Zircon (Awakened Sea Dragons Book 1)

by Terry Bolryder

  It was late in the morning, and they’d all had breakfast together without issue. Jenny had been amazing about accepting them into her home, and his siblings had avoided causing any more awkward incidents, at least for now.

  “Well, it works for me,” Jenny said. “I’m not really not sure what I’d have them do anyway. Usually, it’s fine with just me, and having you there will make it that much better.”

  He felt warmth flow through him at the thought of being useful to her. He’d planned on his main job being to chase the interloper away if he came back.

  When they pulled up in front of the restaurant, Jenny moved to the back of the car and opened an odd, square-ish compartment. When she reached in to pull out a couple heavy boxes, Seaton took them from her.

  “Oh, right,” she said, flushing again, more obviously with her hair pulled back away from her face. She had a heart-shaped face with rounded cheeks and a little pointed chin with a small dimple in it. Her eyes were large and tilted up at the corners, and her lower lip was larger than her upper, giving her an adorable, mischievous pout.

  But it was her beautiful, greenish-brown eyes that always managed to capture his notice.

  “Oh, dear, it’s been a long time since someone looked at me like that,” she said, fanning her face as she unlocked the front door, removed the sign, and led the way into the restaurant.

  Seaton had crept around the outside of this establishment so many times that it felt odd to walk in openly, as someone who belonged here. It felt odd to be standing next to Jenny, as he was now her friend and not just a creepy stranger watching from afar and falling in love.

  But if he’d been falling for her slowly just watching her, then being in her presence, in her home, had only thrown things into hyper speed.

  “Where do you want these?” he asked, meaning the boxes.

  She pulled an apron off a hook behind the bar and tied it on as she nodded to the counter. “Right there is fine, thanks.”

  He set down the boxes and saw her unload supplies and take them to a steel-colored refrigerating device. He’d inspected the kitchen at her house after everyone had gone to bed so he would be less lost when he got here to help her.

  “So what will my job be?”

  “Well, if you could start by taking the chairs down off the tables and making sure those are set up, I’d appreciate it. I forgot something in the car. I’ll be right back.” When he stepped forward to help her, she shook her head, sending her braid swinging. “No, it’s tiny. I’ve got it. I promise.” She looked at the tables. “Go slowly with the chairs. They’re heavy.”

  He wanted to wrap that braid around his hand, pull her in slowly, look into her eyes, and crush his mouth over hers, claiming her.

  But it wasn’t time. Not until her eyes held the same kind of want that he felt.

  He made quick work of taking down the chairs, which weighed nothing in proportion to the strength he enjoyed as a dragon in human form, and speedily set them on the ground, hoping to surprise her when she returned.

  Even amongst dragons, he and his siblings enjoyed superior strength. They needed it to do their work protecting the ocean the way the gem dragons protected the land.

  “Wow!” she said, walking in and setting her purse on the counter as she stared wide-eyed at the restaurant and all the chairs perfectly set up around the tables. “How did you do that? I always have to do one at a time and go slow so I don’t drop something or scratch the floor.”

  He grinned. His mate’s lack of strength was more than a little adorable. And it didn’t matter because she would have him to do anything that required hard work from here on out. Her job, if she wanted it, would only be to bear young.

  She walked behind the bar and turned on the water, washing something in the basin. “Why don’t you turn on the TV and just settle in? We might not have lunch customers for a while, and I’m sure you might want to catch up on shows just as much as your siblings.”

  He nodded, figuring she didn’t want help with whatever she was doing at the basin. His mate was used to doing things on her own, something he hoped he could change. He reached up to turn on the TV, and she laughed.

  “I’m glad you’re doing that,” she said. “I always have to stand on a chair.”

  He wrinkled his nose at that. It was too adorable. He found a channel with “news” and was glad that he still had the ability to read human words in English. He figured this would give him a good idea of human life, and also, if there was anything related to dragons, even if it wasn’t something humans would notice, he could catch it.

  He pulled a chair back so it was near the bar and gave him a good viewing distance so he could watch the TV.

  Jenny walked to the back doors and slid them apart so the restaurant was wide-open to the beach and sunlight warmed the room, along with the scent of ocean breeze. Seaton’s favorite scent, until he’d smelled Jenny’s mix of beachy warmth and wildflowers.

  He thought of her questions to him earlier and wondered if humans put a lot of importance into where they were “from.”

  He decided to figure it out. He had to do something to clear the air between them, to get her to see him as her friend, and more, and stop the odd distance in her eyes. She was attracted to him, but he could sense she was holding back for some reason, and he wanted to take that reason away.

  He was safe, he could never hurt her, and maybe she just needed to get to know him more.

  “Where are you from?” he asked, the words feeling odd in his mouth.

  She cocked her head, and a sweet, auburn lock slid over her forehead. She tucked it back as she washed her hands and came around the bar to sit on a chair a little ways from him. She leaned back on it awkwardly. “I hadn’t thought you would ask that.”

  “I’m interested in you,” he retorted.

  Her long, curled auburn lashes lowered slightly, making her eyes look a deeper green. “You are?”

  “I mean, as a friend.”

  “Oh,” she said. “I’m from the South. Well, some consider it south. Texas. I came out here because I wanted to be near the ocean, somewhere nice and cool and isolated. But I do miss Texas sometimes.”

  “Texas,” he said, trying the world out with his lips. “Interesting. What is Texas like?”

  “Where I’m from, San Antonio, it’s beautiful. I assume a lot of Texas is beautiful. Warm, sunny weather a lot of the time, though the summer gets really hot, not temperate like it is here.”

  He nodded. “Is your family there?”

  “Yes,” she said. “But it’s just my parents and one sister. We keep in touch. Anyway, she’s the one who married and had kids, so my parents seem a little more preoccupied with her.”

  He frowned. “That seems unfair.”

  “Well, you know grandparents,” she said. “And besides, I’ve always been independent. I don’t mind handling things on my own.” She pulled out a small, rectangular object with a screen on it that looked like a TV. “Here, can I show you pictures of my niece and nephew?”

  “Sure,” he said curiously.

  She pressed a few buttons, making his brain spin as the screen changed. “Here they are. This is Stefan and Susan.”

  Two little kids with blond hair stared back at him, the boy pouting with folded arms, his sister, who looked to be a little older, giving him a hug.

  “They are cute,” he said genuinely.

  “My sister is the blond in the family.” She held up another picture on the screen, this one of presumably her whole family. He immediately recognized a woman who must be Jenny’s mother, a kindly, rounded woman with kind brown-green eyes like her daughter. But she was blond, with the thinner hair of Jenny’s sister. Jenny’s father, on the other hand, had reddish hair that stood up in all directions, much thicker like Jenny’s.

  “It’s a beautiful family,” he said.

  “I know. I miss them,” she said, pressing a button on the phone and getting ready to put it away.

  “What is this?�
� he asked quickly, reaching for the phone. He hadn’t wanted to cut her off earlier, not when she was talking about her family, but he badly wanted to know what this device was and whether he could have one.

  “My phone?” she asked. “Just a regular phone.” She handed it to him. “Be careful. I just upgraded it.”

  He frowned as he turned the light object over in his hand. “It’s like a TV.”

  She smiled and let out a little giggle. “A TV? I guess so. It’s just a phone, though. You know, to call people far away.”

  He pursed his lips together, growing pensive. He knew that certain dragons had powerful mind-reading abilities. He and his siblings only had access to it in dragon form, not human form. Then again, working in the ocean, they spent more time in their dragon forms than most.

  But this “phone” thing was something different.

  “How does it work?” he asked, looking down at it curiously.

  “Well, it also has the internet so you can look everything up if you need info.”

  “How do I get one?” That sounded like something he needed very much.

  “Um, I mean…” She scratched her head at the top of her braid and rolled her lips together. “I suppose I could figure out a way to get some for you and your siblings. They’re expensive.”

  “Hm.” He hated to place a larger financial burden on his mate than he already had. Perhaps he would have to wait until the other dragons found him before he had the wealth to buy one of his own.

  Then again, maybe not.

  “You can use mine for now if you want. I’m not planning on anyone calling.”

  That sounded a little sad, but he decided not to mention it. He handed her the phone. “Show me how to use it, please.”

  She looked out to the beach, and when she was satisfied no one was coming, she sat down next to him. “Okay, see, here is how you unlock it. Right. And then you type in right here…”

  At first, it was purely overwhelming, the idea of touching little letters on a screen and seeing things move in front of his eyes, but Seaton got the hang of it pretty quickly.

  He was delighted to see he could type something like “TV” into the “search bar” and see an explanation in English pop up. “Amazing.”

  “Yup,” she said. “And you don’t need to just type words. You can type questions as well.”

  He typed a question into the search bar. “Where am I from?”

  She laughed as she saw what he was doing. “No, no, you can only search things that people on the internet would know. Like ‘what is the capital of Texas’ or things like that.”

  He sighed. “Okay.”

  “Anyway, you are welcome to play around with that. I’m just going to look through my books and make a few calls to my vendors. But I can use my landline for that.”

  He nodded as she walked back behind the bar, and then he typed in “what is a landline.” When it came up with an explanation, an indescribable feeling of relief came over him.

  He wouldn’t have to ask her stupid questions anymore, as long as he had access to a phone.

  He sent her a glance and saw her leafing through a book, totally caught up in what she was doing. He turned to the side, shielded the phone with his body so she wouldn’t see him, and typed in the question he really wanted to know.

  How do I win over a human woman?

  Chapter 7

  Jenny smiled in amusement as she finished her calls and noticed Seaton still huddled on his chair, hunched over the phone and clearly trying to hide whatever he was doing.

  She was sometimes drawn to his almost child-like innocence and the way he didn’t seem to understand things about the world. Maybe Marina wasn’t the only one who’d hit her head when the ship crashed.

  But despite his odd way of looking at things and his gaps in knowledge, nothing about him felt anything like a man not in control.

  He was tall, strong, aware of his power and appeal, and eager to learn new things.

  And she could help him with all of that while he recovered his memories, as long as she stayed professional and avoided temptation.

  He was an adult, but considering how lost he seemed in this world, the last thing she wanted was to take advantage of him. But there were moments when he was too cute—like when he’d been fascinated by her phone—that she just felt unbelievably attracted. And protective, which was ludicrous because he felt easily twice her size, even if he wasn’t.

  She longed to go over and take the phone to see what he was looking at. She really hoped it wasn’t pornography. Her ex, who she’d left behind in Texas, was always watching it, and it had been part of their break-up. It had changed their relationship, and while everyone had suggested most men did it, she really had to hope that wasn’t the case.

  She’d seen some of it on her ex’s phone and been shocked by the violent misogyny of it. After all, how could she stay with a man who liked to see such humiliation perpetrated on a woman for sexual gain?

  No, she preferred the gentle romances in her books, with men who knew how to take care of a woman and needed only her sexually, nothing on the side. Men who would look at a woman like Seaton looked at her.

  But men like Seaton didn’t just walk out of the ocean and marry a lonely restaurant owner.

  Marry. That had been a leap. But something about his chivalry, the way he carried things, the way he gave her respect, just made him the type a woman would want to hold on to and lock down.

  Not to mention his height, his bulging muscles, his sea-blue eyes, and that stubborn chin with the slight dent in the middle that looked strong and manly.

  Full lips just begging to be kissed.

  Holy hell, she thought, grabbing a rag to run it over the counter. It didn’t need to be cleaned, but she had to keep her mind busy on something.

  Seaton had set the phone down now and leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. He put a hand through his soft, thick blond hair, the color of sun on sand, and made it stand up in all directions. She wanted to run her hands through it, push it this way and that, see his serious blue eyes look at her as if she were the only woman in the world.

  Oh, there you go, Jenny. Perving again.

  She sighed as she wiped at an invisible spot on the counter. She was probably a terrible person because she’d almost been glad she had an excuse not to call the authorities to get to keep Seaton and his siblings with her a little while longer.

  There was something about them that was just warm and inviting and almost… magical.

  After all, they were beautiful supermodels who somehow ended up living on a beach.

  There were a lot of things to figure out, but in the meantime, she had a feeling they would be giving her a reason to laugh multiple times a day.

  Seaton was watching the news now, his whole body rigid as she sat with folded arms, taking in every bit of information.

  She wondered what had been happening in the world when he lost his memory.

  How much he had missed.

  He and his siblings couldn’t have been on the beach very long, but they might have been lost at sea for a while. It was a wonder they hadn’t drowned. Luckily, the waves here were strong, but there wasn’t frequently a dangerous undertow.

  “Whatcha thinking about over there?” she asked.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said, standing abruptly. Today he was wearing a gray shirt that fit better, outlining his wide shoulders, powerful arms, and draping his trim waist. “Is that okay?”

  She leaned on the counter and set her cheek in her palm with a laugh. “Sure. There’s no one here. Do as you like.” She frowned. “On the other hand, come back soon or I’ll worry about you out there.”

  “Sure,” he said, mimicking her words. Damn, he was handsome, silhouetted there in the sun, hands in his jean pockets, head slightly tilted as it usually was when he looked at her. “I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

  And then he was gone, walking out onto the beach, making her badly want to follow hi
m.

  She had a daydream of them for a minute, standing on the beach with their toes in the water, him lifting her up and then setting her down, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her into a passionate kiss as the waves crashed around them.

  The thoughts drew a flush, and she bit her lip as sudden arousal rushed through her. She hadn’t thought of anything that erotic in a long time.

  Somehow, that womanly part of her had been lost in trying to keep the restaurant afloat and maintain her house and keep Drew at bay.

  The thought of him almost killed her mood, but she focused back in on Seaton, who she couldn’t see any longer.

  Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to fantasize a bit more. She reached under the counter and pulled out the most recent book she’d been reading and opened it with a smile.

  The blond hero was transformed into Seaton in her mind, and she licked her lips as she read the beginning of a love scene. She could just picture it, his hands on her, caressing her curves that hadn’t been touched in so long. Waking up new feelings inside her, making her feel loved and treasured and—

  She was in the middle of feeling pressure build inside her as she looked up to see Seaton approaching.

  He was holding a small bunch of wildflowers he must have gathered from the trees around them, and as he ducked into the bar, he walked forward, holding them out to her.

  She looked up at him, embarrassed, as she shoved the book away and under the counter.

  His hand holding the flowers lowered, and a slight grin curved his lips as he looked her over from head to toe. She felt he could see right through her, tell exactly how aroused she was and that she’d been thinking of him.

  Could he? That was impossible, right? In real life, men didn’t get hints, let alone read signals like that.

  He took another step forward, looking more serious. “These are for you.”

  She took a deep breath and let it out hastily, moving around and looking for a glass to put them in. She found an old vase and filled it with water, setting it on the counter and trying to distract herself by arranging the beautiful flowers in it.