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  “I’m so glad you asked the question,” she responded, nuzzling into the hollow of my throat. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Epilogue

  Brea

  6 months later

  I felt almost as nervous meeting Luke’s parents as he must have felt meeting Dad, but I tried not to let it show. Luke saw right through me, though. His fingers slipped along the shoulders of my dress in light, calming strokes as he stared down into my eyes, a crooked smile on his face.

  “Relax,” he murmured. “They’re going to love you.”

  “You keep saying that,” I sighed. “It was easier for you, though. You just had to meet my dad. And Gloria.” I paused, thinking for a moment about Dad’s girlfriend. She was the perfect match for him, somehow. She helped him around the farm, she was great with horses, and when he was reading in the evenings she liked to paint or do other art projects. She was spunky and spontaneous, though, and she drew Dad out of his comfort zone.

  I’d been a little worried when they first started dating, afraid that so much activity would trigger another heart attack. But he had grown even stronger than he had been before he’d been hospitalized. Gloria was good for him.

  I turned back to Luke. “I have to meet not only your parents but all your brothers and their wives,” I reminded him. “That’s a lot of people, all at once.”

  “And they’re all going to love you,” Luke said again, grinning at me. “Just trust me.”

  “I do,” I said softly, putting my hands on his chest. My ring sparkled in the overhead lighting. We weren’t married yet, but we had picked our venue, at least, and all the details were starting to fall into place. We would get married in a year. I could already picture the plain but beautiful rustic ceremony, when I closed my eyes.

  But before we could get married, I needed to meet his family. And they were all back now, to celebrate the expansion of the farm. Luke had been pouring his heart and soul into the farm over the past six months, and it was starting to really look like something. He and Tanner had made some smart moves with the planting this year, and they were already starting to pay off.

  Tanner was leaving soon for Texas, but he would always be welcomed back at my place, wherever the hell that was. He knew that, and I knew I’d made more than family out of our relationship… I’d made a lifelong friend.

  I took one last deep breath and then followed Luke downstairs. I could hear all of them in the kitchen and spilling out into the backyard. Luke reached over and held my hand, his grip warm and comforting. “I’m right here next to you,” he reminded me in a low tone. “I’ll be right here for you, the whole time.”

  “Thanks,” I said, smiling over at him. “I love you.”

  “Me too,” he said. Then, he led me into the kitchen.

  “Luke!” one of the women exclaimed, coming over to give him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then, she spotted me and repeated the same treatment. “You must be Brea. It’s so good to finally meet you. Luke has told us so much about you. I’m Lauralee, Ted’s wife.” She turned and motioned for two other women to come over. “This is Sarah and Abigail. They’re soon to be in this crazy ass family too.”

  “Nice to meet you all,” I said, smiling at her and wishing I didn’t feel so shy with all those eyes turned to look at me. They were all so friendly, though. It felt like by the time we’d all been introduced, we might have known one another forever.

  We all headed out onto the back deck for dinner at a long table. “So how do you know Luke?” one of the women asked me.

  Duck took that as her cue, running up from the barn, barking excitedly, her tail wagging. “Hey Ducky,” I said, crouching down next to the dog and scratching her behind the ears.

  “Brea was Duck’s trainer,” Luke said, proudly.

  “Wow,” one of the brothers said. “We took her out hunting earlier and she did an amazing job of retrieving. She was off practically before we’d even fired a shot!”

  “All Brea’s doing,” Luke said proudly. I smiled up at him and got back to my feet.

  “She was an easy one,” I said. “She’s smart, and eager to please.”

  Ted laughed. “You should have seen her before you got your hands on her, though,” he said. “She was terrible.”

  “Well, if I’d had a little time to train her, rather than having my nose to the grindstone around here all the time, maybe she wouldn’t have been so bad,” Luke said, but there was no anger in his voice. I knew he was proud of the work that he’d done around the place in the past few months. It had been all his, and he’d really come into himself there. They’d hired another couple of part-time hands, just local boys, and things were going smoothly.

  Things were going smoothly on our farm, too. Dad hadn’t been pushing himself as much lately. Gloria was good at getting him to relax a little. They had hired a hand of their own, at my insistence, and even though things were tight with money, it seemed to be working out well for them. I was pulling extra hours with dog training to help them out a little, and everyone was happy.

  I’d mostly been living here, with Luke, instead of my place in town, so that meant I was close enough to check on Dad, too. I had seen more of him this month than I probably ever had since moving out. It was good for both of us.

  “Can I just say how glad I am that you’ve finally found someone?” David said, shaking his head. “All the Dawson boys, all grown up.”

  Luke laughed. “I don’t know about all grown up, Mr. Country star,” he said. “When are you going to get a real job?”

  David laughed as well. “Maybe when you stop managing the farm so well and actually need my help again,” he suggested.

  “Doubt that’ll ever happen,” Mason said.

  The boys chatted for a while. We all turned to look when the door slid open and Luke’s parents joined us outside. For a long time, there was just hugging, kissing, and greetings. Then, Luke’s mom reached me.

  “Mama, this is my fiancée, Brea,” Luke said, putting a hand on my arm.

  “It’s wonderful to meet you,” the woman said, giving me a big, welcoming hug. It was strange, that hug. I knew about everything between her and my father. In another lifetime, I might not have existed, because of this woman. Or maybe she would have been my mother.

  I could see what Dad had liked in her. She had a dancer’s grace, and she was sweet, with gentle eyes. She was quiet, and her presence was calming.

  But I thought Gloria was a better fit for Dad. Maybe things had turned out for the best after all.

  I accepted another hug from Luke’s father, and then we were all seated again.

  “So what was the best part of the trip?” Luke asked his mother. “The retreat in New Mexico?”

  His mom laughed. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Although I’d like to say it was, just to see your father’s face when I said it!” She paused for a moment, thinking. “Probably the best part of the trip is coming back home to see all of you,” she said.

  There was a chorus of laughter around the table. “Didn’t you see most of the national parks in the whole United States?” Mason asked. “You can’t really tell me that Oklahoma beats out all of that.”

  “Actually, we have some news,” Daddy said.

  “Uh oh,” Luke said, a devilish glint to his eyes. “Mama, you’re not pregnant, are you?”

  Again, there was laughter all around. “No, I’m not pregnant,” Mama said. “But we’ve bought a little cottage in Maine. You should see it. It’s right on the ocean, such a beautiful place. And in the fall, the foliage is supposed to be incredible.”

  The brothers exchanged glances.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be back,” Daddy said, half a smile on his face. “Maine in the winter would be too much for both of our old bones.”

  “We figure we’ll split our time between the house up there and the place down here,” Mama continued. “And you will all have to come visit us, too.”

  I leaned towa
rd Luke. “What do you think about a northeast wedding?” I asked. We had already picked out the location down here, but suddenly, I was thinking about what Mama had said about foliage up there. That could be beautiful. And I had a feeling Gloria and Dad would love to take a little road trip up that way for the wedding. They were still talking about all the travel that they wanted to do.

  Luke beamed at me and gave me a quick, chaste kiss. “I think that sounds like a plan,” he said in an undertone.

  “Come on, kiss her for real!” Mason said, smirking at his younger brother.

  Luke rolled his eyes, but he put a hand on the back of my neck and pulled me into another kiss, this one deeper and tender, his tongue pressing against mine. When we pulled apart, I could feel how flushed I was, and I blushed even hotter as I realized everyone was cheering for us.

  “Welcome to the family,” Luke muttered, looking just as embarrassed.

  I giggled and shook my head. “I never had any siblings,” I reminded him. “This is kind of nice.”

  And it was definitely nice. I loved the dynamic of my dad and me. For so long, we’d only had one another to rely on. Things were changing now, but in some ways, things were always going to remain the same. He was always going to be the most important person in my life. But that didn’t mean that I couldn’t fit Luke into my life as well.

  I listened to the four Dawson boys teasing one another, and I was glad that I had been brave enough to go through with all of this. Between Dad’s misgivings and my own worries, it would have been so easy to give up on this before it had ever started. But I was happier now than I had ever been before. I wouldn’t trade this for the world.

  Luke leaned toward me, his brow furrowed. “You’re pretty quiet,” he said. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said, smiling over at him. “Everything’s perfect. Just the way it should be.”

  THE END

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  About the Author

  Ali Parker is a full-time contemporary and new adult romance writer with more than a hundred and twenty books behind her. She loves coffee, watching a great movie and hanging out with her hubs. By hanging out, she means making out. Hanging out is for those little creepy elves at Christmas. No tight green stockings for her.

  She’s an entrepreneur at heart and loves coming up with more ideas than any one person should be allowed to access. She lives in Texas with her hubs and three kiddos and looks forward to traveling the world in a few years. Writing under eleven pen names keeps her busy and allows her to explore all genres and types of writing.

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  Don’t Close Your Eyes

  Dawson Brothers #4

  Copyright © 2018 by Ali Parker

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and plot are all either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons – living or dead – is purely coincidental.

  First Edition.

  Editor: Mary Wolney

  Cover Art: Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design