Hiding In His Dreams Read Online Free PDF

alternating layers of ground chicken
and sautéed vegetables.
    She put the container on his desk and
he took a bite.
    “ Delicious,” he announced.
“I know you worked the day shift at the hospital today. You didn’t
have to make me dinner.”
    “ I wanted to.“ Then, she
looked at him expectedly.
    He glanced at the clock. “I know it’s
10 pm. But I‘ll be home just as soon as I‘m done the research
here.”
    She crossed her arms. “Why do you have
to work so hard?”
    “ Because I’ll be fired if I
don’t.”
    “ But why is that so
important to you? You‘ve been at the office late every night. I
would accuse you of having an affair, but I know you‘re a
workaholic.”
    “ Because a man’s gotta
work.”
    “ But what about us?” She
held her hands out.
    He sighed. “Come here,” he said,
patting his lap.
    She came over and sat on his lap
sideways.
    “ My father was the one who
pushed me to succeed, but not by leading by example,” he began. “He
was a loser, an alcoholic. He couldn’t hold a job, and spent
everything on booze. We lost everything. My mother and I had to go
live with relatives. I‘ll never forget the looks they gave us.
Looks filled with contempt. That day, I swore I would never be him.
I swore I would work my ass off to have a good life.”
    She listened with rapt attention,
rubbing his arm to signal understanding.
    Looking her in the eyes, he continued,
“I have to get this one perfect. Another other guy got the Junior
Manager position.”
    She put a hand to her chest, then
kissed his cheek.
    For a minute, she just rested herself
on him. He closed his eyes, and breathed in her scent. Vanilla
again. It was times like these that made him forget about anything
else in the world, especially his career. It was just him and her,
nothing else.
    Then, she got up. “Just come home when
you’re done.”
    She left, and Luke turned to his
dinner, expecting it to be cold. He touched the warm container and,
smiling, realized that she had put the lasagna in a
thermos.
    * * * * *
    He finally got home at midnight. When
he entered his living room, he took a minute to admire the
decorated room. It was such a contrast to how he had it before she
moved in. Paintings of oak trees, starry nights, lush hills,
bubbling springs were hung on a backdrop of ornate wallpaper. The
most numerous though, were paintings of cherry blossoms. White,
pink, red, orange – they came in all colors in the eyes of the
artist.
    Luke entered their bedroom and saw
Alyssa in her nightgown, bent over the desk in their
room.
    Startled, she looked up at him, then
smiled.
    “ You’re home. Look what I
drew you!”
    She held up the picture that she had
drawn. It was of a single white cherry blossom. Their
flower.
    She went over and gave him a peck on
the cheek.
    Without a word, Luke reached into his
briefcase, pulling out chocolates. “I’m sorry I’ve been so busy
lately.”
    He gave her the presents. “That’s not
all.” He took out a new set of paints.
    She held a hand to her mouth and
gasped.
    He said, “I know you love your
drawing.”
    She hugged him, and he held onto her,
relishing the feel of her body pressed into his.
    “ Let’s just lie down on the
bed and close our eyes.”
    He led her to their bed, taking off his
restricting business suit.
    “ Mkay.”
“I love your mkay.”
    They fell onto the bed
together.
    “ I almost forgot.” He
reached into his briefcase on the nightstand, and pulled out a
cherry blossom.
    “ Our flower,” she
said.
    “ Our flower,” he
echoed.
    She held it to her heart.
    A comfortable silence surrounded them,
the peaceful silence after the end of a long day of working and
making dinner.
    “ Luke?”
    “ Yeah?”
    “ I read somewhere that if
you can have a comfortable silence with someone, it means you’re
close to him.”
    “ Then I guess we must be
really close then.”
    Luke felt the coolness of the sheets
against his body as he sank further into the bed. It was good