe Dayton will be more excited about visiting Phoenix when the baby is there,” Mercedes murmured.

  “Oh, yeah right,” Ayjia scoffed, then squealed as Lindsay ran up to her. They hugged each other, bouncing in their excitement to see one another again.

  Dayton came up in all his thirteen-year-old attitude, definitely too cool to hang in a cantina with old folks for an engagement party, but he fist bumped Zack and said, “Congrats, dude. Do I have to wear a suit to the wedding?”

  “Yeah. ‘Fraid so.”

  Dayton made a face, but seemed resigned.

  L.C. came over with his arm firmly around Holly, crooked grin splitting his face, saying to Mercedes, “Did you hear what I just heard?” He jerked his son into a hug, pounding him on the back and congratulating him.

  “They’re having a baby,” Mercedes told Ayjia and Dayton. Ayjia nearly leapt out of her skin. Dayton lifted his brows and gave Zack a look. “Dude. Seriously?”

  “You’ll get there,” Zack assured him, but Dayton only shook his head.

  “You’ll have to give up your desk job and join us on the golf course, Mercedes,” one of the seniors teased as he overheard the news. “Now you’re one of us.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “I’m too busy booking your tee time to get out there myself, Mr. Scofield.”

  Zack and Holly moved along with the kids, accepting punch and cake, letting the seniors fuss over them. L.C. took advantage of the moment on the sidelines to hook his arm around Mercedes and lean down to nip her ear.

  “Flirt. Don’t start something you can’t finish.” She reached up to cup the side of his jaw, enjoying the tingles that lingered all over her skin.

  “Hey, if you don’t finish, I’m not finished. You know that.” He was as earthy and wicked as ever. God, she loved him.

  She leaned into him, liking his strength at her back as she surveyed the party. “Do you ever wish we’d had an engagement party?”

  “I don’t even wish we’d had an engagement. Why? Do you?” He angled so he could look into her face, a frown taking over the beautifully hewn features she adored.

  She thought of the day they’d repeated their vows in this room before all of Coconino Vista almost seven years ago, already secretly married. She went on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

  “No. That was the craziest thing I’ve ever done, marrying you so quick, but I’m so glad we did it.”

  “Me, too.” He looked at her and his expression became the sincere, tender one that always made her catch her breath. “I love you to hell and back. You know that.”

  Some days it felt like they detoured through that neighborhood between things like court appointments and his mother’s cancer scare two years ago. Their lives weren’t perfect, not by a long shot. There was every chance they could be raising Porsha’s new baby in a year or three, given how her sister continued to live her life.

  At least they had each other. Without L.C., she couldn’t have navigated any of what she’d been through over recent years.

  “I love you, too. So much. I never imagined I would get the fairy tale, happily ever after ending. Did you see us getting this?”

  “Only in my dreams,” he said after a beat. “Such sweet dreams I was afraid to even admit I wanted such a thing.” His arms tightened and his mouth pressed to her hair. “But I did.”

  “And it came true.” Tears came into her eyes.

  “It did.” He rubbed his jaw against her temple, then brushed his lips against her ear.

  “Stop your canoodling,” one of the bawdy old men teased. “Or get a room.”

  L.C. lifted his head. “I assumed the hosts were supposed to stick around, but hell, if the first aid room’s free... Edith? What’s the etiquette in a case like this?”

  “L.C. Honestly.” She shook her head with exasperated affection. “Do not listen to him, Mr. O’Leary. He has the most inappropriate sense of humor. I don’t know how Mercedes puts up with it.”

  “Pretty sure that’s what she likes about me,” L.C. said without apology.

  “Pretty sure it is,” Mercedes agreed, sliding herself under his arm and hugging around his waist. “But getting a room will have to wait. Let’s join the rest of the grandparents in wishing the kids well, hmm?”

  “Rain check?” he murmured.

  “Looking forward to it.”

  If you haven’t already, make sure you read the first book in Dani Collins’ Dreams Duet:

  NOT IN HER WILDEST DREAMS

  Read on for an excerpt, but first, would you like to be notified when Dani’s next book comes out?

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  Not In Her Wildest Dreams

  Excerpt - Book One

  Paige shivered, regressing fifteen years in fewer seconds, once again soiled by talk that she was living up to the family name. She didn’t need this. She could walk away.

  And would have, if a man hadn’t come up behind her.

  “Excuse me,” he said, touching her shoulder lightly to indicate he’d like to get by.

  Her bones turned to sand as recognition of that part
icular voice dawned. Sterling Roy. Walter’s son.

  The battered box of Scrabble in her hand, the one she’d forgotten she was even holding, tilted. She’d meant to tape the end, but there hadn’t been any in the house, not without venturing into Lyle’s shop and monsters abided there. But maybe she should have risked her life and gone looking because the end of the box opened and letter tiles spilled all over the hospital’s green lino.

  Far. Out.

  Maybe she could spell, Terrific, while she was down here, groveling at the feet of these grade-A a-holes.

  “Oh hell, I’m sorry.” Sterling crouched with her.

  She glimpsed a dark gold crew cut of tousled spikes and a suit that put the other men’s to shame, then lowered her gaze to the scattered game pieces.

  “I can do it,” she muttered, opening the box on the floor and thinking the whole thing would have to go into the incinerator. Hospital germs. Gross.

  “It’s my fault. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He gathered up x’s and o’s and offered them to her.

  What the hell was he doing here?

  Apparently Walter found it equally questionable.

  “What are you doing here?” He moved to stand above them.

  “Plane was late.” Sterling’s voice had grown deeper, developing a hint of North Carolina ease. “I called Mom. She said you were here, seeing Grady. I thought you might need an exit strategy—”

  Rude. Paige stopped what she was doing to look at him.

  He met her gaze and shock froze his gorgeous features, giving her time to note that his all-American looks had matured into sculpted, Prince Charming perfection. His strong jaw was stronger, the cleft defined and lightly coated in brown-gold stubble. His straight nose was more arrogant, his lips full and sensual without being pretty. His brows had darkened enough to frame his eyes.

  Those eyes were that kind of painful, mid-winter blue that was so intense it hurt to look into them. A cloud of scent surrounded him that was clean like rain, but warm and welcoming, masculine and enticing.