I leaned forward, excited about a charade with this hot dragon.“I’m game.Okay, quick background you should know—I grew up in the Florida Keys.I moved around, singing in various clubs around the East Coast before I joined the Moonlight Siren earlier this year.”
His eyes gleamed brighter with interest.“And we met when the ship was docked in New Orleans a few months ago.”
“At a jazz club,” I added.
“Where I couldn’t take my eyes off you.”His eyes darkened with greater intensity.“And once I heard you sing, I was hooked.”
The way he looked at me heated me from the inside out.I fanned myself.“If you keep staring at me like that, dragon, we won’t have trouble fooling anyone.”
He chuckled, the sound low and vibrant.
I took a moment to regain my composure and straightened on my stool.“I need to know more about you.”
“My dragon clan is in Portugal.I left to find my way as soon as I was old enough to care for myself.”
“And found yourself on a Caribbean island making rum?”
He tipped his chin up a notch, warming me with another devilish grin.“Something like that.”
“What about…your wife?”
He flinched.“We don’t need to mention that.”
“But—”
He finished his drink.“I think we have a solid start.We can wing the rest if necessary.”He stood, walked closer, and kissed my cheek.
The kiss should’ve been nothing—a polite rehearsal for our act—but heat flared where his lips brushed my skin.My breath caught, and for one wild heartbeat, the performance felt terrifyingly real.
His eyes darkened to molten amber.
Neither of us spoke.
Seconds later, he stepped back, snapping a determined look onto his face like a shield.“Sleep well, Bria.”He hesitated, as if fighting himself, then walked out of the lounge.
I watched him leave until the very last inch of his outline was out of sight.My heart beat a wild, erratic rhythm.I pressed my fingers to my cheek, feeling the heat where his mouth had touched.My panther purred, content.
Mate, she said.
Fake, I retorted.
Tomorrow, I’d play my part as if it were just another performance on the stage.
Kylie slid over from the other side of the bar.“You okay, Bria?You look a little shaken.”
I straightened, needing to get myself together.“I need to find Maribelle.”
CHAPTERFOUR
BRIA
“Ma-ri-belle,” I whisper-shouted as I knocked on the door of the Serenity Spa.The faint scent of lavender hung in the air.
I tried the knob.Locked.Of course it was.Damn.Where was she?
The cool ocean breeze hit me as I stepped back onto the pool deck, which was now decorated with colorful red, white, and green fairy lights.The salty tang of the sea mixed with the lingering scent of coconut sunscreen and rum from the poolside bar.I slowly turned my attention to the colorful tiles of the dragon-themed pool.
Dragon.Rum.
