Kahl groans, thumping his forehead on the side of the building beside the door. “Yeah, I can see how that would leave her confused and upset. So what do we do, tell her she wins and just hope she doesn’t get pregnant?”
I balk, wondering how the brother that I’ve looked up to my whole life can be so absolutely dense. “Fuck no! Then it sounds like you don’t actually want to sleep with her and are just throwing her a bone to humor her so she stops being upset. For the love of the gods, just donothingon that front. Did Kaid apologize?”
He exhales a harsh breath. “Of course he did.”
Nodding to myself, I continue, “But it wasn’t sincere. He was sorry she was upset, not for his reaction.”
Grimacing, Kahl shoots a finger gun in my direction while keeping his eyes closed in defeat. “Bingo.” Heading for the door, he grabs my arm. “You have an idea how to fix it?”
“There’s no real magic cure for this one,” I concede, though I desperately wish there were. But every scenario I imagine just ends up worse and worse no matter how we try to overcompensate to fix it. “Anything we do today she’s not going to trust, will think it’s just because of the fight and not genuine. No drastic life changes, no frantically trying to overcorrect. Just let her see that we get why she’s upset and actively try to do better.”
“When the hell did you become some sort of expert on women?” Kahl skeptically asks, not that I really blame him.
Shrugging, I start pulling open the door. “I’m just trying to put myself in her shoes. With our dragons chewing on our brains all the time lately, I figure I can really only count on my gut. So if it feels right, I’m going to start leaning towards that rather than keep talking myself out of things and driving myself crazy. When it comes down to it, things are simple. She’s our mate, I love her, and I want her to be happy. I don’t need to be an expert on anything other than Saige.”
Heading back towards the others, I chastise myself for not realizing sooner that by stealing Kahl to get caught up, it left the two of them alone in awkward silence. Striding right up to where she’s bent over her table, sanding a small resin ball down, I poke her in the cheek a couple of times.
“Hey, want to ditch work with me?”
She gives me a confused look. “Don’t you have to finish up those designs?”
Grabbing my sketchbook, I tuck it under my arm. “No reason I have to do that here. So what do you say?”
Tossing a swift, guilty look in Kaiden’s direction that morphs into one of annoyance just as abruptly, she rises to her feet and heads for her jacket. “Yeah, actually.”
Kahl leans against the far wall looking torn, beating himself up and trying to figure out what to do. Ultimately, he plasters a sad smile on his face and stays put, though it’s clear he’s uneasy with her being out in the open with only one of us.
“Have fun. Call if you need us, okay?” he asks and she hesitates before walking over to hug him goodbye.
“See you at dinner?” she offers instead of agreeing, because we all know if things were that bad, it’d be too late to call for help.
He wraps his arms around her, kissing the top of her head before reluctantly letting go. “Deal.”
She glances at Kaiden, but he’s keeping his head down. I get it, he’s trying to fly under the radar to keep from making things worse, but by the flash of hurt across Saige’s face, it clearly comes across like he doesn’t care. I doubt there actually would be a way for things to gowellright now. Either she would be annoyed he’d be presumptuous enough to think he deserved a kiss after pissing her off, or would be upset that he didn’t want any affection right now. It’s a lose-lose scenario, so the only safe option is to get the hell out of here.
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I lead her out to the SUV, opening and closing her door before climbing into the driver’s seat. I might have told Kahl I’m following my gut, but even my brain isn’t so stupid as to ignore the little things right now.
“So where are we headed?” she asks, gazing out her window and leaning her head against the glass.
Strumming my fingers on the steering wheel, I play it safe by throwing the ball in her court. Anything that could make it clear she has options, that her opinions are respected. Everything inside of me is on red alert, dodging this minefield with as much grace as I can scrounge up.
“Would you rather it be a surprise or I tell you now in case you aren’t up for it?”
“Honestly? I hate surprises,” she admits. “The dates at the house are one thing, but there are too many unknowns out here to enjoy a mystery.”
Tipping my head in acknowledgment, I take another turn. “Bookstore.”
She straightens up in her seat, the answer apparently catching her off guard. “I thought money was tight right now?”
Clucking my tongue, I reach over to steal her hand, kissing the back of it without taking my eyes from the road. “Love, we aren’t destitute. Like Kahl said, we plan for the slow months. Am I about to go buy a new car? No. But if things don’t spring back in the next month or two and get that squeaky, we’ll figure it out together.” Another few turns and I’m pulling into the parking lot, pocketing my keys and hopping out first to open her door.
Her lip twitches as she fights a small smile, clearly seeing through my attempts for what they are, but not calling me out on them. “God, it’s been what, twelve years since I’ve set foot in a bookstore?” she states, more to herself than an actual question.
Called it. Chicks dig books. When all else fails, buy them a pretty new story. It’ll give them someone new to hate besides you if they’re mad.
Ignoring the few people in the parking lot tossing looks at Saige, still not over the novelty, we head inside and I commit the way her face lights up to memory. Eyes racing over the place in her excitement, I’m tempted to get a tattoo of a book on my face just to get her to look at me like that.
“Come on,” I chuckle, throwing an arm over her shoulders and steering her towards the fantasy and romance novels, because sue us, but Ezra isn’t the only person in town that likes them. We just all use her as an excuse to keep them on the shelves and have a silent code not to call each other out on that shit.
