Page 109 of One Night Only
CHAPTER 44
EMILY
As I follow Dallas down the stairs, my thighs are burning after our shower session. God, I really hope no one heard us. I think I was quiet, but I also blacked out at least a few times, so who knows?
Dressed in my leggings and Dallas’s old college team hoodie that he asked me to put on, I nervously tuck my damp hair behind my ear as we walk into an open dining room, Dallas’s mom, sister, and two men seated around the table watching us enter with looks in their eyes that confirm my worry. They totally heard us. I want to die.
“What’s cookin’?” Dallas thankfully breaks the silence, scanning the spread set out on the table.
Joy jumps up and rushes around the table, removing tops off pots. The older man at the end stands and slaps Dallas on his shoulder, stepping around him and approaching me with what I assume is a smile. I can’t be sure. His mustache is so big, his mouth is hidden behind it. He’s a handsome man with Dallas’s green eyes, tall and broad like his son.
“You must be Angela,” he says, coming up to me.
A sudden hush falls over the room, and I feel all eyes on me.
“Dad!” Millie gasps.
I look from the man, to Dallas and back again, swallowing hard. “Um, I-I?—”
“I’m just messin’ with you, Emily, sweetheart!” The man guffaws with a barking laugh, and the tension in the room fades. Then, without warning, he pulls me into a bone-crushing hug. “I’m Phil, Dallas’s old man.”
My cheeks flame and I release the breath I’d been holding, hugging him back. Phil pulls away, his hands on my shoulders as he gets a good look at me. “Sorry, darlin’, I’m a bit of a joker.”
“Dad.” Dallas shakes his head, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me into his side. “Leave her alone.”
“It’s fine.” I giggle, feeling my racing heart ease.
Phil holds his hands up in surrender, winking playfully at me as he returns to his chair.
“And this is Austin,” Dallas says, squeezing the other man’s shoulder.
Austin stands up, and wow… the male genes are strong in the Shaw family. Austin is basically a slightly older version of Dallas, but with darker hair, a mustache like his father, and his momma’s blue eyes.
“Howdy,” he murmurs softly, offering me a big, calloused hand.
I shake his giant paw, smiling up at him. “Nice to meet you.”
Lips pressed together in the semblance of a smile, Austin nods once before moving back to his seat, and I can tell, unlike Dallas, and unlike the rest of the Shaw family I’ve met so far, he’s a man of few words.
Dallas’s hand skates down my side, giving my waist a quick squeeze before pulling a chair out for me like a true, southern gentleman. I sit down, his momma on one side, Dallas on the other, and Millie stands, filling the wine glass in front of me with a crisp looking white.
“Sauvignon blanc,” she answers, acknowledging my unspoken question with a knowing wink.
“Thank you.” I take a sip of the wine and instantly relax as easy conversation starts up around the table.
“I am so happy you’re here,” Joy says softly, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and pulling me in close. Then, she whispers, “I’ve been dreaming of this moment.”
A little taken aback by her words, I pull back just a touch, enough to meet her eyes, and when I see an unexpected emotion in her blue gaze, I feel it in my heart and I know right now, from her reaction, that this is exactly where I am supposed to be. Nothing else matters.
After dinner, Austin excused himself to head back to his cabin, Joy and Phil went off to bed, and Millie, who spent most of the night texting, took a phone call and disappeared.
Now, it’s just Dallas and me, and he’s showing me photos from when he was an adorable kid.
“I thought it was supposed to be the moms that bring out the awkward family photos,” I joked, after seeing a photo of Dallas when he was seven, wearing aTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlescostume, his two front teeth missing, holding up a big bag of trick-or-treat loot.
“Yeah, Momma is gonna be so pissed when she finds out I got to you first,” he chuckles.
I smile at the photo and Dallas closes the album, tossing it off to the side of the couch before pulling me closer. I nestle into him, breathing in his spicy scent, basking in the feel of his lips pressing softly against my temple.
