Standing in the dark hallway, I felt along the wall. “TJ! Baby, Mommy is coming for you!”
“Mommy! It hurts. It hurts, Mommy!”
“TREY!” I screamed as I ran in the dark until I came to a door.
“Mommy! Help me…please.”
Throwing the door open, I sucked in a breath of air as I saw Trey’s body lying on the ground. Looking away, I saw TJ.
“No!” I screamed as I ran over to him and pulled him into my arms. “Please, God, don’t take him. Please!”
Darkness swept over the room and I couldn’t see a thing. The pain. The pain was so strong.
“Harmony!”
TJ slipped from my arms as I screamed out his name. “TJ, no, please don’t leave me!”
“Harmony, please wake up. Harmony!”
Snapping my eyes open, I saw his eyes. The eyes that should haunt my dreams, yet did just the opposite. They calmed me almost instantly. Sitting up, I threw myself into Preston’s arms.
“You…you were dreaming and you screamed,” Preston said as he held me tightly. Inhaling deeply, I fought like hell to keep my tears at bay.
“Nightmare,” I whispered.
Pulling back, Preston searched my face. “Do you have them often?”
Shaking my head, I pulled my eyes from his. “No. At first I had the same dream every night. Now it’s about once a week.”
Preston closed his eyes and then scrubbed his hands down his face.
“You stayed?” I asked as I took him in. Holy moly. He didn’t have a shirt on. Look away, Harmony. Count to twenty and look away.
I attempted to focus on anything other than his chest and amazingly fit abs. Jesus, Harmony. Get a grip on yourself. Risking another peek, I turned slightly and moved my eyes over Preston’s fit body quickly.
Preston slowly stood up and I forced my betraying bitch of a body to keep my feelings deep inside.
“Do you want me to leave, Harmony? I will if you’d rather be alone. It’s just…you asked me to stay last night and I didn’t want you to be upset if you woke up and I was gone. Of course, you could be upset that I stayed.”
Frowning, Preston shook his head and turned around as he headed out the door. Pursing my lips together, I kept my giggle suppressed. “Preston, please don’t leave. It’s five in the morning.”
He must have noticed he wasn’t wearing a shirt, probably from the cold draft that blew through this old house. Or because I was eyeing him up and down…again.
“Shit, let me go get a shirt on.” Spinning on his heels, Preston disappeared.
Pushing the covers off me, I noticed I was in a T-shirt and sweats. I wondered if I had changed into these clothes or if Preston had changed me. God, I hoped I’d changed myself. I was pretty sure I hadn’t shaved under my arms in two weeks.
Rolling my eyes, I walked out of my bedroom and leaned over the railing. Closing my eyes briefly, I let out a sigh. Oh Lord, do I feel like crap. My head was pounding and my mouth tasted like a bar. I think my drinking days are over, before they even really got started. “Preston? I’m going to jump in the shower. I feel like shit and my mouth tastes worse.”
He appeared before my eyes as he looked up at me. “How about I make you some breakfast?”
Laughing, I brushed him off and said, “Ha! If you can find food in this house and make a meal out of it, I’ll spend the entire day doing what you want to do.”
Winking at me, Preston said, “Deal.”
Smiling weakly, I turned and headed back into my bedroom and to the master bathroom. Turning on the hot water, I stripped out of my clothes and walked into the shower. Letting the water move across my body, I let out the breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding in. Moving my face into the water, I made a decision. These feelings that I was feeling…these confusing feelings…I was going to push them away and lock them somewhere deep down inside. My husband and child had just died a few months ago and I was drooling over another man.
Placing my hands over my face, I leaned against the shower wall and slowly slid down as I cried.