Beautiful Chances (The Beautiful Series) (24 page)

“Lily! Lily, wake up! You’re dreaming!”

Gentle hands shook me awake.

“Annie? Where’s Annie?” I opened my eyes to see only darkness. I tried to jump back, but hands held me in place.

“It’s okay, Lily. You’re here with me, not there,” Kyle said, lightly rubbing my back. His touch was trying to soothe me. “It was just another nightmare.”

Tears streaked down my cheeks. These nightmares haunted me, haunted what was left of my life.

“Shh…I’ve got you, Lily.” Kyle kissed my hair tenderly. “You’re going to be okay.”

He lay with me and comforted me until my breathing returned to normal.

It was just a nightmare, Lily. It does not have to control your life.

“Do you have these nightmares often?” he asked, his voice soft.

“Yes. Sometimes, I get a break, but it varies.”

I thought about all the times these dreams had troubled me. I’d woken up in middle of the night, all alone, and I had cried myself to sleep, not having anyone to comfort me.

I didn’t want to be that person drowning anymore.

After a while of thinking, I lifted my head to look at Kyle, only seeing his face partially in the darkness. “Okay, I’ll go,” I murmured, knowing it was time to face my fears head-on.

Kyle placed one arm behind his head, propping himself up. “Go where?”

I took a deep breath. “I’ll go meet your friend, Dr. Peterson. I think it’s time to move forward with my life.”

His arm tightened around me, hugging me. “Thank you, Lily.” He sighed in relief. “This has been killing me, seeing you hurt like this and not being able to help.”

His fingers threaded into my blonde hair. Pulling my face to his, he kissed me until I was breathless. He was all I needed. My body craved him like it was my last breath as he brought me deeper into his world.

The morning flew by with a conference call with a small news company interested in doing an interview. After the phone call, I was scatterbrained, and I didn’t accomplish squat.
Jeez! An interview!
I squealed and did the happy dance in Kyle’s living room at the thought of having my first interview.

My phone beeped with a text from Kyle.

On my way back, beautiful. Want me to bring lunch?

My tummy grumbled in agreement.

Yum. Whatcha have in mind?

My foodaholic responded right away.

BLTs and fries sound good?

I quickly replied to Kyle’s text.

Yes!

After hitting Send, it was time to get back to the grind. Books didn’t write themselves.

Half an hour later, my fingers were still hammering the keys as Kyle walked in the door with food. Unable to stop, I kept writing as the scene played out in my head.

Kyle approached me with two bags of food and plates in hand. “Ready for some grub? I’m starved.” He pulled out the BLTs and fries and started putting them on plates.

“Yes,” I mumbled, still typing away.

“How was your morning?”

“Good,” I said, deep in thought over how I was going to end my scene.

He laughed at my trance. “Are you going to eat?”

“Yes.” Keeping my eyes on the screen, my left hand reached out and snatched a french fry. My fingers went back to typing.

“Are you always monosyllable when you work?” he asked, clearly amused.

“Yes.” I was almost there. There was just one thing missing.

Got it!
My fingers continued to pound the keys. I was trying to place my characters into the next scene.

“Is this one of those times I can ask you anything, and you’ll answer?”

“Yes,” I replied, not hearing his question.

I felt the cushions shift slightly.

“Would you ever move to California?”

“Ye—” I started but caught myself.

Wait. What?

I snapped my head up, my eyes widening in fear. “Wait. What? Move here?” I inhaled nervously, my characters forgotten.

He sat perfectly still, reading my eyes. He was calm while I was freaking out.

“Just a thought. Not now, but I wanted to know your views on moving here someday in the future.” Kyle smiled shyly. “Or is your heart really set on Florida?”

I sat, trying to breathe in and out, while I pondered his question.

Would I move here…with him…someday?
I didn’t know if I had an answer now. My fear was too strong. I didn’t know if I was ready for that step. We barely knew each other…even though I knew my feelings were strong for Kyle. Lots of words described those feelings, but I was not ready to label them. It was all moving so fast…too fast.
Do all relationships move this fast?

He sat quietly as I worked out my thoughts.

“Everything is moving so quickly. I don’t think normal relationships think about that stuff this at this stage, right?” My defenses went up.

He moved closer, pulling me onto his lap, as my heart skipped a beat. He seemed to have that effect on me a lot. The backs of his fingers caressed my cheeks as he leaned forward and placed kisses along my jaw.

“Nothing I feel about you is normal, Lily.” He ran kisses up and down my throat, breathing hard. He moved to my ear and sucked the lobe into his mouth. “So, we get to set our own rules.”

I was unable to stop the groan that left my lips.
Shit.
The man disarmed me with his words. He was so honest and forthcoming.

“Right?” he questioned, his voice going husky.

I could tell he was as turned-on as I was. Thoughts of him were clouding my mind.

“Right.” I nodded.

The doorbell rang, effectively pulling us out of the moment. Harley started barking like a maniac at the door. He might not be a good bodyguard, but he would definitely let us know if there were an intruder.

Kyle sighed and stood, picking me up with him. He gave me one of his sexy grins. “Rain check?”

I laughed. “Of course.”

He set me down on my feet and walked to the door.

After Kyle opened the door, Abbey came into the living room. Her smile could light up a room, and I had an image of us becoming great friends in the future. I blinked up at her, surprised at the thought I’d just had.

“Hi, Abbey,” I greeted her, still trying to shake the peculiar visualization.

“Hello, Lily. How are you?” she asked as she sat on the sofa next to me.

Kyle leaned up against the back of a lounge chair on the opposite side of the room.

“I’m great,” I said.

“Well, I see that I can’t take you to lunch as my brother has already fed you, so I thought maybe we could have a girls’ night out tonight.” Abbey’s tone was hopeful. “I could introduce you to a few of my close friends.”

Kyle looked as surprised at the gesture as I was. I looked at him, not sure of what he thought of the idea.

He shrugged at me. “It’s up to you, Lily.”

Some girl time did sound fun, and I was supposed to be moving forward in my life. “Um, okay,” I replied, blinking up at Abbey, as Harley came to lie by my feet.

“Great!” Abbey smiled. “I’ll pick you up at seven, and we can go out together from there. See you then!”

And just like that, she was gone as fast as she had come.

I sat and pondered, taking in the last few minutes.
What did I just agree to again?
I was nervous about going out with a crowd, especially with girls I didn’t even know, because I was kind of a loner.

Kyle must have read the uneasiness on my face as he walked over and sat next to me. “You’ll be fine,” he assured me as he tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. “Abbey is a lot of fun. I’ve only met a few of her friends, but I know Abbey has a good sense of judgment about people.”

I smiled nervously at him. “I’m not really a big crowd person.” I let out an exasperated sigh. “But I think it will be good for me to get out.”

He nodded in agreement. “Shall I heat up our unfinished lunch? Then, we can do whatever you want for the afternoon unless you need to finish more work that I interrupted.”

“I do have one quick thing to finish, and then I’m done. What do you have in mind after that?”

“We can do whatever you want.” He continued to stroke a strand of my hair.

I did have one idea, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to ask. I didn’t have anything to wear tonight, and standing next to Abbey, I would feel very underdressed.

“Well, I do kind of have one idea,” I added nervously.

“What’s that?” He shifted me closer to him.

“I didn’t bring any clothes to wear out tonight, so could we maybe go shopping for a bit?” I asked, hoping he wasn’t one of those men who hated shopping.

“I think I can manage that.” Kyle kissed my cheek and smirked. “That way, I can approve.”

I chuckled. “Uh-huh. I’m a pretty conservative girl, so we shouldn’t have any issues.”

“That’s good. I’d hate to have to kick some dude’s ass for looking at your legs, or…” His voice was lost as his gaze traveled up and down my body. “Anywhere for that matter.” He stood and pulled me up with him. “Let’s finish eating, so we can head out.”

I took our plates to the kitchen. As I waited for our food to heat up, I looked around, feeling bad about eating take-out when I could have put this beautiful kitchen to good use.

After we finished eating, we headed to the mall. I didn’t find any cute dresses in the first two stores, so we headed into a third. Kyle had already impressed me with his patience for shopping. I laughed at the thought.

My dad had always hated shopping. My mom had tried to drag him along, especially during prom and homecoming. She had told him that he would be missing a special moment if he did not come with us. Unfortunately for my dad, with two girls, he had been forced to do it twice.

My sister and I had both been very girlie when we were younger. We would always play dress-up and get into our mom’s closet and makeup. I would curl Annie’s hair or braid it for her, and she would do the same for me.

One time, we’d found Mom’s pretty dresses along with a few heels that were still in the boxes in the back of her closet, and we’d dressed up in those. We had curled our hair and put on lots of eye makeup. We had pretended we were going to visit a castle, and our knights had even picked us up in carriages. Mom had caught us before we could put it all back, and we’d gotten into trouble. As my mom had said at the time, “Heaps and heaps of trouble!” We had both been grounded for a week.

Sitting in the waiting area of the changing room, Kyle pulled me out of my thoughts, and I blinked up at him.

“I think I like the black dress better for tonight, but that one…” His eyes shined brightly. “You have to wear that one out to dinner with me.”

“I like the first black-and-white one, too. I think I’ll get them both, and then I just need a pair of black shoes to match both dresses.” I went back into the changing room, and shortly after, I emerged with the dresses in hand.

We walked to the register, and I placed the dresses on the counter. I reached for my clutch to grab my debit card. Kyle had already pulled out his card, and he was about to hand it to the cashier.

“What are you doing? I can pay for my dresses.”

I pushed my card toward the cashier, but Kyle moved my hand out of the way.

“My vacation, my treat,” Kyle said simply.

“I don’t need you to buy me things. I just wanted you to come with me.”

“I know, but I want to buy them, so end of discussion,” he replied with finality, topping it off with a smirk at me.

I was not used to people buying me things. I had been very independent in college, and I’d supported myself for three years now. However, I did not want to argue with Kyle in public, and his tone had said that was the end of that, but I begged to differ. We would definitely finish this conversation later. I did not want to be dependent on anyone—ever. I needed to stay independent in case I was ever left alone again.

“Thank you for the dresses, but it’s only the end of the discussion for now. In the future, I can buy my own things,” I said, taking a deep breath.

Kyle stiffened minimally, but otherwise, he let my comment go. I had a feeling it would come up again.

In the shoe store, I found a great pair of black heels. My heels slipped in with ease, and they felt more like slippers. I figured I could never have too many pairs of black heels, and these were perfect to add to my collection.