Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
He wasn’t supposed to be here.
Wake up. Don’t do this to yourself.
The minister talked as if he knew my dad, but he didn’t. Very few of these people did. I peeked around the room from under my bangs. There were men from the factory, and even some of the bosses he’d hated. And women from my mom’s work. People from the neighborhood. And—
I froze, because I saw a face I wasn’t expecting to see. A face that didn’t belong here.
Or did it?
“Lila, honey, wake up. You’re having a nightmare.”
The voice barely registered, but somehow, I knew it was different from the voice that had been in my head a moment ago.
Something touched my forehead. “Come on, sweetheart, wake up.”
My eyes flew open, and I strained to draw in a breath. Brady was on the bed next to me, concern in his eyes as he cupped my chin and tilted my face to his. “You’re okay, Lila. You’re okay. It was just a dream.”
“He—he wasn’t supposed to be there,” I gasped.
“Just breathe, Lila. Take a deep breath.”
I did as Brady said, my chest rising and falling under the covers as I took in as much air as I could. Brady was still cupping my face, but when I pulled back, he let go.
“Better?” he asked when my breathing slowed.
“Yeah.” Kind of.
He touched my arm. “You scared me. I heard you crying out from halfway across the house.”
I frowned. “Didn’t Penny hear me?”
“Last I saw her, she was out back taking pictures.”
Oh. That made sense. She’d said she wanted to take some in case Cole ever redid his website.
Brady was still watching me intently, as if he was afraid I’d start screaming again. “Do you want me to get her for you?”
“No, I’m okay.” Or at least I would be.
“I didn’t know you got these kinds of nightmares during a nap.”
“Me either. I almost never take naps unless I’m sick.”
Wrinkles creased Brady’s forehead. “Are you sick?”
“No. Just… tired. This has been a strange week.”
“We really threw you off your game by bringing you here.”
My mind returned to the conversation Penny and I had this morning, and at first, I thought he meant that he, Cole, and Gideon had succeeded in their mission to throw me for a loop. But the concern in his blue eyes told the truth. He felt bad that my regularly scheduled life had been disrupted—and that I was hurting because of it.
“I’m okay,” I said.
He nodded but looked unconvinced. “Do you want to sleep some more?”
“God, no.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? You still look tired. If you tell me where that vibrator of yours is, I could—”
“No,” I said firmly. And despite my weariness, I couldn’t help but think of how he’d outperformed one of my favorite toys. “I think I’ll just rest for a bit longer.”
“Can I get you anything?” Brady was still clearly in mother hen mode, but I had to admit it was kind of nice to have someone take care of me. “A book? A glass of water? A spoon?”
My eyes widened at that last part. “A spoon? For a glass of water?”
He smiled. “No, to lean against. If you want to rest a bit longer, I volunteer to be the big spoon—no strings attached.”
For a moment, all I could do was to stare at him. What kind of a man offered that? Certainly not the ones I’d ever dated.
“I’d like that a lot.”
22
COLE
A light rain fell outside as we worked in the old smokehouse. Truth be told, it was on the cool side, but in here, we were working up a sweat, sawing two-by-fours and hanging drywall.
And drinking beer, of course.
“How come you’re not working tonight?” Gideon asked Brady.
“Because I drove all the way into town, and they said they didn’t need me. Bastards.”
“That fucking diner doesn’t deserve a chef like you,” Gideon said heatedly.
“It sure doesn’t,” I agreed.
Brady wielded a nail gun and sharp sounds like gunfire filled the room. When the echo faded away, he spoke gruffly. “Okay then, I’ll apply to work at the town’s other diner.”
Which, of course, didn’t exist. “Just wait until we get enough business here. Then you can quit this job.”
Brady pushed his safety goggles up on top of his head and looked around. “And you really think adding a honeymoon suite out here is going to do that?”
“Well, we’ve still got the other half of our plan to get Lila to drum up business for us.”
“Which she doesn’t know about and probably wouldn’t help with if she did,” Gideon said.
So, yeah, it wasn’t like there weren’t flaws in the plan.
“I’m worried about her,” Brady said.
“We all are. But we knew it might not work out when we went into this,” I said.
“No, not that.” He wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned against a sawhorse. “I’m worried about her… I don’t know what you’d call it. Her well-being.”