Reflecting On Wishes (The Wishes Series) (21 page)

All too soon she sl
ipped from his grasp going underwater, and like a sea nymph, she swam away from him but not before sending a wave of water splashing over him. The burst of laughter as she flitted to the other end of the pool had him wiping water from his eyes and delving under water after her with a chuckle. After that, the competitiveness was on. They swam back and forth until they were both weary and out of breath. Quite some time later, when she showed him her wrinkled hands, he gave her one more soul shattering kiss then carried her from the water, wrapping her in a towel warmed from sitting in the sun. He poured the last of the wine and laid out on a lawn chair next to her, reaching out to hold her hand while the sun dried their skin.

Lilah snatched the keys from her mom and gave her a peck on the cheek.

“I’ll drive, Momma. It’s a beautiful day to have the windows down don’t you think?” She gave her mom a bright smile.

“Sounds good to me. Your brother is already outside waiting on us. You look really pretty by the way.”

“Thank you
,” she replied in a chipper voice.

The low-riding hip hugging, boot cut jeans clung to her curves in a complimentary way. That was exactly why she wore them. Not that she was trying to attract attention or anything. She simply
wanted to embrace the cowgirl look since they were going to a farm today. At least that’s what she admitted to herself when she put on the form-fitting button up pale pink shirt and matching pink boots. It wasn’t as if she wanted to impress anyone. She liked to look cute no matter where she went. Her mass of tight cinnamon curls had been tamed into a braid tied with a pink ribbon, completing her southern look.

“Bout damn time you finished getting ready, twin. I was about to give up on you and go by myself.” Dominic was leaning against the van with his cell phone in hand, probably texting one of him many active flirts.

“Twinnie, you wouldn’t know the first thing as to what to do when scoping out a charity organization. If they needed a bandage or stitches you would be amazing, other than that you would be at a loss.” Lilah hopped in the driver’s seat of the van and started it up, pushing the button on the door to roll all the windows down.

“Oh dear God
…why are you letting her drive, Mom? You do realize if she gets one more speeding ticket her driver’s license is going to spontaneously combust. I refuse to get stuck with being her chauffeur.” Dominic laughed and pulled his sister’s hair from the backseat just to prove no matter how old they were he was still her pesky brother.

Their mom laughed and shook her head. “You have a point, Dom. But I’m trusting she gets us there and back alive. That is, if you quit bugging her.”

“It’s okay, Momma. He’ll shut up soon enough.” Lilah had a mischievous grin on her face as she pulled the van out of the driveway and headed towards town instead of in the direction of
Kringle Farms
.

“See what I mean? She
doesn’t even know what direction to go! How can I shut up now? Thoughts of meeting some slicked up cowboy got her stupid already.”

“Be nice to your sister, Dom.” She shook her head while laughing. “Where are we headed, Lilah?”

“I have to pick up Chelsea. She’s feeling better this morning and I asked her to go with us since it will be her and I that work with the Kringle’s the most.” Lilah looked in the rear-view mirror and got her reward for putting up with her over-protective twin and his snarky but loving ways. The look on his face was priceless. He had yet to utter a single word but suddenly looked fidgety and she knew he wished he’d never agreed to come with them.

Ever since junior high when her and Chelsea became inseparable, ther
e had been a
thing
between Chelsea and Dom. They never dated, sometimes flirted, and always asked after one another when alone with Lilah. At least Chelsea had finally admitted years ago to having feelings for Dom. Although her twin had been an avid dater once he broke up with his high-school sweetheart Jade, he never approached Chelsea that way for some reason. Lilah knew her twin as well as she knew herself and he definitely had feelings for her best friend. Why he never pursued them still annoyed her, but she had made it a mission to throw the two together as often as possible forcing them to spend time together. It was perverse of her to enjoy watching them both squirm a bit each time, but she was determined to get them to admit there was something there.

Her mom turned back to look at him and winked. “I guess your sister was right. She did know how to get you to shush.” Her eyes twinkled with delight, obviously enjoying the playful teasing.

Dom’s only reply was to roll his eyes and look out the window, ignoring them both.

Lilah looked in her rear-view mirror when she pulled in Chelsea’s driveway and tooted the horn. Her handsome twin was smiling from ear to ear when her friend came out the door and waved, locking the house, then walking to the van. Dom leaned over and opened the side door to the van for her. It made Lilah feel like cheering out loud but instead, she gave her mom a knowing wink.

“I’m so glad you’re feeling better so you could come with us, Chels.” Lilah backed out of the drive-way and headed back towards the farm making small talk while she observed the two in the backseat that hadn’t stopped grinning at each other.

***

Normally, Dom was smooth around the ladies. But when it came to Chelsea, most of the time he felt tongue-tied and like all his game went out the window. His pain-in-the-ass twin knew it too, which is why she got such a kick out of seeing his discomfort. His pulse kicked up a notch when the blond haired beauty walked toward the vehicle with a graceful stride. He was disappointed she had sunglasses concealing the view of her emerald green doe eyes, although it was probably best since she had on faded blue jeans that looked like she had been poured into. She was wearing a mint green shirt that hung off one shoulder, revealing a dose of creamy ivory skin that, upon closer inspection as she sat down next to him, had the sexiest dotting of freckles he’d ever had the pleasure of viewing. He heard his sister and then his mom greet Chelsea, but he felt like he had a brick lodged in his throat as he was enveloped in her signature scent of strawberries. She smiled when she said “hi” to him and he was greeted with the sweet cinnamon scent of her breath. He managed a simple “hello”, before she leaned up front and gave his mom and sister a hug. As stupid as it was, he was jealous he didn’t get one.

He shouldn’t have let his mom bait him into coming. It was going to be torturous hell being closed up in a car this close to her, smelling her, and trying to maintain control of the reactions she instigated in his body. Forcing his head to turn to look out the window, Dom listened to the conversation and replied only when he was asked a direct question. It was better that way
, keeping his distance just like he had been for the past eight years that she had been his twin’s best friend. Dom realized a long time ago he wasn’t the right kind of guy for Chelsea. She was too good for him. Her sweet, loving nature and big heart was beautiful and pure which was exactly why he would flirt now and then, but wouldn’t allow it to go any further. Dom respected her too much. His track record with women was reckless. Lilah often accused him of being a heart-breaker. Not that he necessarily was careless with women’s affections as much as he just wasn’t ready to settle down and was enjoying having fun. With the stress of being in his second year of med school, the last thing he needed was to be tied down in a demanding relationship which he had very little time for.

Still, ever the gentleman, Dom hopped out of the van quick as lightening and darted around the van to open Chelsea’s door, then his mom’s.

“Well I guess I know where I rank.” Lilah said as she opened her own door and smirked at her twin.

Chelsea’s fair skin had
tinges of pink staining her cheeks, and the smile she directed at Dom was as bright as a sunshiny day. If it weren’t for his sister’s sharp gasp and funny remark he might have done something ridiculous like, kiss Chelsea or toss her over his shoulder and find a quiet place to peel her poured on jeans, off.

“Holy hotness! Cowboy red alert. I think I just burst into flames!” Lilah was grinning as she watched the man in the cowboy hat come out of the barn that looked worse for wear.

“Oh my God, Lilah you weren’t kidding when you said you heard he was incredibly hot!” Chelsea agreed. The girls giggled like teenagers, heads leaning together as they all walked towards the man that had the cutest little towheaded girl with pigtails and big blue eyes following him.

Dom bristled and took an immediate disliking to the man that caught Chelsea’s attention. Not that it was his fault since he was concentrating on his cute little girl
who was ambling towards them, more than he was looking at his sister or her best friend. But why couldn’t the guy have bucked teeth, a crooked nose and a horse face? Instead, even Dom had to admit the guy was the epitome of a blue eyed, blond haired cowboy cover model. The way the women—his mom included, were looking at him he might as well have been riding in on a purebred mustang with his shirt open and flapping in the wind like some old-fashioned cowboy movie. With disgust Dom hooked his thumbs in his front pockets, deciding there was no way was this guy was getting his vote. No way. Hell no.

Chelsea held her hand out and shook the cowboy
’s hand, holding it way too long for Dom’s taste and giggled at something he said. Dom saw red and pulled his hands from his pockets and cracked his knuckles.

“Jake, this is my son Dominic. Dom this is Jake and his sweet little girl
, Roxy.” His mom gave him the ‘look’ when he left the guy with his hand hanging mid-air for an uncomfortable amount of time, until Dom relinquished and gave him a good, hard, squeezing shake.

“Good to meet you, Jake. It l
ooks like that barn of yours is about to fall in though, bruh. Is it even safe for the ladies to walk in there?” Dom asked sarcastically as they followed Jake inside. It got him a hard elbow from his mom but he shrugged his shoulders at her and went on in.

“It does need a lot of work but she’s still sound. I wouldn’t let my daughter go in there if there was a chance
that she could be harmed, let alone anyone else, Dom. I promise you that, my friend.” Jake was polite but it didn’t look like he got the message that Dom didn’t like him close to his girl.
Whoa. Chelsea wasn’t his girl. She was just…Chelsea. Where did the possessiveness come from?
He thought to himself.

But when Jake put his hand on Chelsea’s shoulder to lead her towards the stalls
where his therapy horses were, he seriously considered knocking his cowboy hat off his big blond head—

w
ith a shovel
. Apparently his mom caught on to his train of thought and gave him an elbow again in the same spot she did earlier. Dom grunted and rolled his eyes at her and walked in between the cowboy and Chelsea, keeping him from getting close enough to touch her again. It was good to see the guy got the picture and didn’t reach for her again.

Chelsea however, sidled around Dom and went to stand right next to the amazon man to pet his horse. Dom toed his boot into the dirt and rolled his shoulders back, crossing his arms over his chest in
an effort to keep his hands to himself. He’d never handled it well when a guy seemed interested in Chelsea, but this guy, this guy had her interest back.
She was blushing for fucks sake.

Less than a half hour ago she’d been blushing for him. By all appearances, Chelsea had forgotten that already in light of
, ‘Mr. Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy’.

Dom felt a pull on the chain that looped from his belt to his wallet. He looked down to be greeted by cute
, little miss pigtail that ended in curls, smiling up at him with her big blue eyes shining.

“Hi, I’m
Roxy. I like kittens. Do you like little baby kittens?” She inquired in a well-rounded speech that sounded out with a slight country twang. It sounded more like
li-ake
and baby sounded like
babah
.

Christ, how could he keep having a cocky, if not pissy attitude when this cute as a button lit
tle sweetie was befriending him? It was impossible not to smile.

“Hi,
Roxy, I’m Dom. I do like kittens. I like all animals actually.” Evidently that was the right answer because she took him by the hand and pulled him to a stall that had the door propped open. In the center of a pile of hay was a quilted blanket that by his count, had seven kittens all cuddled up together.

“Ai
n’t they the sweetest, Dom? My pa says I gets to keep one and name it all by myself, but I have to give the other’ns ‘way to good homes. I gonna gibs you one. But you cain’t haves the ‘ellow one. Its gon’ be mines.” Dom’s heart melted. Here he was being a jackass to her pa and she was willing to trust him with the care of one of her kittens.

“I don’t know,
Roxy. I’m gone a lot since I’m in school. I don’t think I have time to take care of a kitten.” Shit, he sounded like a jerk.

Roxy
’s face looked crestfallen. “But, you like kittens. You said so’s. I’m ‘posed to give ‘em to good homes.” When she sniffled, Dom cratered. No way in hell was this sweet little angel going to cry over him not adopting a kitten.