Page 63 of Tore Up

Picking up my purse, I wiped the smile from my mouth and headed back downstairs.

Twenty-Six

Halo

“Earth to Halo,” Than’s voice said as he snapped a finger in front of my face.

Blinking, I shook my head and stared at him.

“You were checked out pretty hard there, little momma,” he teased.

I had no idea how many times he’d called my name. He was right; I had been lost in the dream I’d had last night.

Four days in a row now, I had woken up, looking around for the arms that had been around me. My dreams were getting more intense. The guy—oh, who was I kidding? I knew who the dream guy was. Bane was touching me and kissing me a little more every night.

Last night, I’d dreamed he pressed his lips to mine and then ran the tip of his tongue along them with a low groan. I felt his erection and rubbed against it, but my dream Bane stopped me by placing a hand on my hip.

He had whispered, “No, no, sweet girl. Don’t do that to me.”

God, just thinking about it had me aching between my legs. Part of me wanted to find a way to make the dreams stop while another part of me wanted to sleep forever so I didn’t have to give him up. Dream Bane made a host of things I had never experienced come to life inside me.

“You not gonna tell me?” Than asked, and I realized I’d let myself drift off to my dream again.

“Sorry. It was nothing. Just me thinking about some things I read in the prenatal book I have.” That wasn’t a complete lie.

I had gone back and reread what it said about vivid sexual dreams. I found myself hoping the dreams would get more explicit but feared I’d never be able to look Bane in the eyes again if they did.

“Is the information helpful, or is it shit that freaks you out?” he asked.

“Helpful,” I replied. “That’s why I asked about the treadmill. It says cardio is good for pregnancy, and I wanted something more to do than just swimming.”

Than pulled inside the garage and glanced over at me. “You go get changed, and I’ll give you a lesson on working the treadmill. Anything else in there you can use?”

I laughed. “Other than the weight bench, which I can’t use, I have no idea what all that stuff is.”

“What about a row machine? Is that safe?”

I shrugged. “No idea. I’ll ask Dr. Stella at my next appointment.”

He opened his door. “Everything else has weights involved, so we will stick with the treadmill only until then.”

I climbed out of the Range Rover and followed him toward the garage entrance into the house.

Going to the distillery every day had continued this week, and I was thankful for that. It helped with all the many thoughts thatplagued me. Something to focus on besides the bad was good. We were later than normal in coming home today because they’d had a catered employee lunch and Ransom invited me to stay. It had made me feel included, and I appreciated it.

The moment the door opened, I could hear the thud of the punching bag.

Than cut his eyes at me. “Bane must be back at it. He’s already got the best pecs and abs. If he keeps this up, he’s gonna take Locke’s biggest biceps title from him.”

The closer we got to the weight room, the more my stomach fluttered. I’d never seen him hitting the bag, although he had seemed to be doing it a lot lately. I prepared my whacked-out hormones with a steady breath before we entered the room. As if my eyes couldn’t search him out fast enough, they immediately locked on Bane. He was soaked with sweat, and there was a fierce expression on his face that sent all the things inside me stirring in a crazed tizzy.

Look away, Halo. Look away. That will make you have more dreams. Look away.

He paused, putting his gloved hand on the bag to stop it as his eyes went from Than to me, then back to Than instantly. That stung, but it shouldn’t have. I had no other reason but my insane dreams to expect him to acknowledge me. I didn’t think we’d even spoken yesterday. That was a lie. I knew we hadn’t spoken yesterday.

“You’re late. She needs to eat,” Bane told him tightly.

Than glanced back at me. “We ate with the staff. Ransom had Kips cater it. She’s had plenty.”

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