Page 30 of Take Me to the Valley

She wakes up and is disoriented, but she finally sits up.

“Here, let's go to your dad's room,” I say, picking her up and carrying her down the hall.

Gently, I set her in Evan's bed, and she crawls to his side, resting her head on his good shoulder.

“Want to talk about it, princess?” he asks her, but then he looks up at me and mouths ‘thank you.’

I turn to go back to my room when Skye calls out.

“No! Calista please stay!” she pleads.

I look at Evan since this is his room after all.

He nods to the other side of the bed.

“Okay, let me turn off all the lights in your room and mine, and I will be right back.” I step out of the room for a moment to give them some space. Taking my time, I turn off all the lights and grab Skye’s stuffie. There’s no way she’ll sleep without it.

When I get back to Evan's room, neither of them has moved, but both are wide awake. I hand Skye her stuffie, as she snuggled back in to Evan’s side. Turning off the light, I crawl into bed, keeping to the other side But Skye reaches out for my hand. When I hold it, she brings it back to her side, pulling me closer to the two of them. My shoulder brushes Evan's arm, which is wrapped around Skye.

We lay there in silence, and before we know it, Skye is back asleep.

“She said the nightmare was of me getting hurt,” he whispers.

“I am so sorry.” I rest my other hand on his arm.

“It's my worst nightmare as a father. But I love my job too,” he says.

“You don't have to make any choices right now. Just focus on getting better.”

He nods, shifting to get comfortable. When he starts to drift off, Skye turns and lets go of my hand.

I use that opportunity to slip slowly out of bed and head to my room. It feels like I'm intruding on an intimate Daddy-Daughtermoment, and being this close to Evan is doing funny things to my heart and my brain.

Chapter 15

Evan

Iwas looking forward to waking up with Calista in my bed, so when I woke before Skye and found her gone, I tried to push down the disappointment that kept creeping up. I shouldn't have even had her in bed with us. It was crossing a line, even if it was for Skye. The nightmare shook her, and I don't know how to make it better. It's a reality of my job and, thankfully, one I haven't had to face until now.

It's been on my mind all day, and today was one of the first days I didn't want to sleep all day, so there has been a lot of time to think about it. Calista is definitely more comfortable around Skye and me, and I can tell she is letting her guard down. The more she lets it down, the harder it is to keep my own walls up.

Does she know what she does to me? There is no way she's interested in her younger brother's best friend, but then I see how she looks at me and smiles at me, and my heart starts to hope.

“All right, let's get you ready too,” Calista says, walking into my room.

Looking up, my jaw literally drops. She is wearing a tank top that hugs her curves and shows off her round tits that have been center stage in my dirty dreams ever since she has been back in town. She is also wearing cotton shorts, just long enough to cover her curvy ass, but I'd get a nice view if she would just bend over.

“Sorry, Skye was extra playful at bath time, and I got soaked so I just changed into my pajamas. I can go change,” she says, blushing as she turns to go to her room.

“No…” I croak out. “It's fine, really. I just wasn't expecting it,” I say, trying to recover from the shock.

“You sure?” She says, leaning against my doorway, wringing her hands and looking nervous, but cute as hell.

“Yeah, I'm sure.” I’m more confident now.

I try to keep my eyes off her, but it’s not easy. I find I'm leaning on her more than I was yesterday, and it's not because I want to be close. She doesn't say a word, but once we enter the bathroom, my eyes rake over her in the mirror, and when my eyes meet hers, we both pause, and neither of us says anything.

I'm not wearing a shirt because it's easier with where the bandage is. There were several times I caught her checking outmy abs and tattoos. Before getting shot, I spent time almost every day at the small gym at the station working out.

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