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“I can smell your sadness,” Kong rumbled as he came to stand in the open doorway.
“Stop sniffing me and go do something productive.” She’d tried to say it in a teasing manner, but the smile was absent from her voice.
Kong just stared at her. They’d had to put bigger doorways in this place so he could get through them without ducking as much, and he filled up every inch of that open doorway. He was a beast, and quick to get on the boys when they were losing focus, but with her, he’d always been softer.
“Is it Lucas?”
She sighed, put her pencil down, and stared. “It’s me.” Falling for unavailable men.
“I called Kirk.”
“What?” she demanded.
Kong shrugged. “I wanted to know where Lucas was.”
“I’m betting he doesn’t know, and stay out of it. Please. I love that you care, but I want to handle my life on my own. Everything is fine.”
“When Layla says everything is fine, everything is definitely not fine. Everything is on fire.”
She rolled her eyes closed and huffed a laugh, defeated. “It will be fine. Better?”
“I would throttle him, but he’s a son of the mountains. I would have Kirk’s silverback down my throat, and then Ally, and then the damn dragon himself. Still, if you think it’ll help, I can challenge him. This ol’ silverback can still cause some mayhem.”
His offer touched her heart. “Oh, I have no doubt. I don’t need anyone fighting my battles though. He was open and honest. He told me what he wanted and what he needed. I fell anyway.” She nodded, and admitted, “I have no one to blame but me.” She knew he could hear the truth in her voice.
“Okay.” He turned to leave, and then turned back to her. “Do you want a chocolate bar or anything?”
Jenna pursed her lips. That was for periods, but she didn’t really want to discuss that with her boss. Sometimes protective silverbacks needed a job to feel like they were helping, so she nodded and said, “Sure. I would love that.”
His eyes lit up and he did an about-face and jogged right out the front door, calling over his shoulder, “I’m going to find you one!”
And that was a blessing. Okay. She needed to be counting the good things she had going in her life. She had a new trailer. It was in a Crew of total misfits, but that was okay. She had a good job, and another order for a flatbed trailer job had just come through her website this morning. She would have plenty to keep her busy while she was trying not to think of Lucas. She and Cadence were kind of almost friends. And next week was the annual Pizza Roll Barbecue, put on by Bash, who would be grilling hundreds of pizza rolls for everyone. She had things to look forward to. Her life was exactly the same as before Lucas had disrupted it. Exactly the same. No change. Everything was fine.
So why were her damn eyes burning, and her bottom lip quivering? Oh right, because she had opened up to a man and he disappeared before the dawn. Angry with herself, she dashed her knuckles across her damp cheeks and clenched her teeth and returned her distracted attention back to the invoice laying on her desk. There was a stupid tear stain on the signature line.
A low, soft rumbling sound tickled her ears. It got louder by the second, and she stared out the window, trying to figure out what that noise was. It wasn’t a truck engine, or any of the machines in the lumberyard.
It got louder and louder, and outside, the small tree by her window bowed under a harsh wind that kicked up out of nowhere.
The entire building was rattling now, and she stood so fast that the chair behind her fell backward. It was so loud, she plugged her ears and ran for the front door.
Outside, it was a tornado, but the reason for it became immediately clear.
A helicopter was landing in the middle of the lumberyard.
What the hell?
She stumbled outside and watched as Kong ran low toward the pilot. He talked to him for a few seconds and then his eyes went directly to Jenna. He twitched his head.
“Me?” she yelled, stunned.
Kong bolted for her, running low under the wind the chopper blades were creating. He made it halfway and then gestured for her to come.
“What the hell is happening?” she muttered as she grabbed her purse.
When she reached Kong, he yelled over the wind noise, “The dragon wants to see you.”
“Damon wants to see me? Why?”
