My possessive side rushed to the surface, the sudden protectiveness I felt oddly appealing. If in my process of discovery I learned who’d hurt her in the past, they would die by my hands.
As soon as I opened the door, Indiana bounded into the room. The joy in her eyes kept me where I was.
The sounds of both his and her happiness filled the room. Laughter and squeals, woofs and little growls. While her face was filled with happiness, her eyes were shining with tears.
I’d taken and I’d given.
What kind of man did that make me?
“Oh, baby. There you are. How are you?” Indiana jumped halfway onto her lap and she threw her arms around the pup’s neck. Every inch of her body was shaking.
I stood watching like the voyeur from before, admiring her strength and the love she had for her dog. I was also reminded of the reason she had always him with her.
Maybe she was right in that I could never be a hero.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked in a much softer voice than before, uncertain why.
“Tell you what?” She lifted her head from where she was nuzzling into his neck. Sniffing, she wiped her eyes as if embarrassed for showing emotion around me.
As if considering it a weakness.
“That Indiana is your emotional support animal.”
Her jaw clenched as her face flushed. Even her lower lip was quivering. She was embarrassed that she needed a support animal. I wanted to tell her recognizing she did made her one of the strongest people I’d ever met.
But I didn’t.
Because I was a shit human.
“Would it have mattered? You don’t trust me. You don’t care about me because you can’t care about anyone. You know what? I feel very sorry for you.”
We locked eyes for a few seconds, but it seemed like a lifetime.
As I walked out, closing the door, I skipped the lock. The answer was what she expected.
No, at the time it wouldn’t have mattered.
Maybe now was an entirely different story. Indiana wasn’t a weakness.
He highlighted every aspect of her strength.
And her love.
CHAPTER 16
Josette
Who in their right mind made a deal with the devil?
Then again, what kind of monstrous devil played Frisbee with an enthusiastic, drooling, incessantly licking wildebeest then suggested bringing him out to dinner?
I honestly wasn’t certain. The man was confusing.
He’d been waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, checking his watch as if I’d been late. I’d made certain I hadn’t been, knowing even the smallest infraction would result in harsh punishment.
When he’d felt my presence and turned, his entire body had stiffened, the flare of his nostrils more pronounced than before. They way he’d scrutinized me had left me feeling anxious. Self-conscious. Then he’d called me beautiful and I’d felt myself floating.
I’d seen him in several suits, but as he stood in sleek ebony attire, his crisp white shirt accented with diamond cufflinks and a silk tie the color of a luminous garnet, I’d trembled.
