Don't Ever Tell Read Online Free PDF Page A

embrace.
At such moments, it was easy to believe in soul mates. In destiny. He was probably just a hopeless romantic, but sometimes he believed God had created Rachel just for him, and him for her.
But the memory of last night was a thorn pricking his thoughts.
“How’d you sleep?” he asked.
He felt her body tense.
“Fine.” She moved out of his arms and picked up her coffee.
“Remember any bad dreams?”
She shook her head. She added cream and sugar to her coffee, stirred it with a spoon.
“Who were you fighting?”
The spoon slipped out of her fingers and clattered onto the countertop.
“What?” She picked up the spoon, frowning.
“You had a nightmare. You were kicking and swinging like you were fighting someone—you even started choking at one point. The whole time, you were screaming at a man. I know it was a man, because you called him a bastard.”
The crease in her brow deepened. “I don’t remember that at all.”
“Not at all?”
She dropped her gaze, shook her head. “I have no idea who I could’ve been screaming at, either.”
“Whoever it was, you were terrified of him.”
Cupping the coffee mug in both hands, she shrugged.
“Dreams are just ...well, dreams,” she said. “They don’t always hold a meaning—sometimes they do, I admit, but not always. How many times have you had a dream about something that was totally make-believe?”
“Pretty often. But you should’ve seen yourself, Rachel. I mean, you were really fighting.”
“Did I kick the guy’s ass?” She smiled mischievously.
“I don’t know. I woke you up. I was getting worried.”
“You should’ve let me sleep through it. I would’ve finished kicking this mystery guy’s ass and then our conversation this morning would be, ‘Baby, you were beating the hell out of somebody in your sleep last night. Hope it wasn’t me.’ ”
She was trying to make him laugh, and it usually worked. But he pursed his lips tightly.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Thinking about how you were acting...it wasn’t funny at all. Even Coco was upset.”
Sitting between them, Coco glanced from him, to Rachel, as if corroborating his story.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what else to tell you,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned, it was just a meaningless nightmare that I can’t remember. That happens to everyone sometimes.”
From her tone, he could tell she didn’t want to discuss the subject further.
“Sure, okay,” he said.
Coco whined to be picked up. Rachel plucked the little dog off the floor and cradled her in her arms, cooed to her softly.
“Since we’re not sleeping in, I’ll get ready for work,” she said.
“We can go back to bed. I can work later, no biggie.”
“Nah, I better go.” She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. “Busy time of year, baby. Sistas are beating our doors down with the holidays coming up.”
He watched her return upstairs. The room was dull in her absence.
His thoughts doubled back to their conversation about her nightmare, and the dream assailant. He didn’t know who the nightmarish figure might have been—but he knew one thing for certain.
She had lied to him.
    4
    Rachel had lied to Joshua. Again.
As quickly as possible, she left home. The longer she stayed in Joshua’s presence, the worse she felt about what she’d done.
She backed her silver Acura TL out of the garage and drove away from the house, winding through the subdivision of spacious homes and winter-browned lawns. It was a quarter to seven, but the December sun was still in hiding. Although she loved the holiday season, she disliked the late sunrises at that time of year. A shower of sun rays as she drove to work might have lifted her spirits.
Or perhaps not. She was burdened with such heavy thoughts that nothing might have improved her mood.
Why had she lied to Joshua—again? He was kind, honest, and loyal, the kind of man she’d longed to meet and had doubted she would ever find. He deserved the best she could