Chapter Eleven
Rowe
A few hours later, Cheryl was still bothered and uptight.
“You can tell me what’s the matter,” he explained, hoping she might confide in him.
Whatever it was, he would fix it. The vandalism issue was going to have to wait for a bit, but even that too he would solve, ensuring it didn’t happen again. After all, he now had a much better idea of what was going on. The ground around the base of the silo had given it all away to anyone who looked.
Thankfully for him nobody else had seen fit to examine the various tracks on the ground. Otherwise they might have asked about a few things that didn’t entirely add up. Things Rowe wasn’t going to explain to anyone except perhaps Cheryl, and not until she trusted him more.
“I already told you.”
He shook his head. That wasn’t it, and they both knew it. Unfortunately, after his mega-blunder the night before, Rowe wasn’t able to push as much as he might have preferred. He was still trying to come to terms with being rejected. That was a first for him, and something he couldn’t quite reconcile.
In his mind his dragon was even worse. It had nearly gone ballistic when she left the kitchen, and Rowe had been halfway to the stairs chasing after her before he’d regained control of his body. The mighty winged lizard was restless now, and if he didn’t claim his mate soon, the fight to keep it under control would become harder still.
“Is it about last night?” he asked cautiously. “If so, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push the limits, I just…” Words failed him.
He needed her to understand somehow that there was more going on between them than she knew. That there was a reason they kept falling for each other, even when she tried to keep her distance. Fate was pulling them together, and it would only be denied for so long. That’s how he saw it at least, but to Cheryl it must be something entirely different.
Rowe wondered if perhaps there was something wrong with him. Did she not find him attractive enough to consider being with? He stroked his face. Maybe he should shave. He thought about asking her what she felt, but refrained. He’d already broached the subject of the night before, and now was not the time to ask which look she liked on him better.
“No, it’s not about last night,” she snapped.
He lifted an eyebrow at the outburst of anger.
“Okay, it’s mostly not about last night.”
That was more like it.
Cheryl looked around, but they were alone. “Last night was fun, I told you that. But I shouldn’t have dropped my guard like that. I have enough to worry about with the job. Forgetting to set an alarm and sleeping in because I’m too busy dreaming about you is not going to help,” she growled, before walking off.
Rowe almost missed his next step as her words hit home. She’d been dreaming about him? What kind of dream? Hopefully the good kind. He stepped into her wake, opening up his nose to the air, testing her scent. Yep, definitely the good kind.
Part of him felt bad for being such a distraction. The rest of him was giddy with excitement. His mate had been having sex dreams about him! Now if only he could get her to accept that this wasn’t a bad thing. That it was, in fact, a good thing.
“What is it that’s bothering you then?” he asked, decided that not acknowledging her comments was probably the best way to go right now. She didn’t want to think about it, and so he wouldn’t bring it up. Yet.
Cheryl stopped. They had been walking almost aimlessly across the property, and now they stood next to the building that served to house the laborers. Calling it a barracks seemed a bit military in nature, but it was close enough that it fit.
“Telling you about my personal life just made it all the more real to me, okay?” She bit her lip. “All my life I’ve dealt with the dual expectations from my family to be successful and also to raise a family of my own. Now I’m defying those both, while trying to succeed in a job dominated by men. I hate the double standard of it all,” she snarled, her anger showing through.
“I don’t blame you.” He scratched his head in thought, an unnatural action for him, since his hair was normally styled. Today though it wasn’t, the byproduct of sitting up all night trying to figure out his mate.
The answer to that problem as it turned out was far simpler than any of the scenarios he’d dreamt up, and unfortunately far trickier as well. He wasn’t sure how to take things to the next level without threatening her entire persona. She wasn’t ready for that in her life; she was focused on her career, and he wasn’t willing to take that away from her.
Cheryl spoke up again, startling him with her continued internal narrative. Maybe she did trust him a bit.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to do any of the things my family expects of me. I wanted to be successful. I want to find someone to share my life with. I want to have a family one day. All of those things I’ve wanted, regardless of the pressure that’s been put upon me. The thing is, I want them on my own time. Not anyone else’s. I want to feel successful, not just do what others believe to be successful.”
He was nodding along with her. “Cheryl, you should know that whatever you set yourself to in life, I have every belief that you will be successful at it. Your career. Your relationship or marriage. Being a mother. You are going to kick ass and take names at every stage of your life. That’s just the sort of person you are. I just wanted you to know that.”
She didn’t respond, too busy flushing red at his compliment. It occurred to him that, based on what she’d told him, Cheryl wasn’t used to much in the way of praise from those close to her. When she achieved something it was probably so expected of her that nobody sought to appreciate it the way it should be.
Rowe decided to set out to fix that. She needed to know how remarkable she was, so that in time perhaps she would begin to believe it herself. He was going to have to beat her over the head with compliments to get it through, but he figured that was a small thing to ask of him. His mate was worth it.
“Don’t worry about the vandalism,” he assured her. “I’ll figure it out. That’ll be my pet project. It’s outside of your purview anyway. You don’t own the place.”
“Thank you. I really wasn’t sure what to do about it.”
“Not a problem.” He casually put an arm around her without thinking, pulling her in tight.
Cheryl didn’t push him away, but after his brain clued in to what his body had done he made sure to cut it short. Not here, in the open.
There would come a time for them, and Rowe was going to be ready for it.
First though, he needed to stop some assholes from marking up his friend’s property.