Page 31 of Taken With You

“I’ll help you with dishes, pretty lady.”

“Pretty lady makes you sound like a cowboy.”

“Hey, you’re the one who rode me last.”

I winced at his horrible joke, and then kissed him again before doing the dishes.

This was normal. Everything was fine.

But it couldn’t mean anything more than it already did. If it did start to mean more, I’d hurt him in the end. And myself. And I’d already broken once. I was afraid that if I had to walk away, or when Beckham did, I would end up shattered. In a far different way, yet still the same as before. I didn’t want to be that Meadow anymore. I didn’t think I could be.

But one look at Beckham, and I was afraid he’d see that old me.

Even if it truly broke me in the end.

Chapter 7

Beckham

I looked over at Meadow dancing in the corner of the bar with the girls and couldn’t hold back my smile. She seemed so damn happy.

And the hell of it was, I was happy, too.

That’s why I hadn’t told her that I knew about her past.

Why I didn’t tell her anything about mine.

I was the worst kind of coward.

But I didn’t know how to reveal those things without ruining what we had. Even if I knew that what we had couldn’t be fully realized until I did.

Jesus, I was a horrible person.

“Why the long face?” Dillon asked as he sidled up to me behind the bar. He started helping me clean the dirty glasses, and I shrugged.

“No reason.”

“Yeah. Not buying that. If you want to talk, just let me know.”

“You’re a good kid.”

Dillon glanced over at me, his hands covered in suds. “Thanks. But I’m not really a kid anymore.”

“Well, since we’re your elders, you’re always going to be a kid to us.”

“That’s what Cameron says. Maybe when I’m actually allowed to drink behind the bar, I won’t be a kid anymore.”

“Well, first, you don’t drink behind the bar.”

“You know what I mean. Actually be legal to drink rather than just standing here, helping you clean glasses.”

“Hate to break it to you, kid,” I said with a wink, “but your family and I are probably always going to call you that. Even when we’re all in our fifties.”

“So that means you’re going to be here until then?” Dillon asked, his voice suddenly serious.

I looked at him, trying to figure out what I should say. I didn’t have an answer. Did I want to be? Yeah, maybe. And that was the first time I’d really let myself think that. I hadn’t allowed myself to think anything like that before. I wanted to stay. I liked what I had here. I enjoyed this feeling. I loved being happy. But everything could change in an instant. It had already changed more than once in my life. And I knew I couldn’t let myself get too settled. Forget where I came from. But I didn’t say any of that. Instead, I shrugged and looked over at Dillon.

“That’d be nice, wouldn’t it?”