A Long from the Girl Next Door: The Caldwells of Rebel Creek Book 2

by T M Morris

  “Are you trying to make me feel better or what?”

  “No. I’m just telling you how I’m grateful I am to have been out so that I could save your stubborn hide.” He bristled.

  “Calm down. I can’t tell you how thankful I am that you found me. I prayed someone would find me before it was too late.” She yawned again.

  “Get in. I’ll get your purse.” He muttered.

  “Thank you.” She whispered dreamily.

  When Dusty got back, Lilly was asleep. He thanked God that he found her. He couldn’t fathom the loss he would have felt if she succumbed to the storm. It was hard to explain, even to him, just how much he loved her.

  He loved her. She could love him eventually, right? “Lilly?’

  “Hmm?”

  “Do you think you could love a guy like me?”

  “Hmm-hmm.”

  “Can I get a yes or a no? Humming is rather ambiguous.” He waited for an answer, and when he received none, he sighed heavily. He wasn’t going to get an answer anytime soon.

  He drove slowly, not wanting to risk their safety. His house wasn’t too far from where Lilly had run off into the ditch. After what seemed like half an eternity he pulled into his driveway. He cut the engine and leaped out of the truck carrying Lilly’s purse. He went and unlocked the door, hanging her bag on the coat tree.

  He slogged back out to the truck. Lifting a sleeping Lilly out and carried her into the house. Kicking the door closed with his foot he carried her down the hall to his bedroom and laid her down on the bed. Standing back, he looked down at her wistfully. He would be patient. He had waited this long. He could wait a little while longer.

  Turning his back on his thoughts, he went into the bathroom and turned the shower on, waiting a minute for it to get warm. Once it was to the right temperature, he went to wake Lilly. “Come on, Lilly. You need to get in the shower and get warm. Come on.”

  She groaned. “Dusty, just let me sleep.”

  “No. Get up. We can do this one of two ways. You can get up and get in the shower under your power, or I’ll do it, and I’m okay with the second if you are?”

  She bolted into a sitting position. “You wouldn’t?”

  He favored her with a devilish grin. “Wouldn’t I? The quickest way for you to get your body temperature up is to take a warm shower or bath. I have the shower running and waiting for you. Either you get in there, or I will put you in there, and I won’t have you getting your clothes wet.” He waggled his eyebrows for effect.

  Lilly sighed gustily. “Oh, all right. Where are the towels and do you have something I can borrow to sleep in, shorts and a tee shirt? I’m assuming I’m staying here tonight?”

  “I’m not going back out there anytime soon.” He shook his head. “You’re staying here. That’s not a problem is it?”

  “No. Where are the towels?”

  “They’re in the cupboard in there next to the tub. Wait for just a second, and I’ll get you something.” He spun around and went to the dresser. Sliding one open he fished around before pulling out his old high school football jersey. “This should be long enough.”

  She smiled as she held it up in front of her to check the length. Once she had it on it would come down to the middle of her thigh. “I can’t believe you still have this.”

  “I guess I’ve been saving it for just such an occasion.” He turned toward the door to hide his discomfort. “Get in the shower.”

  Lilly shed her coat and boots in the bedroom. Her feet and hands stung from cold. In the bathroom, she stripped to the skin and checked to make sure she didn’t have any frostbite. It didn’t appear that she did so she pulled a towel from the cabinet, and after draping it over the shower curtain rod, she stepped into the shower. The warm water felt like heaven to her, but she’d rather fill up the tub and soak the cold from her bones.

  She closed the drain and turned the nobs so that the tub would fill. Moments later she was lying in a tub of hot water up to her chin letting the heat seep into her nearly frozen flesh. A deep sigh of pleasure escaped her lips. Once she could feel her toes without pain, she soaped up and rinsed off. No point in wasting a tub of water just to get warm.

  She got out and dried off. After slipping back into her underwear, she donned Dusty’s football jersey. She studied herself in the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. She liked the way she looked in it. She smiled to herself. How many times had she dreamed he would give her his jersey? Now she was wearing it as a nightgown. She felt as if she were in high school again.

  She was reading too much into the gesture. Dusty was only letting her use it because it was probably the only thing he had long enough her to decently cover her. She left the bathroom carrying her soaking wet clothing and the towel she’d used. Wandering down the short hall with her bundle under one arm she called out, “Dusty, where is your laundry room? I’d like to dry my clothes.”

  He came around the corner from the kitchen. “Here. I’ll take care of it.”

  She refused to relinquish her bundle. “No, that’s okay. I’ve put you to enough trouble.”

  Dusty’s temper flared. “Lilly. Just give me your clothes. I said I’ll take care of them and I will.”

  She blinked a few times before handing over the clothes. “Fine. Thank you.”

  He nodded.

  She expected him to turn and stalk off toward the laundry room, wherever it may be. Instead, he just stood there looking at her with a strange light in his eyes. “Dusty?”

  It was his turn to blink. He shook his head. “There’s a robe on the hook on the wall behind the bathroom door. Put it on. Please.”

  Bewildered, she nodded. In unison, they turned in opposite directions and hurried off to do what they needed to do. When Lilly returned to the kitchen wrapped in Dusty’s robe, she found Dusty standing at the stove stirring a sauce pot. That’s when she noticed the aroma of chicken soup tickling her nose. She realized she was ravenous. “Smells good.”

  “I hope you like chicken noodle. It’s the only soup I have on hand.” Dusty smiled sheepishly over his shoulder. He stammered, “You look—hmm, I can’t say you look better than you did, but you do look safer. That’s not any better. What I mean is—“

  “It’s okay, Dusty. I know what you mean.” She smiled.

  “I doubt it.” He muttered under his breath.

  “I’m not distracting you now.” She sidled up next to him and looked into the pan. “Is it done? I’m starving.”

  He took a few steps away from her before he replied. “Yeah. Would you like a peanut butter sandwich to go with it?”

  “Crunchy or smooth?”

  “You mean there’s a peanut butter out there that’s not crunchy?”

  “That’s what I’ve heard.”

  “So crunchy is okay?”

  “It’s the best.”

  “Well, at least we see eye to eye on that one.”

  Lilly turned to the stove and stirred the soup. “I’m sure it’s not the only thing. Do you know what’s going to happen with this snow?”

  “It should blow over before morning. Once it’s daylight, we can figure out how we’re going to get you home.”

  “You don’t like my company?” She turned to find him staring at her with that same strange light in his eyes. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I just need to keep reminding myself of who you are.” He retrieved the peanut butter and bread from the pantry.

  Lilly tilted her head to one side. “Who am I?”

  He plunked the jar on the counter and yanked open the silverware drawer. Pulling out a table knife, he slammed it shut. He wasn’t going to answer her.

  “Who am I, Dusty? Why won’t you answer a simple question? I know who I am. The question is who do you think I am?”

  “Lilly don’t.” He growled between his clenched teeth. He’d made a mistake bringing her here. It’s just that it was closest. Now here he was struggling not to scoop her up into his arms and carry her of
f to his bed. His stomach clenched.

  “I swear you are the most trying man I know.”

  “I would have thought that would be your dad.” He kept his back to her as he tried to concentrate on smearing the crunchy chunks of peanut butter onto the bread without ripping it to shreds.

  “You’re right, the second most trying man I know. Where do you keep the bowls?”

  Not taking his eyes off the peanut butter sandwiches he pointed with the knife. “In there.”

  She came close to him and reached into the cupboard he had indicated. As she stretched, she bumped into him completely unraveling his tenuous grip on his self-control. He dropped the knife onto the countertop and pulled her into his arms.

  He didn’t give the wide-eyed Lilly a chance to realize what was happening. He covered her lips with his and was losing the battle for his sanity when she responded in kind. He was drunk on the sweet nectar of her lips when he eventually lifted his head so that they could gasp for air. He set her on her feet and stepped away from her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

  Anger flashed in her eyes. “I don’t see why not? You have no reason to be sorry. I wish you hadn’t stopped.”

  He groaned. “Lilly stop torturing me. You’re Erik’s little sister.”

  “So?” She yelled. “I’m a grown woman. Erik has no say in what I do with my life, and he especially has no say in who I kiss.” There was a hissing behind her. The soup was boiling over. “Oh, goodness.” She spun around and pulled it off the stove. Turning the burner off, she stomped to the table and set the pan on a trivet. She looked at Dusty. “Well, are we going to eat or not? I’m starving.”

  Silently, Dusty carried the peanut butter sandwiches to the table along with the soup bowls. They sat down to eat acting as if nothing had passed between them.

  Dusty awoke to a loud banging on his front door. He cracked open one eye to see that it was morning. The banging resumed with more urgency. He rolled over and sat up. Untangling himself from the tangle of covers he stood and walked to the door. He peeked through the peephole. Great. Maeve McHenry. Just what he needed.

  “Dusty? Who is out there?”

  He turned to her and without so much as a sound he signaled to her to go back to bed.

  She shrugged and went back down the hall to wait until Dusty told her she could come out. Obviously, it was someone he didn’t want knowing she was here, didn’t want to know she spent the night. It wasn’t as if they had done anything wrong. He had slept on the couch. She said she would, but he had insisted that he would. The other two bedrooms in the small house were full of veterinary supplies and not one stick of furniture. She’d found that out when she asked which room was the guest room. She sighed and tried to hear what was happening out in the living room.

  Dusty braced for yet another encounter with Maeve’s annoying little Chihuahua. He opened the door. “What in God’s good name is wrong with that dog of yours that you would drive out here in this weather?”

  Maeve stood there on his porch empty handed looking at him rather oddly.

  “Where’s your dog?”

  Maeve sniffed. “I’m here to ask you to help look for Lilly Caldwell. They found her truck off the side of the road this morning, and everyone’s out looking for her body. She wasn’t in the truck, and she wasn’t at the farm either.”

  Devon scratched his head in consternation. “You can call off the search. She’s here. I found her last night on my way home and brought her here since it was closer than anywhere else. She’s fine. I think she’s still sleeping.”

  Maeve looked at him with shock and hurt. “She stayed here with you? All night? Alone?”

  Dusty shook his head in disbelief. “Well, yeah. It’s not as if I planned on throwing a party or anything.”

  Maeve pushed past him into the living room. “Where is she?”

  “I assume she’s still in bed.”

  Wheeling around Maeve glared at him. “You only have one bed.”

  “I know. The question is how do you know I only have one bed? Have you been in here when I haven’t been? Because I know I haven’t given you a tour.”

  Maeve sputtered. “It doesn’t make any difference how I know. What were you doing last night?”

  “How is that any of your business? Maeve, I don’t know what you think is going on here but I’m pretty sure it’s not what your little imagination has cooked up.”

  “You slept with her?” Maeve sounded betrayed.

  Dusty looked at her in utter disbelief. “If you’d bothered to look around you’d see I slept on the couch, not that it should matter to you.”

  Lilly had heard enough. She gathered up Dusty’s robe and put it on. She was still tying the belt around her waist when she entered the living room. “Maeve. I wondered who you were talking to, Dusty. I’m going to make some coffee. Would either of you like some too?”

  Dusty nodded, and Maeve blustered in disbelief. “She’s wearing your football jersey and your robe.”

  Lilly, who was turning to go into the kitchen, turned back and looked directly into Maeve’s eyes. “It’s not what you think. I needed something to sleep in. Dusty let me sleep in his bed while he took the couch like the gentleman he is. Stop trying to make this into something it’s not. Dusty came along last night and pulled my half frozen carcass from my truck and brought me here. He saved my life.”

  Without another word Maeve stormed out the door shaking her head.

  Dusty closed the door and leaned against it. Only then did he realize he was standing there in just a pair of sweat pants. He cleared his throat. “Considering what we’re wearing, I can see where she would get the wrong idea. By this afternoon the whole town is going to be talking about us.”

  “Hmm? What were you saying?” Lilly hadn’t heard half of what he said. She was too distracted by his naked torso. She had an overwhelming desire to run her hands up and down his bare chest, abs and back, to feel every taut rippling muscle. She looked up to the ceiling, noting a cobweb in the corner. “Perhaps you’d like to put a shirt on?”

  Smiling, he sidled up to her and hugged her. “You like what you see?”

  She pushed against his bare chest. “Dusty. We have to get going. I’m sure the whole town will demand to hear every last little detail of our ordeal last night.”

  “They can wait another minute or two. Dusty bent his head to press his lips to hers.

  Just as their lips met, the door burst open behind Dusty and Maeve barged in. “Dusty, I just—Oh. You are nothing but lying hypocrites. It sure looks like something is going on here.”

  Lilly started laughing hysterically. “But it’s the truth. Not that it should matter to anyone. Dusty and I are both adults.”

  Dusty turned to Maeve while leaving one arm around Lilly’s waist. “What did you want to say, Maeve, that was so all-fired important that you would barge into my home without even knocking?”

  “Oh. Um. I just wanted to say that I’m glad you’re okay, Lilly.” Maeve looked embarrassed. “I guess I’ll go now. You might want to call the sheriff and let him know that you’re alive.”

  “Thanks, Maeve. I’ll do that.”

  Maeve turned to leave. “I suppose I’ll see you in church Sunday.”

  “We’ll be there.” Dusty went to hold the door for her.

  “I’ll see you Sunday.” Lilly gave her a small wave. She turned and went into the kitchen. She heard the door close and the deadbolt snick into place. She smiled at Dusty. “You should have done that a few minutes ago, and we wouldn’t have to explain anything to her. You do know everyone in the county is going to believe the worst by this afternoon, don’t you.”

  “Like you said, it’s no one’s business but ours.”

  “So you’ve decided?”

  He cocked his head to one side. “Have I decided what?”

  “I’m assuming you’ve made up your mind about me. You’ve kissed me twice in less than twenty-four hours.”

  Scratching hi
s head he sighed. He went over to the couch and grabbed his shirt. Pulling it over his head, he said, “You’re still my best friend’s kid sister, and he doesn’t want you to get tangled up with someone like me.”

  “Someone like you? Dusty Meadows, someone like you suits me just fine. I’m getting dressed. Where are my clothes?” She continued as she strode to the laundry room, “You can take me home. Once you make up your mind about us, let me know. I can’t have you kissing me one moment, then telling me I deserve better than you the next. It confuses the snot out of me. Either you make up your mind or I will. Once my DNA results are back, I will give my bone marrow to Mama and then I’ll be out of here. I don’t know what I’ll do or where I’ll go. All I know is I can’t spend the rest of my life getting treated like a leper by my father and you toying with me.”

  “Lilly, I—”

  She had retrieved her clothes from the dryer and was marching past him. “No, Dusty. I don’t want to hear your excuses. Erik is not part of the equation. It’s you plus me equals us. It’s up to you.”

  Dusty stood there with his arms akimbo watching her march down the hall and slam his bedroom door. He walked over the computer and pulled up his email.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Bam, bam, bam, bam. Dusty rolled over in his bed. Bam, bam, bam, bam. He blinked a few times and yawned. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. This time the noise didn’t stop. Someone was trying to beat his front door down. The bell began to ring in unison with the banging. He sat up wishing whoever was on the other side of his front door would go away so he could finish his nap. The couch last night was too uncomfortable for good sleep. He yelled, “I’m coming. You can stop now.”

  The banging and doorbell continued. Dusty scratched his head with both hands leaving his hair more disheveled than it was before he scratched. He stood and stretched. They obviously weren’t going to stop banging on the door, so he wasn’t going to hurry. They deserved to wait. He yawned and picked up his robe, and as he put it on while walking down the hall, he thought he caught a whiff of Lilly’s scent still lingering in the fabric.