Page 29 of Desired By the Dragon

“Took your time,” I hissed and she grimaced, sunglasses hiding her eyes, but her normally warm skin looked pale and green around the edges. “Hanging?”

“So bad,” she whined and I pushed a coffee across the table. It was probably cold now but Taz gulped it down like she hadn’t had a drink in hours. “Thank you,” she said, sounding a little less pathetic. “So what’s so urgent it couldn’t wait until noon?” I wrung my hands and she lifted off her glasses, concern wrinkling her forehead. “Oh shit, what is it Kier?”

“I slept over at Max’s,” I blurted and Taz’s face went from concerned to confused. “I broke the rules of the situationship,” I cried and Taz raised her hands.

“Okay. First, let’s not shout, because I have a wicked hangover. Second, what’s the big deal? Was he a dick about it?” I shook my head and Taz stared at me like I was a complex equation.

“I’m trying to keep things casual. You know what I’m like and I just… can’t fuck up again, Taz. I don’t want to break my own heart, again, and fall for another pretty guy who says all the right things all while they work out the best way to manipulate and use me. I’m trying to get my shit together. I can’t trust myself to trust this, him, or any of it. What if this is all just the heat and in two weeks he won’t even look at me again?” I snapped my mouth shut, not sure where the last part of my rant had come from.

Taz sighed and reached over to take my hand, squeezing it gently before grimacing and wiping hers on a napkin before taking mine again. “Flames, you’re serious. I can tell because you’re sweating more than a mermaid on shore.” Taz lowered her glasses and looked deep into my eyes. “I’m gonna say this once, okay? You’re not a fuck up. Everyone makes mistakes, especially when they’re young. You shouldn’t hold Max to the mistakes of all the dumbasses in your past — or yourself to the mistakes of the past, either.”

That… wasn’t really what I wanted to hear. “But I⁠—”

Like she knew as much, Taz shrugged. “You want me to berate you? I’m not going to, you’re hard enough on yourself. My advice? Go with it. See what happens. Keep it casual, if that’s what you want, but babe, freaking out about a sleepover is the epitome of not-casual.”

She had a point.

“Trust yourself,” she said, voice gentle like she was talking to a spooked animal. “I know it’s hard, but I believe in you.”

I believe in you. A lump rose in my throat and Taz patted my hand.

“I don’t know if I can.” My voice broke and I looked away, unable to take the pity in my best friend’s eyes.

“You can,” she said and then gently nudged my chin so our eyes met. “But if you’re really worried, then trust in me. You know I would be the first person to tell you if Max seemed bad for you.” That was true. Taz nodded, seeing a little calm enter my expression. “So if you can’t trust yourself to make this decision, then trust me to make it for you. Okay?” I nodded, still shaky, and she smiled before standing up. “Now, I’m going to get myself something full of sugar. Want anything?”

I stood too and hugged her. “Cake.”

She squeezed me back. “Now we’re talking.”

Chapter Twelve

Max

Dinner with Kier’s parents had gone well, better than I could have hoped. I’d actually felt somewhat confident that maybe she might give me a real shot.

Until she’d snuck out of my bedroom the morning after, anyway.

I’d been trying to give her space, to not push things when she clearly wasn’t comfortable with anything outside of the boundaries we’d set.

She was making it hard though.

I flicked to the next slide in my presentation, tensing when the door to the small lecture hall opened behind me and prepared to ream out whoever was late and interrupting.

Folding my arms across my chest, I looked up and my mouth opened and closed. Kiernan grinned at my shock, handing me a to-go coffee with a light laugh.

“Kiernan? I—Thanks, what are you doing here?” Shit, had we made plans and I’d forgotten? Surely not.

“I was in the area, figured you might appreciate some decent coffee.” She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek while my students watched on, expressions varying between amused to shocked that anyone could like my grumpy ass enough to kiss me. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said cheekily, waving at the students as she backed away from me. “I’ll see you later?”

I nodded, still a little dumbfounded and wondering if I’d somehow hallucinated the whole encounter. Kiernan Ironclaw had stopped by to bring me coffee and a kiss, and… that was it? Little Miss keep-things-purely-sex-based had done a cutesy drive-by?

Torn between not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth and worrying that something was very wrong, I pulled myself out of the haze her presence had created and continued on with my presentation.

After the lecture ended, I grabbed my phone and shot off a quick text, having spent most of the remaining class time debating what to say.

Thanks for the coffee. How’s everything?

There. Generic enough to be casual, and inquisitive enough to check she wasn’t a hostage sending me a covert signal by being so friendly.