Page 42 of Cowboy Dragon's Rose

“I—what,” I stutter, “Oh, um, good morning?”

“Oh, honey,” Penny said with a grin. “From the looks of it, it’s a great morning.”

My face is flaming.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Right,” Avery deadpanned. “Because you definitely didn’t sneak out of Zeke’s cabin at sunrise wearing only last night’s regrets and a flannel that’s clearly three sizes too big.”

“It was not a flannel,” I muttered, clutching that and the other clothes I wore back to Avery’s place a little bit tighter. “It’s a security blanket with buttons.”

It started slowly then. A snicker. A chortle. But it was literally seconds before they all started howling with laughter.

I was just about to make a run for it—straight back to the shower where I could hide forever—when the front door slammed open with a bang that made the coffee mugs rattle.

Zeke.

Hair a little wild.

Shirt half-buttoned.

Jeans slung low on his hips.

Eyes dark, stormy, and laser focused as they scanned the room like he expected me to vanish.

“Casey?” His voice was a growl.

Low. Rough. Possessive.

All four women stopped laughing.

So did I.

He spotted me—wet hair, towel, flushed face—and let out a breath like he’d been holding it since I left.

“You weren’t in my bed,” he said, stalking toward me. “I woke up, and you were gone.”

“I—I needed a shower,” I stammered, heart thudding as he reached me.

His hand cupped my jaw, tilting my face up.

“I have a shower. In my cabin.”

“OH, um, but?—”

“You disappeared on me, Petals.”

“I just went for soap.”

“I don’t care why you leave—if the car alarm is going off. Or you need to use the phone. Or if the fucking President of the United States is demanding to speak to you. You leave my bed, you wake me up. Period.”

Someone made a choked noise behind us.

Probably Arliss.

Or Jez.

Or all of them.

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