Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
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I slowed to a standstill; my mouth open in shock as I entered town. K & L Mortuary looked like a bomb had exploded inside of it. A single firetruck was there, with the volunteer fire department on hand keeping an eye on the still smoldering building. Whatever happened occurred in the middle of the night, that was clear from the cleanup. There were only a few stragglers left watching, so I scanned the area for Duke. I didn’t see him, so I lifted my foot off the brake and kept going.
“Wicked,” Josh mumbled, turning in his seat to look out the back window.
“I hope Frank’s okay,” I muttered, eyeing the bar as I drove past. I wondered if Logan knew what was going on.
“Me too,” Jake mumbled, staring out the back window as well. “Text me when you find out.”
Ten minutes later, after dropping my brothers off at school and being told not to be late for the big game that night, I entered Big Sky and looked around for Logan. Max met me at the end of the bar and seemed agitated, so I crouched down and gave him some love before heading to my office. Logan must still be asleep, which surprised me. He seemed like the early to rise kind of guy.
The door was closed, so I peeked inside. Logan was on the cot, but he was far from sleeping. His head was thrashing against the pillow, his hands clenched into fists as sweat streaked his forehead, which explained Max’s agitation. I’d never seen anyone have a nightmare, and it was unnerving. Pain knotted in my chest for Logan. If what Josh had found out on the internet was accurate, then Logan definitely had demons. The kind that followed you into dreams.
I kept Max back with a Stay and slid into the room on quiet feet. I wasn’t sure if I should wake him up or let him ride out the dream. I thought about my own nightmares, the ones that haunted me when my father first passed. The one where his eyes opened in his coffin and he begged me to keep my brothers safe. I’d woken in a cold sweat and buried my face in my pillow so I could cry without Jake or Josh hearing. I would have given anything to avoid those dreams.
Determined to help Logan, I inched closer, calling out his name softly while running my hand down his arm. Unfocused eyes—so startling blue in color they beat out the skies around Ennis with their beauty—popped open instantly. I repeated his name as he stared at me with an unfocused, unblinking gaze, then gasped when he reached up and yanked me down onto his hard body.
I froze on contact, held my breath; afraid he was still living inside the dream. I should have known better than to wake a former soldier from a nightmare, prayed he recognized me rather than saw me as the enemy. I took my first breath when he buried his face into my neck, relaxing bit by bit beneath me as his hands began to roam. “Are you real?” he whispered into my ear, nuzzling my neck.
His voice sounded strained, yet hopeful, as if the dream still held thin threads on his reality, so I pulled my head back and look down at him. His eyes were closed, his brows pinched across his forehead, so I leaned down and brushed a kiss across his lips. “As real as you want me to be.”
He rolled sharply until I was beneath him. His nose was still swollen, his eyes bruised, but he was still the hottest man I’d seen in my life. And the bravest if those stories were true.
Reaching up, I cupped his cheek. “You were dreaming when I came in. I woke you because it seemed bad.”
His eyes closed briefly. “I lost friends during my enlistment.”
“And you were dreaming of them?”
“Remembering.”
“Was it bad?” I asked, running a finger across his bottom lip.
He dropped his forehead against mine but didn’t answer.
“Do you always sleep this late?” I tried to lighten the mood, since it was clear he wasn’t ready to speak about his loss.
He didn’t move his head away from mine when he shook his head. It was intimate the way he wanted to keep contact with me from head to toe, so I tightened my arms around his neck and held on.
“I fell back to sleep about an hour ago. There was a fire last night.”
“Frank’s place.” I swallowed nervously before asking. “Is he okay?”
He shook his head against mine and I closed my eyes to block out the pain. Tears formed for the sweet man who never hurt a soul. His family had been in Ennis for over a hundred years and beloved by everyone. Frank was in his late thirties but hadn’t married because owning a mortuary tended to creep women out. Now he was gone. The last remaining Wells. A family that helped found our tiny town.