Page 44 of Defying Ella
A week ago, I would have taken that as a challenge. Now, it just confused me.Where was he going with this?
“But I —”
“Have only ever responded to my attacks.” He snagged his mug and crawled up the bed. “I’m not explaining this well.What I mean is, you’ve never maliciously tried to hurt me. You’ve seen right through me from the very beginning.” His serious gaze bore into mine as he settled at my side, his body heat once again caressing my skin and calming me. “There were so many ways you could have truly hurt me, and no matter how hard I went at you, no matter how far I tried to chase you away, you never once gave in.”
“Maybe I hadn’t gotten there yet.”
Jared chuckled. “Are you arguing against yourself right now, seriously?”
Yes, Ella, don’t be fucking ridiculous.
“Maybe I’m just too nice.”
“Then I’m glad it’s you who sees me and not anyone else,” he whispered, sobering.
He fixed me with his green gaze. It could have just been my tiredness talking but I could have fallen into those eyes.
But that would be a very dangerous thing to admit.
I shifted my focus to the fire, swallowing the silly idea before it found its way to my lips.
“Did that answer your question?” he asked, a knowing edge to his voice.
“I don’t know. Maybe you just don’t want me to kick you after you used me for cuddles without asking.” I shrugged as I sipped my tea, playing for a nonchalance I would never feel around this man.
“Also a possibility.” He settled back against the sofa while his eyes laughed at me.
While the fire grew in strength, we hid beneath the blankets and consumed what would most likely be our first of many cups of tea.
If someone had told me Jared and I would ever be able to sit in companionable silence, I would have called them a liar. Yet, there we sat, enjoying the crazy quiet of a remote mountain lodge. Nothing but the muted birdsong outside could interrupt us. I’m not ashamed to say I enjoyed it.
His shoulder brushed against mine as he shuffled in his typical fidgety fashion, and I didn’t feel the overwhelming need to snap at him. For the first time in months, I could breathe and not worry that we would end the day in yet another painful argument. Bloody glorious.
To think the answer all along was a power cut.
Not that I would have purposefully cut the power and inflicted a lack of heating on myself.
“So still no power?”
“The switches wouldn’t work when I tried, so no.” He glanced at me, chewing his lip.
“We can try to find the generator later. Maybe it’s just stalled or something.”
“Or…” He started patting himself down, searching for something. He jumped up when he didn’t find it in his jogger pockets and started pulling the pillows and blankets back. “We could just ask the git himself.”
Why hadn’t I thought of that?
I pulled my phone out from beneath my pillow and fired off a text while he continued to scour the bed. My phone pinged just as he held his up with a relieved hiss.
I enjoyed his antics while I unlocked my screen, but the second the words loaded, my amusement drained away.
“Well, that won’t help,” I muttered. I rubbed at my temples, pleading with the words to rearrange themselves.
“What did he say?” Jared asked, his voice brimming with concern. He dragged a hand down his face. “Don’t tell me it’s outside. Please don’t.”
I locked my phone and dropped it in my lap. “Okay, I won’t.”
Jared’s gaze travelled from my dejected face to the phone in my lap.
