Page 44 of If You Were Mine
They’d left me on the porch in my tears even as the storm came. I could still remember the seeping cold latching to my skin and my breath.
I didn’t remember much after that.
Only the fevers, the tears, and finally, finally, Joshua finding me and taking me home with him. The courts couldn’t keep us apart after that. No, only fate and an engine failure had done that.
I barely had nightmares about that time anymore. My big brother had saved me and had let me thrive into the woman I’d become. There had been no need to dwell on the pain my grandparents had left behind. My new terrors were the reality that remained.
It made me wonder what dreams Dorian shied away from—and why he continued to fix up that old Ackerson place as if he were running from his own nightmares.
The hand on my shoulder brought me back to reality and I screamed, whirling as I did so, tossing the dough I’d kneaded into a wasted rock at the hard chest in front of me.
Dorian blinked at me then down to where the dough rested. “So…how are things?” He drawled out the words before studying my face.
I blinked, my cheeks heating in embarrassment. “I didn’t know you were here,” I blurted.
He merely snorted before gesturing to the rest of the kitchen. “I would think not since your music is blaring and the rest of your team headed home for the day.”
“What?” I turned to look at the clock and cursed. “How is it so late?”
“Time moves on,” he grumbled. “Seriously, though. Melody only left because I was here but are you sure it’s safe for you to be back here with the music blaring and so lost in your thoughts you have no idea about your surroundings?”
Annoyance settled in and I narrowed my gaze. “Don’t act all big brother protective, Dorian.”
“You know there’s nothing big brother about me right row.”
And there it was. The thing we weren’t talking about. Yet it screamed at the both of us.
“Is there a reason you snuck up on me?”
In answer, he scowled before reaching out to brush a piece of my hair behind my ear. I ignored the shivers sliding down my spine.
“I came here to see if you wanted to eat dinner.”
Part of me wondered if he had just asked me out on a date. But then I remembered this was Dorian Cage, and nothing was as it seemed. He was the playboy of the Cages. The number of women that I had heard connected with him over the years was insurmountable. Yes, most of it was probably a lie, made up by his groupies and admirers. But not all of it.
I wasn’t even sure how many people he had been with since he and Amy had broken up. Though broken up didn’t seem like the right word. Her walking away because she was spineless, that sounded more factual.
“Oh. Well. I have to pick up Lucky.”
“Your dog can eat at my place too. I have a couple of things to do, figured we’d eat. Watch Shaun of the Dead.”
My lips twitched, remembering the first time we had watched that movie. “You told me it was a comedy.”
“It is.”
“You forgot to mention it was a zombie movie.”
“It has dead in the title.”
“I didn’t really think about that at the time. And I didn’t see the movie poster. It scared me.”
“I’ll take care of you.”
“You told me that you owed me a movie from that. I remember.” I narrowed my gaze at him.
“You’re going to make me watch Pride and Prejudice, aren’t you?”
“Damn straight. We are going to watch both of them tonight.”
