by Roxie Ray
Her Dragon Lover
Black Claw Dragons: Book 3
Roxie Ray
Contents
1. Harley
2. Stefan
3. Harley
4. Stefan
5. Harley
6. Stefan
7. Harley
8. Stefan
9. Harley
10. Stefan
11. Harley
12. Stefan
13. Harley
14. Stefan
15. Harley
16. Stefan
17. Harley
18. Stefan
19. Harley
20. Stefan
21. Harley
22. Stefan
23. Harley
24. Stefan
25. Harley
26. Stefan
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Her Dragon Lover
1
Harley
My new mascara sucked. If I hadn’t had to wipe my eye makeup off and start over, I wouldn’t have been running late. With a sigh, I put the final layer of my old tried and true mascara on.
I looked pretty good. I’d been blessed with good skin. My grandmother always said I got it from my father’s side of the family. Not a pimple among them.
But that was the only thing he’d given me. Clear skin. Thanks. I would’ve rather had to deal with acne as a teenager and had a dad in my life.
The knock on the front door pushed away thoughts of my absent father. My stomach swirled with nerves. Micah wasn’t the love of my life or anything, but the first two dates were fun. I was excited for another night out and good company.
“See you in a bit, Nana,” I called into my grandmother’s bedroom. Her evening nurse had arrived an hour ago and Nana was ready for bed.
Claire, the nurse, would get her settled in and make sure she was resting comfortably before I got home and relieved her. I stayed with her at night and we used the available insurance money for day and evening nurses.
I’d felt guilty at first, but the last year had given me more free time than I’d ever had in my life. Besides, my grandmother had been conned into buying a ridiculously expensive insurance policy when I was a child. By the time I took over her finances, she’d been paying it so long it didn’t make sense to cancel it. I figured she might need it eventually. And she had. It had taken some arguing, but we—and the local lawyer—had gotten the company to approve in-home nursing care.
Claire waved from the kitchen where she stood by the kettle, making her and Nana their favorite tea to drink at night. When she’d arrived from the insurance company’s chosen nurse service, I’d been extremely skeptical. She was so young. But in time, as I’d gotten to know her, I grew to love her. She’d just graduated from a two-year nursing program and this was her first job.
Micah beamed at me when I opened the door. “Ready?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yes. Let me grab my coat.”
He stepped inside long enough for me to put on my coat. Not my parka; I’d put that massive coat away until next winter. The temperatures had risen enough to scale back, but not enough to melt the snow yet. That wouldn’t happen until June. Maybe May this year, since we’d had a mild winter.
“What’s the plan?” I smiled up at my new friend. He’d been funny and charismatic on our first two dates. Micah was one of the few men in town who got his hair cut at the salon I worked at—his older sister used to work there, and he kept coming after she left.
“I thought we’d head to the bar. Nice and simple,” he replied.
I considered how long I’ve known him as we drove across town. The first time we met, I was on the salon side of the shop borrowing a few towels. Ours were in the dryer, and we’d run low. Micah stopped me and took the towels, carrying them to the nail half of our salon.
It hadn’t taken him long to convince me to go out to eat with him. The first date had been to the nicest restaurant in town. I loved sitting at the massive windows at the back of the building and watching the view. But it was also expensive, so I hadn’t been able to eat there often in my life.
Tonight, we were at the local watering hole. Not so fancy, but still fun. Micah held out my chair and brushed his hand on the back of my neck as he moved away.
According to every TV show and movie I’d ever watched, as well as all the romance novels I loved, that should’ve sent a stream of desire straight to my, uh, fancy garden.
Giggles clogged my throat and I coughed politely into my elbow instead of letting them out. We’d just arrived, and I already knew there wouldn’t be a fourth date.
Micah was handsome and charming. He had a good job at the hospital—in radiology—and I’d had a good time with him. He was a nice man. A good friend.
But I needed streams of desire in my fancy garden. And he hadn’t given me a single one.
Not like Stefan had. But that was a moot point because he was not interested.
“Harley? Did you hear me?”
Shoot. He’d asked me a question. “I’m sorry, Micah, I got lost looking at this view.” I smiled and gave him my attention. “Can you repeat it?”
“I asked if you plan to put your grandmother in a long-term care facility.”
That was a pretty deep, personal question for a third date. “No. I’m doing everything in my power to avoid that. To keep her home with me.”
Micah’s jaw clenched and he took another bite. Was he reacting to my wanting to keep my Nana with me? “That’s wonderful,” he said as soon as his mouth was clear again. “That you’re so caring for her. It says a lot about your character.”
I must’ve imagined the jaw thing. My hair fell in front of my face as I ducked my head, so I brushed it out of the way in irritation. I preferred to keep it up in a bun or twist so it would stay out of my face, but I’d figured for a date, I needed it down. “Thank you. I don’t do it for any reason other than making her comfortable and happy. She’s all I’ve got.”
Micah’s face softened as the server set our entrees in front of us. “What about your parents?”
That was a subject I wasn’t prepared to talk about. Not when I was reasonably sure he’d never make it to second base. We’d shared one kiss on my doorstep after the last date, but even that hadn’t given me the zings.
At almost twenty-nine years old, I wanted damn collywobbles. My leg needed to pop. I deserved it after spending my teen years and adult life caring for Nana.
Not that I begrudged her that time. I still had plenty of time to find my prince. My knight. But after this long, I wasn’t settling for anything less than pure ardor. Total infatuation. Butterflies fueled by passion. I wanted it all.
As I ate, he told me bits and pieces about his family, but none of it stuck. My mind drifted back to my sort-of-not-really-date with Stefan.
He worked at the local auto body shop. I’d had a crush on him for a while but hadn’t had the nerve to ask him out. My friends, Ava and Charlotte, had arranged a girls’ night, then had their husbands show up with Stefan in tow.
We’d had fun, but Stefan had ignored all my attempts at flirting. It had been a miserable failure. I’d nearly thrown in the towel on dating then. But I’d been on a few dates since then and my flirting skills seemed to work on those guys. Unfortunately, none of them had been right for me.
Micah finished his steak and sat back with a sigh. “Did you enjoy your chicken?”
I hadn’t tasted it. This date was boring, just like my life. “It was lovely, thank you.”
He grinned, pleased. Did he think this was going well?
The server brought the check after I declined dessert, and Micah insisted on paying. “Thank you,” I said with honest appreciation. “You didn’t have to pay
again.”
He held out his hand. “It’s my pleasure.”
We stood to leave, and shivers ran up my back as he took my hand to walk me to the truck. Not because I enjoyed holding his hand. They were shivers of disgust. His hand was all sweaty. Yuck!
He held open my door. It was nice at first but was beginning to get irritating. I didn’t need him to do it every single time we got in and out of the vehicle. Enough already.
The engine of Micah’s truck roared to life. “Would you like to go for a drink?” he asked.
“No, thank you.” I smiled at him to hopefully ease the sting of the rejection. “I think I’d like to go home. It was a lovely dinner, but I’m tired.”
As I looked away, I thought I saw his hands tighten on the steering wheel, so I looked back at them to see if I’d made him mad.
His knuckles weren’t all white and clenched and he shot me a rueful grin. He didn’t seem mad, just disappointed. Maybe I was jumping the gun because I couldn’t get over the sting of Stefan being disinterested. “Yeah, let’s get a drink.”
He looked at me in surprise as he pulled up to a stop sign. “You sure?”
With a chuckle, I patted his leg. “I could use a drink. It was a long week.” I’d had a few difficult customers at work and my boss had been in a lot. She normally spent most of her time at home, coming in only to cut checks and deal with paperwork. I ran the shop in her absence, which worked well for both of us. But lately, she’d been coming in and seeing clients. It was her right, of course, as owner of the salon, but it took clients away from me as well as subjected me to her company. Ugh.
“Well, great.” Micah brightened up. “Dragon’s Breath okay with you?”
The local bar was a dive, but it was all we had. “Sure.” I didn’t want to drive into the next town just to have a drink.
My place was on the opposite side of town from the bar, so Micah went left instead of right. The smile on his face made me worry I’d given him false hope about there being a fourth date. Damn it. I shouldn’t have given in.
We’d have one drink and then I’d ask him to take me home. Then I’d give him the I’ll-call-you-sometime routine, and text him in a couple of days to let him down gently. It was a cowardly way to do it, but we’d only been on three dates. It wasn’t like I was breaking up with a fiancé.
Night fell as we drove, putting us into full darkness by the time he pulled into the gravel parking lot around the bar. I jumped out of his truck before he could get around and open the door.
“Oh-ho.” He laughed as I met him in front of it. “You beat me.”
My chuckle came out sounding very forced because it was. “Yep. I beatcha.”
“I’ll have to be faster next time.” He held out his arm, which I took because Nana didn’t raise me to be rude.
Oh, there wouldn’t be a next time. But I didn’t have the nerve to tell him that, and now that we were here, I did want that drink. Maybe I’d have two before Micah took me home. Let loose a little bit.
Micah must’ve been well-liked around town. Several men called out to him as we walked to an empty table near the bar. He smiled and gave a few high-fives and handshakes. He didn’t introduce me to any of them, though I already knew a couple. “I didn’t expect you’d want to spend most of the night meeting my old friends,” Micah whispered. Of course, he held out my chair for me.
As he walked to his chair, I looked around and took off my coat. My eyes landed on someone I hadn’t noticed as we walked in and my stomach plummeted when I spotted Stefan, Axel, and Maverick in the corner of the bar. Axel was Charlotte’s boyfriend and Maverick was Ava’s fiancé. They were positioned where I couldn’t have seen them from the door, not until I turned around and sat down.
All three men stared holes through me, but as soon as they realized I’d spotted them, they looked away. I didn’t know why they’d act weird; I was friends with their partners. Only Stefan had reason to pretend not to notice me. He probably felt weird about me after he had to ignore all my attempts at flirting. How embarrassing.
My heart beat faster as a blush spread across my cheeks. I’d avoided seeing him if at all possible since then. It wasn’t like he hung out at the beauty salon, and I had little reason to go to the auto body shop. Knock wood.
“What would you like?” Micah asked. “Do you need a drink menu?”
I didn’t drink often, but tonight, sitting in plain view of the man I still harbored a tiny, sad flame for, I needed something stiff. “Long Island?” I asked, trying not to look over his shoulder toward Stefan. My eyes flitted that way and I saw Stefan staring into his beer with a forlorn expression on his face. I wondered why. Had something happened to him to make him sad?
Ugh, I shouldn’t have cared!
Micah nodded. “Sounds great. I’ll make it two.”
He tipped his head as he got up, almost like a weird tiny bow. Was he doing the gentleman thing to leave the table? Geez. I appreciated a bit of chivalry as much as the next girl, but he was taking it way overboard.
I checked my phone while Micah was gone, just to make sure Claire, my Nana’s nurse, hadn’t messaged me with a problem. The only thing I had was a text from Ava asking what time I worked the next day. She needed a manicure. I shot her my hours back really quick, and when I looked up, I met Stefan’s eyes. He’d been staring at me.
But why? He’d made it perfectly clear he wasn’t interested. When he couldn’t look away without being rude, he tipped his head at me the same way Micah had when he’d gotten up a few minutes before to get our drinks.
When Stefan did it, it was an acknowledgment. A hello. And it made my stomach clench. Zings. Damn him. Across the room, he inclined his head an inch and I got the zings. The ardor.
Micah stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Stefan, thankfully. “One Long Island,” he said and set the glass down. “I told him not to have a light hand with the pours.” He winked as he took a sip of his own. Then he gasped a little. “Damn, he didn’t.”
I burst out laughing. It was the first time I’d genuinely laughed all night. “You don’t drink liquor often, do you?”
Micah shook his head. “Busted. I’m a beer man.”
“Then why’d you get one now?” I sipped my drink, which was admittedly pretty strong.
“Because I sense you are losing interest.” He took another big gulp and nearly choked.
I couldn’t help laughing again. “Go get a beer,” I said. “Give me that.”
He nodded and slid it across the table. “Be right back.”
It only took him about a minute this time, and I stared hard at the two drinks in front of me so that I wouldn’t look over at Stefan. My skin tingled enough to make me curious if he was looking at me, but I managed to refrain.
“Much better.” Micah took a long drag from the longneck. “Thanks.”
I tried to get into a conversation with Micah after that. Two Long Islands in a row helped. But when I faced Micah at the table, I could see Stefan in my peripheral vision. That was a major distraction. The curve of his jaw as he drank from his bottle. His smile as he laughed at something Maverick or Axel said. How could I still be so attracted to him, after he rejected me soundly a few months ago?
“Harley? Did you hear me?” Micah sounded irritated. Whoops.
“I’m sorry, I think the drinks are making me spacey.” Hopefully, he bought that as an excuse.
“It seems like there’s someone over there you’re interested in looking at,” he replied.
I’d been looking down at my drink again, but my gaze flew up to meet his eyes then. “No, I’m just tired and the alcohol is relaxing me.”
I concentrated on keeping my attention on Micah after that, refusing to allow my eyes to stray over his shoulder no matter how much I wanted to.
When I’d slurped the bottom of the second drink, Micah put his hand out on the table, palm up. As if he wanted me to take it.
“Would you like to go back to my place? Have another dri
nk there?”
I darted my gaze between his outstretched hand and his eager face, then realized I’d stiffened and drew back. He already looked hurt that I hadn’t taken his hand. I made myself relax and lean forward a bit, though I still didn’t put my hand in his. “I appreciate the offer, Micah, but like I said, I had a long week. I’m pretty tired. Would you mind taking me home?” I was twenty-eight years old, but I was nowhere ready to take that step with him, even if our dates had gone well. A drink would lead to sex, and that wasn’t happening. I knew I wasn’t normal. Most girls had sex a decade or more before I did. But this was how I was, and I was determined that the first time would be special. If that made me naive, so be it.
After waiting this long to lose my virginity, no way I was giving it up to Mr. Boring Gentleman.
His face darkened. “Are you serious?”
Oh, shit. I hadn’t expected that reaction. Disappointment, maybe. Irritation, possibly. But dark anger? “Yes, I am. I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that this date was going in that direction. I’ve said a few times what a long week I had.”
“Then let me take some of your stress away.” He reached forward and grabbed my arm, pulling my hand across the table to rest in his, where he’d wanted me to put it before.
His sweaty hand slipped around mine as I tried to pull back, but he tightened his grip. “Let go of me,” I whispered. My gaze darted around the bar, hoping nobody noticed the scene he was creating.
“You’re just a cock tease, aren’t you?” His face had gone from dark to furious.
My hand stung as I twisted it out of his grip and drew back. “I’m not. I’ve done nothing to warrant this attack.” At least he was keeping his voice down. I would’ve been mortified if Stefan heard him.