by Sadie Sears
But she smiled and touched my arm. “Thank you.”
I nodded and had to turn away because my dragon wanted some action. He wanted Lila for himself, but he was using my body to manifest his need, specifically, my dick, and the last thing I needed was to scare her off because I couldn’t control myself.
The thought of Zoe noticing was enough to make it disappear quickly.
She spoke softly to Zoe who blinked up at her like an innocent. “It’s okay, Mom. If you want to have a BF, it’s fine. You should.”
A BF? I wasn’t really down with the kid lingo, but whatever it meant, Lila gasped. “He’s not my boyfriend, Zoe.”
I would’ve felt a bit better if she’d taken the thought with a little less indignation. Instead, a boulder settled in my stomach. But I guessed I didn’t blame her, not after what happened to her friend. Lila had every right to be cautious, and I had to be careful around her so I didn’t scare her off. Thankfully, Cameron and Theo had made sure no wizards had gotten into my head. There was no chance I’d made a mistake about her being my mate.
Lila’s voice dropped to a whisper. “He’s a friend.”
“Doesn’t hurt that he looks like that, either.”
From her tone, like that could’ve been a compliment or an insult. Context said compliment, and I wanted to buy the kid a pony.
But Lila breathed out a short burst of air. “Zoe!” Though she whispered, it was more like a loud hiss.
“I’m just saying, you should go for it.”
I loved this kid. I’d buy her six ponies. Eight.
“Maybe we could talk about this later.” Lila made a noise like a shush while I tried to pretend I hadn’t heard a thing.
I cleared my throat then slapped my hands together. “I could show you the house?”
“Yes.” Lila gazed up at me with those big hazel eyes. “That would be fabulous.”
I wanted to hug the daughter, kiss the mom, invite them both into every part of my life. These were urges I had no control over. Couldn’t quell no matter how hard I tried to tamp down. My only choice was to roll with it, to lay my hand at the small of Lila’s back as I guided her around the breakfast bar. And if I enjoyed touching her, if her skin warmed under my hand and I could brush against her every couple steps, then those things were merely benefits to having her here, which I planned to partake in as long as she’d let me.
“You’ve seen the living room which, of course, is attached to the kitchen.”
Oh, God help me. With the sheer number of times I’d cleared my throat today, she had to think I had a fur ball stuck in there, but I did it again because I didn’t look quite foolish enough yet, and I had just one more ounce of pride left.
“And the coat closet. Has an umbrella and some rain boots.”
Rain boots. Oh, for the love of God. So much for that ounce of pride. There had to be a way to save this.
“Moving on.” I walked her down the hall and shoved open the door to my bedroom then yanked it shut. I hadn’t made the bed or closed the closet door, and I’d left a couple of dresser drawers open. I looked like a slob. “My room.” When she tilted her head, I opened the door again and let her walk inside. Seeing her among my things made my heart race and my dragon growl with want. He knew she belonged here, and I knew it. Lila was the only person we had to convince.
“I love the colors.” She brushed her fingers over the light gray-green wall. Lucky wall. “Very soothing.”
“Painted it.” I supposed it was possible for me to be more awkward, but it would take some effort. “Myself.” Or not.
“Well, it suits you.”
“Thanks.”
I smiled and my dragon purred. She found me soothing. Although I might’ve preferred her to find me arousing, hot, and doable, soothing would do for now. I opened the door to the laundry room. It was across from my bedroom at the far end of the hall. “If you need to wash anything, I have a washing machine. And a dryer.” This was actually making my gut ache. I breathed out slowly, wishing for the ability to pull it together.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” She looked at me, obviously amused by my inability to string together a coherent sentence.
Maybe I was too close to her, too intoxicated by the feel of her under my fingertips, or by the scent of her. Or maybe it was my overwhelming yearning to be close to her. Either way, I was pathetic and we both knew it.
I stepped around and opened the door to the guest room. “This will be where you can sleep tonight.”
She walked into the empty room. “There’s no bed.”
I nodded. That was a problem, but finally something I could solve. “I can get a bed.”
Her laugh was a tinkle of pure pleasure, and it sent another arrow straight to my heart. “There’s only one furniture store in town, and it closed at three. Unless you have a mattress factory and an airline delivery service at your disposal, you aren’t getting a bed here today.”
Oh, she of little faith doubted me. In her defense, she didn’t know about my secret weapon—Cam. “I can get a bed here in an hour.”
“An hour? You won’t have a bed in here by next week.” She spun a full circle with her arms stretched like—my breath hitched—wings. “I guarantee you that next week, I’ll still be able to stand right here and do this.”
I didn’t let next week jack my hopes up. Instead, I ignored the influx of serotonin to my brain and testosterone to my dick. The serotonin, anyway. “Wanna bet on it?” I was back. Thank God.
“Bet on the fact you’ll be lucky to have a bed in here before Labor Day, or that you can have one here in an hour?” She narrowed her eyes and smiled.
“You pick.” Didn’t matter. She was here. I was already winning.
“A nice girl would give you until Labor Day.”
Don’t be nice. My brain repeated the mantra over and over. I lowered my voice to what I hoped was a seductive hum. “Are you a nice girl, Lila?”
The flush of her cheeks made my skin burn. “Nope. I like to win. And there’s no way you’re getting a bed in here in an hour. I bet you a hundred bucks.” The playful shoulder shake was as sexy as if she’d done it absent of any clothes whatsoever.
“A hundred dollars?” Mojo or whatever the kids called it these days pushed through my blood. “I was thinking something a little more personal.” I narrowed my eyes and waited for her response.
She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to her back foot, hip cocked, tongue peeking out of the corner of her mouth.
My pants shrunk a size.
“More personal?” She was mesmerizing.
I stared for a second before I spoke again. “If I win…” My mind spun with images, X-rated and otherwise. Mostly X-rated. But I was a better man than that. For now. “You tell me two things about yourself that no one knows.”
“How will you know that no one else knows them?” Her voice dropped low, husky, temptation on a breath.
My body, my blood, and my dragon stirred. “It’s the honor system, Lila.” A man without honor wasn’t a man. I assumed it was the same for women.
She tilted her head and smiled such a pretty smile my knees almost buckled, but I caught myself. No way would I be able to recover from falling on my face in front of her.
“Okay. And if I win, you take a yoga class with me and you let Sophie read your cards.”
Yoga and tarot. Figured. I held out my hand anyway. No way was she going to win. “Deal.” When we shook on it, I pulled out my phone and dialed Cam. If there was anyone who could make it happen, it was Cameron Charles, the money man behind Dragons for Hire. He had connections the rest of the free world could only hope to cultivate.
“Fifty-nine minutes.” She tapped the space on her arm where a watch face would be if she wore one while I detailed my request to Cameron.
When he assured me I would have a bed for them in forty minutes or less, I hung up and smiled. “I’m going to make dinner while we wait for the bed to arrive. Would you care to join me?” I off
ered her my arm as if I was escorting her to the big dance, and I couldn’t help but smile big when she slipped her fingers into the crook of my elbow. Her touch was a balm; a delicious bonus to an already fabulous set of minutes.
Before we reached the living room where Zoe had returned to the sofa with her cell on, earphones in, Lila let her hand drop and smoothed her palm down her leg. She followed me to the kitchen, hummed while she chopped an onion, and then shook her head at me when the door popped open a short while later and Cam and Sam carried in a frame and headboard. They went back for a mattress while Vincent walked behind with decorative pillows under one arm and a bag from a linen store dangling from the wrist of the other.
“I still have seventeen minutes to spare.” The wink I shot her was probably overkill, but her smile was genuine, so overkill or not, it was worth it.
“Okay, so you have friends.” She might have added more, but Vincent walked down the hall to the kitchen and leaned over the counter to pluck a cherry tomato from the package on the counter. Her lips twisted into a smile. “Hi, I’m Lila.”
He shot me a side-eye. “Yes, you are.” Vincent was a flirt and had his eyes on Lila. He glanced at me, taking in my body language and the glare I directed his way, and his eyes went wide. He held up both hands. “Room’s ready when you are.” I knew he only had a flirtatious nature; he wouldn’t truly flirt with Lila. But still, I couldn’t stand it either way.
The knife in her hand caught a glint of light as she swiped her finger along the side of the blade to push the bits of onion clinging to the metal. They fell onto the cutting board before she dried her hands on a towel I kept hanging on the oven door handle. With a glance back at me, she followed him to the guest room.
I stood behind her, close enough I could smell her shampoo and probably would’ve closed my eyes to breathe her in had Vincent not been watching me. Rat bastard. He didn’t know the pull of this woman, the need of my dragon, or he wouldn’t have been wearing such a smug smirk.
She sat on the mattress. “Wow, it’s very comfortable.” She brushed her hand over the blanket in one direction then the other. The pile of the plush fabric changed color from lighter to dark and back. He’d chosen a light sage green, perfect for Lila’s coloring. “I guess you win.”
“I guess I do.” Now I was the one smirking, but her frown snatched some of the joy from my moment. “What’s wrong? Did I forget a dream catcher in the Bedroom-by-Dragons set-up?”
It took a long couple of seconds before she shook her head and smiled. “Jerk.”
Cameron laughed over my shoulder. “She’s got you figured out already.”
“And if you knew the power of a dreamcatcher, you wouldn’t make fun.” She crossed her arms. “If nothing else, it’s something to believe in.” Her voice was soft, low and sensuous, like we were the only ones in the room. And if we had been alone, she might’ve asked me what I did believe in and then been disappointed by the answer. I was glad the guys hadn’t left yet. And also disappointed they were still there.
I cleared my throat again.
Cam stared at me then glanced at Lila and back at me. “Okay.” He slapped Vincent’s chest with the back of his hand. “We should go.”
Ether dragons knew all. At least, they thought they did. This time he got the gist right.
Sam nodded and tilted his head with that shit-eating grin of his aimed at me. “Yeah. I’m just going to go say hi to Zoe.”
No one was saying what they thought, and thank God for it, because killing one or all of them for embarrassing me more than I could do for myself would hurt business. They filed out of the room without much incident except the covert looks, Sam’s knowing nods, and Vincent’s under-his-breath cheerleading. However, his “You go get her, big guy,” wasn’t so much under his breath as almost at full volume, and it was by his sheer good luck alone that by the time he said it, she was almost back to the kitchen, grabbing beers none of them would accept if they knew what was good for them.
Sam stopped at the counter. “We gotta get going, Lila, but, um, there’s a trundle for Zoe all made up and ready. You just have to pull it out.” He grinned at her. “Or if you’re in another room, she could, I guess, sleep in the big bed.”
She opened her mouth at him then snapped it closed, then opened it again with narrowed eyes. “You bit my sister?”
He gulped. “I should go.” He grinned at me. “We’ll talk later.”
Then he was gone and everyone with him. And it was just me, Lila, and Zoe again. Quiet, without prying eyes or a single smirk. After she plated the steamed pasta and smothered it in sauce with sautéed vegetables, she turned to me again. “Thank you for all of this.”
And instead of waiting for me to answer, she turned and carried the plates to the table just on the other side of the breakfast bar. I’d poured us each a glass of the fruit juice she’d bought earlier and set one at each place setting.
Zoe came to the table, and Lila tugged the cord to her daughter’s earphones. “Zoe, not during dinner, okay?”
Even her stern voice ranked on my top ten sexiest sounds on earth list.
Zoe nodded and let the earbuds fall to her lap. She looked at me. “Your house is nice.”
“Thank you.” Appreciation bloomed in my chest. I hadn’t designed it, but I was proud of the way it looked now, with my stuff, my choices of color and furniture—green and gray. Vincent had added the throw pillows, the crosshatch rug, the centerpieces on the table, and the art where I’d wanted to hang the television and been overruled. But the place had come together, and I liked it.
Without any segue or conversational prep of any kind, Zoe looked up at me. “My mom doesn’t date,” she said, then pulled her lower lip between her teeth.
Lila was mid-drink and swallowed too quickly. She managed a desperate, “Zoe!” before the fit of coughing started.
Unaffected by her mother choking on strawberry kiwi punch, Zoe shook her head and continued, “Well, you don’t. Everybody in town knows it.” She shoved another bite in while Lila struggled to breathe, her face red. When Lila shot her a wide-eyed glare, Zoe’s lips twitched. “All I’m saying is she’s single. If you know anybody.” Her eyebrow wiggle was perfect. I was the anybody she meant.
I loved this kid.
Lila scowled and made her voice stern. “Zoe, earphones.” When her daughter had the little white plugs in her ears, Lila glanced at me, her skin red, and a bead of sweat glistening over her lips. “She’s not even a teenager yet.”
“I think she’s looking out for you.” I was trying to be insightful, intelligent, empathetic. Trying, and probably failing.
Lila nodded, although it didn’t seem much of an agreement. “Feels a little like maybe she wants me to be busy with something else, so I’m not so busy with her.”
I had no idea how to respond to that, but to think again how much I loved this kid. “Daughters, right?” I added a chuckle at the end.
She didn’t answer. Didn’t speak anymore through dinner. And the more I stared at her, the more drained she looked. Exhausted wouldn’t have been much of an overstatement, if at all. Of course, being stalked, then denying being stalked even to herself, and then discovering it to be absolutely indisputable had to have taken an emotional toll.
Not that she didn’t try to assume clean-up responsibility, but I shooed her away and sent them, as my guests, to the sofa. Then, because of the conscientious kind of guy I was, I gave them some of my clothes to sleep in and suggested we all turn in early since we’d had such a big day.
But three hours later, I was still staring at the ceiling of my bedroom, had counted more than my fair share of sheep, made a plan for how to track a stalker, and finally gave up. Lila was here, in my house. Close enough to touch, yet so far away.
My stomach growled, and I glanced at the clock. Midnight. Perfect time for a snack. I didn’t bother with a shirt, and until I found Lila with her head stuck in my freezer, I didn’t consider I would need one.
A
ray of moonlight filtered in through the aluminum shutters inside the windows and lit the line of skin where my T-shirt stopped and her legs started, and she smelled like my bath gel when she moved. It was going to take a long time and a lot of ice cream to cool the heat in my gut.
She pulled out the pint of Bill & Jimmy’s non-dairy ice cream I always had on hand and stopped when she saw me. “Sorry. I was hungry.” The last word came out as a half-sigh, half-moan. She quickly turned to the drawer where I kept the silverware, slid it open, then turned and held up two spoons, waiting until I nodded before she twisted around again to stand beside me. “Here.”
Our fingers brushed when she handed me mine, and a fresh bolt of heat moved up my arm. Thank God the ice cream was cold.
“I thought I was the only person in this town who eats coconut milk ice cream.” She dipped her spoon in. “I buy it because dairy is one of those things I have to be careful about due to my MS.” Her hair brushed her back as she tilted her head toward the window, facing almost away into the moonlight.
“When did you find out you were sick?” Was sick even the right word?
“About nine years ago, I started having problems. Muscle spasms that were—well, I could hardly function. My face was numb. I was so tired.” She shook her head. “I went to the doctor and they did a hundred different tests. And came back with multiple sclerosis.”
“Treatable, obviously.” What if I’d never met her? What if I went my entire life without knowing her or feeling what I felt? What a wasted life it would have ended up being. But I couldn’t tell her without sending her running. She was already in a dark and distrusting place because of my big mouth blurting out destiny and mates and that I wanted to bite her. I’d fumbled that ball hard. Not to mention the situation with her friend.
“Not curable.” She sighed and spooned another bite from our shared tub. “Mine comes and goes. It’s called Relapsing-Remitting MS. Sometimes, I get along and you’d almost never know I was sick. Other times, I don’t do so well.” She closed her lips around the spoon. “I try to eat right. I’m very careful about my diet. Yoga helps my muscles and my body, but sometimes, mostly when I’m under stress, it’s out of my hands.”
