and down the hall.
We’d been in kind of a rush the night before, eagerly tearing at each other’s clothes almost from the moment he put his truck into park in front of his house, so I hadn’t gotten much of a look. What I had been able to see through the headlights of his truck the night before was a gorgeous white farmhouse with a black tin roof, a huge wraparound porch, black shutters that bookended big windows, and a red door.
That was the extent of my tour. I’d been in his arms, my legs firmly wrapped around his waist, and my lips fused to his from the front porch all the way to his room.
This was the first chance I’d had since getting here to have a look around, and in an effort to shake off the darkness that lingered like sludge after a bad dream, I decided to take full advantage—after finding a bathroom and getting the coffee started, of course.
Once my business was taken care of, I moved into the main part of the house, on the hunt for the kitchen. The mouth of the hallway opened up into a large, open-concept space.
The floors were a beautiful rustic wood stained the most gorgeous grayish brown. That incredible colored wood was tied into the cathedral ceilings in the form of long, thick wooden beams that extended from the start of the living room just off the hall, all the way to the kitchen at the other end.
The furniture was exactly what you’d expect to see in a farmhouse with a hint of masculine edge that was all Dalton: buttery distressed leather in rich browns.
To contrast the wood floors, three of the four walls were painted a soft, creamy off-white that complemented the fourth wall at the very back of the house that was framed with huge panes of glass that allowed the sunlight to stream through.
If I thought the view from my tiny apartment was breathtaking, it was nothing compared to what Dalton got to see every day from the comforts of his living room. The beauty of it was something you’d expect to see as a photo filter on your phone, but standing there just then, watching the sky change colors with the rising sun, was very, very real. No photo could have ever done this view justice.
Tearing my eyes away, I hustled into the big open-plan kitchen just off the living room. White cabinetry was offset by gray concrete countertops that fit Dalton’s personality to perfection. I located everything I could possibly need to brew a pot of coffee and started one as I rummaged around the cabinets for a mug.
Like I figured, there wasn’t any creamer in the fridge but I did find milk and a canister of sugar on the counter.
With a cup of coffee doctored to perfection, I hustled to the door off the kitchen that led to the incredible back deck and went to watch the sunrise.
The sun had started cresting the tops of the trees that surrounded Dalton’s property. From my vantage point, it looked and felt like I was standing in the world’s best treehouse.
As I watched a kaleidoscope of colors burst to life in the sky, announcing a beautiful day to come, the last remaining dregs of darkness from that dream faded away with the rising sun, but even with all that beauty stretched out before me, the sadness lingered.
Instead of shoving the memory back into that box in the coldest, darkest recesses of my mind and locking it tight so it couldn’t get out, I did something I hadn’t done in years. I closed my eyes and let it spill out, the scene playing on the back of my eyelids like an old-school film projector.
Chapter Eighteen
Charlotte
I’d been so absorbed in the memory of the last time my sister and I had spoken, so overcome with the accompanying emotions swirling inside me that came with it, that I hadn’t realized Dalton was awake until his hands landed on my hips, jolting me from the past with a startled yelp.
I whipped around, placing my hand on my chest and blowing out a breath as my heart rate returned to normal. “God, you scared me.”
“You okay?” A concerned frown marred his chiseled features as he took the mug from my hand and set it on the railing so he could pull me against his bare, broad chest. I loved how small and safe I felt tucked against him, and as I