Page 110 of Dragon Tempted

“He didn’t need to. Think about it from John’s perspective. His whole reason for existing was due to the curse. A curse that he spent all that time trying to break. And he thought as a result of that, he would have to sacrifice himself. Now he’s living a life he never thought he would have.”

Her heart seemed to whimper, or maybe it was Veronica. “And he’s pushing us away again. Pushing me away.”

“So don’t let him.”

She frowned. “It’s not that easy.”

Ryan shrugged. “Who said love is supposed to be easy?”

She narrowed his eyes at him and he chuckled. “What? You said that to me not too long ago. You can dish it out, but you can’t take it? Did you honestly think that loving someone as complex as John was going to be a walk in the park?”

Did she? “No. But I didn’t say I love him.”

Ryan gave her his don’t-lie-to-your-best-friend look. “I’m not the one who should hear it first anyway. You already told him that he’s stuck with you. Remind him again. I left the UTV out with the keys in it. Go get your man.”

“What about your man?”

“I asked Jonas out yesterday and he said yes.” Ryan patted the gauze on his arm. “I think he likes a scarred hero.”

“Ian said it was a graze. Did you even get stitches?”

“Harsh. Get a move on.”

What he said, Veronica added.

Sienna jogged down the stairs and outside to the driveway where the UTV sat waiting. She started it, flipped on the lights in the fading sunlight, and headed toward the cabin, trying to figure out what she was going to say to John. Him backing away wasn’t acceptable. He needed her and the clan now more than ever. She just needed to help him see that.

Too soon, she came to the small clearing in front of the cabin and parked. She sucked in a breath for the count of four, held it for seven, and then released it for a count of eight. She did the breathing exercise one more time before heading to the cabin.

Before she could lift her hand to knock, John opened the door. His hair was damp and mussed like he’d just run his fingers through it. He was too pale for Sienna’s liking.

He scowled. “I told Ryan not to wake you up.”

“He didn’t wake me. Why did you come back to the cabin?”

“I needed time to think.”

“About what?”

He glanced away. “Sienna.”

Heat bubbled in her chest. “No.”

John looked back at her. “No to what?”

“No to you having to do everything on your own. No to you backing away from the clan. No to you backing away from me.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“That’s a good thing. Why are you worried that you will?”

He let out a frustrated sigh. “Because we don’t know what’s going to happen to me now that the curse is gone. I could wake up and have aged fifty years.”

Sienna shrugged even though she was feeling far from calm. “The girls can call you Grampy Grumpy then instead.”

John settled his hands on her shoulders as if he was trying to break bad news to her. “Don’t make light of this. I could die tomorrow.”

Sienna couldn’t hold her own sigh back. “John. I know you’ve spent your whole adult life being invincible, so your perspective is skewed, but you’re living in the real world now. You’re scared and that’s okay. We are all fragile beings. I could die tomorrow. Does that mean you can’t love me? Because I love you, John Baker, and I told you before and I’ll tell you again, I’m not going anywhere. So what do you think of that?”