Page 220 of Nobody Told Me Thrift Shops Sell Stolen Dragon Heirlooms

He rose and came behind me.

The restaurant seemed to hush, though it probably didn’t. I felt him before he touched me. The warmth of him. The clean scent of his soap. The careful brush of his fingers at the nape of my neck as he settled the chain around me.

My skin prickled as his thumb brushed the back of my neck.

“There,” he said.

I let my hair fall and turned back to him.

The locket rested at the base of my throat, warm already from my skin.

“How does it look?” I asked.

“Like yours,” he said.

I covered the locket with my hand and smiled up at him. “Thank you.”

He leaned down and kissed me, casually enough for the restaurant and not nearly casual enough for my nervous system.

When he sat again, I picked up my fork. “I’m emotionally overwhelmed, but I am still eating this chocolate.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

“Good. Know me fully.”

“I intend to.”

The promise settled between us.

I took a bite of chocolate torte, wearing Max and me over my heart, while across the table Rafe watched me like he had gotten something back too.

31

RAFE

IT MAY BE HAUNTED.

Quinn kept touching the locket as if she needed the confirmation that it was still there. Her fingers would drift to the base of her throat while she listened to the music, or while she laughed at something I said that was, by any reasonable standard, not funny enough to deserve the warmth she gave it.

“You’re staring,” she said, cutting into the last bite of her dessert with theatrical precision.

“Yes.”

Her mouth twitched.

“You look happy.”

That made her pause.

It hadn’t been a clever answer. Perhaps that was why it landed. Quinn had a gift for taking a compliment if it came disguised as observation, as though praise became less threatening when delivered without ornament.

“I am,” she said, softer. “It’s been a really good night.”

“I’m glad.”

“Very normal. Very suspicious.”

“I’m capable of normal.”