Walking over to one of the chairs, she sat down to look over the financial report in front of her. She’d need to see how much room there was in the budget for the coffee shop before beginning her plans.
They worked in silence while Motu occupied himself with a chew-toy. Emmeline could sense the baby dragon was slowly losing interest, and an hour later, Motu disregarded the toy entirely, climbing up onto the chair she was sitting on and jumping off. After he had done that about ten times, she felt her patience snap.
“Motu, behave,” she said, on edge.
Motu looked up at her with an expression of utter betrayal,and she sighed. This was what happened when one was not stern with a baby dragon; the animal grew spoiled. She would give her brother a lecture about this later—another thing added to her to-do list.
Rubbing her temples, she went back to the financial reports, highlighting key elements. Motu scratched at her legs with his paws, and she looked down to find him angrily pouting at her.
She put her index finger to her lips, hushing him, and his expression grew more upset. He let out a whimper, scratching his face with his paws. Luke glanced over.
“Acha, na,” she said quietly, trying to coax him into relaxing, but it was too late. The baby dragon was upset, and he began growling.
Not only was it distracting, but embarrassment flushed through her. What would Luke think? That she couldn’t even handle one baby dragon?
“Tch, Motu, bas,” she scolded, and Motu hissed at her, jumping up onto the table. He kicked her stack of papers and they went fluttering in the air. Emmeline’s jaw dropped open.
“Motu,” she warned, but he was having a full-blown temper tantrum now. He leapt from the table, flying around the small office space, being deliberately destructive. He flew into the coat rack, knocking it over. Their coats toppled to the ground.
“Motu, stop!” Emmeline cried, appalled at the baby dragon’s behavior. She reached for him, but he flew up, away from her. “Motu!”
“Here, let me help,” Luke said, getting up and coming to her side.
She whirled on him. “I don’t need your help!”
He made an irritated sound. “Just let me—”
Motu flew to the other side of the desk, and Luke followed with Emmeline right behind him. There weren’t many places for Motu to go in the office, and he quickly turned, changing course. At the same time, they both reached for Motu from opposite ends.
The devilish baby dragon ducked, causing Emmeline and Luke to crash into one another.
“Woah!”
Luke fell back onto the desk chair and Emmeline fell with him, landing directly on his lap. Her hands fell to his shoulders, while his hands went to her hips, holding her steady.
For a moment, they both froze, staring at each other. Her blood rushed through her veins.
Then, his gaze dropped to her mouth. Desire pulsed through her, making her lips part.
She felt his grip on her tighten, fingers pressing in, and her breathing grew shallow. She was losing all sense, but she used the very last shred of her wits to push his chest.
“Let go of me,” she said, though her voice didn’t sound nearly as commanding as she wanted it to.
He immediately let her go, and she stood, skin burning.
Her knees felt weak, and she glanced over at Motu, who was now sitting calmly on the ground; she could have sworn he was smiling at her, happy to see her punished for having scolded him. She glared at the baby dragon, though he wasn’t truly the cause of why she was feeling so flustered.
Emmeline glanced back at Luke, who was still seated languidly in the chair, knees spread apart. She felt dizzy.
“This isn’t working,” she blurted out.
His brows knit together. “What?”
Luke stood up then, until he was right in front of her, and she involuntarily took a step back.
“This,” she said, gesturing to the both of them. “Us being here at the same time. It isn’t productive.”
As he cocked his head to the side, Emmeline rolled her shoulders. She tried to regain control of the situation andnotthink about how it felt to be in his lap, the solid feel of his chest, the way he had held her flush against him. It would have been so easy to—
