Even so, I won’t let him ruin the shower or the moment with Lake.
I turn back to the hockey player. “A little what?” I press, needing him to say the word—jealous, ridiculously, over-the-top jealous.
But Caroline swings by and squeezes my arm. “This is so much better than the Painted Lady. It’s totally the right vibe,” she says, then turns to Lake. “Thank you for saving the day.”
“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 issomeone 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, andfuck me. She should not be reassuring me. I should be reassuring her.
