Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2) (21 page)

“Right.”

Dalton took a step back, his eyes still trained on her for another
second. Then he turned and rounded the wall that was separating him from
Austin. “What’s up, man?”

“I’m gonna take ’em to see the horses in the arena. That cool? Coop’s
over there.”

Nodding his head, Dalton felt Katie come up behind him. To his
surprise, she didn’t try to go with Austin, and for whatever reason, that
simple gesture had hope once again swelling in his chest.

Hope.

Damn it.

“If you need us,” Dalton told Austin, “we’ll be in the barn.”

Austin nodded his head in understanding and then ventured into the
stable, all three kids following behind him.

Taking a deep breath, Dalton considered just what this opportunity
meant for him. What it meant for the things he wanted from this woman. He
realized he was standing there, praying that Katie wouldn’t walk away from him
again. That whatever was happening here might be the second chance they needed.

That morning, when he had woken up, Dalton had lain in his bed,
remembering his life from so long ago. The lies, the secrets. He’d been burned
by people he’d thought were his friends. Maybe that was what had hurt him the
most about her secrets. But as the sun’s rays had begun to slip into his
bedroom, he’d remembered his own secrets. Everything he’d kept from Katie.

And it pissed him off. He was a fucking hypocrite.

He wanted another chance with her. He wanted to make it up to her. Only
he didn’t know how that worked. He’d never tried to reconcile with anyone,
choosing to walk away rather than stick around and fight for what he wanted.

After Austin walked away with the three kids in tow, Dalton turned to
face Katie.

That was the moment he knew he was ready to make a change. If it meant
groveling at her feet, begging for her forgiveness, he was ready.

His dreams of being in the FBI had died a long time ago because of
circumstances beyond his control. But Katie… The woman standing in front of him
was what he longed for. What he wanted more than his next breath.

And it was time to stop watching his dreams vanish.

It was time to go after what he wanted.

Starting with her.

Katie was pretty sure she was going to have whiplash due to Dalton’s
frequent mood swings.

Last night — or rather, early that morning — he had seemed angry with
her when he had followed her back to her apartment. But now … now he was acting
as though nothing had transpired between them over the course of the last few
months.

What was wrong with this man? What made him think he could just take
what he wanted, or forget the fact that he had crushed her all those months
ago?

Then again, what the hell was she thinking? She’d been a willing
participant a few minutes ago when she had practically tried to climb his body,
wanting nothing more than to get close to him. When he had touched her, all her
walls had come crumbling down.

Watching Lexi walk away with Austin, she steeled herself for what was
to come.

Being alone with Dalton Calhoun was not good for her piece of mind.

Dalton took her hand, and Katie allowed him to lead her out into the
field that separated the barn from the stable. She hadn’t been back to the
center since they’d finished all of the buildings, but she got the impression
that Dalton chose to go to the barn because it offered them a small amount of
privacy.

Katie wasn’t so sure that was a good idea, but she didn’t argue.

A minute later, when they stepped into the shadows of the barn, Katie’s
nerves decided to disrupt her thoughts. She was alone with Dalton.

Alone and intently aware of him.

“Come on,” he encouraged, gently tugging her arm.

“Where are we going?” she asked, glancing around and noticing all of
the equipment they stored there. Surprisingly, there weren’t any animals as
she’d suspected there would be.

“Hayloft,” he answered roughly.

Katie glanced up, noticing another level. It, in fact, did have hay up
there, but she got the feeling they didn’t actually store the hay there.

Dalton took a step back when they reached the wooden ladder that went
straight up. He wanted her to go first, she realized.

After taking a deep breath and resigning herself to having this
conversation with him, Katie grabbed the wooden rungs and began climbing. When
she reached the top, she crawled onto the plywood floor, putting several feet
between herself and the edge. Now probably wasn’t a good time to tell Dalton
that she was scared of heights.

Dalton propelled himself around the ladder like a man who’d done it a
million times. He had to duck to avoid a few wooden beams that were attached to
the ceiling, but he made his way around and then dropped onto a hay bale.

“Come here,” he insisted. His tone left no room for argument, which put
her on the defense instantly.

But rather than argue with him, she pushed to her feet and reached for
his hand when he held it out to her. He pulled her toward him and then motioned
for her to sit beside him.

“What’s going on, Katie?” he asked bluntly, his elbows resting on his
knees, hands hanging between his legs.

“You tell me,” she replied, unsure where this was going. Seriously, the
man had brought her here. What was she supposed to say to that?

“Did Tessa know you had a sister?” he asked directly, tilting his head
enough to look over at her beneath the brim of his hat.

“No,” Katie answered honestly. There were too many lies between them,
and now that Dalton had figured her out, she knew there was no reason to keep
up the charade. And quite frankly, she felt a little better without the weight
of all her secrets sitting on her shoulders.

“Do y’all live with your mom?”

“Nope,” she told him. “She left when I was eighteen.”

Dalton’s head snapped toward her, his eyes studying her face. She
didn’t need to elaborate; he knew exactly what she was telling him.

“You’ve been raising that little girl since you were eighteen?”

Yep, he came to the correct conclusion all on his own.

Katie nodded.

Dalton pushed to his feet, pulling his hat off his head and shoving his
hand through his hair. “Holy shit.” He turned to face her, pressing his hat
back on his head.

God, he really was the most attractive man she’d ever met. In his
Wranglers and boots, Stetson on his head, and a dark T-shirt plastered to the
hard planes of his chest, the man made her mouth water.

“Is she…?”

He let the question hang, but Katie knew what he was asking. “Lexi has
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She’s predominantly inattentive,
which you’ve probably noticed by how quiet she is. She has also been diagnosed
with obsessive-compulsive disorder,” she answered. “Some days are better than
others.”

“Holy shit, Katie. Why the hell would you have kept her a secret all
this time? You’ve got friends who would help you.”

Katie felt her ire rising. This man pretended to know her, but he
seemed to forget that they hadn’t shared their deepest, darkest secrets with
one another during the brief time they’d been together. She didn’t owe him any
explanations. Pushing to her feet, Katie ran her hands over her skirt, sucked
in a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

Keeping her tone even and trying to pretend she didn’t give a shit what
he thought about her, she said, “I’m not sure why you’re all of a sudden
worried about me, Dalton. I’ve spent the last five years managing my sister on
my own without needing help from anyone else. And just because you met her a
few days ago, you don’t have the right to question how I’ve managed my life or
hers up to this point.”

“Damn it, Katie. That’s not what I’m sayin’,” Dalton barked. “She’s a
great kid. You’ve done a fantastic job raisin’ her. I just want to know why you
thought you had to go this alone.”

Katie’s anger got the best of her. “Fuck you, Dalton. Alone is all I’ve
ever been, don’t you get it? No one sticks around. No one. And with my ...
choice of occupation, I don’t gain a whole lot of respect. You think I would’ve
wanted that for my sister? You honestly think I would’ve wanted to introduce
you to her so that you could abandon her, too? You didn’t know me. Not the real
me. And then you found out that I’m a stripper and what did you do? You did
exactly what I thought you would do. You looked down your nose at me. That’s
the reason I’ve done this alone. I don’t want to depend on someone else who’s
gonna bail when things get tough. And trust me, every day is a coin toss with
Lexi. Some good. Some bad. I’m in it for the long haul. I don’t need any
part-timers disrupting our lives, thank you very much.”

Katie was fighting the angry tears that flooded her eyes. The last
thing she wanted was for Dalton to see her cry. She was done.

Heading toward the ladder, Katie just wanted to get away from him. She
didn’t need his questions and accusations. She had enough guilt that she’d
piled on herself; his wasn’t welcome.

Before she could move past him, Dalton put his arm out and stopped her,
then easily pulled her into his arms. She tried to push him away, but his grip
just tightened. And then the tears began to fall, which only pissed her off
more. She pounded on his chest, trying to get him to leave her alone, but the
stubborn man didn’t back down. He merely pulled her closer, crushing her to his
chest, capturing her arms between them.

Right then and there, Katie broke down. She cried for the injustice of
it all. For her baby sister being abandoned, for having to live her life with a
debilitating disease that most people didn’t understand, for the baby growing
inside of her. And she cried for herself. For the fact that she had made
decisions that she regretted but couldn’t take back. And she shed more tears
for the man whose arms were wrapped tightly around her, because if ever there
was someone she wanted in her life, Dalton was that person.

And the worst part of it all, Katie loved him. She had loved him for so
long, but the hell she’d put them both through by walking away wasn’t something
she wanted to endure again. He had reacted exactly as she had expected him to,
which was the only reason she’d broken things off with him. And leaving him was
harder than anything she’d ever done before.

Katie wasn’t sure that was something they could ever get past.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Everything made perfect fucking sense.

Too much sense.

As he held Katie in his arms, her small body shuddering as she sobbed,
Dalton hated himself for what they’d put each other through. They were both to
blame. She had walked away from him without giving him an explanation, and he
had just let her go, not fighting for what they’d had. And she was right. When
he had learned the truth, he had turned his back on her without giving her a
chance to explain. He had jumped to conclusions, making her out to be something
evil, something vindictive.

But she wasn’t.

Katie wasn’t manipulative. She wasn’t out to hurt anyone.

She was trying to survive.

And now they’d come full circle.

“Katie,” he whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead. “Baby, I’m so
damn sorry.”

Clearly that was the wrong thing to say, because Katie pushed him, and
this time he took a step back, giving her space.

“Fuck you,” she snapped. “I don’t want your pity, Dalton. I don’t need
it.”

Dalton knew that everything he said was coming out wrong. But that was
what Katie expected from him, and he honestly couldn’t blame her. He had turned
his back on her the same way she had him.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t ready to repent. This woman did things to
him that no other woman ever had, and as he knew she deserved someone who would
be there for her no matter what, someone who would fight to protect her, to
take care of her, Dalton wasn’t going to leave her alone. He wasn’t turning his
back on her again.

With an urgency that took him by surprise, Dalton closed the gap
between them, cupping her face and tilting her chin so that she had to look at
him, and then melded his mouth to hers.

Her soft moan nearly ripped him apart, the way she gave in to him so
easily, so thoroughly.

“Katie,” he groaned, pulling his mouth from hers momentarily. “I can’t
do this anymore. I can’t stay away.”

To his surprise, she pulled him to her, their lips sealing together
once more. The kiss erupted into a firestorm, a conflagration of sensual need.
It overwhelmed him, stripped him bare.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered, sliding his hands down her hips and
lifting her, forcing her to wrap her legs around his waist.

Dalton carried her to the hay bale. He lowered himself, Katie
straddling his lap, her skirt bunching around her thighs. He palmed the back of
her head, his other arm banding around her waist, unable to let her go.

The kiss continued, Dalton thrusting his tongue into Katie’s sweet,
welcoming mouth. He’d missed this. Missed touching her, holding her. If she’d
let him, he’d sit right there and kiss her all damn day.

“What are we doin’, Dalton?” she asked, drawing back from him. Her arms
wreathed his neck, and she didn’t pull away, which he considered a good sign.

“I don’t know,” he told her honestly. “But I don’t want it to end,
Katie. I…” He couldn’t complete the sentence, fearful that he was cutting himself
open for her and she would just let him bleed out.

“I have to know,” Katie said, her voice more insistent. “I have to know
what you want from me. I’m still that same girl. I’m still a stripper, Dalton.
Even if I’m not doing it for a while. I will have to eventually. As much as I
hate it, that’s the only way I can make a living, the only way I can make
enough to take care of Lexi and put myself through school.”

“What do you mean you’ll have to do it again eventually?” he asked,
trying to piece together everything she’d just told him.

When Katie tried to move out of his arms, he held her there, refusing
to let her go.

“Talk to me, Katie. This is how we got here in the first place. You
need to talk to me.”

Katie’s eyes met his, and another tear leaked down her cheek. She kept
her eyes on his as she reached for his hand, taking it in hers and then
pressing it to her belly.

Dalton’s heart stopped beating. He was pretty damn sure he was going to
pass out as he glanced down at their joined hands, then back up to meet her
eyes.

“You’re…?”

“I’m pregnant. I’ve been wanting to tell you,” she said quickly,
obviously feeling the need to explain. “I didn’t want to tell your voice mail,
so I was waiting for a time we could talk. Last night just didn’t seem like the
right moment.”

“Oh, fuck.” He exhaled heavily, watching her closely.

The fact that he wasn’t angry that she hadn’t told him wasn’t lost on
him. Her explanation actually did make sense. She had tried to call him before,
but he hadn’t answered, and he had never returned her calls. The few times he’d
come back during his tour, he had tried to stay as far away from her as
possible. And he completely agreed, last night, that kind of news wouldn’t have
gone over well.