Page 25 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

I laughed. “I’m still me. Come on, I’ll also clean the fish.”

Chase sighed. “All right, what gives. Really?”

“You’re seriously not going to let this go, are you?” I asked him as I pulled out a cutting board and my fish knife.

“Nope. Tell me now or I’ll be forced to call Jasper and we’ll have an intervention.”

I leveled my gaze on him. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, meeting my gaze with all the seriousness he could muster.

“Dramatic much?” I asked and laughed it off.

“If this has anything to do with Cassie…” Chase started.

I turned and faced him. “As a matter of fact, it does. But relax. I’m on my best behavior.”

Chase pinched his nose. “I’m going to regret this. I can already tell.”

“Nothing to regret,” I said and smiled. “Promise.”

“Fine. Fine. What do you need me to do?” he asked.

I smiled wider. “Now we’re cooking.”

11

CASSIE

Something delightfully delicious pulled me from sleep. After I opened my eyes and took another deep inhale of the aroma, I sat up carefully. A smile tugged on my lips. Not only was I excited to taste Chase’s latest creation, but I also managed not to hurt my leg again. I sighed with relief. That was a great sign. But I wasn’t going to push my luck by trying to stand again. I learned my lesson the hard way the last time.

I looked around the room for signs of Jasper. He wasn’t in the room. Not even in his little corner. Though the evidence of his presence still lingered on the bed sheets. I ran my fingers over the sheet, wishing I was touching him again instead.

A frown tugged on my lips. I wasn’t sure why I was disappointed. It wasn’t like we were a thing. And if we were, he was still his own man. He had the right to come and go as he pleased without having to run anything past me.

I wondered how long I was out. Jasper apparently didn’t believe in alarm clocks or in any form of keeping time. The only factor I had to go by was the window. It was still covered, and barely any light shone through at all. I figured I must have slept the day away. I also wondered when Jasper left.

The only distraction to Jasper’s absence was whatever food was being cooked. The scent grew stronger the more I was awake. I could smell the butter and the spices. Delicious was the only word that could describe the aroma. My mouth started to water. My stomach growled in anticipation.

I itched to leave the bed and find out what the captivating food was, but that would have been a big mistake. I still couldn’t support any weight on my foot. I hated being confined to the bed, but if I tried to force myself to walk, I probably would have set my healing back by weeks. Especially considering my recent track record. Of all the times that I had chided myself, this was the most deserved. Not that punishing myself was going to do any good, much less change the state of things. Punishing myself never got me very far and I was dealing with enough consequences, thanks to the bear trap I stepped into.

With a sigh, I shrugged off my annoyance and decided to deal with things as they were. What was so bad about having three hot guys waiting on me hand and foot? Besides the fact that one of them hates my guts. So, correction: there was nothing horrible about having two hot guys taking care of me.

I couldn’t think of anything better outside of mobility. However, I had thought of worse ways to spend my time, and I supposed putting off finding my family’s cabin wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

Heavy footsteps marched down the hall toward me. The aroma filtering in from the kitchen grew stronger as the steps moved closer.

The door opened and Kai brought in a large tray of food. I stared at him in disbelief. Then I took in his expression and my guard went up. He was in his semi-permanent, grumpy, foul mood judging by the frown on his face and the fact that he barely made any eye contact with me whatsoever. He approached the side of the bed and bent over to set the tray on my lap. The plate slid along the tray, almost toppling over onto my torso.

“Watch out!” I snapped as terror came over me.

Kai growled and muttered something under his breath to the effect of deserving what I got.

But it was the sound of his growl that raised the hairs on the back of my neck and set my heart into a frantic race. I gulped and took in a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m sure that was an accident. Thank you for the food, but could you please be less of an ass about it. I’m not exactly enjoying this whole thing either.”

He sighed and left the room, slamming the door behind him and dousing the room in a thick, uncomfortable silence.

I glared at the door before settling my attention on the mouthwatering food. A small part of me wondered how far Kai was willing to take his hatred. I mean, would it be too paranoid of me to wonder if the food was poisoned or drugged in some way?

If Kai had prepped and cooked the food, I would give the worry a little more weight and thought. But I was pretty sure Chase was the chef of this meal. From what little I knew of him he wouldn’t let anything harmful go into the ingredients under his nose much less with his permission. He loved what he did too much, and I believed he loved to take care of people too much to allow someone to sabotage his passion.

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