Beautiful Dreams (The Beautiful Series) (15 page)

“I have a surprise for you, beautiful,” a familiar warm voice said while placing soft kisses down my throat.

“Sleep…” I grumbled in response, not wanting to open my eyes yet.

“I really think you’re going to want to get up for this one,” he teased.

“Need…sleep,” I groaned again, turning into his side. I wished he would give me at least one more hour.

Kyle chuckled just above my ear. “I’ll give you a hint,” he said with humor. He kissed the top of my head now that my face was pressed into his chest. “Something arrived in the garage this morning.”

I sat straight up, barely hearing Kyle’s, “Whoa,”
in the process as he shifted back slightly, so I wouldn’t knock him on the chin.

“My car and four-wheelers were finally delivered?” I asked, unable to contain the enthusiasm in my voice.

“Yep.” He smiled. “And I’m not sure how much longer I can hold off Jason and Damon, so you better get up.” He chuckled.

I bent forward and gave him a smacking kiss on his lips, and then I turned to jump off the bed. At my dresser, I threw on the first clean shirt and pair of jeans that I found in my drawers. I was extremely thankful that I’d stopped drinking last night. Otherwise, I would have had a massive hangover. I tied up my hair into a sloppy bun as I spun around to face Kyle.

“Ready.” I grinned.

Kyle shook his head from side to side in amazement. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you move so fast.”

I picked up a throw pillow from the floor in front of the bed and chucked it at him. “Ass!” I said jokingly.

His eyebrows perked in a mixture of shock and amusement. “Did you just call me an ass?” he asked in bewilderment.

I nodded, feeling lively this morning. “Yep.” I smirked before spinning on my heels to face the door, and then I looked at him from over my shoulder. “And there ain’t nothing you can do about it.” I winked before turning back around to take a step toward the door.

Kyle leaped off the bed in the blink of an eye. He caught me just as my hand reached to open the door handle. I squealed loudly as he threw me over his shoulder, spun around, and strode back toward the bed. He lightly tossed me onto the mattress. I bounced softly, and he crawled on top of me, prowling over me with his sexy dark eyes heated with challenge. My body hummed with desire for him.

“Oh, beautiful girl,” he chided, making a hoarse tsking sound with his mouth. “You know how much I love a good challenge.”

I rocked my hips up into him, and he emitted a deep moan from his throat as he grabbed my waist. Seconds later, a loud bang sounded on our door.

“Let’s go, Lily!” Jason yelled. “You can do that shit after we ride!” he teased, laughing.

“Damn,” I huffed. I knew we couldn’t make love with company close-by, but the thought was temping.
Having family stay in our home definitely had its cons.

Kyle chuckled while bending forward to kiss me. “Until later.” He grinned.

After rising from the bed, he reached for my hand to help me up. We made our way over to the door. Kyle opened it, and I walked through first. Damon and Jason were standing in the living room, stifling their laughter.

Jason glanced at me. “So, whose hot red car was that in the driveway this morning? It magically disappeared shortly after the movers left.”

My eyebrows pinched in confusion. I wondered if Abbey had already picked it up. “That’s Abbey’s. She must have gotten a ride over here this morning to pick it up.”

“Well, if she’s as hot as her car, you should definitely introduce me,” Jason said with a grin.

Kyle’s head swung over to stare at Jason. “Hey, that’s my sister, jackass. Watch it.”

“Your sister drives that?” Jason asked in a surprised tone.

“Yes. Apparently, she just bought it,” Kyle replied. He looked at me. “You didn’t know she was coming to get it this early?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I was going to swing by and pick her up for a late lunch, but she must have changed her mind.” I shrugged. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Kyle pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’m going to text her just to be sure,” he said while his fingers pounded the screen on his phone.

A minute later, his phone beeped, and he read the screen. “We must have missed her by a few minutes. She said Gail offered to swing by since it was on her way to work.”

“Oh, that was nice of her,” I said, relieved that it was not anything serious.

“Ready to ride?” Kyle asked while looking at the three of us.

“Born ready,” Jason answered.

We all made our way to the mudroom and into the garage. My eyes focused on my car that was now in the first stall. Kyle’s car was in the second parking space, followed by his truck in the third. I looked around, realizing this was the first time I’d really noticed everything he had in the garage.

As we passed by the front of the vehicles, I zoned in on all the toys parked in a neat row along the far wall. My eyes widened at seeing six four-wheelers in all. I recognized four of them as mine. The first two had belonged to my parents, the third had been Annie’s, and the last one was mine. The other two had to belong to Kyle.

“This one is mine,” Kyle said, pointing to a black Yamaha. “And this one is Ryan’s, but he doesn’t get out here to ride it much anymore. The three of us aligned the four-wheelers in here this morning only to make sure they’d all fit. Otherwise, we would have left them outside.” He lifted his hand to point to the window. “Your snowmobiles are out there on a trailer with their covers on. We’ll have to try to make room for them”—he looked around—“s
omewhere…
or we might have to extend the garage.” He chuckled.

I couldn’t help but laugh at Kyle’s expression. He was definitely enjoying all the new additions to his garage.

“Lily, mind if I borrow this one?” Jason asked, pointing to my dad’s four-wheeler.

“Sure,” I responded. Then, I turned my attention to Damon. “You want to ride my mom’s since I know it’s a bit faster than Annie’s?”

“Sounds good to me.” Damon smiled.

Kyle opened the garage door. He fired his up first, slipped the gear into reverse, and backed out. Once outside, he turned it off and walked back into the garage. The three men started maneuvering the ATVs around in an attempt to back them out of the garage.

Excitement coursed through my veins when it was my turn to start my own my four-wheeler. It was always such a sweet, sweet sound that I would never get tired of hearing. I carefully backed it out onto the driveway and parked it next to Kyle’s.

We all quickly took turns getting dressed in our gear in the mudroom, so we wouldn’t ruin our street clothes. We all exited through the garage door before Kyle closed it with the remote. Then, he tucked it into the front pocket of his riding jacket.

I glanced up at the sky, taking in the hot sun and warm air. I inhaled a deep breath, loving how the heat was beating along my face. It was a perfect day to go for a ride.

“So, where to?” Jason asked. “I assume you know the trails around here?”

“Yes, almost eighteen acres surrounding my lot are open. If we head northeast for about six miles, it backs up into a couple of public trails we can cruise on.”

Jason and Damon both nodded in understanding at Kyle’s description, but I was terrible with directions. I just planned to follow Kyle until I knew my way around.

“Lead the way,” Jason commanded.

Each taking our seats and putting on our helmets, we all revved our engines to life, ready to go. First, Kyle took off around the side of his house, staying on the far edge of his property. Jason motioned for me to go next, so I hit the gas to trail behind Kyle. Jason and Damon followed, bringing up the rear.

As we passed through Kyle’s backyard, I recalled how beautiful it was with the small lake. Once we reached the other side, Kyle turned left toward what I assumed was the way to the trails.

The path was fairly flat for about three miles before we approached some rougher terrain. The ground was dry, so I could feel each and every bump. Five minutes later, we came up to a heavily wooded area.

Kyle slowed and gestured to his right before making a sharp turn in that direction. He slowed to a stop, climbed off his four-wheeler, and walked over to us as he lifted the front shield of his helmet. We all raised our shields, too, so we could hear him.

“These will be much rougher paths with sharper turns and steeper inclines than you’re used to. The four-wheelers on average only have about six inches of leeway on either side, so be careful not to go too fast, or you’ll smack into a tree.”

“Got it,” I said.

We all nodded in understanding and then lowered our shields.

Kyle returned to his ATV and hopped on, and we started moving again. Within less than a minute, I knew exactly what he had been talking about. The trails were so narrow. We neared a steep drop-off that had a swift curve at the bottom. I put on my brakes and leaned back to counterbalance my weight with the machine. The adrenaline rush was exhilarating.

Kyle started to pick up speed, so I knew we must have a few easy miles ahead of us. I opened up the throttle, feeling the wind brush across my gear. I loved riding. I could blow off steam and just have some good old fun out in nature. Out here, no chores needed to be done and no phone calls or emails had to be answered for work. It was just wide-open miles begging to be ridden.

After a couple of hours of exploring a few of the routes, we stopped on top of a huge hill to take a breather. We all climbed off our four-wheelers and stretched.

Kyle and Damon started walking along the far side of the trail. Kyle was explaining the surrounding paths and how they interweaved with each other. I strolled to the edge of the trail to take in the sight before me. I didn’t have the slightest clue where we were, but it was incredible.

Jason came to stand next to me. “Wow, I can’t get over the remarkable views and trails you guys have here.”

“It is beautiful, isn’t it? There are so many pine trees, too,” I said. From the corner of my eye, I could see Jason had turned to look at me. I rotated my gaze to meet his eyes. “What?” I asked quietly.

Jason slowly shook his head from side to side. “Nothing.” He paused. “It’s just been a long time since I’ve seen that glow in your eyes. You look so happy and at ease here. It’s a very gratifying sight.”

I smiled affectionately at him, praying I would not cry. Jason could always say the most heartfelt words and catch me off guard.

“I am happy,” I breathed.

Jason sidestepped closer, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I leaned my cheek against him as we admired our surroundings.

After a moment of appreciation, I broke the silence. “So, are you really thinking about moving to Lake Tahoe?”

“Yes,” Jason replied. “Are you okay with that? The three of us working together?”

I nudged his shoulder. “Don’t be silly, Jason. I’m more than pleased that you all will be working together. It’s great to see the three of you getting along so well. I wish Blake could be here, too,” I added sadly, missing my third cousin, who was still active in the military.

“So do I,” Jason said. “Sometimes, I’m surprised he joined whereas other times, it seems to fit him so well. He’s really changed these last few years,” Jason added fondly.

“I could see that in the short time we spent together,” I said, remembering the half day when I’d seen him in Colorado. It seemed like so much time had already passed since that day.

“The military has a way of changing people. I think some change for the better, and others need help finding their way back,” Jason said.

I could hear his concern for Blake in his voice. Jason’s words truly had a powerful meaning as my thoughts shifted to Kyle. I was relieved that Kyle had been strong enough to find his way back, and he was slowly working toward letting me into that part of his life that had once been closed off. I smiled lovingly, thinking about his progress.

Kyle and Damon made their way back to us, and Jason and I turned to face them.

“Damon wants to head west and ride along the river for a bit. Sound good?”

“Sure,” Jason and I answered at the same time.

I had not seen that area either. This was all new to me as well. After putting on our helmets, the four of us took off to explore the terrain. These trails were vastly different than the ones in Colorado. As we covered mile after mile, I was continually in awe of the landscape.

At a quarter past five, we pulled up into Kyle’s driveway. I turned off my four-wheeler and stood. My legs felt like Jell-O. That had been the longest trail ride I had been on in many, many years.

After shutting off his ATV, Kyle came to stand next to me. “What did you think of the trails out here?”

“I can’t believe how much extra space you have,” I said in awe as we started stripping off our gear in the garage. “I didn’t think those trails were ever going to end.”

“Oh, that wasn’t the end.” Kyle chuckled as he shucked off his riding pants, and then he gathered me in his arms. “You can go on for days on those trails. They all back up to other routes.”

“Jeez.” I laughed as he kissed my forehead. “And I thought I had it made in Colorado,” I said in reference to how many paths we had traveled there. Trails in Lake Tahoe were every kid’s dream. “We will definitely be getting good use out of our toys here.”