Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2) (6 page)

Dalton shot a look at Cooper.

All right then. Time to get going.

“I’ve gotta head out,” Dalton said to no one in particular. “I’m
plannin’ to be back in a week. Think you can keep it together while I’m gone?”

Cooper shot him the finger, accompanied by a grin.

“Remember that benefit concert we talked about?” Dalton asked before he
headed toward the guest bedroom.

“Yep.”

“I wanna do it.”

“I’m in,” Cooper added.

Returning his thoughts to the woman who’d sent his world spinning in
crazy directions last night, Dalton decided it was time to get back to
Nashville.

And the sooner the better. Because, quite frankly, he wasn’t sure his
mind was actually going to leave Devil’s Bend.

Saturday morning

Katie had just slipped into bed when her cell phone chirped, notifying
her of an incoming text. She knew without looking who it was. At four o’clock
in the morning, it could only be one person these days.

Reaching for her phone, Katie rolled over to her back and slid her
finger across the screen to bring it to life.

Mornin’, darlin’

Katie smiled to herself, tempted to hug her phone to her chest, just to
bring Dalton that much closer to her heart. She missed him.

Although she’d talked to him every day since he’d left town on Tuesday,
she still longed to hear from him. In fact, she thought of little else besides
him when she wasn’t busy doing other things.

She quickly typed up a return message:
Hey, cowboy.

Waiting to see if he would respond, Katie stared at the ceiling. Her
room was dark, just enough light coming in through the slats in the blinds from
the yellow street lamp in the parking lot to see the outline of her furniture
but not much else.

The phone chirped again and she smiled as she looked at it.

Miss me yet?

Very much.

How was your day?

Katie smiled at the phone before she typed in her reply:
Better now
.

For the entire first day he’d been gone, Katie had told herself that
she needed to break things off with Dalton, let him go on with his business so
she could go on with hers. But that had lasted until he’d called her later that
night from his house in Nashville.

Somehow, she had managed to convince herself that being with him for a
short time wasn’t going to hurt. Not her and not him. They could give in to
this fling, and no one would be the wiser.

Strange how her feelings for him had intensified over the course of a
few days when she hadn’t been able to see him. Now, she feared she was getting
in too deep, but she had come to enjoy hearing his voice, and she worried she
may not be able to give that up as easily as she had originally hoped.

Can I call?

Katie glanced at her bedroom door. It was closed, as it usually was
when she went to bed. Knowing her roommate, Sarah, wouldn’t hear her from her
room, she sent another text letting Dalton know that he could call.

Less than a minute later, her phone rang. She’d held it under her
blanket to reduce the sound and hit the talk button as quickly as she could.

“Hey,” she greeted, keeping her voice low.

“Hey, beautiful.”

“What are you doin’ up so late?” she asked him as she rolled over to
her side.

“Thinkin’ ’bout you,” he replied.

Katie’s heart swelled. She had no idea where things were leading with
her and Dalton, but the way he talked to her, the sincerity she heard in his
tone, it filled her with hope. A hope she had no business giving in to.

Not that she cared to think about that at the moment.

“What about me?”

“I’m thinkin’ about what it would be like if you were here in my bed.
Naked.”

“Mmmm,” Katie replied, pretending to be thinking about the same thing.
The fact of the matter was that exact scenario had been on her mind for a few
days now. After the night in the truck, she had replayed the incident over and
over in her mind, wishing the opportunity to do that again would present
itself. “And if I was naked, what would you do to me?” she asked, shocked by
how bold she was being.

Dalton cleared his throat, his reaction reflecting his own surprise.

“Do you really wanna know?” he asked, his voice gruff.

Holding her cell phone to her ear, Katie swallowed hard, realizing
exactly what she was asking him to tell her. As crazy as it was, she wanted
this man. Any way that she could get him, and if that meant having phone sex
while he was hundreds of miles away, so be it.

“Tell me,” she whispered, her tummy fluttering.

She had no idea why she was so nervous; it wasn’t as if he could see
her.

“First, I need you to do something for me,” Dalton said.

“What’s that?”

“Get naked.”

Katie swallowed hard.

Naked?

Wow.

“Okay. Hold on,” she told him, tossing the phone onto her pillow while
she quickly pulled off her T-shirt and panties. She took a deep breath and then
grabbed the phone, falling back onto her pillow. “Okay. I’m naked.”

Dalton’s rumbling growl sent a bolt of heat through her.

“I need you to do something else for me, darlin’,” Dalton stated.

Katie noticed his voice was rough, gravelly. As though he were just as
affected by their little encounter as she was. And to think, they hadn’t even
done anything yet.

“What?” she questioned. She was pretty sure she knew where this was
heading, but she wanted him to say it anyway.

“I want you to slide your hand down the front of your body. Go slow.
Start at your right breast. Tease your nipple with your finger and thumb.”

Katie sucked in air, her hand sliding to her breast as though it was
taking direction without her brain being any part of the decision-making
process.

“Are you doin’ it, Katie?”

“Yeah,” she said on a soft sigh.

“Good girl. Now, I want you to slide your hand farther down your body.”

“Okay,” she replied as she did as he instructed.

“When you get to your pussy, I want you to slide your middle finger
through your folds.”

Katie did just as he said. She was wet, just from the sound of his
voice.

“Talk to me, Katie. Tell me what it feels like.”

Shoring up her nerve, Katie tightened her grip on her cell phone and
then said, “I’m wet. I wish you were here.”

“What would you want me to do if I was there?” he asked.

She had no idea how he had managed to turn this around so that she was
the one having to talk, but Katie did her best to go along with it. At this
point, her body had ignited, and not following through would just leave her
frustrated.

“I’d want you to lick me,” she admitted, surprised she could get the
words out. She felt her cheeks heat from her embarrassment, but she reminded
herself that he couldn’t see her.

“Where?”

“Everywhere,” she answered.

“I’d start between your thighs,” Dalton explained. “I’d slide my tongue
against your clit, teasing you for hours.”

“Hours?” Her voice was a mere whisper.

“Yep,” he confirmed. “I’d lick your pussy until you were begging me to
let you come. Then I’d tease you some more.”

“Oh, God,” Katie groaned, sliding her finger inside slowly. It was
nothing compared to the feel of Dalton inside her, but it was something.

“Are you fucking yourself?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said breathlessly.

“Keep fucking yourself, Katie. Slide two fingers inside your pussy,
baby.”

Katie did, but she couldn’t talk. The pleasure assaulted her,
compounded by the rough rumble of his voice in her ear.

“I’m strokin’ my cock right now,” he said.

Katie imagined him lying in his bed, his cock in his hands while he
stroked himself faster.

She began thrusting her fingers in deeper, faster, trying to focus on
the phone at her ear, but the only thing that mattered was driving herself
higher, reaching that pinnacle that was just out of reach.

“I want to bury my cock in your pussy, Katie. I want to fuck you until
you scream my name. God, I miss you so fucking much.”

Well, that did it.

Katie bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out as her orgasm consumed
her. Her fingers stilled, her chest rising and falling as she tried to suck in
air. She could hear Dalton breathing hard into the phone, and she listened,
wishing she were there to see him, wanting to watch as he jacked off. The
thought had an aftershock of pleasure ripping through her.

“Katie.”

“Come for me, Dalton,” she urged, keeping her voice as quiet as she
could.

“Oh, damn, baby. I wish you were here. I just wanna… Oh, fuck, Katie.”

She knew by the growl that followed that he’d come. He was silent for a
moment, but then his breaths began to slow somewhat.

“That was … unexpected,” she told him.

“I do miss you, Katie,” Dalton stated, his tone serious. “I’ll be back
in town tonight. I wanna see you.”

Katie glanced at the clock. It was nearing five in the morning, which
meant he would be getting on the road soon if he intended to be back by then.
She thought about what he’d said. He wanted to see her. She wasn’t sure how she
could make that happen with everything that was going on, but she decided that
she had no choice. She needed to see him, needed to spend some time with him.

“Okay, but I have to work.” Katie thought about her options, blurting
out the first thing that came to mind, “I’ll see if Miranda will fill in for
me. She was lookin’ for some extra hours so I doubt it’ll be a problem.”

“Perfect. I wanna cook you dinner,” he explained. “My house isn’t
completely finished, but it’s far enough along that I can stay there. Will you
have dinner with me, Katie?”

“Yes,” she said, answering faster than she should have.

“I’ll let you go so you can get some sleep. And I’ll see you tonight.
Think about me.”

“I will,” she assured him. “Good night, Dalton.”

“Good night, darlin’.”

With that, the phone disconnected and Katie held it close to her chest.

She would have dinner with him tonight. She’d figure something out so
that she could at least do that much. But after that, she really needed to get
her head on straight. What she was beginning to want from this man wasn’t
something she could afford to have. Not right now.

How she was going to tell him that, though… that was what she had to
figure out.

Dalton rolled into Devil’s Bend around seven thirty Saturday evening.
The sun had already gone down, and darkness had taken the place of the light.
He’d called Katie an hour ago to let her know when he expected to arrive, not
wanting to spend any more time away from her than he had to.

He’d made good time, but only because he’d hit the road as soon as he’d
ended his call with her that morning. In fact, he’d set his alarm to wake him
at four so he could do just that before he set out. She had made his day when
she’d agreed to meet him at his house at eight. He still had a few minutes to
spare, but without any food at the house, he had to make a stop.

As much as he wanted to cook for her, knowing that the house wasn’t set
up, he opted to stop by Charlie’s and pick up an order to go. It was either
that or he would have to go to the grocery store, which he didn’t have the
patience for at the moment.

He just wanted to get to his house, take a quick shower, and then have
dinner with Katie.

He’d been looking forward to seeing her again since the moment she’d
climbed out of his truck at The Rusty Nail just a week ago. It’d been too damn
long.

For the last week, he’d immersed himself in work. Cutting a new album
required a lot of time and effort, but he had managed to keep himself engaged
long enough to keep everyone happy. But he’d told his agent just yesterday
morning that he needed a break. He’d informed him he’d be heading back to
Devil’s Bend to take care of a few things that needed his immediate attention.

It hadn’t been a lie.

His house was close to being finished, and he wanted to make sure
everything was in order. But more than that, he needed to see Katie. He needed
to wrap his arms around her, hold her for just a little while. He wasn’t sure
what had gotten into him or why he couldn’t stand being away from her, but it
was what it was. And Dalton had no intention of fighting it.

Ten minutes later, Dalton was walking into his house carrying a
six-pack of beer and another of water, along with the paper sack with their to-go
containers from Charlie’s. The house smelled like fresh paint, but it looked
like it was completed. He knew that wasn’t the case, because there were a few
additional things that had to be done to the upstairs rooms, but for the most
part, the downstairs was complete. And that was all that really mattered
tonight.

Hoping to air out the place, he propped the front door and the back
door open to allow a cross breeze through the house. He tapped the screen on
the thermostat to turn up the heater a couple of degrees, wanting the house to
be comfortable when Katie arrived.

He had just placed the food on the table when he heard a light tap
against the front door. He turned to see Katie standing there, backlit by the
front porch light.

“Hey,” he greeted, making his way to her without hesitation.

As though he’d been gone for months and not just days, Dalton scooped
her up, melding his mouth to hers, holding her flush against him.

“Hey yourself,” she replied long seconds later when he finally released
her lips.

She was smiling.

“Damn, I’ve missed you,” he told her, setting her back on her feet.
“You hungry?”

“Starving,” she told him, taking his hand when he held it out to her.

“Sorry, we don’t have much in here right now, but I figured we could
make do.” And Dalton wasn’t exaggerating when he said there wasn’t much there.
He had a small dining table with four chairs, a new recliner for the living
room, and a complete bedroom suite in his room. Other than that, his stuff
hadn’t been moved from Nashville and probably wouldn’t be for at least another
month. He had just put his house on the market, and it was getting good traffic
but no offers yet. Not that he cared. He could sit on the house for a while,
that wasn’t a problem.

Dalton led Katie to the table and pulled out a chair for her. “Beer or
water?”

“Water, please,” she said, placing her purse on the chair beside her
before lowering herself into her seat.

After retrieving one beer and one water, he returned to the table,
dropping into the seat across from her and sliding her the bottle across the
table.

“Are you tired?” she asked after opening the foam container in front of
her.

“I was until about two minutes ago,” he answered, watching her face.

The smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes pulled an answering one
from him. God, he was so glad she was there.

“Did you drive straight through?”

“Left Nashville at five this mornin’,” he told her. “Right after I hung
up the phone with you. I showered and then headed out. Already had my stuff
packed.”

“Please tell me you slept at least a little last night.”

“I set my alarm for four. I slept like a baby until then.” The last
part wasn’t exactly true, but only because he had dreamed of her, wanting her.
And when he’d woken up alone in his bed, it’d been devastating. But then he’d
called and heard her voice, which was the second best thing to seeing her.
“How’s work?”

Katie’s eyes widened briefly as she stared back at him, her fork held
halfway to her mouth, her eyebrows cocked in question.

“The Rusty Nail?” he clarified, chuckling.

“It’s good,” she said, her eyes darting down to her food. “Nothing new.
Cooper played one night last week, but other than that, it’s been kinda slow.”

“How’s school?”

“A pain in the ass,” she admitted, her smile returning. “Keeps me up late
just trying to get my homework done.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“Probably not,” she said, lifting her gaze back to his. “This is great,
by the way. Charlie’s is my favorite.”

“I would’ve cooked for you” — Dalton gestured around the room — “but as
you can see, I’m not quite set up yet. However, I intend to rectify that in the
very near future.”

“When do you move in?”

“Plannin’ for early January. Gonna spend a couple of weeks at my folks’
for Christmas, but then I’ll be headin’ back. Gotta move in and then head off
on a three-month tour.”

“Tour? Really?”

“Yep,” he told her, grinning. He was excited about this one. With the
help of Cooper’s father, better known these days as Coop’s manager, they’d put
together a kick-ass thirty-stop tour that would end in April, just before
Coop’s wedding.

“So you’ll be gone for three months?” she asked, looking dejected.

“I’ll come home for a day or two here and there.” Dalton didn’t like
the idea of being away from Katie for that long, but his music career was the
only thing he had at the moment. With the equestrian center finally getting up
and running, he had to do what he needed to do. If he ever expected to settle
down in one spot, he had to do the time now.

“Cooper and Tessa are gettin’ married in May, right?” Katie questioned,
stirring her food around on her plate.

“Yep. He’s actually agreed to let Tessa plan his bachelor party.
Dumbass. I tried to weigh in, but she insisted. I figure we’ll be hangin’ out
at a bingo hall drinkin’ warm beer and puttin’ dots on little cards all night.”

Katie laughed, the sound the equivalent of coming home. He wasn’t sure
what it was about her, but Dalton knew one thing for sure — hell, it was
something he’d known for a couple of months now — Katie was the one. She was
the woman he could see himself settling down with eventually.

Not that he would tell her that. As closed off as she was, he knew
she’d spook easily. But he had vowed that over the course of the next few weeks
and months, he would convince her that he could be the man she needed.

And he damn sure didn’t intend to give up until she was his. Forever.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Katie’s head was spinning from everything Dalton had just told her. He
was permanently moving to Devil’s Bend in the next few weeks, he was going off
on tour for a few months… It was all too much to take in.

The short-term affair she’d thought they were going to have clearly
wasn’t going to happen the way she intended. With him in town, she wouldn’t be
able to avoid him. Worse than that, she wouldn’t be able to keep him from
finding out who she was.

Up to this point, she had managed to keep everyone out, limiting the
people she interacted with outside of the bar, choosing a more solitary life so
no one found out. But now Dalton was going to be around, and if she planned to
see him, he was going to find out.

But he couldn’t. She didn’t want him to know. She didn’t want anyone to
know.

“You finished?” Dalton interrupted her thoughts, causing her to look up
and meet his dark brown eyes.

“Yeah,” she told him. She was no longer hungry. In fact, she was
tempted to tell him she needed to go, but the thought of walking away from him
right now didn’t sit well with her.

He’d ruined her. That was all there was to it. He’d made her hope for
the impossible, and she’d allowed him to get under her skin. What should’ve
been a friendship had quickly morphed into something significantly more than
that, and she knew it was all her fault.

She had slept with him, wanting her first time to be with a man like
Dalton. A kind, gentle man who didn’t look at her as though she had secrets.

Then again, if he’d known her secrets, Dalton would’ve probably run far
and fast.

Shaking off the thoughts, Katie helped him clear the table, placing the
food back in the paper sack it’d come in so Dalton could toss it out in
Cooper’s garbage can later.

“So what do we do now?” Katie asked, glancing around the nearly empty
house.

“I’d say we sit out on the porch, but it’s gettin’ colder,” Dalton
answered, making his way over to her before pulling her against him.

“Well, I know a way to keep warm,” she told him, smiling up at him.

At least they had tonight.

“Yeah?” he asked, nuzzling his face into her neck, the warmth of his
breath tickling her skin.

“Yeah,” she said softly. “Why don’t we close the doors and snuggle?”

“Snuggle, huh?” Dalton’s chuckle sent a tremor through her.

When he stood, Katie kept her eyes locked on his face. The heat she saw
reflected in his warm brown gaze made her body tingle in so many places. She
had never met a man who she desired as much as she desired this man. Dalton
Calhoun.

He stole her breath.

He made her want things she knew were impossible.

And most important, he made her believe that fairy tales might just
come true.

Not that she was naïve enough to truly believe that, but for tonight,
she was going to pretend.

She watched him move across the room, the muscles in his back flexing
as he walked, pulling his gray T-shirt tight, his biceps flexing. The man was
solidly built, all muscle and sinew. There was definitely no doubt as to why
women tripped over themselves just to get in his line of sight.

Katie had never been that type of woman, but for him, she could see it
being a possibility.

Dalton passed her on the way to the back door, sliding her a sexy
smirk. That, mixed with the glimmer in his eyes, set her body aflame.

Yes, she certainly knew what was coming next.

And she welcomed it.

Oh, how she welcomed it.

She stood in the same place he had left her, waiting for him to finish
his task. When he approached, she smiled up at him. “Ready to snuggle?”

Dalton’s smirk spoke of wicked promises. He surprised a shriek from her
when he lifted her in his arms, sweeping her feet out from under her with one
arm beneath her knees, the other under her back as he held her against him.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she held on tight, not wanting him to drop
her.

“I’m ready for a lot of things, darlin’.”

The erotic promise in his tone had Katie ready to strip him naked as
soon as she got back on her feet, but he had other plans. When they reached the
bedroom, she noticed it was fully furnished. There was a huge king bed,
lavishly decorated with a thick, dark comforter and several pillows. Two
nightstands flanked the bed, both with a lamp burning, the soft yellow glow
flowing over the bed. On the other side of the room, a massive chest and a
matching dresser completed the set.

“Nice,” she told him when he dropped her unceremoniously onto the bed,
making her laugh.

“Like it?” he asked, crawling up on the bed, hovering above her.

“I definitely like,” she answered, no longer talking about the
furniture.

Dalton was sin in its finest form, a temptation the likes of which
women just didn’t survive. He was like a lifetime supply of chocolate coupled
with around-the-clock massages. Every woman’s fantasy.

And tonight he was all hers.

Katie prayed she could survive the wild ride he was going to take her
on, because there was no doubt in her mind that he was going to take her to the
moon and back.