Page 82 of If You Were Mine
I should have known it would be coming. Yes, he liked me. Yes, we were having a good time. But this wasn’t forever. He would realize exactly what he wanted, and I would have to deal.
“I wish I knew what was going on in that mind of yours. Because your eyes are so expressive right now. Like Lucky’s.”
I narrowed my gaze. “My eyebrows are nowhere near as expressive at Lucky’s, thank you very much.”
Lucky took that time to bark, and I nodded, as if my dog had just stood at my side.
“Fine, Lucky wins. But I’d love to know what you’re thinking.”
I put on a bright smile and shook my head. “Nothing. Why don’t you take him out, I’ll make some hot cocoa.”
“Are you going to add the Bailey’s this time?”
“Of course. We have that caramel Bailey’s now.”
“Why is that stuff so good?” he asked as he went to slide on his shoes.
“Because it’s full of sugar?” I asked, laughing.
“That is true. But I’d love a hot cocoa. And I’ll take care of Lucky. Don’t worry.”
“I won’t,” I whispered.
The house rattled, the wind coming harder. I frowned, hoping that the power would stay on. My apartment did well during storms, as the place was older and well insulated. And I knew Dorian’s house on the lake would be the same.
The large broken-down Ackerson place that was slightly larger than a grand cabin probably wasn’t the best place to ride out the storm. Not to mention the emotional toll that it had over him. But we’d wanted the space away from the rest of town for the night, but I had a feeling it was the wrong decision.
“I swear the temperature dropped like twenty degrees in the past hour,” Dorian said as he shook off the snow and shivered. I had moved forward with my towel and rubbed down Lucky.
“I put another log on the fire, so we should be okay there. Are you okay, buddy?” I asked as I rubbed off any snow that Lucky had brought in. Even between his toes. I hated when the snow got clumpy, because it just stayed there and lowered his body temperature.
Lucky licked my face, and I grinned.
“Go curl in front of the fire. We’ve got you.” I kissed his cheek, and Lucky padded off.
The lights flickered, and I froze. “Crap. We should have stayed in town. Even dealing with everybody stopping by.”
I shook my head. “I was just thinking that. This place really gets weird during storms.”
He reached out and pulled me to him. I let myself sink into his warmth, trying not to stress about anything I had felt before this. We would figure it out. We had to. I wasn’t just going to let him go, but I would wallow a bit. A girl had rights.
“Whenever the storms hit Denver, my place shakes a bit, just because of the wind slicing, but not like this. I swear I can hear every creak and groan.”
Why did him talking about his place in Denver surprise me? I’d literally just been thinking of it. He didn’t live here. I knew that, he knew that, and it was just a matter of time before we all had to form a plan.
Because I loved Dorian Cage, and I wasn’t going to let him go easily.
But putting myself out there seemed like the hardest thing in the world to do. And I wasn’t sure if I knew how to even take that step.
“I have hot cocoa in the kitchen. At least we can warm up that way.”
He frowned at me but took my hand as we moved forward. In that moment, the lights blinked out.
“Fuck. The generator should go on, at least for a few lights, and things in the kitchen.”
But nothing came back on.
“Shit. Hudson and I fixed it, but there must be something else wrong. I’ll go down in the basement and work on it.”
