by Jill Haven
“Not that young.” He slanted a small smile toward me, and my stomach ran warm with it.
“I’d be happy to show you around Charleston sometime, when you ever make it there. It would be a fine start.”
He shook his head. “Your accent is southern and something else. Where are you from?”
“Ah, you’ll have to spend an evening with me if you want all my secrets.” I found myself winking, like an ass.
He flushed and smiled again, and pure excitement lanced through me. I hadn’t felt this way with another dragon in my entire life. My fangs itched to extend in my mouth and the urge to take him and run away with him was on me, though not unbearable, simply a loud drumbeat in the back of my mind. Shit, maybe Mason was right. I hated it when that happened.
Clearing my throat, I scooped up my own apple basket. “Gotta go… you know.” I shook the basket around in lieu of words.
“Yeah.” He bent and picked up his own.
We stared for so long his cheeks flushed brighter and he nervously jammed his thumb against his glasses to push them up, but still, we both lingered.
“I hope we can talk again soon.”
He nodded carefully, heaving in a deep breath. Hell, he’s adorable.
“I’d like that.”
With another stilted nod, I moved deeper into the orchard away from him and left him. I wandered among the trees and put some distance between us. It took me a long time to convince myself not to go back to him and ruin the small start I’d made by being too forward. I adjusted my cock in my pants, and eventually it started to behave.
The apples were a nice distraction as I began to pick them with a haphazard thought of leaving them somewhere for Haiden. The farther I got into the trees, though, an itchy, watched feeling began to drag on me. I caught hints of unfamiliar dragon scent on the breeze and spun in a circle. Straining my ears, I heard rustling that didn’t sound like humans walking, but it was difficult to pick out the soft noise with people talking near the entrance of the orchard.
The cool breeze swept by and brought the smell of dragon to me full force, without me needing to search farther. Paranoia gripped my heart, and I stood there, fighting the urge to race to Haiden and protect him. Whatever Jade said, whatever Mason may think, there were more dragons here than we’d seen, because this scent was different even than the one outside the restaurant. So many dragons who hadn’t shown themselves lingering around screamed intrigue to my human mind and outright threat to my dragon. My heart raced and I breathed hard. My fangs extended into my mouth and it was only by force of will that I kept my talons from appearing.
Whatever happened, Mason would have to accept that I couldn’t leave this town with Haiden possibly in danger. Until I was satisfied that the coast was clear, Haiden would have me close by.
8
Haiden
“Lunch rush is over,” Jade said as she sauntered through the door into the kitchen. I flinched at the explosion of her voice in the otherwise quiet room, but then settled myself down. I had my back to the door working, so didn’t see her expression, but I knew she hated how jumpy I was. Her perfume, slightly smoky and comforting, startled me into looking over my shoulder. She smiled when I gawked at her exposed stomach. Eric wasn’t here right now, so she had her work T-shirt knotted above her belly button to show off the high-waisted jeans she’d ordered online from one of those nice stores we didn’t have around here. I didn’t get what was so special about them, but she liked the way it all looked together.
I fought back a frown. For some reason, her perfume had reminded me of Carlisle for a weird second—not that everything hadn’t been reminding me of him all day. Face heating, I turned back to the pie crust I had been busy rolling out on the stainless-steel prep table. Carefully, I smoothed the rolling pin over the crust one last time, holding my breath and praying that it wouldn’t fall apart. I shivered. My skin was sensitive everywhere that Carlisle’s body had been pressed against mine yesterday, and my chest still felt warm and squirmy and alive with electricity every time I gave in and thought about him.
“I, uh, started making pies with the apples we got yesterday.” I nodded toward a large bowl where I already had the apples cleaned, sliced, and coated with sugar and spices. “Eric said he’ll give me half the money from the pies since everyone always loves them, so I can pay you back.”
“Don’t worry about it.” She came closer and bumped her hip against mine, or rather my leg because she was so short. She smiled, and I wrapped an arm around her giving her a half hug. I lingered over her closeness because she was warm and friendly, and she was probably the only person in the whole world I felt comfortable and even-keeled around.
“So, what’s shakin’ your bacon today?” she asked.
Shrugging, I ducked my head, pretending I needed to focus more than I did to pick up the pie crust, but then I was standing there looking stupid with a crust in my hands. “Heck, can you get me two of the pie pans?”
She laughed and rushed over to the baker’s rack against one wall where we kept our prep dishes and came back with them. I carefully slid the crust onto the pan and frowned at her. “I don’t know.”
“Come on.”
“I’ve been dreaming,” I murmured, pressing the crust in where I wanted it.
“Oh, dreams. What have you been dreaming about?”
Last night, I hadn’t had one of those sex dreams, and I’m not sure why, but I mentally flailed and grasped at what I had dreamed about, hoping to give her something so she’d stop bugging me. “Dragons. I dreamed about a beautiful black dragon with red tinted scales. The red was like… like hummingbird wings in sunlight. He was magnificent.” I couldn’t help the dreamy sigh that followed. I couldn’t quite say why, but I’d thought the dragon was sexy. I kept that bit to myself because it was nuts.
Jade made a noise, somewhere between a cough and choking. I glanced up fast, and she had her lips screwed up in a twisted little smile. “A dragon, you say?”
“Yeah.” I pulled the next pie pan over and peeled the rest of the crust off the table, doing the same thing with it as I had the other one.
“What does it mean? You always say our dreams mean something.”
“I’d say something really fucking unexpected is about to happen to you.” She sounded amused, which was strange. I eyeballed her, but she suddenly found her fingernails deeply interesting. Jade was a girl, though, and sometimes she was baffling, so I just let it go and started loading the pies with apples.
She raised her head and scowled at the kitchen door, taking off, probably to seat a customer. Not long later I had the pies in the oven, and she came back in with an order. I worked that way, cleaning the kitchen in between customers and checking on my pies, for most of the afternoon. When I was nearing the end of my shift, I had six pies cooling and the entire kitchen sparkled.
I was just leaning against the prep table, admiring my handiwork, when Jade burst into the room, but she didn’t have a ticket order in hand.
“Guess what?” she said, flashing me her teeth.
“I have no idea.”
“Carlisle is out there. He asked for you.”
My heart picked up pace and I groaned, turning to rest my hands on the table and steady myself. My stomach went hot and tight, and I took a deep breath. Ever since I’d had all those dreams and then yesterday after he touched me, I’d been thinking about him. I closed my eyes. He was so much older, and stronger, and seemed nice and smart, and the way he dressed and the car he drove… there was no way he’d be interested in me or want to go out with me.
“Take him a piece of pie. It smells great. He’ll like that.”
“Why do I care what he likes?”
“Oh, come on. I’m not blind,” Jade said. She walked over and shoved her face close to mine before she rolled her eyes, trying to get me to laugh, but I was too busy trembling and hoping that the half-wood I was currently dealing with in my boxers wasn’t visible.
“I thought y
ou didn’t like him, much. Why the change of heart?”
She shrugged and tapped her fingernails on the table. “I had a dream of my own. The message seemed to be that I need to be more trusting. Maybe it was about Carlisle.”
“Why do you trust dreams so much? They’re just silly.”
“Then why do you keep asking my opinions about them? Even if they’re only your mind screaming messages at you when you’re sleep, they’re important.” She tapped her finger on the back of my hand.
Forcing a smile and nod, I moved, cut a piece from one of the cool pies and then plated it. Everything seemed to be happening in fast forward. My hands shook as I added a huge dollop of whipped cream on the side and then took the pie out through the swinging door into the dining room. It seemed like I was walking miles to get to his table, and I couldn’t see Carlisle’s face in the booth he sat in, just one of his broad shoulders sticking out.
Dragging in a deep breath, I finally made it to him and slid the pie onto the table. He already had a cup of coffee, so I didn’t have an excuse to run away again. When he turned so he could smile up at me, I froze. He was so freakin’ handsome, I couldn’t stand it. His lips looked so good, and the way he moved was pure confidence as he easily grasped the edge of the plate and moved it in front of himself.
“This looks wonderful. Thank you.” He gave me a sweet little smile that had my knees feeling like they weren’t really part of my body anymore.
“He made it himself, all of it,” Jade said. She appeared out of nowhere behind me and fluttered her hand in Carlisle’s direction. He scooted over until his shoulder touched the window next to the booth. After that, she grabbed my arm and practically shoved me into the seat beside him. I went because she was stronger than any woman should be. My arm brushed against Carlisle’s and his leg was flush against mine. Giddiness rolled through me and that tingly, electric feeling in my chest seemed to go mellow and content. I almost whimpered.
“Break time! Have fun.” She winked, and I thought it was at me, but maybe it was for Carlisle because he beamed back her direction.
“But, I… okay.” Later, I’d get her. Oh, my gosh, what was she doing? “I… I’m sorry, I’ll just—” I went to stand, but Carlisle laid a hand on my wrist.
“Don’t. I would have asked you to sit, but she beat me to it.”
“You sure?” He nodded, and I relaxed somewhat, but then my anxiety roared to life. I still felt good near him, but I had no idea what I should do with myself.
Carlisle cut a piece of the pie and I couldn’t look away as he carefully closed his lips around the bite of food. My stomach fluttered like a thousand butterflies had all managed to get in there. He closed his eyes and sighed, moaning a little. It was a tiny sound, not something he probably meant me to hear, but all those flutters in my belly turned white-hot and settled into my groin. My stomach squeezed, and my dick plumped up fuller. Squirming, I clutched at my knees.
Carlisle’s eyes flew open as he swallowed, and he dragged in a deep breath. The sound he made next was also fairly quiet but sounded exactly like a growl. It rumbled deep in his chest and his gaze was stuck to mine. He searched my face and my dick got heavy. All I could focus on was the need pulsing through me—and him. I had trouble breathing. My entire body felt hot.
It was too much, too fast. I’d never felt this way before, and we were in public, at my job. I shuddered.
“This is amazing. Here.” He cut another piece of pie and offered it to me with his fork. I hesitated, but why not? I couldn’t look away from his intense blue eyes as I leaned forward and took the bite off the fork. For a second, I was shaken out of the moment by the sweet cinnamon spice perfection that coated my tongue—I’d done this pie right—but quickly I imagined that his mouth would taste this way, too.
Oh, my gosh. A sharp, wonderful pang shot through my groin and I was dealing with a real hard-on. What the heck is wrong with me?
My cheeks felt like they were going to melt right off my body. “I… enjoy your pie,” I gasped. I turned and jumped out of the booth, hoping beyond hope no one would notice, and walked fast enough that it might have been running toward the safety of the kitchen.
My entire body was on fire, so I hid myself in the walk-in cooler for ten minutes until I had my problem under control. When I walked out, Jade was standing near the table with an order ticket in her hand frowning. Eric was also back, and he was whistling while putting something together at the flattop.
She stormed over to me. “What happened out there?”
“He’s….” I leaned around and looked at Eric, who seemed to be purposefully ignoring us. What had she told him? “He’s great. So freakin’ hot.” I whispered to her. “He’s also really nice.”
She raised her eyebrows. “That’s good, right?”
“Devin, my ex, was nice at first. I mean, I never thought he was as attractive as Carlisle is, and I didn’t—” Embarrassed, I cleared my throat and shuffled forward until I could bump my forehead against hers. “I wasn’t ready to jump him. He was nice for a few weeks and then he… got mean, and rough.” I shrugged. “He moved away not long after the first time he….” I couldn’t bring myself to tell her he’d hit me, but she’d seen the bruises and not long after, Devin had disappeared.
“Carlisle is not like that scuzzball. I have a good feeling about him. If you like him, let yourself check it out.”
“He’s not from around here.”
“So what? You don’t want to be from around here, either.” She shrugged, and that was a decent point.
“I will attempt to act less stupid, if he ever talks to me again.”
She grinned and patted my arm. “All we can hope for.”
We snickered together. “Order up,” Eric bellowed cheerfully, “and it’s time for you to clock out, Haiden.” He saluted me, and I waved before I headed out the back door. Eric charged after me when I wasn’t even two steps outside and shoved a to-go box into my hands. “I made two.”
“You don’t have to do this,” I mumbled.
“It’s my restaurant. I’ll do whatever I want. Besides, the pork chops are going to go bad in a couple of days. That’s what I made you.” He didn’t wait around for me to argue, just rushed back into the kitchen.
Shrugging, I walked home slowly, thinking about Carlisle, and how good I’d felt sitting next to him. Hell, if he ever put his lips anywhere near my body, I’d probably come on the spot. Laughing at myself, I tuned back into my surroundings when I was walking across the lawn outside my apartment building. It was late afternoon and just the slightest bit chilly outside. I didn’t have a coat on, but I’d spent all day in the hot kitchen, so the air felt sort of nice. Instead of going inside to eat, I sat down outside at a picnic table under a tree our landlord kept there for us and opened my food. Fries and a pork chop, and Eric had even dumped mayo and ketchup into one of the dressing cups.
Settling in to my dinner, I munched fries and listened to a squirrel chatter in the trees, but the noise suddenly stopped. Frowning, I looked around to see what had caused it to go quiet so suddenly. I looked toward the trees that lined the yard directly behind my house and swore I saw a pair of huge green eyes peeking at me from between the red, orange, and fluorescent pink leaves of a changing maple tree. They were shocking green, like cat eyes. I dropped the fry in my hand, stumbled from the table, and fell hard on my ass with a grunt. The smell that smacked me—it was the similar to the smoky scent that was in my apartment. I’d forgotten about it because so much had happened since then.
Was that a massive cat? My glasses had slipped. I shoved the frames up so that I could see again and stared back over at the tree line, but when I did, the eyes weren’t there anymore. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, and questioning my sanity, I grabbed my food from the table and raced inside.
9
Carlisle
The moon rose high in the sky, giving my keen dragon eyes more than enough light to see clearly with, and a soft cool breeze tickled
over my scales. I snorted out sparks and dug at the ground happily with my talons as they lit up the area around me. I sent out sparks again, like a hatchling, amusing myself.
Why did we put off shifting? I dug my talons into the forest floor under my feet and the smell of loam delighted me. Mason was nearby rubbing against a tree like a large bear, the similarity hard to miss even though he was about five times larger than a tiger, huffing out his contentment. His scales were black like mine, but instead of the red sheen of my own, he had a blue cast that I had always been jealous of. My eyes were sharp enough to see the differences in color, even in the night. Of course, he often said he was envious of the ruby cast on my scales, so maybe it was dragon nature to covet anything that wasn’t ours. I snorted in his direction, and he flicked his long tongue my way before he went back to scent marking the tree, eyes half-lidded. We shouldn’t be advertising our presence here in such a way. I chuffed at Mason, but he ignored me, and I let it go.
We had decided to shift in the forest near Haiden’s apartment, and investigating the area for intruders was why I had wanted to come here, so I left Mason to his own lazy devices and stretched my wings from my back. There wasn’t much room for flying errors between the shadows crowding the old growth trees, so I fanned my wings and used them to help me lope across the forest floor rather than take flight. I still felt an itch under my skin, wanted to unfurl my larger dragon self, but I would be so huge then that trees would get destroyed. I hated to think of dragons as magic, it seemed asinine, but that was the only way to explain how our dragon fit in our tiny, human forms, or the way some dragons could easily transform their human features. My clan wasn’t good with that trick, and I’d never mastered the skill. I half wished I had so that I could make myself look younger and put Haiden at ease.
