He laughed, the tension finally broken. "Will do, boss. And thanks again."
After he left, I moved to the chair behind the desk and tried to focus on getting familiar with the accounting system Kenneth had started using while I was asleep. But my head buzzed with thoughts of Krystal. My dragon wanted to see her again.
After another ten minutes, I gave up on trying to work and texted her.
Morning Beautiful. Go with me to the Harvest Festival tonight.
The three dots appeared instantly, then vanished. Then:
Not a date, right?
I grinned at the screen.
Right. Not a date.
Good. See you at seven.
I had hours to kill. I could have napped, or fixed the espresso machine, or rearranged the entire liquor wall by proof instead of brand. But instead I sat there, letting the mate-bond simmer and spark in my bones, waiting for the night to come.
By the time I pulled into the hay-strewn parking lot of the Stock Creek Harvest Festival, my nerves were so fried I almost left the keys in the ignition. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so rattled over a woman. Or anything, really. My dragon was used to being the biggest, most unflappable thing in a two-mile radius other than my dragon clanmates. Today, he was a jittery bird, wings beating against my ribs every time I pictured Krystal. We'd been reduced to a hummingbird by the mate bond.
I found her standing by the entrance arch, which someone had fashioned from bundled corn stalks and marigolds. She looked like the harvest queen in jeans, boots, and a sweater fitted enough to make me imagine what was underneath. She was typing on her phone, and I wondered who she was texting. I was a few feet away from her when she lifted her head, spotted me and smiled.
I took a moment before closing the distance. I wanted to remember this, the way she stood, the way the October sun caught the gold in her hair, the way my feet actually felt light for once.
"Hey," I said, and it came out too soft, too shy. I tried again, louder. "Hey! You made it."
Krystal smiled, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I said I would, didn’t I?"
She looked around. "This place is a madhouse. I haven’t been to the festival since I was a kid. Nathan usually brings Bryce with Elle, his daughter. I've always been working."
"We used to sneak in after hours and mess with the apple bobbing tubs," I told her. "One year, I swapped out all the apples for onions. Ashton didn’t forgive me for a month."
Her eyes brightened with laughter. "The Beck alpha?"
"Big guy. Runs the vet clinic now."
She laughed. "I always thought you dragons just hibernated and hoarded gold."
"I’m partial to natural beauty," I said, and she laughed again, this time with less effort.
We wandered through the festival. Stock Creek did these events up big a few times a year. There were three separate chili cookoffs, a bluegrass band on a plywood stage, and a petting zoo full of animals that, frankly, looked like they’d seen some things. Every third person waved at Krystal, and she responded to each with a different version of "hey, good to see you."
"You’re famous," I teased.
"In a town this size, everyone’s famous. Or infamous."
I couldn’t argue. I nodded to a few people and had to say, "Yeah, I'm back in town!" a few times myself. I bought us caramel apples, then challenged her to a ring toss, which she won. The prize was a stuffed bat with fangs and googly eyes.
"You’re a terrible liar," she said, accepting the prize anyway. "I saw you miss on purpose."
I shrugged. "I like making you smile."
That caught her off guard, but she didn’t look away. "You’re good at this."
"At what?"
"Dating. Or pretending to date. Or whatever this is."
