Chapter 13 #2
Dallas tipped his head back. The sky stretched clear and black above Promise, crowded with silver pinpricks anchored in velvet folds—the same stars he’d seen thousands of miles away.
Without the lights of a city to dull them, they seemed unnervingly close.
Orion had cleared the rooftops, sharper here than Dallas remembered anywhere else.
He followed the pale scatter of the Milky Way, letting peace settle into him, wondering if he’d ever been this content in his life.
“You’ve never been this silent for this long,” he said, rolling his head toward her because he couldn’t keep his gaze away any longer.
Her eyes, dewy brown in the moonlight, met his, the lone freckle above her lip calling to him.
“I’m waiting for more of your stinging honesty.
” She tapped her temple with the hand clutching the blanket, giving him a view of her gorgeous breasts bouncing beneath ice-blue silk.
“Like you once told me: I can hear you thinking.”
Dallas cleared his throat. Skimmed his fingertips along the warped boards beneath him.
How would his luminous, impossibly vibrant Sparkle react to being told he was in love with her?
Aloof, guarded Dallas True falling for Promise’s princess.
Two people who didn’t seem like a good match on paper, but in life, were possibly spot-on.
Everything about her awed him. Her compassion. Her sensuality. Her humor. Her courage. She was so alive, and he’d been numb for so long. He didn’t know whether he was good enough for her and Sam, but he wanted the chance to be.
He started with the bluntness she likely expected. “The friend pact—”
“Isn’t working,” she finished.
“You think? I’ve had to keep myself from climbing in your window all week.” He reached for his glasses and touched the bridge of his bare nose instead.
“They’re on the coffee table. I was afraid you’d roll over on them.”
He dropped his hand to his lap and discovered his button fly still open. He started fastening it, fingers slipping. “I want…that is, I um…”
“Oh, you silly man.” Gabi brushed his hands aside and finished the buttons herself, sending another rush of heat through him. When she was done, she caught his face between her palms and kissed him. He was reaching for her when she murmured against his lips, “Let’s try long-distance.”
He grasped her shoulders, scooting her back enough to see her face. “Are you sure?”
“If we can agree to certain rules,” she said, badly concealing her delight. “Goodness, that’s the exact look Sam gives me when I mention homework.”
“Don’t joke, Sparkle. Women don’t have a monopoly on rules. Since the cabin, I’ve thought about little else but how I can make this work.”
She turned toward him and crisscrossed her legs, the blanket shifting over her thighs, alerting his cock enough for her to notice. Her smile grew, showing her teeth, the crooked front one he adored.
“I’m listening,” she said, then did her best to distract him by drawing lazy circles along the edges of his tattoo, sending goosebumps over his skin.
“The deal is—” Flustered, he reached for the bridge of his nose again.
Gabi snorted and pressed a fist to her mouth.
“I think better with my glasses, okay?” He heard how ridiculous that sounded and laughed with her.
Taking her hand, he kissed her knuckles, the inside of her wrist, lingering.
Her cheeks flushed, her pulse leaping beneath his lips.
Jesus, he was the luckiest bastard alive.
The only woman he’d ever wanted seemingly wanted him back.
He only had to keep from fucking it up.
“I know I’m asking more of you than I should, Gab, while I figure out this career stuff.
” He waited until her eyes met his, because he needed her to understand how serious he was—how much she meant to him, which was everything.
“I’ll come home every three months. I can do that.
Cairo is better than the last place I was based, so we can email every day.
You have email, right? If not, we’ll set it up before I leave.
Phone calls are feasible, maybe not every day, the lines are down a lot in the field, but I won’t disappear.
I won’t pull some cut-and-run like I did with my brothers, I swear.
And Sam, I want to be a part of his life.
You two could meet me, maybe, in Germany, or—”
“By rules, Dallas, I mean other women,” she whispered, her temper beginning to spark.
The rest sounded wonderful, she wanted all of it, but this, she had to clarify.
“Whatever happens on assignment stays on assignment, isn’t that how you said it goes over there?
I can’t do that. I know it’s a long way, it’s stressful, and people get lonely.
” She frowned for the first time, her hand tensing in his, her fingers beginning to tremble.
“I feel like I’m asking you to go steady, like we’re back on those bleachers, but it has to be just us.
I won’t share you with anyone except your family and Sam. ”
Dallas stared at her, his mind snagging on the impossible idea. She thought—she actually thought he might want someone else.
He shook his head, truly baffled. Was she jealous?
Hmm, he didn’t hate it.
“Don’t look so pleased, Hotshot. But wow, I was way off, huh?” She was smiling again, throwing her arms around him, nearly climbing into his lap.
Dallas would never understand women, but he hoped to spend the rest of his life trying to understand her.
“I love you,” he murmured into the crown of her head, glad she couldn’t see the sting of tears in his eyes.
She was the only person he’d said those words to except his mom, and he was rusty.
His family would be next, soon. “What is the Great Expectations quote? I love you against reason, against everything, anything. I don’t want someone else.
I will never not want you, Gabi Wilder. I’ll admit, we didn’t meet at precisely the right time, for either of us.
We just need to get through this stretch, my promotion, your coffee shop.
Not forever, I promise. We’ll figure it out. ”
“I always know where I am with you. Safe.” She pressed the word into the curve of his neck, and he remembered how the men who should have mattered most—Theo and her father—hadn’t shown up for her. He wasn’t going to be that guy.
“You’re here.” He placed her hand over his heart. “And I’m terrified as fuck about it.”
“Well, I love you that much and more, and I’m not.”
He tipped her chin with his knuckle. Her eyes glistened. His probably looked just as soupy. “You’ve got more courage.”
Threading her fingers through his hair, finally long enough to catch, she brushed her lips over his. “I’m just one hundred percent certain. No more ‘my story, my byline.’ Sam and I are in it now, too.”
“That sounds like something Justin would say,” he growled against her mouth.
She walked her fingers up his thigh, and his body answered just as she intended. She had to feel him, hard against her hip. “So,” she whispered. “Phone sex. Have you ever?”
“No.” His breath caught as she slowly circled every button of his fly.
But he would like to.
“Do you think, when you’re gone—”
“Yes,” he said, and lowered her to the porch before she could finish.