He slid her a drink then returned moments later with the order.
“Gracias,” she thanked him before slouching onto a stool, hunching her shoulders, and appearing as unobtrusive as humanly possible. If she remained in the vicinity, she could at least tell her mother she’d tried.
“Yaz, this is Brad and his brother Ryan. They’re wolves from Alaska,” Amaya said.
Damn. Found already.
Pasting a smile to her face, she turned around.
Looking over the muscled, blond and blue-eyed twins, Yasmin thought they smelled more like dog than wolf. She’d grown up around enough werewolves to know the difference. They were probably malamutes or something. But if they wanted to claim to be wolves, she wasn’t going to mess up their game. At least not publicly.
“Nice to meet you. First time on the island?”
“Nah, we were here for the summer mixer,” Brad replied. He stood a fraction of an inch taller than his brother and had one brown eye. “But I gotta say, the weather is much nicer now. And the view is definitely better.” He moved closer to her with his nostrils flared, and Ryan mirrored him, clearly breathing her in and picking up the scent of shifter on her skin.
Ugh. Weirdos. They could have at least tried to disguise what they were doing. Yasmin resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the lame line while Amaya giggled into her daiquiri. Gillian was too busy checking out Ryan to pay much attention to Brad.
“The view is always nice on Isla de los Sueños,” a guy said from their right, yet another local with one of those yummy Spanish accents that made her swoon. “It’s part of the charm.”
Her attention rose to the handsome features of a tanned young man with shoulder-length black hair and the brightest green eyes she’d ever seen. Brighter than her own. He wore his Hawaiian-print shirt open, revealing an expanse of sculpted abs.
The guy could have been a model because he had one of the most perfect, masculine faces she’d ever seen with full lips, a straight nose, and long lashes to accent those sparkling emerald irises. He was easily taller than the two dog shifters, towering above Yasmin by half a foot at least.
Holy shit. The longer she studied him, the deeper the resemblance grew to the owner of the resort.
Javier. Her old friend Javier had changed over the years since she’d last visited the island, and recognition sent a hot flush to her cheeks. She’d been scoping out the guy she used to chase butterflies with in the garden. Ugh. No. What happened to the cute little dude with the scrawny arms and toothpick legs? She’d been bigger than him six or seven years ago when she last visited the island.
Stop looking, Yasmin chided herself. Stop looking. It’s just Javier. And his delicious six-pack. Eight-pack. Holy shit, he has the little lines that make a V on his hips, and I should not be looking anymore.
“Hey, Javier,” she forced herself to blurt out when Ryan and Brad failed to speak up. Amaya and Gillian looked like someone had cast a magic freezing spell on them.
“Yasmin. Long time no see.” His casual smile left her feeling ridiculous for drooling over him, since he barely took note of her at all—not that she wanted him to.
Screaming internally for her ovaries to cool it, Yasmin maintained her composure and nodded. “Yeah. My dad wanted to surprise me with a spontaneous vacation.”
“Who are your friends?”
“This is Amaya and Gillian. We all go to UTSA together.” She pointed to each friend in turn. And these are, um…” Crap, what were their names? She drew a complete blank.
“Brad and Ryan,” Gillian spoke up, recovering her wits first. “Alaskan wolves.”
The blond shifters eyed Javier like two dogs guarding a bone, displeased by the arrival of another competitor for the ladies. The dragon drew himself up another inch, achieving his full height. Yasmin thought they were all ridiculous.
Javier smirked. “Uh-huh.”
He must have smelled the dog on them too.
“Good to see you. Shrimp?” She offered one out, anything to break the awkward tension that had dropped around them like a poisonous fog.
“Sure.” Javier leaned in and took the offered morsel with his teeth. His lips closed around her fingertips, and a jolt shot straight through her, making the fine hairs on her arms stand on end and her stomach clench. Nothing could have prepared her for the lustful surge that swept heat throughout her entire body.
“Thanks,” he said in a low voice.
“Help yourself. There’s plenty more where that came from.”
“To you or the food?”
Yasmin struggled internally with a good response instead of obeying her body’s urgent insistence for her to tackle him onto the bar counter. “I’m not sure you could handle me, but if you’re willing to try…”
What the hell is wrong with me?
Behind her, Amaya and Gillian stared like owls, the “wolves” forgotten until one of the guys—hell if Yasmin knew which one—cleared his throat and stepped closer to Amaya. He eased his arm around her waist, and she giggled before leaning against his bare chest. The other surfer shot Javier a dark look. Her pals didn’t even try to compete for Javier’s attention.
“I dunno. Dragons tend to have huge appetites,” he teased while helping himself to another shrimp.
“You know, I think I might have heard that somewhere.” Following a whim, she leaned forward and poked a finger into his abs. Not an ounce of flab. And he was warm. “Not that you look it, of course.”
“Dragon?” Ryan swiveled his gaze over. He eyeballed Javier hard, looking him up and down. “Heh. Must be pretty shrimpy. You’re not very big at all.”
Yasmin winced inwardly. Few people dared to insult a dragon, so she could only guess they thought he was lying out his ass the same way they were. Obviously, their noses weren’t so good.
“That what the ladies usually say to you in the bedroom?” Javier retorted.
Gillian snickered, and Amaya nearly choked on her drink. Yasmin struggled unsuccessfully to bite back a laugh.
“You got a big mouth for a guy striking out, mister ‘dragon’ man,” Brad said, coming to his brother’s verbal rescue. Or was he Ryan coming to Brad’s rescue?
Yasmin glanced over her shoulder at the surfers and grinned. “Who said he was striking out?”
Before she could say more, Javier’s muscled arm drew her against his side. She stumbled one step before catching her balance, splaying her hand against his bare chest. Everywhere their bodies made contact, she felt hard muscle. The scent of something earthy with a hint of spice wafted off his skin. His heat radiated through her pink bandeau dress, warming her from head to toe wherever their bodies touched.
“Am I striking out, Yasmin?”
“Doing good so far.” She leaned in closer, lowered her voice, and put her mouth against his ear. “And since I’m not allowed to hex anyone on this little slice of paradise, why don’t you and I go somewhere a little quieter?”
“You don’t mind leaving your friends?”
“They’re big girls.”
In a louder voice, Javier said, “I dunno. I’d be worried about the two husky pups humping their legs in our absence.”
“I’ll ask the bartender to give ’em a couple of Milkbones.” She should have felt bad, but she didn’t. Besides, Javier had outed them first.
Brad and Ryan glowered. Javier ignored them.
“Anyway, there’s a strip of beach that’s pretty quiet right now. I can’t stand the mixer scene,” Javier said.
There he was, swooping in like a winged savior to sweep her away from the ridiculous party. Her mother or father must have phoned and asked him to babysit her and rescue her from the usual dull habits. Poor guy. Poor her for the unusual feelings stirring in her lady bits every time their arms brushed.
As he guided her away from the chaos, she searched for small talk. “Was it just me, or did you wanna snap that guy’s head off?”
“Kinda wanted to snap his head off with my thumb, but then I’d have to g
o to jail. Or hide the body.” He stole a glance at her again and slowly removed his arm from her waist, leaving behind an absence of heat. “So, uh… Hey. Long time since I’ve seen you. You… look different.”
“Didn’t we establish that already?” She laughed and wriggled her toes into the sand. The soft white grains retained the heat from the day’s sun. “So, where’s this beach you wanted to show me?”
Javier lurched forward again. The further they drifted, the quieter things became, until the music became gentle background noise. “Um.” He glanced away and rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re almost there, but we’d have to swim out a couple minutes.”
“Swim.”
“Or you can fly on your broomstick.” He grinned. “Whichever one is better for you.”
“Or I could ride you.” Preferably without the board shorts or her dress.
“If it won’t scare you, sure.”
Men. She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or not that her words had flown right over his pretty head. She studied him from the corner of her eye and inwardly sighed. Guys as hot as Javier didn’t need a witch fawning over them. He had an island full of hot babes, and he probably had a girlfriend somewhere.
“Scare me? Seriously? Have you seen my dad? He goes full-on ghost cat or something.”
“He seemed kinda normal to me. I met your dad a couple times, but usually when your mom came to visit, he was still in Texas with you.”
Their moms were always getting together, and while Yasmin had been offered the opportunity to visit the island more often, she’d been happy to stay home with her father playing video games and watching movies.
“Trust me, he’s scary. And as long as your girlfriend doesn’t mind you giving me a lift, I’m all for a ride across. If I’d known a swim was involved, I’d have worn my suit instead of a dress.”
He tugged open the Velcro tab on his board shorts and prepared to drop them around his ankles. “Most girls wear their suits beneath their dresses.”
“I’m not most girls. We went back, and uh, changed after… swimming.” And damn. Her sly inquiry hadn’t exactly been answered, which meant he likely did have a girlfriend. In respect to that, Yasmin feigned interest in the sandy coastline instead of fastening her gaze to Javier while he stripped.
Nudity wasn’t anything new to her, not when she’d grown up with so many shifters in her life, but this was different somehow.
Especially since the last time she’d seen him naked, they were both five years old and sharing a bath tub. Now that everything was a hell of a lot bigger, that didn’t count.
“That’s right. You’re a demigoddess, right? Can’t you snap your fingers and make one appear?” he teased.
Yasmin didn’t see his shift, but she felt the magical transition roll over her like an enormous wave. When she glanced at Javier again, he loomed above her in his dragon body.
Nothing about him, from his impressive wing span to his school-bus-length body, could be described as shrimpy. He reminded her of a beautiful ink spill beneath the sun, and even in the moonlight, the subtle colors of gold, blue, and teal shone throughout his black hide.
Unable to control her disobedient hands, Yasmin reached up and smoothed her palm across his chest. The same colors had been mirrored amidst his dark wings. He stretched lazily, first arching his back then burying his claws to rake them through the ground.
“Well?” he asked. “Can you?”
“Er. I haven’t quite mastered the whole conjuration trick yet.”
At least he hadn’t complained about her touching him. Yasmin stood her ground and marveled at him, admiring the strength and beauty in his draconic form. After he stretched, she stood on tiptoe to caress his leathery cheek. “You know something? I think you’re more handsome than your father and Loki combined.”
“It doesn’t take much to be more handsome than Loki,” he muttered.
“I dunno. He’s kinda hot,” she teased. “Hasn’t Vogue or someone named him sexiest dragon for three years running?”
Some magazine had even posted a spread of all the hunky male dragons who were out in the open and tried to number them by sexiest or richest and any other way they could think of to get their female readers to buy each edition. He snorted and lowered to the sand, taking up his shorts in one claw.
Making small talk helped ease the anxiety bubbling in her gut. What she really wanted to do was stroke every inch of his leathery hide, feel how smooth his polished scales were, and run her hands down every multi-hued feather. She’d met plenty of dragons, but she’d never really had the chance to get up close with them. She’d never wanted to.
“So... it’s my first time riding a dragon. Where do you want me?”
“On my back might help, otherwise you’re in for an uncomfortable ride.”
“ Smartass.”
“Better than being a dumbass.”
Climbing up on a dragon was easier than it looked, oddly enough. Javier lowered himself to the ground and angled one muscled arm for her to climb up. The hollow in front of his wings at his neck made a perfect place to sit, so she settled in and wrapped her hands around one of the glossy spikes jutting from his neck.
“Okay, I’m ready.”
“Good.” He moved forward at a lurch, giving her no warning before picking up speed and moving impossibly fast for a creature of his size. Or maybe it was his size that added to the illusion of speed, crossing incredible distance with little effort. “Ready to get wet?”
“What? Oh, no, no, no. Come on, Javier, no!” she squealed, positive he would plunge her into the water.
He raced toward the shore where the tide rolled in over the white sand. Just when it seemed he was going to rush into the crashing waves, his wings snapped out and pushed them through the air to soar above the moonlit ocean.
The wind tossed Yasmin’s hair, blowing back the glossy coils she’d inherited from her mother. “Faster,” she urged.
The tips of his long talons dragged against the surface while they coasted above the waves. His wings flapped again, pushing them faster and farther, until he landed with surprising grace on the sandy shore of a long peninsula jutting from the adjacent stretch of land.
In less than twenty seconds, Javier had introduced her to the most thrilling moment of her entire life. She’d never forget it, and even after her mind registered solid ground was beneath them again, she didn’t want to climb down.
He didn’t rush her.
“I’m so envious of your ability to fly,” she finally murmured.
“I often wish I could do magic that didn’t involve flowers and plants.”
When he didn’t coax her down, she remained a moment longer, trailing her fingers through the fluffy down feathers around the shoulders of his wings. “So… what makes this beach special?”
“This is one of the private stretches of beach off-limits to the visitors,” he explained while twisting around to glance at her out of the corner of one of his huge eyes. It appeared even brighter beneath the full moon. “Our director in the marine aquatics center rescued a giant turtle of some kind, and he lives here too. Dad actually kind of likes eating turtle, but they made him promise to leave the little guy alone. Anyway, we have a sanctuary for the jaguars on the next island, and an aviary not so far from there. You should remember the sanctuary, right? I took you there when we were kids.”
“You mean I ran off and you chased me down, crying the whole time about how much trouble we’d be in.”
Javier’s snort ruffled her hair. “We did get in trouble, remember? Tiki decided you were her cub and carried you around by your scruff. Wouldn’t let Dad anywhere near you. Oh man, he was so mad. He bitched at me for days for letting it happen, like I could control you.”
Reminiscing about her fun-filled day on the island brought back warm and fuzzy memories. “The few times I did come back with Mom after that, you weren’t always here. Either you’d gone to visit the Drakenstone family or you were grounded.”
“Uh-huh, I can just imagine. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you had nefarious plans in mind, bringing me to an off-limits beach.”
A sudden idea came to her as she slid off his back. He’d dropped his shorts, and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity. The moment her feet touched sand, she darted forward and grabbed his trunks before tearing ass down the beach. “Catch me if you want them!”
When he gave chase, it was like old times again, but his larger body thundered behind her, and his claws tore the loamy soil where the sand darkened into dirt and grass. As Yasmin reached the tree line, additional wild growth sprang in front of her and effectively blocked her path. Earth dragons had the ability to control nature.
Laughing, she veered sharply right and doubled back onto the shore, splashing through water that swirled around her ankles. “Cheater! Does this mean I get to use magic too?”
He laughed and splashed through the water on the shore, leaving enormous prints and deep grooves wherever he stepped on the damp sand. “I never said magic was off-limits, chica. Besides, I think if I catch you, we’ll have to peel what’s left of you off the sand.” Using his tail, he sent a dragon-high wave of water splashing toward her.
“Oh yeah? Is that what you think?” The wave froze before it touched her, a crystalline curve of ice, and then she disappeared, reappearing a split second later on the other side of him. She held up the shorts, waggled them, and laughed again.
Javier twisted around, his body ridiculously limber and agile despite his enormous size. The game carried on for a while longer, the two using their unique gifts in the game of tag. She raised walls of ice to defend against capture, and Javier sent streamers of aquatic plants snaking around her ankles from the sand.
Then she’d burn them—one flick of her finger sending a streak of fire magic at them like a blowtorch.
Eventually, Yasmin sat down on the sand to catch her breath.
“All right, all right. I’ll give them back, so go ahead and shift back. I’ll even close my eyes if you’re shy about it.”
Bitten by Magic: Agents of SAINT: Book 1 Page 2