Three Fated Hearts by LNC novel Chapter 63

~Tia~

It’s cold. I feel the bed on my left and right, but the bed is empty. I guess that’s where the cold is from. I don’t think I can ever get used to being in a bed alone again. The body heat that I get from the twins is beyond comforting.

I stretch and hop in the shower to get ready for the day. I’m actually going to go dress shopping today. Mom is at the clinic this morning. She said she would take an early shift so she could have the afternoon available for me. Lynn is going to go shopping with us. I’m beyond excited to spend this time with the girls and have this experience with my mom.

I throw some exercise clothes on so I can hop into a training session this morning. I really have enjoyed training with others again. Surprisingly enough, I haven’t lost much skill over the years. I guess the bit of solo training I’ve been doing has kept me going.

When I reach the training area, I start to stretch, waiting for training to start. I made sure to go to the second training. My mates don’t run the training. I really don’t want to have to deal with that. There is no way I could train properly with my mates watching over me. The minute anyone was to touch me, they would end up having to run from my mates. It just isn’t worth the headache.

Training starts with a 10-mile run. I stay ahead of the group, able to complete the run in amazing time. Once everyone gets back from the run, we are paired off for sparing. “Hey there. Nice to see you.” Damn, Neal is my sparring partner. I guess the only thing to do is take it in stride.

“Hey, Neal. How are you?” Neal smirks at me.

“I’m okay for now. We’ll see how I am once this sparring is over.” We start to spar, and I have to say that Neal isn’t bad. He didn’t treat me with soft hands, and I appreciate that. We went back and forth, knocking each other down again and again.

I grab my water and towel once training ends. “Damn, kid, you’re tough.” I laugh and drink my water. “How is it that no one knows this? I’d imagine you may even be tougher than your sisters.” I cap my water and wipe my head with my towel.

“I don’t know about that. They were trained by our father. He is the head warrior so I’m sure they have skills I couldn’t even imagine.” Neal looks at me as if I’m growing a second head.

“I don’t know where you get that from, but whatever. All I know is that it was a job to keep us with you, and I’ve been training for a long time.” Neal and I start to walk back to the packhouse. We walk into the dining room, where I grab some fruit. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

I head upstairs to shower and change. I’m ready to get this shopping started. I throw on a pair of black jeans and a dark blue button-up shirt. I slip on black ballet slippers and grab my purse. When I get downstairs, Lynn and mom are waiting for me. The twins gave me a card and told me to go crazy. I know I won’t go crazy, but I agreed to make them happy.

“My beautiful daughter.” Mom grabs me and gives me a big hug. Lynn wraps her arms around the both of us, and we laugh. We walk out to the waiting SUV, and I’m shocked at what I see. Neal is holding the door open for us, and there is another warrior in the driver’s seat.

“Ladies! I will be your escort this afternoon. Let’s head out and get you guys in dresses.” Mom heads into the SUV first, patting Neal on his arm. Lynn gives him a smirk as she gets inside. I’m the last person in the car. Now I may be crazy, but I swear that Neal touched me as I got into the car. Not a ‘let me help you up’ type of touch, but a touch along my back, almost a caress. I shake it off and chalk it up to my paranoia.

We head to a plaza with a few different stores, one being a specialty shop. It’s filled with amazing dresses, and I’m excited to see what they have. We walk into the shop, and Neal takes up post at the door. We walk around the racks, picking out different dresses and having fun.

I take a few dresses into the dressing room to try on. The first is cute but doesn’t fit the best. The second is a bit too long, and I don’t think I’d have time to alter it. I put on the third dress, and I’m stunned. “This is it! This is it!”