Their Blue-Collar Girl (The American Soldier Collection 4)

“You, Trevor, and Charlie are the best part of my new life. I want to be sure that is going to work. I want to make certain that you won’t fight or get jealous of one another. I want to understand how you see this ménage relationship working.”

“You mean it can’t solely be about sex?” Trevor asked, coming up to her from behind and rubbing the palm of his hand across her ass. Dante and Lori gave him a firm expression.

“I could determine if this will work based solely on sex,” she said, and Trevor pressed the palm of his hand over her skin from her ass, up her spine to the back of her head. As he gently grabbed a handful of hair and tipped her head back, she smiled and said, “But I won’t,” right before he kissed her.

She felt her heart soar and her nipples harden at Trevor’s slick, sexy move. The way he restrained her and held her hair in his hand as he tilted her head back to kiss her breathless did just that. She felt high when he finally released her to Dante.

Dante hugged her to him and caressed her body.

“I hate this uniform and I love this uniform.” He moved his hands across her ass, giving it a squeeze.

“Dante,” she reprimanded, but the truth was, she loved his hands on her. She loved their hands all over her, but the fear of a broken heart, of getting hurt still lingered in the back of her mind. It was a good time to end the night and head home to rest. Her double shifts all week were weighing a toll on her and making a decision she feared regretting may not be smart.

“Well now that we’ve gotten that very awkward subject out of the way, I’d better head home. I’m exhausted, really,” she told Dante, and he could tell she was a bit embarrassed.

“Before you go I just want you to know I think you’re amazing, Lori,” Charlie said. “You’ve been out on your own, supporting your sister and Ben, working in God only knows what kind of places and you still kept it together, held on to your morals and values. You valued yourself, held on to your most intimate possession. It’s not something to be embarrassed about. It’s something to be very proud of. I’m sorry if I upset you. I’m worried about Tom and Lynn and I can’t help but be jealous of another man touching you, but there’s nothing I can do about that.”

“Forget about it, Charlie. You’re the only men who are on my mind. I thought about all three of you, all day today. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow. We’ll do something, right? We’ll get together?”

“Definitely.”

They each took a moment to embrace her again before Lori headed home.

* * * *

Lori was screaming in her sleep. She couldn’t breathe, she was suffocating, and her whole body was struggling to survive. The pain in her chest and lungs was enormous as she wrestled against the substance that was filling her nostrils and her throat for the last bit of air. There was no one around, no one to save her. This was it. She was going to die.

Suddenly she felt her body rocking back and forth. Someone was shaking her as she screamed and cried to live.

* * * *

“Lori…Lori…Wake up…Please, just wake up!” Maggie was yelling at her sister. She could see Lori’s coloring change. She wasn’t breathing, she was fighting for air and she seemed to still be asleep.

“What’s wrong?” Diana screamed as she and Lou entered the bedroom in their night clothes.

“I don’t know, I think she’s dreaming but look at her coloring. Mom, is she breathing?” Maggie screamed. Diana told Lou to help lift Lori up.

As they did, Lori jumped up from the bed grasping her throat and chest as if fighting for air to breathe. Lou was about to call 911 when Lori seemed to come out

of it, inhaling deeply, over and over again as Diana and Maggie calmed her down. Maggie was crying now as she hugged her sister.

“Oh thank God. Thank God you’re all right. I don’t know what I would ever do without you.” Maggie continued to cry.

“Lori, my God, darling, are you okay?” Diana asked her.

Lori’s breathing was still rapid as Lou called Dr. Andrew Henley instead of an ambulance.

“She’s still having trouble breathing but she’s awake now,” Lou told Dr. Henley over the phone as he placed the call on speaker.

“It sounds like she may have had a panic attack while sleeping. Does she remember what she was dreaming about?” he asked.

“The doctor wants to know if you remember what you were dreaming about? He thinks you had a panic attack,” Lou repeated as Lori began to comprehend what was going on.

“I’m fine, Dad, just hang up that damn phone. I’m fine, I said!” Lori yelled as she jumped up from the bedroom rug and walked toward the bed. Lou, Diana, and Maggie were shocked at Lori’s response. She was never so abrupt with them and it was obvious she was scared.

“I heard her, Lou. Tell her I said to meet me at my office in an hour. If she has trouble breathing again, bring her to the emergency room and call me. I’ll meet you there.”

Lou hung up the telephone. He gave Lori the message as she sat on the edge of the bed.