Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Dragon

To say Diana Steel is beautiful is like saying the Rocky Mountains are beautiful.

They are, no doubt, but they’re also so much more.

The Rockies are majestic and awe-inspiring. It’s hard to put into words just how breathtaking they are to someone who hasn’t seen them in person. Towering peaks, rugged cliffs, and a sea of evergreen trees as far as the eye can see. Blue and purple from a distance, but green and lush as you get nearer. Reddish rocks that hide faces and other images in their depths. Snow-capped peaks where sunlight sparkles.

Diana Steel is a different kind of wonder. Her dark hair cascades in silken waves—a deep hue that gleams like polished mahogany. It frames her face with an air of mystery, casting shadows and highlights that dance with each graceful movement.

But her hair pales in comparison to her dark eyes. They’re like deep, endless lakes—windows into her soul. They’re magnetic, and they draw me in. They lock onto mine, and I don’t ever want to look away.

“Are you going to stand there staring, or are you going to tell me what you want?”

Her voice jolts me back to reality.

All the Steel women are beautiful, but Diana has a gentleness about her that some of the others don’t. She’s the opposite of her sister, Brianna, who’s a spitfire of a cowgirl. Even at her wedding to my best friend, Jesse Pike, her personality shone through her traditional western dress.

“Thanks for letting me in.”

She scratches her arm. “Bree told me you weren’t coming until tomorrow.”

Did she forget she already said that through the door? “I hadn’t planned to,” I say, “but it was a gorgeous day for a drive. The aspens have turned, and I don’t know… I just felt like coming.”

She furrows her brow. “And I suppose you need a place to stay.”

I shake my head. “That’s actually what I stopped by to talk to you about. This whole thing wasn’t my idea, Diana. I hope you know that.”

“All I know is that Brianna says it’s important that you stay here.”

“I’ve got a hotel booked for tonight, and I’ve got enough in savings to stay there for the next couple of weeks if I have to.” I frown. “That should be plenty of time to find another…situation.”

She blinks, her face stiff. “All right.”

“I don’t know if you’re even considering their request,” I say, “but if you are, I wanted to stop by and tell you it’s not necessary.”

“Okay, Dragon.” She sighs. “It’s not that I don’t want to help you. It’s just that?—”

I walk toward her and quiet her by holding up a hand. “You don’t have to give me any reasons or excuses or anything.” I look down, kicking at the marble-tiled floor. “I know someone like you doesn’t want to have someone like me encroaching on her space.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Now you wait just a minute. I never said anything about who you are or anything like that.”

I can’t help a scoff. “Give me a break, Diana. You’re a member of the Steel family. You’re about as high class as they get. And I’m…”

She whips her hands to her hips. “You’re what , exactly?”

I don’t reply. I don’t talk about myself. Not the present, and especially not the past. Not to anyone. Jesse is the only one—other than my therapist—I’ve trusted with it, and even he doesn’t know everything. But he’s kept my confidence. Even when I betrayed him big time and fell off the wagon during the band’s big break, he forgave me.

“Are you going to answer me?” Diana insists.

“No,” I say flatly.

“I hate it when people do this.” She balls her hands into fists, her cheeks and neck turning red. “People assume just because I was born into privilege that I don’t understand anybody else. That I think people are beneath me. I’m not like that, Dragon. None of my family is. You should know that by now.”

Her beauty has turned fiery. Maybe I misjudged her. Maybe she’s as much of a spitfire as her sister, and damn…

This woman is so out of my league. God knows I’m still too fucked up for any kind of relationship, but everything in me wants me to grab her, kiss her, throw her over my shoulder, take her into her bedroom, and fuck the living daylights out of her.

Hard, fast, and not gentle.

Because I’m not gentle.

But Diana Steel is not for me.

She’s beauty and light personified, and I…

I ruin everything I touch.