by Roxie Ray
I clapped my hands over them. “They’re not!”
He chuckled, knowing he’d won. I was just grateful he wasn’t nagging or building up enough steam to start yelling. Then I would’ve had to yell back, and it would’ve been a whole thing.
“Baby girl, all I want is for you to be happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. If that means Anthony, then I’ll suck it up.” He watched the race for a few laps, but something told me that wasn’t all he wanted to say.
I was right. When a commercial came on, he turned in his chair and fixed his dark brown eyes on me. “I’m telling you now. If he hurts you again, I’ll castrate him.”
Chuckling, I scooted to the edge of the couch and leaned over until I reached his cheek for a kiss. “Thank you, Daddy. If I decide to pursue anything with Anthony, and then if he hurts me, you’ll have my full permission.”
“And me!” Cooter yelled from the kitchen.
So, he had been listening after all. “And you, Uncle Coot.”
He continued grumbling, but Dad just shrugged. I couldn’t hear what Cooter was saying. In a few minutes, Dad startled me when he spoke up again. “Damn right!”
Whatever Cooter had just said about Anthony, Dad agreed. It was surely something that would make me roll my eyes, so I didn’t ask. I sat back and enjoyed the rest of the day with Dad and his cantankerous best friend.
I sat in my car in the hospital garage until the last possible second. I’d stopped for coffee at my favorite shop, so all I had to do was rush in and go straight to the first exam room.
Facing Anthony after trying to suck his face off was the last thing on my to-do list I wanted to actually accomplish. If I could go the whole day without seeing him, that would’ve been fine with me.
Anthony was the first man I’d kissed since Bret. I absolutely hated that I was drunk when it happened. Damn it!
I watched the clock and munched on a muffin I’d picked up at the coffee shop. Knowing I’d have to acknowledge and talk to Anthony had my stomach rolling.
Damn it. I was acting like a teenager again and it was strange that I responded this way to a man, to Anthony of all people, after feeling so much nothing for so long. As soon as I finished the muffin, the clock turned over, giving me five minutes to get through the garage, across the parking lot, through the lobby, up the elevator, and into the peds office.
I made it in four. Damn it. I counted down the last minute outside the elevator, finally heading in when the clock rolled over. Immediately, I got to work and didn’t see him as I went through my chart for the day. As I was getting ready to check the rooms for prep, I sensed his presence before I even saw him. It was like a magnet being pulled through my back, and it was too strong to ignore. Our eyes connected down the hallway and my worry disappeared. He walked towards me, and the closer he got, the stronger the pull felt. The sensation was overwhelming, but I didn’t let on that I was affected at all. Schooling my face into a pleasant smile, I gave Anthony a little finger wave.
“How was the rest of your weekend?” He looked down at a tablet and tapped at it.
“I hung out with my dad,” I said, trying to effect an air of nonchalance.
He nodded and put his hand on an exam room door but stopped and smiled at me. “How’s the hangover?”
I couldn’t stop the blush any more than I’d been able to when my dad asked me about Anthony. “I don’t get hangovers.”
He just smiled and it was almost like I could tell what he was thinking.
“Stop thinking about it.” His mind was on the kiss and I damn well knew it.
“I can’t think about anything else.” He smiled from ear to ear, a true Cheshire Cat grin.
“You can just forget about it,” I declared as I pulled up my first patient.
“No way in hell,” he said loudly. “That was the highlight of my move back.”
I glared at him. “I was drunk. I’d rather not our first kiss since we were sixteen be while I’d been drinking.”
He held up his hands with the tablet in one. “Okay. Fine. You win if you’ll have dinner with me on Friday.”
“Deal,” I said with every intention of bailing on him.
“I see what you’re thinking,” he said. “If you cancel on me, I’ll make your life here at work hell.” He had his jaw set and I believed him. Then, he licked his damn lips again.
“Fine!” I said in a near yelp. “I’ll go.” I slid around him and darted into the first exam room before he did anything else like lick his lips or ravish me in the middle of the hall. Or something.
12
Anthony
I hoped I’d been subtle enough. All week I’d been trying to flirt with Skye but keep it under the radar, so it didn’t trigger her to push me away or otherwise overwhelm her. I’d also hoped to keep her excitement level about our date up high without wrecking it by going overboard.
But seriously. I was like a puppy dog with a new bone. All I wanted to do was wag my tail.
I’d made reservations at the Catcher in the Rye, the nicest, and one of only two proper restaurants in Bluewater. They had a decadent cheesecake dessert menu, and it had been the restaurant I’d wanted to take Skye to when we had our first real date.
But then I’d left and totally thrown both of our lives off course.
Finally, finally, it was time to close up shop. My last patient left, and I had three hours before time to pick up Skye. I stopped by the nurses’ station and turned in my tablet. “Ladies, have a wonderful weekend.” I winked at Skye, then grinned from ear to ear when she lit up as red as Christmas lights.
The nurses returned my goodbye and I headed out. I wanted to ask Skye to walk down with me, but that was bordering on encroaching into too much. I forced myself to straighten my spine and keep walking. I’d see her in a few short hours.
Besides, I needed a shower, and a haircut. Whistling, I headed out to the garage, then straight to the barbershop. I hadn’t been back here since I was a kid, but it didn’t matter, because it was a new owner.
I showed him the haircut I liked and twenty minutes later, I jaunted out a few ounces lighter and quite a bit itchier. Next door to the barbershop was a florist.
Perfect.
I headed in and got a bouquet of flowers I remembered Skye liking. When I checked out and headed out the door, I nearly ran right into Tessa. “Oh, hey, Tessa.” I kept my voice hard. I’d already had to call and yell at her for interfering and talking to Skye.
She stared at the sunflower and rose combo in my hand. “It’s sweet that you’re buying flowers for your mom.”
I sucked in a deep breath and tried not to get irritated. “They’re not for my mother.”
Her sweet smile turned to disgust. “Are you seriously going to mate with a human?” Her voice was far too loud for the middle of the street in town.
“You need to lower your volume,” I said in a low, growling voice.
She didn’t lower her voice at all. “Do you understand the doors you’re opening up? There are whispers from the other guys about mating with human women. What about them?”
I grabbed her arm and pulled her as gently as I could—when I actually wanted to throttle her—toward my car. Behind it, in some relative privacy, I let go and stepped back enough that I could breathe again. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
“Don’t forget it’s the males who feel the pull of their fated mates. Females don’t feel it until the bond grows. Human females are probably less likely to recognize it or feel it at all!”
This was wasting time I could’ve been getting ready for my date. “Can you get to the point?”
She sighed in exasperation. “If the males are choosing human mates then the female dragons are left with no chance of having a fated bond.” Her eyes went a little wild. “Do you expect us to just settle for human males that we can’t even tell about our true selves? We can’t tell a human if he wasn’t our true fated mate. We’d be living lies or going without companionship. How can
you do this to us?” Tears coursed down her cheeks.
“I’m not against you mating with a human male,” I exclaimed, then remembered and lowered my voice. “If you love and trust him, I don’t see why you can’t petition to tell him.”
Her face reddened, and she started breathing so fast I worried she was going to lose control and shift right there in the street. “You know how human women dream of their wedding day? They plan everything from the time they’re very young.”
I nodded. I’d seen the movies like everyone else. “Well, female dragons dream of the day they get their tattoos. We plan for it. We imagine a million scenarios. We look at boys our age and wonder if it’ll be them. But we know it won’t happen until we’re invested in a relationship. We worry we’ll invest in the wrong one and pray our mate will tell us ahead of time. We pray we’ll know early, though most women don’t.”
The burn of her words cut deep. I understood her anger. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard a female dragon describe yearning for her tattoo. “Tessa, truly I am sorry. I didn’t choose this fate, but I won’t regret it. Fate chose this path for me, but I already love Skye.”
She scoffed and stepped back, disgusted with me. “You’re not the alpha I thought you’d be.” She stormed off, her heels clicking all the way down Main. I couldn’t shake the feeling of being bereft. The melancholy didn’t leave me as I got ready for my date. For the first time all week, my entire focus was not on my upcoming date. Instead, I couldn’t stop thinking about Tessa’s words. Was she right? Was it wrong of me to tell the world that I was going to mate a human? What if all the men started choosing human females? Based on how I’d felt since I got my mating mark, there was no way that I could’ve ignored the call of a true mate if she were in the vicinity. The only way I’d been able to do it was by moving away.
If a dragon male developed the mate tattoo for a dragon female, there would be no possible way he could’ve ignored it in favor of a human.
Still though, if more dragon males began mating human females, where would that leave the dragon females? Males and females of the dragon species were born at a very even rate. There wasn’t a statistically significant number of either sex born more than the other.
That would leave dragon females with the need to find human mates.
That wasn’t to say all the dragon males in the clan would start running off to meet humans. I would’ve bet that a large majority of them would only date dragon females. To the extent that they would take a year and visit other clans in the hopes of meeting their fated dragon female mate. It’s what I would have done had I not imprinted on Skye.
My inner thoughts stayed with me until I pulled onto the long road by the beach. When I pulled into Skye’s driveway, my mind went back to its pre-Tessa state. The anticipation of the date.
I rang the doorbell and waited with bated breath. Skye answered and as soon as I spotted her, all my breath left me. Any coherent thought I had fled my mind and all I could think about was her beauty and grace.
I didn’t know one kind of makeup from another, but Skye obviously did, because she’d done something to make her green eyes pop almost as if the irises were some sort of 3-D. “Are you wearing contacts?”
She burst out laughing. “Why would you ask that?”
“Because your eyes are more beautiful than I’ve ever seen them.” I cocked my head “No, that’s a lie. The day of our first kiss, at my birthday party, that was the most beautiful I ever saw your eyes.”
She blushed, and the color only served to intensify the effect of her makeup. “Well, this is a bit much to do every day.”
“You look beautiful every day.” I thrust the flowers forward awkwardly. “These are for you.” Smooth. Who else would they be for?
I debated calling the whole thing off and just taking her back inside her house and sinking my teeth into her neck right then. Of course, an erection tried to pop, which would have been a disaster if she noticed. “Ready to go?” I had to get out of here before I gave into my base instincts.
“Sure! You know you don’t look so bad yourself.” She reached inside and put the flowers on the table. “I noticed they put water picks on them so they will keep until we get home and then I can arrange them in my vase.”
“I remember how much you used to like arranging flowers.” That was part of the reason I bought her flowers and not chocolates.
“I still do,” she said. “But my current arrangement is getting droopy, so this is perfect timing.”
I led the way to my car and opened her door for her.
“Thank you, sir.” She batted her eyelashes at me, and once again I had to force myself not to scare her to death by biting her in the neck.
The ride to the restaurant was thick with tension and I tried to ignore the scent of arousal in the air, but he couldn’t fight a smug smile from creeping up on my face from knowing she was as aroused as I was.
I remained a gentleman for the entire night, despite how difficult it was to do so. During our date, I learned more about her time in school and what she’d been up to.
“I’m sure nothing compares to a long surgery, but I’ve never been so tired in my life as before the big test in med school,” Skye said.
I burst out laughing. “No, you’re right. I’ve done some really damn long surgeries. But nothing compares to the all-night cram sessions in college.”
I sobered up after that and stared at her across the table as she finished her dessert. “I hate that I missed that time in your life. We should have been doing those cram sessions together. I am so sorry that I left, and I’m so sorry that I left without another word.”
She put her fork down and gave me a long, serious look. “I really regret the things that we missed out on. But it’s time to move forward. We can’t get back the time we lost, but I’m in a place now after renewing my friendship with you over the past few weeks that I’m ready to move forward and not miss any more time.”
My feelings for her settled deep in my bones as she kept talking.
“I’m so glad you’re back in my life,” she whispered.
The entire night went like that, a back-and-forth between us, reminiscing, talking about our lives apart, and commenting on bringing our lives back together. Before I knew it, it was time to head back to her house. I walked her to her door and looked down into her still-popping green eyes. “I’m not even going to pretend like I don’t want to kiss you.”
She grinned, her lipstick long since worn off, and I was grateful that she never thought to reapply it. As she went up on her tiptoes, I leaned forward and pursed my lips just enough so that they pressed against Skye’s with a very gentle pressure, as if my lips were caressing hers. She melted into me, her body molding against mine. There was no way she didn’t feel the evidence of my arousal. A growl erupted in my chest and the need to sink into her was almost unbearable.
“Would you like to come inside?” She unlocked the door and stepped inside, then flipped on her overhead light.
I stared over her shoulder at the interior of her home, stricken. If I went in there, I did not think I could stop myself from doing things she was not ready for. God knew I was ready for them. “I want to. More than I can say,” I said in a low, gravelly voice. “But if I come in there now, I’m going to move things faster than we are ready for.” Lie, I was so ready. “Can I just call you tomorrow?”
Her face fell, and she looked hurt.
“No!” I exclaimed. “It’s not that I don’t want to. Please believe that. But I don’t want to rush anything, not with you. Right now, you are the most important thing in my life.” I reached forward and grabbed her hand and lifted it to my lips. After giving her the slightest of kisses, I let go of her hand and stepped back. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
I backed away down her walk, leaving her chest heaving and heart pounding, then whirled and forced my feet one in front of the other to my car. Then, I headed straight home and left my keys in the driver’s seat. As soon
as I exited the vehicle, I erupted into my dragon form and launched off the side of the cliff. I should’ve made sure I was covered, but the darkness would have to do it. It was cloudy, with no moonlight, and that was just going to have to be good enough.
13
Skylar
Well, shit. I stewed on it all night and when I still didn’t know what to do the next morning, I texted Kaylee and Bri on a group text. Do either of you have plans tonight? Wanna come over for some girl talk?
I was so not in the mood for alcohol, but I needed advice in the worst way. I just hoped Kaylee didn’t have a date and Bri could get a babysitter at short notice. Actually… I pulled my phone out. Bri, you can bring Hayden if you don’t have a sitter.
Turned out, Bri could get a sitter and she was happy to switch her plans from organizing her pantry to girl talk with me. And Kaylee responded like an hour before Bri was due to arrive saying she’d just woken up and wouldn’t mind a bit of the hair of the dog that bit her.
They arrived at eight, each with a bag in tow. “Where’s the corkscrew?” Bri asked. “We’re spending the night, right?” She blew her black curly hair out of her face and grinned as she held up the bags in her arms. Glass bottles clanked inside them. “‘Cause I need a night where I’m in a safe place and can drink and do whatever without somebody creeping on me.”
“That’s fine,” I said. I’d spent the day cleaning up and making the place hospitable. “I’ve got a guest room and one of you can either sleep with the other, or with me, or on the couch.”
Kaylee winked and walked toward the kitchen. “Come on, Bri, I know where the wine glasses are.”
“None for me,” I called.
Kaylee stopped dead and turned to stare at me. “What do you mean none for you? Are you pregnant?”
I gave her a flat look. “You know damn well I’m not pregnant, and it’s kinda shitty of you to joke.”
Her face fell. “You’re right, I’m sorry. It slipped out without me thinking about it.” She disappeared in the kitchen, but then returned seconds later and threw her arms around me. “I love you, SkyePie.” She’d called me that since I’d eaten an entire apple pie at a dinner with her one night. I didn’t mind, I was pretty proud of that accomplishment.