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Fire flashed at the connection.
I inhaled a short breath, and I wondered if a time would come when I would get used to the feel of his touch.
“Thank you,” he said.
“We couldn’t have you breaking the rules, could we?”
“Never.” It was a chuckle.
I sent him the tiniest smile. One of encouragement. One of belief.
I felt the searing burn of both Ryder and Dakota’s eyes on me.
I suddenly felt flustered.
Caught red handed.
A usurper.
Standing in a place where I wasn’t meant to be.
I needed to clear my head. Take a breath. Straighten out my jumbled intentions.
“I’m going to use the restroom.”
I gestured awkwardly toward the children’s hall, figuring if I went into Ezra’s room, it would only confirm whatever Dakota was thinking. I rushed that way, and I fumbled to close the door behind me. I locked it then turned around. A rush of sudden affection tugged my mouth into a grin when I took in Ezra’s children’s bathroom.
It was decorated in illustrated pirate ships, a Caribbean theme. I could picture Owen and Oliver in the bath, playing with their little ships and figures that were piled high in a basket next to the tub.
God. They were so sweet.
I went to the sink and splashed cool water on my face.
Get it together, Savannah.
I was here helping my friend.
That was it.
Such a lie, but I figured it was the one Ezra and I should go with for a while.
I needed to be careful before I let myself fall any farther. Before this became too complicated.
Before I wanted to stay.
I needed to remember why I was here in the first place. To find my sister. I needed to train my focus on that.
I could handle this. It wasn’t a big deal.
I inhaled a steadying breath then unlocked the door.
A tiny shriek erupted when I found Dakota waiting on the other side. She stuck out her hand and shoved me back into the small space, and she snapped the door behind her.
“I knew it,” she whisper-squealed.
My eyes went wide, and my heart jack-hammered at my chest. “That I had to pee?”
Her rust-colored gaze narrowed, though she didn’t fight her smile. “Um, that there is a thing going on between you and Ezra.”
“A thing?”
“That’s right…a thing.”
“And what kind of thing might that be?” I crossed my arms protectively over my chest.
“Oh, I don’t know, the kind of thing where there’s a tension so tight between you two that I can taste it, dosed with an undercut of softness and familiarity that promises you two got naked.”
Was I that obvious?
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” she challenged.
“Absolutely.”
“Yet your cheeks are heated and you’re standing there bouncing like a bunny with a fire under its tail.” Then she dropped the teasing, and she reached out and tugged one of my arms free from where I had it held like a shield over my battering heart.
She swung our hands between us. “You like him.”
I didn’t say anything because denying it felt like a betrayal.
“It’s okay, you know, to care about him. Ezra’s pretty impossible not to care about.”
Moisture took that inopportune time to blur my eyes. God, these people had made me weak. Demolished my reserves and annihilated the walls.
“Ezra’s just a guy who’s been really kind to me since I came into town.”
“Just how nice has he been?” Squeezing my fingers, she grinned.
Good lord, she was as incorrigible as Ezra. “Fine…he might have come to my room last night before everything happened and things got a little spicy between us. We didn’t even have sex, though. It was nothing.”
Her brow rose to the ceiling. “Nothing?”
My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip and the emotion I’d been trying to keep contained flooded out.
“Fine. I like him, okay.” Panic laced the revelation.
Like him.
Hah.
Understanding creased the edges of Dakota’s eyes. “It’s okay to like someone, Savannah.”
Except, it wasn’t. Because I didn’t do that. Not anymore.
“Is it, though?” Desperation bled out with the question.
Dakota watched me with a deep frown. “Loving someone is always scary, Savannah, but even when it’s hurt me, I’ve never regretted it.”
Tears blurred, and I felt so stupid, so vulnerable standing in front of her like this. I didn’t let these things touch me. But there I was, swamped by it. “And what if loving someone has only ever hurt me?”
God, was I really just going to lay it out like this?
She squeezed my hand again, this time so fiercely that I felt the connection like a band. “Then I say those people never deserved you in the first place. I’d say that maybe you’re just too big and bright for them, and you needed to find the ones who would love you for every single thing you are.”
A tear got free and streaked down my cheek. I watched it as it dripped onto Dakota’s arm. She didn’t recoil or shrink.
