She sighed. “I’m not sad. I’m just thinking. I’m relieved to be away from Tommy, but everything seems like it could vanish in the blink of an eye now. I can’t stay with you forever. What am I going to do next? I’m not sure.”
He grunted again. She wanted to crawl over Persimmon’s cage and pry Dillon’s head open so she could see into his thoughts. Did he think she was weak for running away from Tommy? Did he think she was trash for leaving the man that loved her?
Her throat began to close. Tears tried to reach her eyes.
Tommy said he loved her. He said it every time he did something cruel. She didn’t think that was love, but what did she know? Her mother didn’t tell her what love would feel like. The woman only told Isabella that she would have to work hard to keep a man or else he would find someone else, and she would be left all on her own.
What about when she wanted to leave him? Isabella was on her own now, and while it was terrifying, she couldn’t help but think that she was better off. Everything her mother ever wanted for her had been a lie.
They parked and Dillon lifted Persimmon’s cage before she could. He also went to the back of the truck and opened it, filling his arms with boxes. She balked, amazed that he could carry so much. After grabbing a box, she scurried after him.
A guy lounging on the couch flashed a peace sign to them as they passed. He didn’t even bother removing his sunglasses. Isabella cocked her head but didn’t stop.
Dillon paused outside a closed door and fumbled with her boxes. He tried to get a grip on the doorknob, but his hands were too full. Isabella put a hand on his arm to stop him and reached forward to open the door. She sucked in a breath and hoped he wouldn’t see it as a slight. Tommy would have asked her if she was trying to make him look like less of a man.
He’d asked her that a lot.
Dillon ducked his head in thanks, though, and stepped back to let her through first. Isabella hadn’t expected that.
“If that pissant out there ever bothers you, let me know.” Dillon set Persimmon’s cage down.
Her brows folded together. “Pissant?”
Dillon jerked his head back toward the living room.
“Oh, the guy on the couch? Don’t worry. I won’t bother him. I’ll stay out of the way. I have a lot of writing to catch up on anyway.”
“That’s not what I said.” Dillon finished depositing her boxes and promptly left.
Isabella wrung her fingers, kicking herself for not listening. Then, she heard voices in the living room. She crept out, careful to cling close to the wall, and found Dillon looming over the lounging man.
“There’s a lady living with us,” Dillon declared. “If you and your micro-penis goes anywhere near her, I’ll make sure you have nothing left to fuck with.”
The man removed his sunglasses. “I’ll have you know I’m hung like a horse.”
Dillon leveled the man with a look of disbelief before gesturing at the man’s crotch. The man’s mouth fell into an O of outrage before he covered his groin with his hands.
“I’m a grower, not a shower!”
But Dillon hadn’t stuck around to listen. He’d already made his way back out to the truck and was on his way back with two potted plants. Isabella watched, her core warming to temperatures she’d never experienced before. Dillon seemed soft and strong all at once. Like he could kick Tommy’s ass without dropping a leaf from her plants.
She swallowed, and the guy must have heard it.
“Don’t go catching feelings for that meat-head. You’ll be bored for the rest of your life.”
Isabella didn’t mind the idea of boredom. After all she’d been through, an uneventful life sounded like bliss. She couldn’t go and get attached to the first man she saw, though. That was too much to ask of any man.
She was pregnant with Tommy’s baby right now. No man wanted to raise another guy’s child. She would have to do it on her own.
Her arm brushed Dillon’s as they passed, and her heart launched itself into her throat. Dillon paused. She thought she could hear a low growl coming from him, but when she turned, there was nothing.
“You go unpack,” he said. “I’ll bring everything in for you.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. “You’ve got a lot ahead of you. Don’t tire yourself out now.”
She froze. Did he know she was pregnant? If anyone here found out, Gavin would kick her out. The prickly man wouldn’t want a pregnant woman in his house.
The guy on the couch put his sunglasses back into place and hopped to his feet. “I’ll help him. You don’t have to worry about anything.”
She shook her head, surprised. “Even after he called you out for your micro-penis?”
He clapped Dillon on the back. “That’s just how buddies treat one another.”
“I’m not sure that’s healthy…” Isabella narrowed her eyes but shrugged.
It wasn’t her place to tell the guys what to do. She went back to the room where Persimmon was waiting and started opening boxes. There was already a bed in the corner and a dresser on the far wall. She lifted Persimmon and set her cage on the dresser.
Dillon had followed her and was in the process of setting her plants down.
“I hope you don’t mind my asking,” he began, hand on the back of his head like he was ashamed of what he was about to ask. “But do you mind making dinner tonight?”
The tension in her chest vanished as she laughed. “I don’t mind making dinner. It’s the least I can do!”
Dillon grinned. His smile creased the corners of his eyes and brought a sparkling light to them. When he turned, she reached out and touched his arm to stop him.
“Wait. Weren’t your eyes blue earlier?”
He didn’t look back at her at first. She thought he would pull away and leave. Then, he slowly twisted so she could see his eyes. His pupils had narrowed into slits and the blue around them swirled with yellow.
Her breath caught in her throat. He stilled beneath her hand.
“Why is that happening? To your eyes, I mean.” Isabella’s heart raced, easily outpacing a galloping horse.
Dillon’s nostrils flared. His chest rapidly rose and fell. Isabella ran her hand up his arm until her fingertips found their way beneath the sleeve of his t-shirt. Her chest flared with heat when his gaze dipped to her lips.
Then he ducked his head. “It means I need to go.”
Dillon left Isabella standing alone. She clenched her fist, already missing the warmth of his skin.
She nearly called out for him. Her nipples had hardened, and a part of her wondered what it would feel like to press them against his chest as she wound her arm around his neck.
Isabella had to shake her head to expel the wayward thought. Later, she would have to look up if horniness was a side-effect of pregnancy. That was the only explanation she could think of.
***
Dillon wanted her.
This frail human woman with her gentle eyes and soft-spoken voice. He wanted to crush her against his body and taste her lips. His beast agreed, clawing its way toward the surface because it wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back. The beast told him to kick the door closed and take her so that every other dragon would know she belonged to him.
Not knowing what to do with these feelings of his, Dillon went back to the truck and busied himself. Isabella didn’t need him getting horny around her. If he couldn’t handle his own urges, then he wasn’t a man. Dillon didn’t want to be that asshole. He wasn’t like Erik, who brought women home every weekend in that disaster he called a truck.
Dillon grabbed three boxes, all of them smelling like Isabella. The scent didn’t help. His dragon roused and slammed against his insides, demanding release. It’d been his word that allowed Isabella to stay in the cabin, but Dillon was starting to think he would need to put distance between them.
When he got back to her room and found her kneeling on the floor with the grey bunny in her arms, his dete
rmination to stay distant shattered into a thousand pieces. She looked up at him with her big, innocent eyes and flashed the brightest smile.
“Take a break,” she said. “The truck doesn’t need to go back until tomorrow. You should meet Persimmon now and let her know you’ll be living with us.”
Dillon suddenly became very aware of his teeth. His gaze focused on her exposed shoulder. He wanted to claim her and take her on the floor, but he knelt opposite her and held out his hand to the little rabbit.
Isabella let out a small gasp. “You’re shaking.”
“Huh?” He hadn’t realized it until she’d pointed it out, but there was a tremble in his hand.
Holding back his beast’s urges was taking more out of him than he’d thought. Dillon didn’t have to do it that often. If anything, he was the most well-behaved dragon of the clan. His beast never wanted anything more than the sky and a nap.
Now, he could feel it gnashing its teeth inside him, his skin growing tight as if the beast took up more and more room by the moment.
Isabella passed the rabbit over to him and stood. He watched her in stunned silence as she left.
Dillon didn’t know what he’d done to make her run away. He’d kept quiet for the most part and hadn’t made any sudden moves. His presence had bothered other human women before. They always gave him wild-eyed looks as if they expected him to shove them into an unmarked van and drive away.
He’d given up on trying to assure them he would never harm someone that way. There were a few instances in his life where women looked to him for protection, like when he worked as a bouncer at clubs or security at events. Unless he wore a shirt stating that he was the help, women steered clear of him.
He should have known that Isabella would run away eventually, but why did she leave her rabbit in his care? He scratched the tiny creature’s nose, careful to be tender with it.
The sound of footsteps approached the door. Dillon thought Casey or Gavin had come to take the rabbit away and kick him out. He let out a sigh, resigning himself to the loneliness that had been plaguing him recently.
“I did what I could with what’s in the fridge,” Isabella said, kneeling in front of him. She passed him a plate with a thick sandwich on it. “You don’t strike me as a vegetable kind of guy, but that’s all there was. I’ll try to make something heartier for dinner.”
He stared at the plate. “You made me a sandwich?”
She frowned. “Do you not like sandwiches? I should have asked what you prefer. It was wrong of me to assume. I can go make you something else.”
Dillon quickly shook his head. “No, no, no. I don’t mean it like that. It’s just, I wasn’t expecting you to do something so nice.”
Her frown quirked into a quizzical half-smile. She reached out to gather her rabbit, and he let the slick bundle of fur slide back into her arms.
“You didn’t have to do this for me, but you did. Thank you,” Dillon said. He meant it with every ounce of his heart.
“Oh, I assumed that’s why you wanted me to stay. I thought it was my job to make you food.”
He jerked back, alarmed. “That’s not what I meant when I asked if you could cook. I didn’t mean to make you think that. You don’t have to do anything here.”
She scooted closer so that they faced the same direction. Her leg pressed against his, and she rested her head on his shoulder.
“You’re nice,” she said. “I’m not used to that in men. It never occurred to me that you might not want anything from me. Even as I say that, it doesn’t feel right. It feels like I’m lying to myself.”
“If you wanted, I would make every meal for you. It probably wouldn’t taste good, but I’d still do it.” Dillon clenched his fist to keep his hands to himself. He was grateful that he had a plate in the other hand. “That’s what I do around here. I help my family. Now that you’re here, you’re family, too.”
She leaned back from him and studied him for a moment that stretched on a little too long. “Even though I’m not tied to anyone here? I’m not anyone’s girlfriend. No one is paying me to be a maid or anything.”
“You don’t have to have purpose to be a part of a family.”
They watched Persimmon explore the bedroom and the boxes for a while. The rabbit took her time, sniffing every nook and cranny.
“Can I tell you a secret?” she whispered.
Dillon gave her a small nod. He would carry the world’s secrets on his back for her. Perhaps he was being foolish. Maybe his beast needed to vent some pent-up energy. He might ask Erik to take him along the next time he went out.
But the only woman Dillon could imagine in his bed was Isabella.
She sighed through her nose before pulling in a deep breath, like she was steadying herself. “Evangeline and Nellie know already, so you don’t have to worry about keeping it from them. I’m more worried about Gavin because this is his house. I’m scared to think of what’s going to happen when he finds out.”
Dillon took her hand in his and rubbed his thumb along her skin. She offered him a shaky smile.
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
His beast snarled. Not out of jealousy or betrayal or anything so bitter. The beast wanted to hover over her and protect her from the world. Leaving her side would be impossible now. He wouldn’t want to let the child’s father anywhere near Isabella or the baby.
“Are you…happy?”
Isabella’s smile widened, growing more confident. “I’m ecstatic. Over the moon, to be honest.”
Dillon didn’t know how to ask this. From what he understood, Isabella had just left her ex-boyfriend. Did that mean she would go back to him now that she was pregnant? Dillon didn’t know if he could handle watching her go. He barely knew her and yet he felt like she was a part of him now.
His beast needed to stop imprinting on women. Barely a day in her presence and Dillon had committed himself to her without her knowledge.
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You’re not happy,” she said, her voice dragged low by fear.
His eyes snapped open. “That’s not what I…My problem…”
Isabella leaned forward to peer at him. “Your eyes are blue and yellow again. Does that mean you’re talking to your dragon?”
No, it meant his beast was making demands that he could not fulfill. Dillon could not keep this woman as his own. She belonged to no one. Her life was hers to do whatever she wanted with it. She owed him nothing, not even friendship.
The thought broke his heart. He didn’t know how he’d let himself get so attached to her. His loneliness and exhaustion had gotten the better of him. It’d made him imagine a relationship that couldn’t happen.
Chapter Three
Isabella wondered what she’d done wrong when Dillon stood and left her alone. Perhaps telling him that she was going to have a baby had been a bad idea. She would have to hope now that he wouldn’t tell Gavin and get her kicked out.
She looked around at the boxes piled all around the room. If she unpacked them, she would only have to pack them again in a month or so. Grown men didn’t want her and a baby hanging around. She would have to find her own place.
The idea of leaving Dillon behind bothered her. His kindness had warmed her. Unexpected as it was, she found herself craving more. Now, she’d gone and chased him away with her news.
Now he would never come back. No man wanted to spend time with a woman who bore they physical evidence of another man’s touch. For the next nine months, anytime Dillon looked at her, he would only be able to think about Tommy.
The thought saddened her far more than she expected.
Instead of unpacking, she scooped Persimmon up and put her back in her cage. When the bunny was safely tucked away, Isabella got her phone and texted Evangeline.
What does it mean when their eyes change?
Isabella twisted her lips, wondering if that was enough for Evangeline to understand what she was asking.
Dillon he
lped me move my things inside and his eyes changed from blue to yellow. Did I do something wrong?
Her phone remained silent. Isabella chided herself for trying to ask questions while Evangeline was working. Her friend was super busy with her own business. It was silly to think that Evangeline would set everything aside to answer such a silly question.
Then the phone chimed, and Isabella’s heart thumped. Evangeline’s message appeared at the top of the screen, prompting her to tap it.
He’s so hot for you!
Isabella blood warmed beneath her cheeks. She was glad no one was around, because her face was probably an embarrassing shade of red. Her fingers trembled as she typed her response.
That’s silly! was all she could manage to say.
Evangeline’s only response was a string of eggplant emojis. Isabella clamped her hand over her mouth to smother her embarrassed laugh. She quickly locked her phone and shoved it under her pillow. To her, Dillon was a nice guy who wanted to help her out. She didn’t see what Evangeline was trying to project.
Dillon had run away the moment she’d told him that she was pregnant.
Realization hit her like a truck. He’d stuck around because he’d liked her, but when he learned that she was with another man’s child, he’d vanished. She swallowed back the pain of being dismissed. Evangeline had been right, but Isabella’s situation had ruined her chances.
“Great,” she muttered to herself.
Her laptop sat on the bed. She should have been writing, so she could make more money. Her fans were waiting for the next series and she was only halfway through it. Instead, Isabella busied herself by searching for her sheets and comforter.
She couldn’t bear the thought of writing happy relationships. While she was with Tommy, they’d been her escape. She’d written those stories with the idea that they were practically fairy tales. Then Casey had come and swept Evangeline off her feet, and Isabella knew the love in her books could actually exist.
Only, she couldn’t have it.
Soon, she would have the love of a child. Isabella told herself that would be all she ever needed, but the lie felt flat and bitter in her mouth. The hope for a full family with a mother and a father still lingered in her heart.
Finding The Forgotten (Rogue Dragons Book 2) Page 2