A Forest Between Us: A Small Town, Second Chance Romance (Crescent Pass Book 1) by Allie Winters

Author:Allie Winters [Winters, Allie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

HARPER

I sit up in bed, panting heavily, and place a hand on my chest, willing my heart to slow down. It takes a moment for my surroundings to come into focus, the sheets twisted around my legs finally registering.

It was just a dream. An awful, hyper-realistic one for sure, but ultimately an amalgamation of everything going on in my brain lately.

Lying on my deathbed, cold and alone, regret filling me so strongly, it was a visceral ache. I’d waited all those years for the right guy to come along, but no one had ever compared to… Owen. He was the standard I’d measured every other man by. My whole life wasted because I’d abandoned him in Oregon.

I shake off the thought. God, this is ridiculous. It was a dream. And the only reason I had it was because of what Owen said on the way home. Making his… intentions known. But he left the ball in my court. It’s my choice if I want to act on it.

I can’t, though, right? It would only make things harder when I have to leave.

Or maybe…

No, no.

I throw off the sheets, willing myself to fully wake. I need to get out of this weird headspace.

Wait, where’s Owen? He’s supposed to be here, too.

I glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand. One a.m. He went to bed at the same time I did a couple of hours ago. Then again, he was also tossing and turning before I drifted off. Did he ever go to sleep?

I pad out to the living room, holding my finger to my lips as Duke lifts his head off of his dog bed in the corner. The place is silent, moonlight streaming in through the open blinds to cast long shadows across the room, and I tiptoe over to the windows. There.

Owen looks over his shoulder as I open the front door, then turns back, resting his elbows on the porch railing. “Can’t sleep?”

“I had a bad dream.” I join him, crossing my arms over my chest to keep the chill away. “Aren’t you cold out here?”

All he has on is a thin shirt and those same cotton plaid pajamas slung low on his hips.

“I’m fine.”

Looking out at the expanse of his front yard, there’s something almost otherworldly about it in the dead of night like this, the moon bright enough to see by, the air sharp and brisk against my bare arms.

“You can’t sleep either?” I ask him, the mundane conversation welcome after the subtle tenseness surrounding us all afternoon and evening. Sure, we’d acted like everything was fine, but was it?

He shakes his head and glances over at me. “Hey, you’re shivering.”

He holds an arm out, creating space between him and the porch railing, and I hesitate for a moment before sliding in, his front deliciously toasty against my back. I’m caged in by his arms, but instead of it feeling restricting, there’s a sense of safety instead. Like he’s protecting me.

I lean against his chest, breathing in deeply, my body easing.

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