Page 33 of Sugar & Dragon Act I: Temptation

Hera almost dropped the reed quill she was holding. Throughout the day, Midais had acted as if he barely noticed her, and when he did speak to her, it was with businesslike politeness. He treated her as he had on the first day of her stay—as if nothing had happened between them.

As if yesterday was just a dream.

As if he’d never knelt between her legs…

Hera wanted to push the last thought away, but the harder she tried, the clearer the memory became.

Tension and then bliss.

Languor.

Strong hands lifting her hips gently to put on her panties.

“Have a rest, sundae.”

Words that she didn’t have time to answer because the man who said them jumped into the water fully clothed.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said when he returned to the shore after cooling his desires. “I could’ve returned the favor.”

He froze, as if his legs had suddenly turned into stones and became a part of the island. “Am I correct in thinking that none of your lovers caressed you with their tongues, but you did that for them?”

Now she was the one taken aback. She didn’t think her past would matter to him.

She shrugged. “They didn’t offer, and I didn’t ask.”

His pupils slitted, but before she could wonder about it, he turned around and jumped into the sea again.

“Then you don’t want…?” she asked when he emerged five minutes later, when he announced he was going to get something to eat.

He gazed at her. His pupils were round again, but there was still something dragon-like at the bottom of his eyes.

“There’s no hurry, sweetpearl.”

Hera tried to reconcile the mischievous smile of yesterday’s Dago with the cold calculation with of his gaze now…

…and it dawned on her.

Cold, hot. One step forward and one backward. A carrot and a stick…

Dago raised his eyebrow. “Does your silence mean you want to back out, sweetpearl?”

And then Hera decided.

“I don’t want to back out,” she said, letting excitement at her audacity spread across her body. “I think your plan is good.”

She felt her face reddening, but she didn’t care. That was a part ofherplan.

If he wanted teasing, he would get it.

You will choke on your own moans and wriggle in spasms, she thought, meeting Dago Midais’s diamond-steady gaze,until you collapse from exhaustion.

THE END OF ACT I

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