Page 34 of Dream Girl

“No,” he whispers, a pitch too low to be insouciance. “I’m merely interested.”

“We were married…” That statement already makes the heat from under the blanket hotter. “We have a house with white picket fences and a dog.”

That dog reminds me of Eddie. It was a big golden retriever that sheds way too much, but we love him a lot. Milo’s military background is another reason why my dream manifested a dog because dogs are a common association with the military.

“We live away from the city, like where rich people live because you said security works better in less compacted spacing. I think you just used the excuse of moving to get away from people.”

He chuckles again, voice vibrating against my chest. “Your dream is quite accurate.”

“It’s not a suburban area, but it’s not rural either. It’s really a rich people's neighborhood with a gated community, and I have no idea where you got the money to make it happen, but dreams are irrational.”

He hums, sinking his fingers down on my hip. His touch is possessive, controlling, and slightly frightening as he kneads the back of my neck with the other hand.

“The Navy pays SEALs higher than others,” he says, pausing with a sigh. “And I have compensation from that tragedy.”

I shouldn’t have brought up this dream. It triggered his memories with his friends dying, and he’s still healing, physically and mentally.

“What else?” he comments.

“Our neighbor likes to do lawn art, and he makes his bushes look like seven dwarfs.” I laugh at my own dream and the ludicrous details.

I never really remember the details from my dreams the next day, but this one had been too vivid as if I was there to experience it. I want to, though. I want to be the woman who married Milo and live a life full of unproblematic days.

“That’s pretty much it.” I shrug, wiggling my face out from the cover and looking at him.

The darkness in his eyes is even darker, and I chalk it up to the dim lights from the heavy clouds and the sun lowering for the moon to come up. Winter gets too much nighttime while the sun is left in the dust.

“Is that so,” he says, but he knows that I’m hiding something. He sees through me; he always does with that uncanny skill of a trained professional.

I can guarantee he can interrogate someone just by staring, and the detainee would spill their life story.

Stammering and clumsily fighting with my words, the voice in my throat comes out squeaky and embarrassingly high. “I was pregnant too, but that’s not important—”

“Good.”

I blink, taken back by the growl sneering through his lips as he tugs my face up with my hair in his hand. Blood runs hot beneath my skin, thumping and kicking my heart to a race of breathless insanity when he flashes his sharp canine at me.

“What?”

Milo, as unaffected as ever, merely gauges my reaction. “I didn’t want to do this here.”

My brows furrow, confusion charging into the defense of my mind as I mutely wait for him to say something or at least explain what his cryptic words mean. I’m not a mind reader or a trained man who can decipher any emotions on a face like him, and he’s scaring me with this silence.

“Marry me, Amelia.”

My lungs burn from how I stopped breathing; my eyes widen at his demand, and the conviction on his face snags my heart in one, two, three beats.

“I was going to buy a ring first and ask you, but it didn’t go according to the plan. I wanted to make you dinner—”

I blurt out, “Yes!”

Another breathless shudder wrecks my body. “Yes, yes!”

He smiles, free and genuine. I haven’t seen that smile for a long time, and my eyes itch with tears as he cups my face. Our lips meet, and if a fairy tale exists, our room would explode in fireworks and animals singing for us.

“I will give you everything; the rich, gated community house, the dog, and the damn neighbor with the seven tree dwarfs too.”

His hand leaves a scorching trail of want on my spine as he rubs my hip. His lips breathe my name like air popping in the water. I don’t want it to leave my lips as he murmurs his confession to my tongue.

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