Page 44

CHAPTER 44

EMILY

A s I follow Dallas down the stairs, my thighs are burning after our shower session. God, I really hope no one heard us. I think I was quiet, but I also blacked out at least a few times, so who knows?

Dressed in my leggings and Dallas’s old college team hoodie that he asked me to put on, I nervously tuck my damp hair behind my ear as we walk into an open dining room, Dallas’s mom, sister, and two men seated around the table watching us enter with looks in their eyes that confirm my worry. They totally heard us. I want to die.

“What’s cookin’?” Dallas thankfully breaks the silence, scanning the spread set out on the table.

Joy jumps up and rushes around the table, removing tops off pots. The older man at the end stands and slaps Dallas on his shoulder, stepping around him and approaching me with what I assume is a smile. I can’t be sure. His mustache is so big, his mouth is hidden behind it. He’s a handsome man with Dallas’s green eyes, tall and broad like his son.

“You must be Angela,” he says, coming up to me.

A sudden hush falls over the room, and I feel all eyes on me .

“Dad!” Millie gasps.

I look from the man, to Dallas and back again, swallowing hard. “Um, I-I?—”

“I’m just messin’ with you, Emily, sweetheart!” The man guffaws with a barking laugh, and the tension in the room fades. Then, without warning, he pulls me into a bone-crushing hug. “I’m Phil, Dallas’s old man.”

My cheeks flame and I release the breath I’d been holding, hugging him back. Phil pulls away, his hands on my shoulders as he gets a good look at me. “Sorry, darlin’, I’m a bit of a joker.”

“Dad.” Dallas shakes his head, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me into his side. “Leave her alone.”

“It’s fine.” I giggle, feeling my racing heart ease.

Phil holds his hands up in surrender, winking playfully at me as he returns to his chair.

“And this is Austin,” Dallas says, squeezing the other man’s shoulder.

Austin stands up, and wow… the male genes are strong in the Shaw family. Austin is basically a slightly older version of Dallas, but with darker hair, a mustache like his father, and his momma’s blue eyes.

“Howdy,” he murmurs softly, offering me a big, calloused hand.

I shake his giant paw, smiling up at him. “Nice to meet you.”

Lips pressed together in the semblance of a smile, Austin nods once before moving back to his seat, and I can tell, unlike Dallas, and unlike the rest of the Shaw family I’ve met so far, he’s a man of few words.

Dallas’s hand skates down my side, giving my waist a quick squeeze before pulling a chair out for me like a true, southern gentleman. I sit down, his momma on one side, Dallas on the other, and Millie stands, filling the wine glass in front of me with a crisp looking white.

“Sauvignon blanc,” she answers, acknowledging my unspoken question with a knowing wink .

“Thank you.” I take a sip of the wine and instantly relax as easy conversation starts up around the table.

“I am so happy you’re here,” Joy says softly, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and pulling me in close. Then, she whispers, “I’ve been dreaming of this moment.”

A little taken aback by her words, I pull back just a touch, enough to meet her eyes, and when I see an unexpected emotion in her blue gaze, I feel it in my heart and I know right now, from her reaction, that this is exactly where I am supposed to be. Nothing else matters.

After dinner, Austin excused himself to head back to his cabin, Joy and Phil went off to bed, and Millie, who spent most of the night texting, took a phone call and disappeared.

Now, it’s just Dallas and me, and he’s showing me photos from when he was an adorable kid.

“I thought it was supposed to be the moms that bring out the awkward family photos,” I joked, after seeing a photo of Dallas when he was seven, wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume, his two front teeth missing, holding up a big bag of trick-or-treat loot.

“Yeah, Momma is gonna be so pissed when she finds out I got to you first,” he chuckles.

I smile at the photo and Dallas closes the album, tossing it off to the side of the couch before pulling me closer. I nestle into him, breathing in his spicy scent, basking in the feel of his lips pressing softly against my temple.

“Never thought I’d bring a woman home, that’s for damn sure.”

I look up at him, taking in his faraway grin.

“Actually, I wanna show you something.” He moves, jumping up and pulling me with him as he leads the way out of the living room to the foyer. “Turn around.”

Confused, I turn, and I’m suddenly encased in a big, puffy jacket that smells like him and feels like a hug from a cloud. I turn back to find him shrugging on a puffer vest, shoving his socked feet into a pair of boots, and grabbing my hand.

“Where are we going?” I ask, concerned because I only have my Uggs on.

“I’ve got you,” is all he says, opening the front door and leading me out.

The night is cool, but it’s a different kind of cool than I’m used to. It’s dry, crisp, and refreshing—nothing like the night air in New York.

I follow Dallas down the porch steps and out into the front yard, curious as he leads me farther away from the house and out into the dead of night.

“I’m not going to lie,” I say. “I’m kind of scared…”

“Scared?” Dallas laughs.

“I’ve seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre .”

Dallas snorts, but I’m only half joking, glancing warily around at the shadows hiding in the darkness.

“I’ll protect you, Goldie.” Dallas pulls me close.

We keep walking down a dirt path for a few minutes, stopping by a fence. Dallas ducks down and climbs between the slats, holding his hand out for me, but I just gape at him.

“What the hell are we doing?”

“I told you, I wanna show you something.”

“Okay…” I sigh, climbing through the fence. “But just so you know, I’m starting to wonder if this is some ploy, and you’re secretly leading me to Leatherface.”

Dallas laughs again, and I follow him through a field of knee-high grass. But then he stops, turning to me, his hands finding my waist and pulling me flush against him. I look up at him, meeting his eyes that seem to glow in the dark, and when I see his dimpled smile, my worry dissipates.

“Look up,” he whispers.

Craning my neck back, I look up to the night sky, and that’s when I see it .

“Oh, my God…” I whisper, at a loss for words taking in the spectacular view above us.

The stars look as if they go on forever, shining brightly against the obsidian nothingness of sky. There are big stars. Tiny stars. Clusters of stars that look like diamond dust. There’s no moon to compete with. No city lights to steal their shine. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I’m rendered breathless.

“Wow… have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” I mutter, in complete and utter awe.

“Never,” is all Dallas says, his voice low and hushed, almost emotional.

I look at him, but instead of the stars, he’s watching me, one corner of his mouth turned up in a small smile, and as we stand here, just looking into one another’s eyes, something shifts between us.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” I say after a moment, reaching up and cupping his stubbled jaw. “I love it.”

“I love having you here. My favorite person, in my favorite place.” He closes his eyes, leaning into my touch, smile content.

“Do you think you will move back here?” I ask, his eyes opening at my question. “I mean, like, when hockey is all over,” I add with a casual shrug. But if I’m honest, I’m far from casual right now, because being here, seeing just how much he adores his home, I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t make me question if hockey was over for him tomorrow, would he even consider staying in New York?

Dallas’s gaze flits to mine, his brow furrowing a touch as he studies my face. “I used to think so. I always wanted to come back here, but… I don’t know—” He licks his lips, hesitating a moment as if to contemplate his words as he stares into my eyes. “Everything is different now.”

I smile at him because I know exactly what he’s saying. Or, rather, what he’s not saying. Because I feel it too. My home is in New York City. I always imagined I’d live there. And die there. But now, looking at Dallas, I’m not so sure anymore .

Right now, if the world ended, and it was just Dallas and me, here in the tall grass, under a never-ending blanket of stars, I think I’d be okay with that. Honestly, I think I’d be okay anywhere, as long as I was with Dallas.