Page 7 of Dreaming of Us

Colton gently pried my hand away from my mouth and brought it to his lips before placing a soft kiss on my knuckles. “Baby, I would never do that. If you give me the chance, I will prove to you how real this thing between us can be.”

My whole body trembled as I stared at him. “Did you know?”

He tilted his head as he studied me. “Did I know what, sweetheart?”

I shivered at hearing him call me that again. “Did you know that I had always had a crush on you? Since the day you apologized for bumping into me in my freshman year, I have been in love with you.”

A look of sadness crossed his features as he shook his head. “I wish I would have gotten a good look at you back then. I honestly don’t remember ever seeing you. Maybe if I had, things would have ended up differently. But, Braylin, you may think your crush was love, but you didn’t really know me for that to be true.” He placed a finger over my lips before I could sayanything. “I promise you, though, if you give us a chance, I’ll make you fall in love with me. The real me.”

I was already nodding my head before he even finished his words. “Yes. Yes, I want that. I want that so much, Colton.”

His sigh of relief was so real, so full of happiness, that I couldn’t stop myself from falling into him. He wrapped me in his strong arms, and I felt more of that dark chasm being filled with light. I had my head resting against his hard chest as my arms circled his waist. It wasn’t the most comfortable position to be in, and something from his belt was poking me in the ribs, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.

“Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

I lifted my head to see him looking down at me with a half smile on his face and hope shining in his eyes. “I don’t know,” I said thoughtfully, watching his smile drop into a frown. “Would it be a date?”

He chuckled as I straightened back up and leaned against the arm of the couch to take in the full sight of him. Colton Hammond was sitting on my couch, and he wanted to get to know me.He wanted to fall in love with me!I felt giddy as I grinned at him.

“So, it’s going to be like that, is it?” He leaned forward and took my chin in his hand so he could tilt my face up to meet his. I held my breath, waiting for his kiss. “Of course, it’s a date. The last first date you or I will ever have,” he murmured. And then he closed the distance between us and kissed me. When he pulled back, I had a frown on my lips. The lips he hadn’t kissed. Instead, the first kiss I had ever received from a man I wasn’t related to had landed on my freaking forehead.

He chuckled at my expression. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll give you a goodnight kiss after our date.”

The butterflies in my belly fluttered wildly in anticipation, but I pretended nonchalance. “Oh, well, I guess that might be okay then.”

He chuckled again while reaching for the folder on the table. The jerk. It was taking all my self-control not to swing my leg over his lap and straddle him to demand my kiss right then and there.

“Read this over to make sure everything is accurate. If it all looks good, you can sign here,” he said, pointing at a line for the signature and handing me a pen. I pouted, but I took the statement from him and began to read over it. I had to reread a few lines since my mind kept wanting to focus on the man next to me instead of the words on the page. I couldn’t remember ever being so keyed up in my life.

Once I had finally managed to get through the entire review of the events from the day before, I quickly scrawled my messy signature along the line he had pointed out to me earlier. Just as I was passing it back to him, there was another knock at the door, causing both of us to look in that direction.

It took me just a few seconds for my brain to kick in and realize who was probably at the door. I was sure there wouldn’t be any surprises, unlike earlier, but with Colton’s gaze burning a hole in my back, I made sure to look through the peephole before opening the door for my parents.

I glanced back at Colton to see he had risen to his feet and was holding the folder. I gave him an apologetic smile over my mom’s shoulder as she hugged me tight. He just shook his head as he grinned, making his dimples appear on his cheeks. By the time my mom pulled back from the hug, I was swooning inside from what those dimples did to me.

“Oh, Officer Hammond, you’re here early.” My dad took the few steps necessary to reach Colton and held out his hand. I watched as the two men in my life shook hands and did mybest not to fidget where I stood. Knowing my mom, she already caught the nervousness I was trying to hide.

“Please, call me Colton. I was bringing your daughter her statement to sign so she wouldn’t have to go down to the station. I also asked her out on a date, Sir.”

My dad’s graying eyebrows shot up to his receding hairline, and he glanced from me to Colton and back again. “Is that right? Well then.” Dad stepped back and put a hand on my shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze. “I suppose it’s my fatherly duty to warn you that if you hurt her, it won’t matter if you are a man of the law. I’ll gut you like a trout and feed you to the catfish in Old Man Larry’s pond.”

I groaned and wished for the world to just burst into a ball of flames to put me out of my misery. I chanced a glance at Colton to see if he was mad, but he looked serious as he looked at me. “If I hurt Braylin, you won’t have to. I’ll feed myself to the catfish.”

Oh, my poor little heart can’t take it. I gave him a wobbly smile. Colton walked over and took my hand.

“I’ll check on you later to see if you feel up to going on our date tonight. No rush, sweetheart. We can go as soon as you are ready. Make sure you take your medicine if you need to and rest all day, okay?” He brought my hand up and kissed my knuckles, making my heart leap in my chest. All I could do was nod my head as my lungs tried to remember how to work properly.

Colton let my hand go slowly, letting his long fingers drift along mine as he pulled away. As soon as he let go, I closed my hand into a fist, trying to hold in the heat that he left behind. He gave me a wink and then looked over to my parents. “Sir, Ma’am.” Then, he was out the door without another word.

“Well, that was… something,” Mom said, sounding a little breathless herself. She turned to look me over from head to foot. “You are practically glowing, honey. It’s a beautiful look on you.”

After that statement of approval, she ushered me over to the couch and ordered me to sit down as she prepared to mother me the same way she had always done when I wasn’t feeling well.

Chapter Seven

BRAYLIN

My mom and dad convinced me to wait a couple of days before going out on a date, and by the time the end of the day was rolling around, I had to agree it was for the best. My head was throbbing where the man had hit me with his gun, and the bruising around the stitches was terrible. Instead, Colton and I talked on the phone every night until we were both falling asleep.

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