Chapter 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.”
She inches closer to me. “We’re supposed to make breakfast together.”
“Then you can wash the berries and I’ll eat them.”
She swats my chest, but I grab her hand quickly and kiss her palm. “I’m hearing a yes.”
She glances at the house, then up at the sky, the stars peeking out in the twilight. “If Thor can come.”
I laugh, dropping my head to her neck. “You like me for my cat.”
She slides a hand down the front of my jeans, squeezing. “And this.”
I snap up my gaze. “Let’s go. Now.”
Eager for the rest of the night to begin, we fly up the steps, then rush inside. My dad’s sitting on the couch in the living room, feet up on the table, reading a book, and petting Thor on the cushion next to him.
“Hey, Dad. I’m just going to steal him from you and get out of here.”
“Sure, take an old man’s cat. Real nice,” he says dryly.
“Lake, you’re so mean to take the cat,” Remy chides.
“See if I’m mean when he wakes you up at five-thirty, knocking things off counters, asking to be fed,” I say.
“Fair point. You can have him,” my dad says.
But before I can grab the feline, Gavin strides through the house, nodding my way. “Can you help me with the grain bags in the stables before you go?”
“Course,” I say, even though I’m itching to get the hell out of here.
“Good. I can chat with my son’s new girlfriend while you do strapping man things,” Dad says, and my heart twists with guilt. I’m going to disappoint him when this ends. But I’ll deal with that when it comes. For tonight, I need to show Remy I’m more than a caveman, more than a dragon.
But first I head out to the stables and help my brother move some fifty-pound grain bags. Gavin can lift them solo, but it’s safer to carry them with someone than to risk injury.
When that’s done, I return to the house, where my dad’s saying to Remy, “So he showers you with gifts. That’s very good to know.”
“He’s an excellent gift-giver. Like your daughter.”
Dad’s smile is fond. “She sure is.” He looks up, seeming reluctant, but also a gentleman. To Remy, he adds, “It was nice chatting with you. About everything.”
“The pleasure was all mine.”
I leash up the cat, then steal the cat and the woman away. A dragon hoarding its gold indeed.
As we pull out of Big Steps, I ask, “What was that about?”
“I told him you gave me a Ruby Glow.”
“The other part. The about everything.”
“Oh, he was curious about Jumbotron-gate, as he called it. I said I was holding up well. I said my friends helped, therapy helped, and you helped.”
“That’s all I wanted to do. From the first swing at a stuffed fox.”
“You were insistent, and I’m glad.”
Maybe I’m not so bad at romance after all. “Me too.”
This time I don’t focus on my dark feelings about her ex. I don’t dwell on the past. I reach across the console for her hand and hold it, focusing on the present.
* * *
When we get to my place, I unleash Thor and he tears off after the catnip banana. Perfect.
I take Remy to my bedroom and bring her to the mirror. I’ve been thinking about this. Picturing it. Want it badly. With her standing in front of me, I admire the view of my woman, her lush hair falling in waves, her eyes bright, her mouth soft.
“Do you know what I see?” I rasp out.
“Tell me.”
I run my hands down her arms, nice and slow, taking my time, watching her reaction in the glass. She shivers as I touch her, and it’s breathtaking.
“I see a brilliant, clever, caring woman who pulled off something amazing today. You saved the day for your sister. You made her shower happen and made it better than she’d planned.
Hell, you pulled off an event with barely any notice,” I say, then kiss the back of her neck.
“You’re a star. And look at you, how strong you are, and how good you are at everything. How fucking capable.”
She preens under the praise, and that’s good. That’s so damn good.
I move her hair to the side, kissing her neck, sliding my hand up her stomach, over her breasts to her throat.
“But I want to see how good you are at everything,” she says, her voice vulnerable, full of need. “Will you show me?”
“I will. Under one condition.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t look away from the mirror.”