Page 105 of Riding the Pine
“Niko Barbaros lives here? Wait, Chef Barbaros is a satyr?” My mind reels at the idea. The guy has written some of my favorite cookbooks. He’s a genius at mixing cooking styles and flavors.
Her laughter is perfectly harmonious. “Yes, to both.” She pulls off the road and up another hilly driveway to a beautiful house. A man with broad shoulders, a chiseled face, and horns scrolling back from above his brows waits on the porch. His bottom half is covered in hair and his legs are bent like a horse’s rear legs, or some other animal. He’s terrifying and beautiful. I can see why Astra and he make a good match.
He rushes to the truck and opens her door. “Everything alright?” He kisses her softly on the mouth.
“We have a guest. I made a bit of a mess of things for Drayce, and this is Kori, his mate.” She sighs. “She’s going to stay with us until she decides what she wants to do.”
Niko looks from her to me. He gives me a crooked smile. “I have a beef Wellington planned for dinner. I hope you eat meat, Kori?”
I’m almost too sad to recognize that Niko Barbaros is going to cook for me, and beef Wellington to boot. “I’m not very hungry, but I’m honored to eat at your table, chef.”
He cocks his head. “Come inside and tell us about yourself, Kori.”
Ten
Kori
After dinner, we sit on the porch and talk about cooking. I make it through an hour of a chat which should have been thrilling before sorrow and exhaustion take over.
Astra shows me to a very pretty bedroom with an en suite bath. “This was my room when I first came here. You’ll be comfortable,” she says as she leaves.
Alone, the tears come again. I should be stronger than this. It shouldn’t hurt so much to be away from a man who, if I’m honest, I barely know. Yet, I want to go back to Drayce and tell him that I don’t care about anything that happened in his past as long as he’s promising me the future. He made mistakes. I’ve made plenty. Maybe we should talk. Maybe all of this, from the moment I got lost in the woods, is a very complex dream and I’ll wake up.
Why does that idea fill me with more despair? If my wyvern isn’t real, then why does my heart feel as if it’s going to explode?Dreams pale in comparison to what I’m living. Am I willing to give this up to go back to a life that wasn’t very satisfying?
I stare out the window at the darkening woods. If I’d been stronger, I could have stayed with him and let him convince me that whatever he felt for Astra meant nothing. He told me as much; I was just too shocked to let his words sink in until now.
This is the second time I’ve run away from him and there’s no trap in the woods for me to get caught up in and beg forgiveness. Thinking about it, I don’t need to be forgiven, and I don’t have to apologize or hear that from Drayce. I know in my heart that he’s the only man who can ever make me happy.
In my entire life, I can count on one hand the memories of joy and contentment. The biggest one happened this morning, and I threw it all away because I imagined he loved someone else.
He was lonely. That’s something I can relate to.
Movement in the trees catches my attention. I stare until the moon’s warm glow illuminates the shape of a man standing just inside the shadow of the woods. Mostly hidden and with only dappled moonlight to see by, I know Drayce is watching me.
Quietly, I leave the safety of the bedroom and step through the house. Astra is sitting on Niko’s lap out on the back porch. Neither of them looks my way as I ease out the front door and cross the yard toward where I know Drayce is waiting. I step through the tree line.
“I’m sorry.” His voice is full of pain. He must have moved deeper into the woods.
I can’t make out his shape. I stop before I end up face-first in the thick underbrush. “I shouldn’t have run away again. It’s only that I was scared of being left behind. My past pushed forward, and I wasn’t thinking reasonably.”
Wings beat the air and smaller branches as Drayce lowers to the ground. He’s in his manly form, but his iridescent wings are fully spread behind him. The rest of him is completely andgloriously naked. Pain is etched on his brow and his eyes are hooded. “You forgive me?”
It takes all my will to keep the few feet of space between us. “I don’t need your apology. I only need to know what you want from me, with me?”
He kneels in the thick leaves and looks at me with hope shining. His wings spread wide, he reaches one hand toward me. “I want to love you for all the days of my life, Kori. If you’ll let me, I’ll do all in my power to make you happy. I already know you are the only person who can offer me any joy.”
My heart is about to burst. Taking his hand, I kneel with him. The twigs and underbrush bite into my knees and shins. I press my cheek to his chest. “I want to make you happy too.”
He wraps his wings around me and slips them between me and the harsh ground. His hug is safe and warm. “I know you said you don’t need my apology, but I’m so sorry for causing you pain. It will never happen again.”
Thinking over the course of my life, I laugh. “That’s probably not true. People who love each other always hurt them from time to time.”
He cups my jaw and eases my gaze toward his. “I love you more than words will ever be adequate to describe. Hurting you will only torment me.”
Monsters say the nicest things. You’d never find a human man who would pledge that. At least, none in my experience have even come close. Pressing my hand over his, I turn it and kiss his palm. “I won’t run again, Drayce. Whatever happens, I’ll stay and we’ll work it out. I love you so much that it terrifies me. I won’t let that fear drive me away ever again.”
His cock presses hard and thick between us. “I would like to take you home now.”
