Chapter 160 - THE DREAM IS FADING

Kyle had insisted on taking care of me in every possible way after he knew what I had been keeping to myself. He massaged my body, arms, legs, head, everything. He was doing everything that he could think of that wasn't going to lead to something sexual.

As much as I love my husband and mate, I was definitely not ready to be intimate again just yet. Yeah, it had been a week and all, but that didn't mean a damn thing. I had just pushed a nine pound watermelon out of my hoohah. Ain't nothing going in there again for a while.

Still, he didn't even try that. He didn't caress my body in a sexual way. He didn't try to touch my sensitive areas. He didn't do anything that was going to turn either of us on in any way, shape or form. All Kyle did was help me to relax and calm down. And dammit, he was good at it too.

After my bath, Kyle had helped me to dry off while I sat on the edge of the counter. He slowly dried each leg and then my body. When that was done, he first towel dried my hair and then took out the hair dryer to finish it up.

He wouldn't even let me walk back into the bedroom. He carried me in his arms like I was a princess, or like it was our wedding night all over again.

"I can walk, you know?" I told him as he cradled me against him.

"I know, but I like to carry my girls. You and Maya. I love how you feel in my arms. For different reasons of course, but still, I want to do this."

"Fine, whatever." I rolled my eyes as if I was annoyed, but dealing with it all while, in reality, I was loving every second of being in his arms. I couldn't admit that though; if I did, he would carry me everywhere I went, and my legs would end up being useless.

I put my foot down on him actually dressing me. I wasn't going to let him do that. Undressing me before sex or a bath was one thing, but I was not an invalid, and I was not going to let him dress me like I was incapable of doing it myself. He did, however, bring me the clothes so that I could get dressed. Those clothes happened to be a soft, comfortable pair of cotton sleep pants, a t-shirt with the picture of two anime characters smiling, and of course my bra, panties, and socks.

When I was done getting dressed, almost as if she had been waiting for that moment, Maya started to cry. I went to stand so that I could get her, but Kyle pushed me back down and brought her to me.

"I will get her bottle ready." He said as he rushed out of the room.

As I sat there, cradling the little baby in my arms, I couldn't help but smile.

"I think your daddy has gone a little coo coo." I laughed as I said the words, knowing she couldn't understand the words or the laugh. "But I think that's fine. Daddy is a good guy, don't you think so, Maya?"

"I think so." Kyle said as he rushed back into the room. He must have hurried as quickly as he could to get the milk in the bottle for our baby.

"Of course you would think so." I laughed at him, taking the bottle and feeding the baby.

We went about the rest of the routine that we usually had to get Maya ready for bed. She was fed, burped, changed, given a sponge bath, dressed, and put into her bassinet. After all of that was done, I found myself wanting to go back to bed.

I tried to fight the sleep though, grabbing a book from the table and forcing my eyes open. Kyle though, could tell that I was tired and needed to sleep. I don't even know why I was so sleepy though. I had napped for a couple of hours this morning when Kyle made me, so why was I ready for sleep again?

"You need rest." Kyle said as he plucked the book from my hands. "Come here."

After tossing the book onto the side table, Kyle pulled me into his arms and laid us both down onto the pillows.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked him, truly not waiting to close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

"Because I love you, care about you and simply, because I want to. Is that such a bad thing?" I heard him chuckle softly right into my ear, and it made me shiver.

"No, I guess it's not bad. It's just not what I expected." I turned in his arms so that I could see him and look him in the eyes.

"Even after these last six months? You still doubt me that much?" I could tell that he was hurt a little by that thought.

"It's not you that I doubt." I answered him honestly. "It's me. I don't know what to do in most situations because I ran from them for so long. You're making me discover more things about myself that I never knew."

"Then, we will discover them together." His crooked little grin that he gave me was so cute, so endearing, so in need of a kiss.

I had to press my lips against his and enjoyed the feeling of their warmth. It was like those lips were heating me up from the inside out. Even though the kiss was heated and full of passion, it was devoid of all sexual intent. This was just a kiss that was meant to convey love and affection for each other.

When Kyle pulled away, breaking the kiss, I saw that his eyes were darker than usual. He pulled away before the kiss could morph into something else. He stopped me from flicking a switch in him that he couldn't have activated at the moment.

"Let's go to sleep now, my love."

He pulled me closer to him and settled me against his chest, resting my head on his right shoulder. He intended for me to use him as a pillow as I fell asleep. When I tried to pull away so that he wouldn't wake up in pain because of that he held tight and wouldn't let me go.

"Stay with me." He said, wrapping his left arm around me and gripping my hip that was pressed into the bed. He was forming a cage around me with his arm, doing his best to box me in. I could have gotten out, but I didn't want to.

"OK." I smiled at his insistence and laid my head back down. "But don't blame me if your arm is sore in the morning."

I started to drift off to sleep almost immediately. And of course, that dream started to play again. But the moment that I saw Kyle in that nightmare of mine I felt the dream start to fade. It was like everything around me was fading away until there was nothing left but me, Kyle, and Maya. There was no danger, there was no fear, there was no heart ache, there was nothing but pure love and happiness.

Was this all it took? Was this all that I needed to make the dreams stop? Did I just need to tell him about them this whole time?

I felt the dream try to come back again and again, but no matter how many times those images crept up on me, Kyle's strong, steady embrace seemed to make them go away.

There was a point when the dream came up and didn't fade though. I heard Maya crying instantly, and my heart started to race. I felt the tears start, but I couldn't wake myself up. I was screaming at myself to get out of the nightmare and wake up, but I couldn't.

After a little while, the dream started to fade, and it was once again just me, Kyle, and Maya. When I finally woke up, it was morning, and the light was streaming through the window. I had slept through the night for the first time in a long time. The dream and the tears hadn't woken me up. Later that morning, I learned that when the dream had sunk it's claws into me and started its horror show was probably when Kyle had woken up to care for Maya, which explained why the crying started so soon. I was hearing her real cries.

So, Kyle had figured out a way to lessen the effects of my dream. He had finally found a way for me to sleep peacefully. And, for the first time in a while, I actually felt rested.

This new way of sleeping had become a routine for us. Over the next two weeks, I was able to keep all of the dreams away and stop them from causing me more stress. And it was all thanks to my mate.

I was just happy that I was able to sleep and, of course, I was happy that I got to be held by the man that I loved. That was definitely helping me as well. His warm, strong arms had been the medicine that I didn't even know that I needed.. And it didn't hurt that every night and every morning I was able to see the cutest little baby in the entire world.