Page 33 of Deserving Lara
“You can ask us anything,” Alaska said, sincerity lacing her words.
“I don’t think I can trust my instincts when it comes to people anymore. I never would’ve thought Ridge could do what he did to me…you know, leaving me to Carter’s mercy. But he did. And at one point, I thought he was someone I could spend the rest of my life with. So now, I…I’m worried that what I’m feeling is…because of gratitude. Or that I’m stupid and crazy for feeling the way I do. I don’t know.” Lara was aware she was rambling. That she wasn’t making any sense. Suddenly, talking to all these women at once didn’t seem like the best idea. She should’ve just sat down with Cora.
Alaska’s eyes seemed to dance. “Please tell me you’re saying what I think you’re saying. Are you talking about Owl?”
Lara’s cheeks heated. She shrugged. “He’s been…amazing. He hasn’t complained once about me needing him within sight for months. He’s never made me feel like a burden, even though I know I am. And lately, I…he…Has he had many girlfriends?”
Reese and Cora were grinning like fools, and Alaska looked like the cat who’d gotten the cream. But it was Henley who spoke. “Owl? No way. Ever since I’ve known him, he hasn’t seemed interested in any women. Not at all.”
“Oh,” Lara said, a thought occurring for the first time. “Does helikewomen?”
Everyone laughed.
“He likes one woman in particular,” Cora told her friend.
Lara blinked in surprise…and tried to tamp down the disappointment and pain that followed those words.
“You, silly! He likesyou!” Alaska exclaimed.
Relief swept through Lara. “I’m not so sure,” she said. “I think he’s just being nice.”
“He is,” Henley said. Then she elaborated. “But no man, and I meanno man, would do what he’s done if he wasn’t emotionally involved. He can’t take his gaze off you when we’re talking in our sessions. I’m talking laser-focused on you, Lara. If you gave the slightest indication that you didn’t want to be there, he’d act. I have no doubt.”
“He’s always got his eyes on her,” Alaska agreed.
“Because he’s waiting for me to…freak out,” Lara suggested.
“Nope. Not even close,” Reese said with a shake of her head.
“Like Pipe looks at me,” Cora explained gently.
Lara closed her eyes as hope rose within her. She’d seen for herself how Pipe looked at her best friend. As if the sun rose and set with her.
She felt someone touch her, and she opened her eyes. Cora had taken her hand.
“I can understand why you’d be reluctant to trust yourself. But Owl is not Ridge. The men here…they’re different. They would never lead a woman on. They’d never make her think there’s something deeper than there is if no feelings exist. From what I’ve seen, and from what I’ve heard from Pipe, Owl is a good man. Do you like him?”
Lara licked her lips and nodded.
“Have you told him?”
“No. I don’t want…what if he really doesn’t feel that way? What if it makes things weird?”
“What if it doesn’t?” Cora countered.
“Carter’s still out there,” Lara reminded her friend. “What if he hurts Owl, or you, to get to me?”
“If he does, that’s not on you. You deserve this, Lara. You deservehim,” Cora said.
“He doesn’t deserve me though. A paranoid, scared-of-the-dark victim who’s being hunted by a serial killer,” Lara said a little bitterly.
“Anyone who earns your love would beluckyto have you,” Alaska said fervently. “We’ve seen your friendship with Cora. How you’d do anything for her, and we all know the depths she’d go to for you. If you think that kind of relationship is normal, or common, you’re dreaming. Anyone who’s the recipient of that kind of loyalty and love would do whatever it took to keep it. To earn it for himself.”
Lara looked at her new friend.
“Give him a chance,” Alaska urged. “He’s not going to let you down.”
“It’s him,” Cora said, making Lara’s focus shift back to her. “The one. The man you’ve been looking for all your life.”
