Page 26 of Lakesides and Longing

At the farmers market, they grabbed several fresh veggies and spent the rest of the day together. At dinner, they made eggplant lasagna. This was becoming more and more common, and Paige liked Blake’s company.

They finished cleaning up the dishes, and Blake snapped her on the behind with the towel.

“Hey.” She snatched it from him. “This is not the guys’ locker room.”

He shrugged. Her palms were sweaty because she was afraid he would see right through her.

“You want to watch another movie? Your choice this time,” she offered.

He leaned against the counter, crossed his arms, and stared at her. “No. I don’t. Can we take a walk by the water instead?”

“Um, I guess.” She really didn’t want to spend the night alone, but she didn’t know how to tell him that.

She followed him across her grass and onto the sand. He sat down, away from the water, and Tria took off across the sand.

Tria found a stick and raced toward them. She dropped it, and he threw it for her.

“She likes it here,” Blake said.

“She’s a good dog. I’ve never had one before.” Nerves settled in her stomach. She didn’t know what he was about to say.

He chuckled. “She likes you.”

“I’m glad.”

“So, about the couch.”

Oh, no. He had seen right through her. She was about to be humiliated.

“It’s okay. We don’t need to talk about it.” Her words came out in a rush, and she stared off into the woods so he couldn’t see her hot face.

“Actually we do. I know what you’re doing. You might not have intended it the first night or maybe even last, but now you’re going for three in a row. Either you really like me, and you’re afraid to say something, or you just really enjoyed not waking up from awful nightmares. My money is on the second one. Though if it’s the first, I wouldn’t complain. Your brother might though.”

What was he saying? That he liked sleeping with her, and that he wanted more? This got complicated fast. She wasn’t sure what she felt about him, but if he leaned over and tried to kiss her right now, she’d definitely let him.

But he didn’t.

She faced him. “Lukas has no say in who I spend my nights with. But you are correct, it is the second one. I haven’t had a full night’s sleep since the accident. Well, until two nights ago anyway. It was nice. I would think it was the couch, but I slept out there for the first two months after the accident, and I still had nightmares.” She wasn’t about to admit how much she wanted him. This was hard enough as it was.

“Well,” he huffed. “I’m not sleeping on the couch anymore.”

She let out a breath. She understood. She didn’t like it, but she understood. “That’s fine. I get it.”

“No, I wasn’t done. I am willing to join you in bed, completely innocently, if you want. That way we both get to sleep, and I don’t wake up with sore muscles.”

This was scary and a little bit weird, but she wasn’t opposed to the idea. She’d figured if they fell asleep on the couch enough, it would eventually go there anyway. But she’d just thought it would naturally migrate that way, not that they would have to talk about it. She was so not comfortable with the talking part.

“Okay. That would work. Thank you.”

He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’m here to protect you even if that means protecting you from the things in your head.”

“That means a lot to me. I never knew Lukas had such cool friends. Well, Hayden I know, but not the rest of you.”

“Oh, shoot. That reminds me. Fourth of July is in a couple of weeks.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So, we all get together. You wanna come?”

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