by Anna Lewis
She was left to her own devices almost as soon as they arrived at the front of the house. Titus pointed out where the basics were, including the bathrooms and the bedrooms they would be sharing, then took Hunter outside to the large garden in the back. Scarlett got herself a bottle of water from the well-stocked kitchen and took her time wandering the house. As Titus had first told her there were many artefacts carefully displayed and the house looked like it was well cared for despite the amount of time that Titus spent away from the estate.
Suddenly there was a cry from the outside of the house, from the garden. She hurried to one of the back doors; namely the one from the kitchen. It hadn't been a human cry, but it had raised the hairs on Scarlett's neck. At first she saw nothing, but then a shadow passed over her and when she craned her head back she saw a large shape against the light of the sun. She shaded her eyes and the shape came into focus.
A dragon. Like all the stories and pictures, with golden scales and green eyes, was circling low in the sky, wings stretched wide. Scarlett's jaw dropped open. Her attention was brought back to the ground by a wet nose against her hand. She looked down to see what resembled a very large wolf. She quickly realized was a larger than average wolf. It had sleek black fur and icy blue eyes. It was Hunter. And the dragon in the sky was Titus. Scarlett's heart pounded almost right out of her chest. They were beautiful. Both of them. And even though they didn't have human faces Scarlett could tell that they were happy here, freely able to show the other side of themselves without fear of judgement.
“I love you,” she said to them both, knowing that even Titus up in the sky could hear and understand her, and buried her fingers in the thick, soft fur at the nape of Hunter's neck. “And I never want to leave.”
THE END
= Bonus Book 17 of 20 =
Kidnapped by Dragon Twins
Solace Jones felt their presence before she saw them. The wind announced the opening of the door, but the electric charge that came in with them was something she hadn’t felt before. She saved her schoolwork on her laptop and held in the sigh that was trying to escape. Only five more pages to go on her essay, but the road weary travelers kept pouring in. Luckily, she could close the door after these two, and change the sign to “No Vacancy” if they decided to check in.
Then she could spend the rest of her overnight shift focusing on her school work.
She left the little office behind the partition wall and plastered a smile on her face. One more check-in and she could do her own thing for the rest of the night. She had this.
Her smile slipped off her face when she saw the two men standing at the counter. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were twins, and gorgeous ones at that. It was their eyes that had caught her off-guard and had her completely unbalanced. They were both tall with blond hair. But the deep, emerald green of their eyes stunned her into silence and she caught herself staring.
She stood a little straighter, brushing her uniform shirt down and treated them to a dazzling smile. They were beyond sexy, and for once, the distraction from her online college work was a welcome one.
“We’d like a room,” the first twin said.
He had an accent, though Solace couldn’t place it. Definitely not a Texas accent, which was all she heard out here in the middle of nowhere in Foxwood Flats, Texas.
“I only have one room left,” Solace said. “Is that going to be alright? It has two beds.”
The twins looked at each other and shrugged.
“Unless there’s another hotel around, I think we have to take what’s available,” one of the twins said.
“There aren’t any other hotels in Foxwood Flats,” Solace said wryly. “I don’t even know why this one is here.”
The first twin smiled.
“It doesn’t look like there are enough people to here to need a hotel, but I bet you have a lot of people passing through on the way to Odessa that just can’t make it further. This hotel will do fine for what we need.”
“How many nights?” Solace asked.
“Just one,” they said in unison.
Solace laughed.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met twins that actually speak in unison before.”
The twin with the lighter blond hair smiled and winked at her, setting her heart racing.
Did he realize how sexy he was?
“I bet you don’t meet too many twins here anyway, right? What’s the population of this town, anyway?”
Solace shrugged.
“I don’t live here. I live in Big Spring. I do know that Foxwood Flats has never been included in a census, so I think the answer is that no one lives here. There’s a hotel and a gas station. That’s about it.”
“It’ll do,” the darker blond twin said, looking like he was in a hurry.
Solace let out a small sigh. She was usually quicker with the guests, but these two had her out of whack. Unlike so many of the travelers she saw who had high hopes of making it all the way to Midland or Odessa and found themselves too tired to continue, the twins were friendly and a welcome distraction from her otherwise boring job.
She quickly printed off the paperwork they would need to fill out, highlighting the important parts and handing the paper over. She was all business now. The sooner she could get these two out of the lobby, the sooner she could get back to her studies.
“I need you to put your license plate number and the make of your cars here, and I’ll need you both to sign.”
“We took a car service here,” one of the men said.
Solace shrugged. It was odd to pay someone to drive them all the way out to Foxwood Flats, but not unheard of. They obviously had money to burn, so she had no idea why they hadn’t just taken a flight to wherever they were going. But that wasn’t any of her business and despite how attractive they were, they would be gone by eleven in the morning, which was less than twelve hours away. There was no use in her caring about where they were going or how they were getting there when they would be a distant memory by the next week.
“Just leave that part blank,” she said.
The two of them signed and handed over their licenses. Solace took note of their names, wished them a good night and handed over their keys. They left quickly, each carrying a small backpack that couldn’t possibly hold more than a change of clothes and a toothbrush. Solace watched them walk away, enjoying the view and trying to commit the sway of their broad hips and the way their legs moved beneath the tight denim as they turned the corner and were gone forever.
She might not ever see Cameron and Ethan Smith again, but the thirty year old twins had left an impression that wouldn’t be fading for a long time.
Solace locked the door and flipped the switch on the sign to show that they were out of rooms for the night. For anyone who made it this far down the long, dark highway, it would be an unwelcome sight. But for twenty-six-year-old Solace Jones, that might a night spent working on her Bachelor’s Degree.
And the sooner she graduated, the sooner she could get out of this nowhere town and on with her life. She was more than ready, and she only had one semester to go.
***
It was more than an hour later when Solace looked up from her computer, surprised to see a man at the bulletproof security window customers used after hours.
“We don’t have any rooms,” she said before the man got all the way to the window. “You can try down the road about thirty minutes. There are a few hotels there and—”
“I don’t need a room,” the man said, a toothpick between his lips, his beard scruffy, eyes tired. “I’m looking for a couple of men.”
“We don’t allow that here,” she said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
Why did the crazies always show up on her shift?
The man pulled something out of his pocket, and despite the bulletproof glass, Solace winced. When the object proved to be just a wallet she let out a deep breath, then shook her head.
“I can’t take money fo
r whatever you’re looking for. There’s no room at the inn. If you don’t leave now, I’ll have to call the police.”
As she finished her words he slapped the leather backed badge on the tray and gestured with his head.
“Go on, take it in and have a look. It’s legit.”
“I can read it through here,” Solace said, stomach clenching nervously though she kept her face passive. “We don’t give information to bounty hunters either.”
The man smiled, his yellowed teeth giving his face a sinister look that sent a shudder through her body.
“The reward money is pretty good, but if you’re not interested, then I guess I’ll leave.”
“How much?” she said, calling his bluff.
She was surprised when he pulled an envelope out of his dark trench coat and opened it to show her the cash.
“Five thousand now and an additional ten thousand when they’re caught.”
Solace stared at the man, completely shocked.
“I see you’re interested now,” the man sneered. “I’m pretty sure you would have seen them, but maybe you didn’t. I’m looking for two men. They’re twins, blond hair, blue eyes. They look like this.”
He held up a black and white photo, and Solace almost corrected him. They had green eyes, not blue. But the man was working off a colorless picture and he probably didn’t know that their light eyes were green.
Or he was trying to slip you up, she thought, feeling nervous.
She shook her head after giving the photo some faked scrutiny.
“Haven’t seen them. When would they have checked in? Do you have their names?”
“They would have checked in tonight; no more than two hours ago.”
“Mm-mm,” she said still shaking her head. “I haven’t been vacant since earlier this evening. I fill up fast. What makes you think they were coming this way?”
She hoped she sounded innocent enough, though she wanted to get the man away as quickly as possible. She knew if she was too eager, he would realize that she was lying. Her voice sounded calm, even to her own ears, but internally, she was shaking. She had to tell the brothers that this man was looking for them so they could get away.
Are you crazy? Solace wondered. What if they really are the bad guys?
But try as she did, she couldn’t picture them being bad guys. There had to be something else going on.
Gorgeous doesn’t equal good, Solace, she chided herself.
“Are you sure you haven’t seen them?” he pressed. “You would have noticed them, and they definitely would have noticed you.”
“Why do you say that?” Solace asked, but she already knew.
She scowled at his audacity. This man was beyond abrasive.
“They’ve been known to favor dark-skinned beauties and you’re just their type.”
The man looked her up and down from head to toe as best as he could through the window, but Solace had had enough.
“Sir, look. I have a job to do, and as much as I’d like to earn some quick cash, you need to be going. These men aren’t here and you’re wasting your time.”
“I suppose you won’t mind if I have a look around then, would you?”
She rolled her eyes visibly, but inside, she was freaking out. She couldn’t let this man into the hotel. Even if Cameron and Ethan were bad news, this man was worse news. She didn’t want to put her other guests at risk, and she didn’t believe for a moment that he would actually give her the money he’d promised. No. He had the look of a man who walked away leaving a pile of bodies behind them and Solace wasn’t going to get caught up in all that.
“It’s after midnight. Without a warrant and without a reservation I’m unable to let you into the building. If you would like to come tomorrow when the—”
“If you’re hiding them from me, I’ll make sure that you’re charged with obstruction,” he claimed, but Solace knew he was bluffing.
“If you would like to come tomorrow around nine in the morning, the General Manager will be here and he would be happy to reassure you that the people you’re looking for aren’t here. I can’t let you in just because you say so and without a warrant.”
“Call him.”
“No,” Solace said, looking the man straight in the eye. “I’m not going to wake him up for him to tell you the same thing. Without a warrant, you don’t need to be here. I can call the police and have them assist you.”
The man stared at her for a moment, and she thought he was going to argue. She set her face, giving him a look that was neither angry nor hateful, but said that she meant business. She wasn’t going to be bullied by this man and she wasn’t going to be intimidated by a badge. He wasn’t law enforcement and she knew her rights.
“I’ll be back,” he said, turning away before she could say anything else.
She watched him walk away on the security camera, walking back to where she’d been sitting just in sight of the security window, then pushing her chair back out of sight before she typed in the password on the hotel’s computer.
She went to the booking Cameron and Ethan had just made and deleted it. It wouldn’t change the fact that their credit card had been charged, but at least it would take more searching on his part for the bounty hunter to track them down. If the General Manager asked her, she could play dumb and the man would assume the computer had another glitch. There was always a glitch.
She checked the camera again, and let out an audible sigh as the man’s large truck pulled out of the parking space.
The man was leaving. He would be back, but at least she had time to warn the twins.
“What are you doing?” she moaned out loud as she grabbed her keys and let herself out of the office. “Stay out of it and let them figure it out.”
But she couldn’t stay out of it, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that the bounty hunter wasn’t who he claimed to be.
***
She tapped gently on their door, looking nervously up and down the hall, then tapped again. She saw a shadow pass over the peephole, but before she could identify herself, the lock tumbled and the door opened.
One twin flashed a smile at her through the partially opened door, the room completely dark behind him, his broad chest bare. His bronze skin was smooth and tight, and Solace could smell the clean, manly scent of him. His hair was still damp. Looking down, she noticed he had only a towel around his waist.
She stammered, then took a breath and swallowed, trying to start again and get her thoughts in order.
“Can I come in?” she asked, hoping he didn’t misunderstand her.
“Sure,” he said with a wry smile. “I’m Cam, by the way. Ethan is sleeping, but—”
“Ethan isn’t sleeping anymore,” a man groaned from the corner of the room. “Close the door, that light is too bright.”
Solace walked all the way in, closing the door behind her as Ethan turned on a lamp. She was trembling, as much from excitement as fear. What was she doing?
The men looked at her expectantly and she decided that she needed to spit it out, even if Cam was standing there in nothing but a towel and she was wondering what was beneath it.
Now is not the time, Solace, she thought.
“There was a man looking for you,” she said, then shook her head at her tactless delivery.
“A man?” Ethan said, perking up and putting his feet on the floor.
Cam moved, too. He grabbed a backpack out of the closet and tossed it to his brother, then took the other one and put it on his back without bothering to get dressed.
“Well, who was he?” Solace asked, watching as Ethan shoved his shoes into his backpack.
Ethan looked at the window, then quietly pulled it back so it was an open as the safety lock would allow. It wasn’t much, but it was wide enough to let Ethan pass through.
“What are you doing? You can’t jump from the third floor. Who was that guy?”
“He’s a bounty hunter,” Cam said, and Ethan sucked in a quick breat
h.
There was a squeal of tires and an engine revving in the distance, but they couldn’t see the parking lot from Ethan and Cam’s hotel room on the backside of the building.
When there was a crash of glass and metal and the building shook, Solace couldn’t believe what was going on.
“He’s ramming the building,” Cam said, grabbing her hand and pulling. “Come on, he’ll kill you, too.”
“Me? Why?”
But Ethan was already at the window and Cam was dragging her that way even as she tried to pull out of his grasp. The towel dropped and she caught sight of his round, tight ass but she was too focused on where he was pulling her to enjoy the moment.
“I’m not jumping out the window,” she shrieked as Ethan threw himself through the flimsy screen and into the dark night.
“Trust me,” Cam said.
He pulled her onto his back and she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck a second before he jumped. Her legs straddled his hips and she closed her eyes, too afraid to make a sound as they fell through the air. She squeezed her eyes shut and said a quick prayer, hoping that hitting the ground wouldn’t be too painful.
When she heard a sound like an umbrella popping open and felt her descent stop suddenly, she couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes. There was shouting far behind them, and the squeal of an engine that had been left running even though the truck was trapped in the rubble of the broken security window and office.
The wind brushed her face and she felt lighter than air even though they should have hit the ground by now.
“I’m dead,” she said out loud, waiting for Cam to tell her otherwise, but he didn’t say a word.