Dane

Neither of them could sleep again. They debated whether or not to eat the food. Dane was suspicious that his father might try to steal their time from them. Or put something in the food made it difficult to enjoy. Lila admitted that his father had drugged her twice, but both times in the water. The water in the little sink tasted like metal, but they both choose it over the risk. And in the end, they chose hunger for the same reason.

​​

At some point they ended up back in bed, Dane sitting against the headboard, Lila between his knees, her back to his chest.

He was worried about her rib—she was moving very carefully now, and breathing shallowly. But he hoped she'd be out of there in a day or two at most, so she could get help then. He curled his body around her like a cage, twining their fingers and speaking into quietly into her ear.

He'd already spent an hour writing on her palm, making sure she was clear about how to handle whatever his father brought against them. But she was sagging under the weight of it, so he stopped. She knew the rest already. He just… he didn't want her unprepared.

They sat there, touching, breathing, waiting… The room had turned dark, but neither of them turned on the light.

"What do you dream about?" She asked him quietly, out of the blue.

"Sleep dreams?" he asked, taken off-guard.

"No. When you think about a future that you wish you could have, what does it look like? Do you have things you haven't achieved yet, that you want to? Or is it all just about being safe from this?" her voice sounded sad and Dane was desperate to make her smile. So he swallowed back the bittersweet fear and made himself tell her what he'd seen in his mind when they were together.

"I do think about being safe," he said quietly, pushing her hair back off her shoulder so he could rest his chin there. "But that's more just what I'd need to make the rest happen."

"What would you do? What do you wish for?" she asked.

Dane sighed. "I would be out of the city. I wouldn't need to be up and away from everything. I'd live out in some stupid-small town, I think. Somewhere I could have land and trees and kids playing outside, but still be able to have a hospital and stores."

She snorted, then her breath caught and she shifted, giving her rib more room. "Stores. Sure. You can't be the great Dane Daniels without your merino suits, after all."

He chuckled, though it was a little forced. "No, I wouldn't need to wear suits. I'd… I don't know what I'd do. But whatever it was, I could do it while the kids were at school so I'd be home to go to games, or make cookies or… what do families that aren't in danger do with their time?" he asked, genuinely confused.

Lila shrugged one shoulder. "I think sports or… extra-curricular activities, right? Maybe they belong to clubs, or go to church. I don't really know."

Dane thought about that, then shrugged it off. "Anyway, I'd be home after school. And I'd be free on weekends."

"Because of kids?" she asked, her voice a little thin.

"Yeah. Two or three. And then I'd take you on cheesy dates and kiss you in front of them so that they made gagging noises."

Lila giggled. "What kind of cheesy date?" she asked, sounding genuinely curious.

Dane blinked. Had he ever really dated? Not a lot. And definitely not in stupid-small towns. What would they do? He was stumped for a minute. "I don't know. What do they do in small towns? Like, seriously?"

Lila bit her lip and played her fingers along his forearm. "I think things like going to dinner at the only restaurant. Which would be on Mainstreet."

"And it would have those red plaid tablecloths," he added.

"Yes! And the server would be the same lady that sells me make-up and nails from her living room."

"And we'd run into our son's math teacher in there and find out he's got a terrible grade that we don't know about and it would ruin the mood for a while."

"Omigosh, yes! And… and… I'd go to the bathroom in the middle of the meal and take off my underwear and try to hand them to you under the table and—"

"You would?"

"Isn't that what middle-aged women do when they want to re-spark the fire?" she giggled.

"I don't know. I don't think our fire would need resparking. I think just knowing you were heading to the bathroom would make me want to follow you there and pull you into the handicap stall," he said, his voice very deep.

Lila gasped. "And then we'd get caught coming out together by our daughter's uptight Life Science teacher who was supposed to retire three years ago—and she'd give you disapproving looks and humph at you because you're too handsome for their town and it makes the women flutter."

"Flutter?"

"Yes, that feeling women get when they look at you," Lila said, half-joking, half-annoyed.

"Fluttering?"

"C'mon, Dane, you know what you do to people."

"No, seriously, though—"

She twisted around to meet his gaze, but couldn't turn the full way because of her side, and Dane frowned. For a moment he'd forgotten where they were, and why they were naked. But she wasn't letting it go.

"You have that… that look… that makes women go all nervous and happy and think about you."

"Think about me?"

"Yeah. They look at you, then they think about their own boyfriends or husbands or whatever, and they wish it was you. And they objectify you."

"Really," Dane said, with a smug smile. "Tell me more."

She slapped his arm, but laughed. "That look tells me you know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not going to feed the trolls."

"I didn't know about the objectifying, though. Did you objectify me before we got together, Mrs. Daniels?" he said, sliding his hand to her waist and kissing her neck.

"Maybe," she said breathlessly. "Maybe I still do."

"I like the sound of this. More details please."

She smiled, but turned all the way around so she was facing him and took his face in her hands, kissing him long, and slow, and deep, like she'd never stop.

Dane sucked in and slid his hands into her hair, his mind empty of everything except the softness of her lips, and the taste of her.

"You're the most impossible man," she said a few minutes later, without pulling away. "And I still can't believe you're mine."

"That's a big ditto, Mrs. Daniels," he said hoarsely and pulled her in for another kiss.