Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 125257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
“Glad you’re happy,” he says to her, his voice cool again.
“I am. And now I need to steal my sister away.”
She tugs my arm and I join her, but my heart is with the man I left by the fence. The man who’s wearing his red-hot emotions on his sleeve.
39
THE DRAGON AND HIS GOLD
LAKE
This is why I don’t do romance. I failed at marriage, I’m a fucking sham at being a widower, and I swore off love when my mom took off years ago. Some people aren’t wired for it. Me. I’m some people. I’m not wired for love.
But I can’t let Remy think she’s messed up, because I know those thoughts eat away at her.
She waves goodbye to Caroline from the driveway. The second her sister’s car—piled high with secondhand items they’re going to donate—pulls out of the gravel driveway, I push past the tight ball of dread in my chest.
“Jealous,” I blurt out to her from a few feet away.
Remy turns around, tilting her head. “What?”
“I’m jealous,” I say with a frustrated sigh. “That’s why I acted that way.”
She strides across the driveway, joining me at the stone path edging the front yard as twilight falls, casting shadows over us. “You mean like a dragon protecting its gold?”
If the shoe fits. “Yes. But in my defense, I want to show you how you should be treated. And the corollary of that is someone treated you badly, so therefore, I hate him. I just do, and I’m not sorry about it.”
She laughs. “I can tell. Although it was kind of out of the blue. You’re normally so…cool about everything.”
Is that how she sees me? Cool is the last thing I am around her. White hot is more like it. “Trust me, there’s nothing cool in me when it comes to your ex. But still, I shouldn’t get so worked up.”
“I don’t know. I kind of liked it,” she says with a shrug. A damn flirty one at that.
And hello, plot twist.
I advance closer to her. “You like a caveman, Remy?” I never would have expected this. She’s so put together, so thoughtful.
“Evidently.”
I run a hand down her arm, stopping at her wrist, sliding my thumb along the top of her hand. “Good to know,” I say as she shivers. But at the same time, she deserves an explanation, so I let go of her. “Look, like I told you in Evergreen Falls, it’s been a while. Not just for sex, but for…everything. Dating, this romance, the whole thing,” I say, waving a hand at her and me like that covers broadly what’s happening between us, even though I have no clue what that is. “I shouldn’t have gotten pissed that he’s here. I knew he was coming. I just…”
Felt like protecting what’s mine.
“Just what?” she asks, as if she’s dying to know.
And fuck it. “I want to protect you from him. I don’t want him in the same space as you. You’re fucking mine for now, okay?”
“Okay,” she says, but she’s smiling, having too much fun with my response. “And for the record, you’re pretty damn good at the dating thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Great, I’d say.” She reaches for my hands, squeezes them, and fuck me. She should not be reassuring me. I should be reassuring her.
“Remy, you don’t have to say that. It’s my role to tell you how amazing you are.”
“Maybe it’s mine too. Maybe we both need to know from each other that we’re doing okay.”
I don’t want to be vulnerable. I really don’t. But she’s doing so much, so I crack open my chest and ask, “How’m I doing?”
“Much better than okay. I’m pretty sure you deserve good things too.”
My heart slams hard against my rib cage, like it’s trying to break out. I want to wrestle the organ, shove it behind the door, lock it up. This woman is doing things to me that I wasn’t expecting. She’s breaking down walls that I’m not sure I wanted knocked down. But I also don’t want her to stop.
I thread my fingers through hers and try to focus on the here and now. “Tonight, I want to show you that you deserve good things. Will you let me?”
She nibbles on the corner of her lips. “What do you have in mind?”
“Spend the night with me again.” I tug on the waistband of her jeans, pulling her close. “I can make you breakfast in the morning. Number four on the list.”
She pretends to give that some thought. “Will it involve a berry bar?”
“If that’s what you want.” I’ll go out tonight and hunt through all the grocery stores in the city to get her every type I can find.
“You’re the one who wants the berry bar,” she tosses back.
I roam my fingers across the soft material of her sweater, covering her waist. She lets out a surprised breath, a shuddery one. I fucking love how simple touches undo her. “I want berries, and I want you.”