Page 19 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

“I didn’t want to disturb any of you or take advantage of you any more than I already had,” she said, avoiding my gaze. “I felt guilty enough when you gave me your clothes and bed.”

“So? It was my pleasure to help.” I leaned forward, propping myself up on my knees with my elbows. My fingers interlaced and I stared at a spot on the floor. After several seconds, I gazed up at her.

She nodded and fingered a piece of food on her plate. “Maybe.”

“You said in your letter that this whole trip of yours was a huge collection of mistakes,” I prompted.

She nodded. “It’s what it seems like. I mean, look where it got me.”

“You would have avoided that,” I pointed at her leg, “if you had waited until morning as we agreed on.”

“I didn’t want to be an inconvenience,” she said, barely meeting my gaze.

I leveled my gaze at her. “You’re not an inconvenience. Even to Kai.”

She snorted. “Yeah right.”

“I’m serious. He wouldn’t have carried you all the way back here if he hated you that much,” I said.

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t make me less terrified of him,” she muttered.

“Give him time. He’ll warm up to you,” I said. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say he already is. If not, he probably felt partially responsible for you getting hurt. Which would make him carry you his way of making up for the way he acted toward you.”

“I seriously doubt he is capable of experiencing guilt or remorse,” she said and shoved her plate toward me. “I think I’m finished.”

I nodded. “Okay. If you decide you want more later, just say so. I’ll be happy to keep feeding you.”

“I will,” she said. “Thank you.”

I sat the plate on the dresser next to me. “What about your family’s cabin? Did you still want to find it?”

“I can’t exactly go searching for it in this condition.” She gestured to herself.

“That may be true, but you won’t be like this forever,” I said. “The doctor will be here soon enough. Then he can give you a proper exam and then we will have a better understanding of what we’re dealing with. Once you are all healed, you and I can still go find that cabin.”

She nodded. “I would love that.”

“Meanwhile, you have to stay put and let that leg heal. No more running away?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Ask me when I actually have the ability to run away again. I don’t exactly have a choice right now.”

I laughed. “True. You could always crawl though.”

She laughed.

“I like your laugh. It’s nice,” I said.

She shook her head. “You’re weird.”

“That’s a new one, but I’m going to take it as a compliment,” I said.

“You should.” She stretched her arms above her head and yawned.

“I’ll take your plate back to the kitchen and grab you a fresh glass of water. You can get some rest after that.”

She nodded.

I headed back to the kitchen, dropped the plate into the sink, filled a glass with water, and carried it back to her, setting it on the table next to my bed. “If you need anything else, just holler.”

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