Page 27 of Desired By the Dragon

She shook her head. “You’re not my boyfriend. Just bring yourself.”

Jeez, way to really drive the knife in. “Cool.”

She smiled, her face glowy and pink, hair rumpled from our fucking, and flames above if she didn’t look like the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. “Thank you. I owe you. Seriously.”

Now that I could work with.

* * *

Kiernan

The past few days had been nothing short of incredible, and I was trying hard not to get swept up in that.

Max was hot, attentive, and boy did he know how to use his tongue. And his cock. And his⁠—

I flushed, staring at myself in the mirror as I tried to perfect the wing of my eyeliner. I’d tamed my hair into sleek waves that fell down my back prettily and Taz had lent me a shimmery highlighter that I’d dusted carefully along the tops of my cheekbones and along my décolletage. The dress I’d picked out was a sparkly lilac number that I often avoided because I’d thought it washed me out, but now it just reminded me of Max’s dragon, the shifting shimmer of his purple scales not unlike the glimmer of my beaded mini dress.

Slicking on some extra lip gloss, I examined myself in the full length mirror with a critical eye before shaking my head at myself. What was I doing? Max may be coming over to meet my parents, but this wasn’t a date. It didn’t matter what my hair looked like or whether my dress was too fancy for a dinner at home.

Fuck. Maybe it was too fancy.

Before I could panic-change, a knock came at the front door and I careened out of my room, nearly crashing into the wall opposite my door in my haste.

“I’ll get it,” I called, too late, as I rounded the hallway corner and saw my mom opening the door. “Or not,” I muttered and rolled my eyes at my bare feet as my mom ushered Max inside and beamed over the bouquet of freesias he’d brought with him — flame knew where he’d found them, they were out of season but also a favorite among dragons for their sweet scent. A bit like catnip for cats, I mused.

“Hey.” I hesitated a few paces away from him and Max looked up from complimenting my mom, his eyes darkening as he took me in. Suddenly I was glad I’d put in the extra effort.

It seemed like he had too. His dark hair had been lightly gelled back and his dark shirt was crisp, smelling like the night air, and when he rolled up the sleeves my mouth went dry at the sigh of his tattooed forearms and dark watch. Dressed all in black, he looked more like a model than a professor, and I couldn’t deny that it had an effect on me.

“You look gorgeous,” he rasped and I smiled.

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” I teased and his answering grin made that dimple in his cheek pop. Ugh. It should be illegal for hot guys to also be cute. It just wasn’t fair.

“Dinner will be ready in just a second,” Mom called and I led Max over to the dining table beside the windows as Mom and Dad pottered around in the kitchen dishing up.

“It smells wonderful,” Max called and I rolled my eyes before I nudged him in his side.

“Suck up,” I muttered and he chuckled.

Dinner was brought over to the table and we dug in. Fish wasn’t my favorite, but Dad had cooked it to perfection. It felt too natural having Max at my side, like he could slot into my life without much effort at all, almost like a glimpse into the future.

Except that this has no future, I reminded myself. We were together for the duration of the heat only, and even then it was just sex. No emotions.

Max glanced up to find me watching him and smiled, pulling an answering look from me in return.

“So terrible,” Mom said and I blinked, refocusing.

“What is?”

“Merryl, you know, from two towns over? Well, she came to the cove today and was telling us how the town has been hit by a string of robberies. Apparently one man was beaten near half to death.” She shook her head. “And they say we’re the monsters.”

A creeping dread climbed my throat and I cleared it roughly. “Did she say anything else? Was this a house robbery or…?”

Mom tutted. “I didn’t ask for too many of the grisly details, Kiernan. But no, it was a large jewelry store in the town.”

So somewhere with a safe, presumably. Fuck. Why did this seem a little too familiar?

“Are you okay?” Max whispered and I nodded, forcing a smile as I chewed the last of my fish. I was probably overreacting. There were plenty of criminals out in the world, and I didn’t think I’d ever mentioned to Derek where my hometown was for him to be able to follow me and get revenge for ruining his last haul.