Page 37 of Take Me to the Valley

After pulling out the extra taco meat I put in the freezer earlier this week, I turn to him. “Taco salad sound okay for dinner?I know we just had tacos, but with it being just the two of us tonight…” I trail off to find Evan standing in the kitchen doorway.

“It sounds perfect. What can I do to help?” “Nothing. Just rest. Don’t overdo it,” I tell him.

Nodding, he goes to a stool at the kitchen island to sit down.

While I make dinner, we chat about what the girls and I talked about and what he and my dad discussed. Scooping up the taco salad, I serve him and me, and then sit beside him at the kitchen island. All throughout dinner there are small accidental touches that I want to think mean something, but my brain says I’m overreacting. Like when his thigh brushes against me, or when his arm brushes mine. It just means we are sitting too close.

“Want to watch a movie after dinner?” he asks as we finish eating.

“Yes. Let me clean up. You go pick something to watch.”

When we both stand, I go to move around him and grab the plates to take into the kitchen. But his hand on my hip stops me. He doesn’t say anything until my eyes meet his.

“Thank you for dinner.” He whispers as his thumb runs circles on my hip over my shirt.

After staring at each other for an endless minute, we both move and break the spell.

While I’m doing dishes and putting food away, I take a few extra minutes to calm my heart. I swear when he was looking at me, he looked right into my soul. He saw how much I wanted him and I was relieved at the look of longing which was written all over his face.

Once I can’t stall anymore, I slowly make my way to the living room and find him sitting on one end of the couch with a blanket over his legs. When he sees me, he smiles and holds up the end of the blanket, inviting me to join him. Taking him up on his offer, I sit on the side with his good arm, so I don’t knock or bump his injury.

“This movie, okay?” he asks. The movie he’s asking me about is a romcom I used to watch almost on repeat when I was in high school.

“I can’t believe you remember,” I say.

“I remember a lot more than you might think,” he says, starting the movie.

Chapter 19

Emelie

“You have had a smile on your face since you got back from the bakery,” Axel says once we are in the truck and heading home.

Our son, Noah, is in his car seat in the back and almost out. Something about the car and the diesel engine rumbling puts him to sleep almost instantly.

“I had a great time with the girls. Calista brought her friend Kaylee, and they both fit in so well.”

“I’m glad, little one,” he says, placing a hand on my thigh.

His one goal is to make me happy and he will move heaven and earth to make it happen. In return, I would do the same and I know these little meetings in town with his friends mean more than he would ever admit.

“I think Calista and Evan have something going on,” I say. Though my husband appears shocked, he smiles at me.

“I’m not too surprised. Good for him. He deserves to be happy.”

“I think so too, but he’s her brother’s best friend, and they have known each other since high school. Though I don’t know if they will act on their feelings,” I say, chewing on my lip.

“Whoa! I know that look. Stay out of it. I know you want to make friends and want them to be as happy as us. But we don’t know these people as well as we know the rest of the men. We need to let it be.”

“We can always get to know them.” I say it with a smile and a puppy dog look on my face.

Over the years, I’ve slowly built this big family around us. After my ex broke up with me, I had no one. He was the only friend I had, and his parents were my foster parents and the closest thing to family I had.

Then I found Axel naked in the river, literally in the woods. I was lost and there was a storm rolling in. He took me to safety, and over the weeks, we feel in love.

When his friends met me, they were protective and welcomed me into their group. As the men fell in love, one by one, my friends’ group grew. I never thought I’d have the life I do now.

“Well, I’m just going to be there for her. I get the feeling she needs friends. Yes, she has Kaylee, but it’s hard moving from a big city to here. Add in everything with Evan, and it’s a lot. His cabin is fairly isolated and she might need more people around her. She didn’t choose this life, not like I did,” I say.

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