“You can have a seat if you’d like,” she said.
“Yes, I think I will. Your arrangements are cozy,” he said, moving toward the seat across from her.
“Compared to what? Where does a dragon normally live?”
As he sat down, the chair creaked from his size, and his legs were so long his knee bumped a small vase at the edge of her coffee table. Jo was already ready to tell him to not worry about it when his hand shot forward, catching it inches from the ground with supernatural reflexes.
“My apologies. Human rooms can be a bit… cramped,” he replied, setting the vase back on the table as Jo tried to shut her jaw that hung open. “In answer to your question, usually in castles. However, my friends—they’re fae—live in a nice apartment complex on the east side of the city.”
“So you’re a dragon, and your friends are fairies?” Jo asked as if saying it out loud would somehow normalize that.
Dallin just looked at her flatly. “Yes, I already said that, didn’t I?”
“It’s just… a lot to take in.”
“Those men in the alley were fae too. Evil fae. Which is why they’re dead.” He folded his arms, leaning back in the padded chair, which groaned even more.
Jo suppressed a grin and patted the seat next to her on the couch, which would surely offer more room.
Dallin looked from her to the spot she was patting, acting guarded for a moment before getting up and sitting next to her. His masculine scent, like a forest at nighttime, piney and cool, filled her senses, and Jo scooted back on her butt until she was sitting at the corner of the couch, facing Dallin.
The aforementioned dragon, who took up basically half the couch by himself, just watched.
“So tell me what’s going on exactly,” she said, trying hard to not check him out while she focused on the matter at hand.
Dallin just looked at the paperwork on her table, then back to her. “It was all in the packet, wasn’t it?” he responded plainly.
“Yes, but it wasn’t exactly normal stuff.”
“Normal?”
“Like an informational brochure on hair loss or gardening or yoga. Normal stuff.”
His face flashed with confusion. “Why in the hell would we send you that?”
“I don’t know. Because that would be easier than facing the fact that I’m a… a beacon or whatever you call them.” She threw her hands up, all the things she’d read this morning still spinning in her mind.
Dallin leaned forward, hands clasped in front of him. “The more pressing matter isn’t that you’re a beacon. It’s what will happen because you’re a beacon.”
“Like what? More guys like the ones from the store?”
“Maybe. Though, if there are, I’ll take care of them.”
“So the whole part about the forces of chaos coming after me because I’m suddenly magical is all true?”
“Yes.”
“And if I’m lucky, I’ll get magical powers too?”
“Yes. It’s called manifesting, where your true fae form is revealed.” He seemed to be holding back a deep grimace as he talked about this subject in particular. “It’s so ridiculous, with giant wings of energy and your ears get longer and everything gets weird and glowy, and you’ll get unique powers depending on what kind of fairy you are.”
Jo wasn’t sure exactly what problem Dallin had with fae, because that sounded kind of cool.
“It’s not cool. It’s stupid,” he said, seeming to realize a split second later that he’d just responded to something she’d thought, not said. “I…” He seemed torn on what to say next.
Jo just folded her arms, waiting for an explanation.
For the first time, Dallin looked slightly apologetic. “Dragons can read thoughts, as a side note. But it’s your fault,” he said with an animated wave of his hand. “Normally, I can ignore things like that when I want to. But yours are so… loud sometimes.”
Jo didn’t know her thoughts were louder than most people. “Is that a bad thing?”
“Not necessarily.” He gave a slight smirk as he glanced at her. “I just so happen to like hearing your thoughts, to my own surprise. But that being said, I’ll do better to not intrude.”
A dragon who could read minds. Things just kept getting better.
She gave her sternest glare, which seemed to fail in affecting Dallin in any way. “As long as you promise to not do anything sketchy.”
Dallin’s teal eyes seemed to pierce into her very soul as he watched her intently. “Believe me, if I had wanted to be sketchy, I wouldn’t have told you what my intentions were from the start. Nor would I be telling you my secrets.” The lazy way he sprawled across her couch, arms resting along the top of it, belied the kind of power she could still only comprehend because she’d seen it back in that alley.
She gulped.
“So assuming I take everything in this to be real,”—she tapped the paperwork on the desk in front of her—“then how can you be a dragon? Where are your horns and scales and stuff?”
“Dragons assume human form because it’s a hell of a lot more convenient than trying to hide a gigantic beast in the middle of the city. Ever tried flying without knocking over buildings or being seen by a million people with smartphones?” he said matter-of-factly.
Jo supposed that made sense.
“But I assure you. Don’t let the pretty varnish fool you. I am a monster.”
Maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her, but did Dallin just… wink at her?
Perhaps having him sit next to her on the couch wasn’t a smart idea because just being this close to him was giving her ideas she shouldn’t be having.
So instead, she stood up and walked a circle, knowing full well that Dallin was watching her every movement.
Huge, sexy body. Stoic features. Pure power packaged in a mouthwatering physique.
Dallin grinned nonchalantly up at her.
“You’re doing it again, aren’t you?” she asked, feeling oddly vulnerable whenever he looked at her like that. “Reading my thoughts?”
“I’m not doing anything except my job right now.”
Protecting her, if that’s all it really was.
She glanced from the packet back to him.
“So why are you here?”
He seemed caught off guard by that. “I’ve already said why I’m here at least three times by now.”
That made her laugh a little. “No, I mean why were you sent, specifically?”
He perked up at that, intrigued. And when he rose off the couch, his grin was confident, maybe even cocky, but it still made Jo’s fingers tingle in response to watching him.
“Because I’m the most powerful dragon, obviously. Only the best for Ms. Winters.”
“Just Jo, please.”
Dallin took a step toward her, then another, and Jo felt herself back up against the kitchen island.
“And what if I don’t want your protection?”
The gleam in his eye was oddly feral, gaze locked onto her as he closed the distance between them, forcing her to look straight up into the swirling, blue-green depths of his eyes. And the longer she did, the harder she felt that odd pulling sensation between them. The desire to touch him, maybe even do more than that. Much more.
He smirked. “If you don’t like it? Too bad. You’re stuck with me now, Jo.” He put his hands on the counter at her sides, caging her but still not touching. He surrounded her so easily with the breadth of his shoulders, his body.
“If you’re thinking to charm me somehow, you’ve got another thing coming,” she muttered.
God, his lips looked so soft. So oddly kissable in that hard face. What did they feel like?
He’d better not be reading her thoughts, as he promised.
“I already know I’m charming.” His long lashes lowered as he looked down at her imperiously. “What I don’t know is why I can’t seem to shake this strange desire I have to—”
Suddenly, an obnoxious ding-ding-ding fro
m Jo’s phone went off, cutting the tension of the situation like a cleaver, and Dallin immediately pulled away. For a moment, Jo fumbled through her purse, trying to make the ear-bleeding sound stop when she caught a glimpse of the time.
6:45? Crap, it was almost time to start her next live tutorial, and she wasn’t even ready yet.
But while she busied herself in the kitchen, Dallin’s curiosity followed wherever she went.
Never before in her life had work seemed so unappealing. So boring.
At least compared to the wild thought of what it felt like to be kissed by a dragon.
6
Dallin couldn’t suppress his interest as he watched Jo pulling out bowls and ingredients, then setting up what looked like several cameras and her laptop on the kitchen counter.
He could still feel her attraction from a moment ago.
He’d wanted her too.
Yes, maybe the two of them meeting was a sort of odd destiny. She, a beacon who needed his protection. He, a dragon of immense power who needed her so he could have his freedom back.
Regardless of what happened after he had the chain off, it didn’t mean they couldn’t explore this… connection between them more in the meantime.
“What are you doing?” he asked. He didn’t know what cameras had to do with baking.
“Sorry, just in a rush. Could you grab that pan from the cupboard? I don’t know where my footstool went.” She pointed upward, and he gladly moved forward to pull down the one she pointed at.
“Thanks. That really helps.” She started measuring things into smaller bowls, and as she did, he watched with amazement at how quickly she was able to set everything up. “I’m a baker,” she said with a cute little huff of exertion.
“Where’s your bakery?”
“Oh no, not that kind. I mean, I used to be, but now I stream tutorials and baking videos online for people to watch.”
“What?” Dallin was aware of the internet, but the concept of people watching other people do things on computer screens was still a strange one.
“Haven’t you ever seen those little videos of people making ten-layer cakes or unicorn cookies and stuff?”
He shook his head.
“I stream a live tutorial twice a week, and I try to post a new baking video to my YouTube channel at least three times a week. I have a cookbook out, with another on the way, and I post my recipes to my website as well.”
“Sounds busy.”
“It is, but it pays the bills, so I can’t complain,” she said, smiling.
Puggles, presumably roused by the hustling and bustling from the kitchen, came alongside Dallin’s leg, and Dallin held back his initial reaction to hiss at the thing just for being a dog.
After all, Dallin wasn’t a cat anymore.
And Puggles was sort of a delight, if a bit demented.
Jo turned on several more lights, then clicked a button before looking at the camera at the side of her laptop and speaking directly to it.
“Hi, everyone at home. This is Jo, and thanks for tuning in to Jo’s Sweet Tooth Channel,” she exclaimed animatedly.
Dallin, both amused and a little weirded out by the fact she was talking to people who weren’t there, came around the counter, listening as she talked about air times and subscribers and other such nonsense.
As someone who’d spent most of his life in the fae world, he was used to their more advanced means of communication. Social media and everything humans meant by the mercurial term was still pretty foreign for a dragon who’d had nothing to focus on but vengeance.
In his opinion, there was nothing “social” about any of it.
He could see Jo’s laptop screen, half of which was occupied by a video feed from the camera in front of her. To the side, lines of text popped up, which he could only assume were random people commentating.
Before he knew it, he was standing next to Jo, watching over her shoulder.
“I see everyone asking about the man standing next to me.” She looked up with a momentary pause, choosing her words carefully. “This is Dallin, my…” She trailed off.
“Dragon protector,” Dallin said firmly, folding his arms and glaring into the camera. Even if he couldn’t see these people, they could see him, presumably.
“My friend,” Jo said quickly with a nervous laugh.
On the screen, though, he could see remarks lining up in quick succession. Things like: “Oh, hottie!” “Where’d you find him?” “If I was in the kitchen with a guy that looked like that, I wouldn’t be baking.”
They were… coming on to him?
Gross.
He wasn’t interested in that kind of attention. At least not from anyone that wasn’t Jo.
Jo, looking a little exasperated, waved to the camera and said, “One sec,” over her shoulder before grabbing one of his hands with hers and pulling him toward the other corner of the kitchen.
The touch was electric, as he expected.
Damn, the things he wanted to do to this curvy baker.
“Sorry, I still want to pick up our conversation when I’m done, but for now, I need to work,” she said apologetically.
“The people in your comments section are getting out of hand.” The idea of humans lusting after him was amusing, though the thought crossed his mind that they might be watching Jo too.
That thought made him angry.
“Yeah, well, that’s just any comment section anywhere on the internet,” she said with a giggle. Then, without skipping a beat, she was back in front of the camera, exclaiming how they’d be making peach cupcakes this evening.
Dallin pulled out his phone, went to the website he’d seen on Jo’s laptop a second ago, created an account, and was watching her video stream in less than a minute.
Whenever someone would comment about bringing back the big, turquoise-eyed hottie (he could only assume “hottie” was a good thing), he’d reply with his feelings on the matter.
Which was usually “Ew,” “No,” or simply, “Go away.”
For a minute, he just watched with a fair degree of awe as he got to see the pretty woman in the video move about the kitchen at the same time he watched the pretty woman in front of him moving in the same space.
Two Jo’s, though the one in real life was even more irresistible.
It wasn’t until he saw another comment, one insisting the host “show her tits or gtfo” that Dallin’s blood really boiled in his chest.
Unceremoniously, he stood and strode over to where Jo was currently stirring something with an electric mixer.
“What the hell is this?” he asked, jabbing a finger at his phone screen. “Who are these people, and how do I find them?”
Jo looked at the screen, then frowned, but she didn’t have nearly the reaction he expected her to have for something so crass.
“Oh, just trolls. I ban them from the comments whenever I see them, but there’s always another.”
Dallin couldn’t hate the human race more right now. “You mean there’s more than just one?”
“Well, yeah, every time I post anything.”
“On every post?” His exasperation knew no bounds.
She sent him an amused glance as she turned off the mixer and poured something else into it. He was vaguely aware of the fact that people were watching, but he didn’t care.
“That’s just kind of how the internet works, Dallin. Everyone can say what they want.” Though, she looked over her shoulder and spoke to the camera, “Please keep it appropriate in the comments section, everyone.”
“Even if it’s utter drivel?” He scratched at the back of his head, trying to not lose his shit.
She turned back to him calmly. “It’s just a few bullies trying to get a reaction. What are we supposed to do about it anyway?”
Use my power to mind control all of them into submission, was Dallin’s gut reaction.
But in lieu of not having access to his powers right now, threats would have to work.
He
turned to the camera and loomed over it, pointing a finger into it, hoping that all the creeps watching would take a hint.
“Wherever you are, whoever you are, if you don’t cease this immediately, I will hunt you down and gut you like a fish,” he growled ominously.
On the side of the screen, comments stopped coming in altogether for a second.
It wasn’t until more remarks came in about seeing the beefy guy in the room take his shirt off that Dallin opened his mouth to give everyone an extra piece of his mind, and Jo poked him on the shoulder and gave him a placating grin.
“How about we just ignore the comments and work together, huh? After all, these cupcakes aren’t going to bake themselves, right?”
It was obvious this was a ploy to distract him from flipping out on her viewers, but Dallin had to admit it worked.
Even if he was a terrible chef, if she asked for his assistance, he couldn’t help but want to oblige.
So that’s what he did, lifting and moving things and whisking this and that as she instructed, happy to just have the moment with Jo in her kitchen. And after a few minutes, he didn’t have a second thought about what people were saying or thinking because he was too caught up in just living to worry too much about it.
Because if anyone actually came for Jo, he’d crush them just like the others that had come before.
And until then, he was satisfied just being with this interesting person who somehow made the past and the future fade away.
And the only person who had ever made him smile.
7
It was dark outside by the time Jo had finished her video and put everything away for the evening. Dinner, which was something she’d saved in the freezer from a few days ago, was just coming out of the oven, and Jo felt more than ready to just relax and take it easy for a bit.
Though “easy” was a relative term, given the dragon still following her around.
“So how many people usually watch your tutorials?” he asked, arms folded as he sat on the couch.
“Oh, that depends a lot on the day or what it is.” She put the hot dish on the table and opened it to cool. “I tend to get a lot more views on the shorter videos I post online, whereas the live videos only get a couple hundred watchers maybe.”
Dragon Released (Reclaimed Dragons Book 1) Page 4
