Jaded Hearts
Chapter 65

Matt

Why was I so nervous? She was just having dinner with a friend. A friend who was in love with her and wanted a relationship with her, but still just a friend.

I knew 100% that she would forever be mine; I had no doubt about that. But when I thought about it, my biggest fear was that he would hurt her. When she’s with me, I’m in control, and I know that everything in my power will be done to take care of her, but I can’t control him. I don’t know what he may or may not do that could upset her, and I hate that.

Everything I’ve seen from him after he was released from the cells says that he values her happiness as much as I do, but things happen. What if he gets jealous and loses his temper one day? She’s a strong wolf, but she’s so tiny compared to him. She couldn’t possibly defend herself against him.

This is all Drew’s f*****g fault. Not every man puts his hands on women. No real man does, but because of him, I’m nervous when she’s not in my sight. If she got hurt because of a decision I made, it would kill me. I needed to talk to him again. One more time before tonight.

Having him as a bodyguard was one thing; there was no emotion involved. But as a mate, he has the potential to hurt her on a much deeper level. And that can’t happen.

I left the room and ran into Morgan. “Hey, do you know where Tyson is right now?” I asked.

“Probably in the gym or on the training field. He and Kade were working together this morning.”

“Thanks. You should head down for breakfast. I can smell the fresh cinnamon rolls from here, and those never last long.”

Her eyes got big, and she rubbed her stomach, making me chuckle. “I’m on my way now.”

Once she disappeared, I linked Kade.

Hey, are you still with Tyson?

Yeah, we’re just finishing up. What’s up?

I need to talk to him. Where are you? Can you have him wait for me?

Training field. I’ll ask him to stay back for a few minutes.

Thanks, I’m on my way.

I rushed out of the house and to the field to replace Tyson standing alone waiting. Kade probably left to go eat. I couldn’t blame him.

“Hey, thanks for waiting. I’ll make this quick,” I said as I jogged up to him.

“You’re making me miss out on some primo pastries. This better be good.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Dyson always makes an extra pan for us. You’re covered. Anyway, about tonight …”

“You don’t have to give me a speech, or rules, or some s**t like that, Matt. It’s just dinner, eating, and talking.”

“I know, and I’m not trying to get involved or interfere. You’re two adults; you don’t need a chaperone.”

“Then what’s up?”

“I’m just going to come straight out with it. Have you ever hurt a woman, Tyson?”

His hands balled into fists, and for a second, his eyes glowed. I’d pissed him off. “What the f**k are you talking about? You think I’m going to hurt Taylor?”

“I don’t know if you’re going to hurt her. That’s the problem. I can’t have anything happen to her ever again. I trust you to protect her body, but now this is moving into matters of her heart. I have to know that it’s safe as well. So, have you ever physically or emotionally hurt a woman? I need to know.”

“I’ve never hit a woman, and I never will. I don’t care what the situation is. When I was working, I wouldn’t take a job if it was against a woman. That’s not who I am.”

“And emotionally?” I asked.

“That I can’t say for sure. I’ve been with a lot of women, and some probably let their emotions take over when it came to us. If I did hurt any of them, it was never done on purpose. I’m not the d**k most of you wolves portray bears to be.”

Hadn’t he shown that these past six months?

“I apologize if it seemed like I was judging you unfairly. She’s my universe, so I’m a little overprotective when it comes to her happiness.”

“I can’t say I blame you. I’d be the same way if I was in your shoes. Don’t worry about it.”

“Cool. I’ll leave you to it now. Oh, and I heard you’re cooking for her. Just a tip, she hates rosemary and loves spinach. Some weird pregnancy thing that stuck with her after she had Genesis.”

“Rosemary and spinach? Got it. Thanks for the heads up.”

“I’m just protecting my own a*s, I can’t have her coming home hungry and pissed because you tried to feed her rosemary chicken or something. That would not be good for me.”

* * *

Tyson

I needed to get home to make sure everything I’d requested for tonight was delivered and in perfect condition. I couldn’t have any stupid mistakes, and I wanted sunshine to see all the effort I put into our date and see that she was worth it.

One of the perks to living with a pack of wolves, and being close to the ranked ones, was the access to omegas to help whenever needed. I was going to cook dinner because that’s what Taylor wanted, but I wasn’t going to go wandering through the aisles of the grocery store looking for lardons or pearl onions if I didn’t have to.

That’s what the omegas were for.

When I got to the house, Emma was just delivering everything to the kitchen. “Good morning, Mr. Fredrick. I have everything you asked for. Would you like me to put it away for you?” she asked.

“No, I can handle that part. Thank you. But I do need something else. Could you go back and grab the items in this recipe? I just found out that I kinda need it too.”

I showed her my phone, and after she scanned it, she nodded and smiled. “That’s no problem. I’ll be back within the hour.”

“Do you want me to send the list to you?”

“No, sir. I make this dish all the time. I know exactly what’s needed. I’ll be back soon.”

Okay, everything was going according to plan. Now I just needed to wash off this morning’s training, then get started. This was going to take me all damn day.

* * *

By 6:30, my oven had been working for well over six hours. I appreciated the extra money it cost to get the professional style range sunshine was so sure I needed over the basic one now. Never had I spent more than thirty minutes making a meal, so this was a first. I followed the recipes to the letter, so I hoped and prayed it came out well.

Another shower was in order, but afterwards, I had no idea what to wear. My closet was full of clothes, but I didn’t know what the dress code was. At my own house, I didn’t know the dress code.

A suit seemed too formal, but if I didn’t wear one, she might think I wasn’t taking tonight seriously. Jeans were too casual. This wasn’t a Netflix and chill with pizza type of night. Dress pants and a simple button-up. That was a nice middle ground, and the safest bet.

I hadn’t realized that I had been running around for an entire hour until I felt the tingles, then heard her voice call out to me.

“Tyson, I’m here!”

s**t! That was the quickest hour of my life.

“I’ll be right there. Just one minute,” I responded.

I took a final look in the mirror and adjusted my shirt. It was go time, and I needed to win this woman’s heart.

***

Taylor

I had no idea what he made for dinner, but I could smell the aroma even before I made it to the house. Whatever it was, it smelled incredible and made my stomach rumble. In the kitchen, I was surprised to see that everything was still neat and clean. When I cooked, I had every dish and spice spread across the counters. It would drive Morgan insane.

“Keep your station clean!” she would always yell at me.

I’m not a chef; what do I know about “stations?”But she would be happy to see that Tyson thought the same way she did.

When he finally walked in the kitchen, I had to smile. He looked frazzled like he’d just been rushing around, but he still looked incredibly handsome. His crisp white shirt was rolled up to his elbows, showing off his huge toned forearms. The navy-blue slacks hung from his h**s perfectly; whoever his tailor was deserved a raise. They were truly gifted. He was a sight to see, there was no question about that.

“Hey, sunshine, time got away from me. Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. I’m a couple of minutes early, actually. The smell drew me in,” I said with a smile.

He looked at the clock then scowled.

“It’s only 7:00. I thought I was going crazy when you showed up. I knew my hour couldn’t have been up that fast.”

“You get more time with me now, so consider yourself lucky. So, what’s on the menu? I’m starving.” A timer went off on the oven just as I finished the question.

“Dinner’s almost ready, but you can snack on this for now.” He pulled out a bubbly dish of cheesy spinach and artichoke dip, and I m****d out loud. Spinach was my life right now, how did he know? I watched as he sat it on the counter, then got some perfectly toasted baguette slices.

“Oh, my god. I’m about to destroy that,” I said as I excitedly bounced in my seat.

“I hope you like it. I’ll get you a drink. Let it cool off a little before you dive in.”

He poured me my favorite Moscato, and after handing it to me, when over to check on whatever was still in the oven. I tried to wait but couldn’t. I snatched a piece of bread and scooped up a huge mouthful of dip. It burned the hell out of my mouth, but it was worth it.

“My taste buds probably all have third-degree burns, but I still know that this is phenomenal,” I told him.

He scooped up some for himself and popped it in his mouth. “Damn, that is pretty good. Who knew I could cook like that?”

I sat back and continued to eat, this time at least blowing the food off, and thought out loud.

“I honestly expected us to have something like spaghetti or burgers. Something easy. I don’t know what’s in the oven, but it doesn’t smell like it was easy. And I didn’t think you would actually cook a real appetizer. Cheese and fruit or something like that was what I was picturing.”

He smiled and shook his head. “I’m hurt, princess. I thought you’d have more faith in me than that.”

“I’ll know for next time. You’ve set the bar high.”

“You’re already thinking about next time?”

“Um … I guess I am. Good food does that to me,” I said, trying to hide my nervousness.

“Good food, huh? Okay,” he replied with a wink, before turning back to the oven.

Damn him! I’ve got the upper hand here. I can’t let him confuse me with all his charms. When everything was done, and I’d ate almost half of the spinach dip, we moved into the dining room.

“Have a seat, and I’ll bring your plate out to you,” he told me as he helped settle me in my chair.

I nodded and ran my hand over the live edge black walnut dining table. It had a natural, woodsy feel to it that was perfect for a house owned by a bear on wolf territory. It was made to be in this house, and it was perfect. My attention was easily pulled away from the table when he came back and placed my dinner in front of me.

The smell! It was heaven.

“Beef Bourguignon. This took me all day, gorgeous, so I hope you like it,” he told me.

It was a tender beef stew with carrots, garlic, pearl onions, mushrooms, and bacon. He served it over a mound of thick, creamy potatoes that almost brought a tear to my eye. I was about to shovel some in my mouth, then caught myself.

“Wait! Is there rosemary in this? Beef, onions, and potatoes are my favorites, but that damn rosemary would ruin it all.”

“No rosemary, I promise.”

I smiled then dove right in. “Yep, it’s official. This tastes as good as it looks and smells,” I g*****d.

He started to eat beside me and nodded his head in agreement. “Maybe I have a career as a chef one day.”

“Or you can just cook for me. That works too.”

When he laughed, it brought back memories of us as kids. We were always laughing. I had never met a goofier person in my life. That was probably why I liked him so much. He and Morgan were so similar, and they constantly kept a smile on my face.

“What’s going on in that head? Let’s talk,” he said.

“I’m just remembering the old you. Before you became a man. When you were still a boy and carefree.”

“Yeah, the world turned that boy into a man real quick once I left. It’s hard to keep that carefree nature when you’re out on your own.”

“You didn’t have to be on your own. You had family. You always had me.”

He shook his head. “It’s a good thing you didn’t know we were partners when I left. It was hard enough on me to make the choice, but if you would have known, I never could have done it.”

“It was what, almost five years that you knew? That’s a long time to keep a secret.”

“I knew for way longer than that,” he quietly said.

“What?”

He looked over at me and into my eyes. “June 12, 2006. Exactly fourteen years and five months ago. That was the day I first met you. We were all out of school for the summer, and my parents had just moved to Jade City. I was ten years old and went over to play with Morgan and Mitchell. When we pulled up, you and Mo were in front of the house riding bikes, and you fell off, scraping your knee. I didn’t know why, but I had to make sure you were alright. I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough to get to you.

When you looked up at me, and I saw the tears in those huge green eyes, I knew you were mine. At ten years old, I fell in love, and I didn’t even know it. From that day forward, I made sure none of the kids messed with you or picked on you.

I don’t know how many boys I knocked out because they looked at you wrong or said something I didn’t like. It was my thirteenth birthday when I finally understood my feelings for you, but I knew all along that we were meant for each other.”

I felt the color rising on my neck and cheeks. After a moment, I looked back at him.

“I remember that. I remember falling down, and instead of Morgan helping me up, it was some strange boy with eyes like hers and a beautiful smile. I had no idea who you were, but I was comfortable with you. I can’t believe you remember the exact date.”

“That was the day my world changed, sunshine. How can I ever forget that?”