by Sophie Stern
I kick a rock that’s sitting on the side of the road.
It bounces away and I start to tear up.
Fuck.
I didn’t expect to say goodbye to Michelle this soon. I thought we still had time. Yeah, her diagnosis was critical, but we should have had more time to come up with a plan, to figure out how everything was going to work. It’s not fair that I’m all alone with Brooke. The universe is a terrible place if it’s going to take my very best friend away from me and leave me all on my own.
“Are you okay?” A deep voice says, and I look up sharply. The tears are streaming freely down my face, but I can clearly see the dark-haired man coming down my sidewalk toward me. I peer behind him to see a small duffel bag sitting on my front porch, and I realize there’s only one person this could be.
And he’s caught me crying.
“Fuck off, Matthew,” I say, and I push by him to the front door. He doesn’t say anything, but I can feel the shock and surprise radiating off of him as I open the front door, step inside, and slam the door closed.
Fuck this day.
Then I start to sob.
Chapter 3
Matthew
I texted my coworkers at Casa, Fee, and Lyon to let them know I’m fine. I never take personal time, so they were all concerned for me. None of them know why I went to Dragon Isle or how long I’ll be gone. I had hoped to get this entire mess cleared up in just a few days, but judging by the nanny’s initial reaction at seeing me, I think it’s safe to say that will not be happening.
Jessica is fucking gorgeous. She’s got bright blue eyes and long, luscious hair. Her nose is dotted with freckles and she’s curvy in all the right ways. Something deep inside of me awakens when I see her, and the word mate floats through my head.
And it makes complete sense.
When each of my coworkers fell for their beloved partners, they thought the idea of mates was crazy and stupid. They all fought it, argued against it. Fate isn’t real, they all thought, but I’m not like them. Maybe it’s because I’m younger than them. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching all of them fall in love. Maybe it’s just because I’m a dragon. I don’t know, but Jessica is definitely my mate. If there’s such a thing as true fate, this is it. She’s the one, and it makes total sense to me.
Why wouldn’t the woman who holds the key to my child be the one I’m supposed to be with?
Why wouldn’t the very woman I’ve come here to see be the one I’m supposed to spend eternity with?
I haven’t had an interest in dating, well, ever. Michelle and I had the most passionate relationship I’d ever had, but I never felt that thing with her. She broke my heart, but I recovered more quickly than I should have. I bounced back much faster than I expected to. Perhaps it’s because at the end of the day, she’s not my other half.
Jessica is.
Isn’t life funny that way?
She’s in the house crying and I don’t know why. She’s worried, scared. I can sense her emotions even through the thick door, but I already know knocking is going to be pointless. She knew who I was when she saw me, but she wasn’t happy to see me. That makes sense since Jessica isn’t the one who wrote to me. It was Michelle’s lawyer, Tyrone. He contacted me to let me know that I had a child, one who I was entitled to build a relationship with if I wanted to.
The letter said I could call.
There’s no way a phone call would have been enough.
I need to see Brooke for myself.
I need to touch her, to hold her.
She’s a part of me, and I hate knowing that I’ve been living all of this time without having a relationship with her. I hate knowing I’ve missed out on so much of her life simply because I didn’t know.
It’s not very fair.
I’m not living without her for one more day.
Instead of knocking on the door, I leave my duffel bag where it is and make my way around to the back door. I glance around for a minute until I see a row of flowerpots next to the house. I pick up the third from the left. Sure enough, Michelle never changed. I pull out the key and quietly unlock the back door, and then I pocket the key. I might want it later.
Jessica’s sobs are louder now that I’m inside. She’s mumbling to herself, too, but I can’t quite make out all of the words.
Why me?
I can’t…happening.
….Unfair….Not okay…
My heart clenches as I realize what a hard time this poor girl has been having. She’s not only had to deal with the loss of a close friend and employer, but with helping Brooke process the entire ordeal, as well.
Brooke.
I wonder how my baby girl is doing with the loss of her mother. The letter said she was diagnosed with a disease only a month ago. Two weeks later, she passed away. It was fast, and the doctor said it was a rare disease that dragons almost never contract. When they do, it’s an instant death sentence, though.
And now Jessica is hurting.
I don’t like hearing her cry. It makes me sad. Knowing she’s suffering alone makes me feel even worse. I move quietly through the kitchen and toward the front of the house. When I leave the kitchen and enter the living room, I can see her sitting by the front door. Her back is to the door, and she’s got her arms wrapped around her legs. They’re pulled up to her chest and it looks like she’s trying to make herself seem as small as possible.
I don’t speak, and she doesn’t look up. Quietly, I move until I’m right beside her, and then I slide to the floor and wrap my arms around her. Jessica doesn’t freak out. She doesn’t jump. She doesn’t yell.
“Why are you in my house, Matthew?” She asks, sniffling quietly. She doesn’t bother pretending she’s not crying. She doesn’t hide who she is, and I’m drawn to this raw honesty Jessica is presenting to me.
“You know why I’m here, Jessica.”
“You can’t have her. You can’t take her away from me.”
“Is that what you think?” I lift her chin with my hand, forcing her to look at me. “You’re afraid I’ve come to take Brooke away from you? Is that it?”
She nods, and my heart cracks.
This is my mate.
Jessica might not realize it. She might not believe in mates or maybe she just doesn’t want to accept that her mate could be someone like me. She is, though. We’re meant to be together and by the time this entire thing is over, I’m going to marry her. I’m going to love her. I’m going to take care of her.
She’s not going to have to worry about anything because no matter what happens, I will be her protector. She and Brooke will be my top priorities. I may have let them all down in the past, but that time is over.
The only place to go now is forward.
“I’m not here to hurt you, Jessica,” I tell her. She relaxes in my arms. I pull Jessica closer to me and I begin to rub her back gently. “Everything is going to be okay,” I tell her. It’s more than a promise.
It’s a vow.
Chapter 4
Jessica
He shouldn’t be here like this.
Holding me.
Touching me.
Saying sweet, wonderful things to me.
He’s supposed to be a monster, a loser. He’s supposed to be terrible, but somehow, I suddenly can’t picture Matthew as anything but what he’s being right now: sweet. Kind. Gentle. He can obviously sense my pain and my fears, but I can sense his emotions, too: concern, worry. Why can I sense his emotions so very clearly? It’s like Matthew is a book that I can simply read, only I don’t even have to use my eyes. I can use my heart.
It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever felt in my life.
“Why did you come here?” I whisper. “If you don’t want to hurt me, why would you even come? You’ve been gone for years. You could have just stayed away and nothing would be different.”
I have to know.
I shouldn’t ask because it doesn’t really matter, but somehow, I have to know. Why would he run away
from Michelle and never look back? Why now, after all of these years, would he return to Dragon Isle? He’s different than I imagined. He’s quieter, somehow. He’s not as fierce as I thought he would be. I fully expected him to pound on the front door and demand that I let him in. Sneaking around the back? That was clever. It was something I didn’t expect.
It’s not often that I’m surprised, especially by a man. This guy seems different, somehow, and he shouldn’t. I want to hate him for what he did. I want to despise him. I want to keep him from ever having access to his daughter because he failed her, he failed Michelle, and he failed me, but something tells me I don’t have all of the information. Something tells me there’s more to Matthew than meets the eye.
“I got the letter,” he says. “I came immediately.”
“You didn’t come before.”
“I didn’t know before, Jessica. No one bothered to tell me I had a daughter. How was I supposed to know?”
“Shouldn’t you have had a sense about it?” I whisper. It’s a low blow, but I have to ask. I guess I always thought he should have somehow figured it out.
“I should have,” he says. “But I didn’t. My heart breaks knowing she’s been here all of this time without a father,” Matthew tells me. “I wish Michelle had told me. I wish I hadn’t found out like this.”
“You guys parted on bad terms.”
“It was her terms,” he says. “I wanted her to come with me.”
“You did?”
“She never told you?” He sighs. “Let me guess: she told you I ran off without so much as a backwards glance.”
“Um…” I blush, but he can’t see me.
“That’s not exactly what happened.”
“Then tell me.”
“I wanted to see the world. I wanted to go away. I wanted to work and explore and study, but Michelle said she would never leave the island. She said if that’s something I had to do, then I would be doing it alone because she liked her life here.”
“She liked the prestige,” I roll my eyes. “We all know that.”
“Well, it is a nice house.”
He looks around, and I see what he’s seeing: wealth.
“She always did have a flair for the dramatic.”
“Did you love her?”
I’m not sure why it matters, but suddenly, I’d like to know. I’ve always heard about him in bits and pieces: whatever Michelle wanted me to know. Somehow, I don’t think I’ve gotten to hear the entire story about this man and right now, I’d kind of like to know everything.
Matthew pauses, but he doesn’t move away. He doesn’t push me away. He just keeps holding me and rubbing my back. It’s a strangely comforting feeling, and it’s one I could really get used to.
I shouldn’t get used to this.
Matthew is not mine to keep. He’s Michelle’s ex-boyfriend. He’s Brooke’s father, for dragon’s sake. He’s the very last man in the entire world I should be falling over sideway for, yet there’s something about him that calls to me. There’s this strange connection between us. It’s like I’ve known him my entire life, like I know everything about him, even though I obviously don’t.
Why do I feel this connection?
Suddenly, my mother’s words from long ago play through my mind.
When you find your true mate, Jessica, it’s like you were never apart. It’s like you’ve always been there together. It’ll feel like the sun is rising and setting at the same time. You’ll tear apart the world if it means saving that man, and he’ll do the same for you.
But I don’t know if I believe in mates.
I don’t know if this dragon mythology has any sort of semblance in reality. Could there really be such a thing as true mates? And could Matthew actually be mine?
My mind is probably just playing tricks on me because Matthew is very handsome and he smells very good and, well, it’s been awhile for me. See? I’m being completely reasonable. I’m not falling in love with my one true mate. I’m just horny. I’m horny and it’s been a long time since someone made love to me. That’s it. That’s a perfectly reasonable, logical explanation.
“I thought I loved her,” he says, and just like that, I’m brought back to reality.
“You thought you did?”
“We were young and everything was new. We thought we knew what it meant to be in a relationship.”
“But you don’t feel that way anymore?”
He sighs. “Michelle was a sweet woman. Stubborn as all hell, but sweet, and we loved being together for a long time. I don’t have any animosity toward her, but I also don’t think what we had was true love. Is that what you’re asking me?”
I nod.
“She wasn’t my mate, Jessica.”
At that, my ears perk up, and I twist around to look at him.
“She wasn’t?”
“She couldn’t have been,” he says. “Because each dragon has one true mate and right now, I’m looking at mine.”
Chapter 5
Matthew
Jessica’s jaw drops open, but no sounds come out.
I guess that’s what I get for scaring the poor girl. Why did I have to go and drop the whole “you’re my mate” thing on her? Why couldn’t I have been smooth like some of the other guys I know? Casa and Fee and Lyon would have been completely seductive in a situation like this. Hell, even Joyce would have held her own. Me, though? I have to go and freak the poor girl out. Typical me. Typical Matthew.
It’s moments like this I feel less like a dragon and more like a big ol’ bumbly bear.
I’m awkward.
I’m shy.
I’m clumsy.
I’m so many things that girls don’t like and right now, I feel like I should be anywhere but here. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there’s no such thing as mates and maybe I really am just a screw-up. It’s possible that my emotions are completely messed up from finding out I have a daughter I didn’t know about. Maybe I misread this whole situation.
For a long minute, I don’t say anything, and neither does she. I brace myself, preparing for her to tell me I’m taking advantage of her. It’s pretty weird, after all. My former lover passes away and I return to meet my daughter, only to fall in love with the nanny? It sounds like something out of a bad romance novel. Still, I can’t help the way I feel. I can’t help the fact that Jessica is the most incredible woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, and something deep inside of my soul tells me that I would do anything for her.
She’s the one.
And then Jessica does something I’m not expecting.
“Matthew,” she whispers, and then she kisses me. She actually kisses me. Her lips are soft against mine. She kisses me slowly, with hesitation. She’s not really sure if she’s supposed to be doing this, either, but she’s giving it a chance. That in itself gives me the courage to try, too. I reach for her, pulling her closer, and run my hands through her hair.
“Jessica,” I murmur, and I deepen our kiss. Fireworks shoot off in my head as we touch each other. This shouldn’t feel as powerful or as wonderful as it does. I’ve never felt a kiss this strongly before. It’s going from the top of my head to the tips of my toes and everywhere in-between.
She moves her hands over my back and then to my chest. She runs her small, delicate fingertips over the front of my shirt, and then she slides her fingers beneath the fabric. I feel her touching my skin, and it feels like fire. Suddenly, my entire body feels hot and needy. I’ve never felt anything like this.
I’m glad I swung back to the boat to grab my clothes from Kelsey after I shifted into dragon form. If I had arrived here naked and was in this situation, I don’t know what I would do. Explode from desire, I imagine. As it is, the fabric between us feels like nothing, and I’m fighting back the urge to come right here in my pants like an untrained teenager.
Still, I hold carefully in place as Jessica explores my body with her fingers. I’m worried that any wrong move might frighten her. I’m nervous I might scare her awa
y if I so much as shift to the right or left. Instead, I stay where I am, and I keep kissing her deeply as she roams.
“You’re very pretty,” she murmurs.
“I’ve never been told that before,” I admit, but the compliment warms me. It feels good and genuine to be told I’m a pretty man. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because I’ve always felt I was a little too rugged to be considered handsome.
“Pssh,” she whispers, kissing my neck. “Those girls are idiots.”
“Not all girls are idiots.”
She pulls back and looks at me carefully. “Anyone who can’t see what you’re worth is stupid in my book, Matthew. Just look at you,” she traces my jaw with her fingertips, stroking the stubble that’s beginning to grow. It’s been a rough week, and shaving hasn’t been at the top of my priority list. “You’re perfect.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask. I want her to promise she really is my mate. I want her to tell me she feels it, too. I want her to confirm that I’m not going crazy, that she feels this, too.
“You know why.”
“Say it, Jessica.”
She takes a deep breath and she closes her eyes. For a minute, I think she’s going to shake her head and break the spell. For a minute, I wonder what I’ll do if she tells me I really am completely bonkers, but I don’t need to worry because she opens her eyes and smiles. That smile melts my whole heart, and she kisses me again.
“I feel it, too,” she says. “I always thought mates were a myth.”
“I thought so, too.”
“Did your parents tell you stories when you were little?”
“They did,” I tell her.
“You’re a dragon,” she says. It’s not a question.
“I grew up on here on the island. My parents still live here.” They’ve probably seen Brooke around the island before and didn’t even know she was their granddaughter. How is my mother going to react when she meets her for the first time? I foresee tears, laughter, and more cookies than Brooke has probably ever had in her life. Michelle’s parents passed away long ago, so as far as I know, Brooke has never known she has grandparents still alive. I’m so excited to get to meet my little girl, but I’m also so excited for her to meet my parents.