“You made me homemade bread and jam?” she asked Dragon, uncaring of the fact that they had an audience.
The big man shrugged, and a slight blush darkened his tanned skin. He looked somewhat sheepish about it, but it was one of the nicest things anyone had done for her in a long time.Part of playing the role of someone who had it all together was that people believed you. Her brothers would forever be her protectors, but they were building new lives, and while she knew they would never ever forget about her, she was going to play a less prominent role in their futures as the women they’d fallen in love with took center stage.
As it should be. There wasn't a hint of jealousy inside her, her brothers deserved their happy endings, she just felt lonely and left out.
Or she had.
Until now, anyway.
Without hesitation, Cassandra hurried over to Dragon and threw her arms around his waist, uncaring of the fact that he was covered in flour, which now smeared all over her clothes and face, even getting in her hair.
“Thank you,” she whispered, pressing her face into his chest and breathing in deeply Dragon’s slight woodsy scent, now softened with the sweetness of strawberries, and the doughiness of rising bread.
Slowly, his arms came up to wrap around her. “The bread didn't rise. I messed it up somehow. I followed the recipe I found exactly so I don’t know why.”
Smiling, she pulled back a little while remaining in the circle of his embrace. “I could teach you my recipe if you want?”
Those unusual eyes of his searched hers as though he didn't quite believe her. “You want to?”
“I'd love to. This is one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.”
“You have six brothers who spoil you rotten,” he reminded her.
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to grow up with six crazily overprotective brothers? No boy asked me out until I was in college because one of my brothers would always be hangingaround to scare them off. I don’t know how they managed it since they were all in the military, but one of them always seemed to be home. I had to throw the biggest tantrum to convince them to let the boy I liked ask me to go to prom.”
“They love you.” Dragon’s hand brushed some flour off her cheek, and she couldn’t not think of the gentle way he’d wiped away her tears when he found her sobbing in her—notheir—special place in the forest.
Or the way his finger had felt against her lips.
“They do,” she agreed. “They drive me crazy, but I'm so lucky to have them in my life. They’re the best big brothers any girl could ever wish for. Dragon.” Her fingers curled into his T-shirt, grabbing fistfuls of it and praying he believed her. “Me running, it wasn't because of you.”
“Sure,” he said, clearly not believing her.
When he went to move away, she tightened her grip. “I swear. I'm so grateful you opened up to me, shared the horrors you endured. It helped me to understand why you were so adamant about your decision and why you didn't want me interfering.”
That violet gaze of his searched her eyes again, assessing the truthfulness of her words, and she could see his nostrils flaring as he obviously used his enhanced scent to try to do the same.
“You're not a monster. Not now and not ever. You might be scared to let your emotions out because of how you were brought up and then what happened, but you still feel them in here.” Keeping one fistful of T-shirt in her fingers, she placed her other palm above his heart. “What you're doing right now, making me bread and jam, even after I ran off, proves that you are a good man who cares about the people in his life. Who cares about me.”
“You don’t have to explain?—”
Pressing her fingertips to his lips, the same way he’d silenced her earlier when she was going to tell him she was sorry she’dinterfered, even if she could never endorse hurting an innocent woman, she shushed him. “I want to explain. When I ran it had nothing to do with you or what you’d just told me.”
Taking in a deep breath, Cassandra wondered how much to say. There was no way she was comfortable telling Dragon all about her darkest fantasies, because once she told him, she shattered his illusion of her and lost him forever. For now, she needed the grounding his feelings gave her, even though that was incredibly selfish of her.
“I'm not the innocent girl everyone thinks I am,” she admitted, dropping her gaze because she knew there would be doubt in Dragon’s.
He wouldn't believe her if she told him the truth, nobody would. And Cassandra didn't know how to express the side of herself she kept hidden. If people knew the truth, especially those who knew what had happened to her mom, they would realize just how broken inside she really was.
Chapter
Twelve
January 6th
8:51 P.M.
Today felt like the first day of something new.
