Chapter Four
Christy was on edge and pacing her room. That Heather had decided to run off with that dragon, and he was a dragon, no matter how much he looked like a human, bothered her a great deal. That she was in a place so different from the one she had always known was creating havoc. Her life was neat, ordered, and just how she had always wanted it. No surprises, no complications, and she had total control of herself and her life.
Or had.
It was all screwed up now.
Tears came to her eyes. Her heart was giving off hard throbs matched by the ones firing off in her lower body. What had she been thinking, opening that door of his that way? The sight of Blake naked and…hard…God, so hard…had definitely thrown her into a tailspin.
That she had felt an immediate attraction to him just by looking at his picture bothered her. That she had been attracted to him in the coffee shop had made her feel guilty since Heather had been there to go on a date with him. Heather was obviously interested in Max and not Blake, but still, it was bothersome to admit that she had been attracted to Blake back when Heather might have had interest in him.
If there was anything Christy really hated, it was betrayal. Friends were supposed to be loyal. Which just made Heather’s disappearance all the worse. Christy’s bare feet swept over the lovely floor, her hands yanking at her gown as she went.
Her mind kept going back to Blake. He was magnificent. He was tall and strong, with a wide chest and broad shoulders. His waist had been tight, and his hips lean. His legs had been long and muscular and his manhood…holy shit. It was big and thick, deliciously wide and so…
“I need help. I’m having hot flashes for a dragon. He’s an animal. What the hell is wrong with me?”
Her words held a plaintive note. She took a seat on the low sofa and stared at the room. It was incredible. Precious and semi-precious jewels studded the furniture and the view, of wide open landscapes featuring the mountains capped with snow and the rolling green meadows below, was to die for. But she wanted to go home, back to her loft and her life and her job.
Back to normalcy.
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. An echo of the sheer lust that had bolted through her when she had seen Blake naked stayed on though. She did have sex, but despite all the things she said to Heather, she didn’t find it that satisfying. There was always something missing, something she could never quite put her finger on and explain, but she could feel that she needed to do something different.
Her eyes flew open. Well, she was definitely doing something different now. That thought made a little grin come to her lips.
She watched the sun go down and still Heather had not returned. She could hear people…no, she corrected herself:they are not people. They are dragons, and you’d do well to remember that. They’re not people and dragons kill people.
That was what had her scared. What the hell had Heather been thinking, flying off with that creature? What was she thinking, letting herself get all heated over Blake when she knew what he was?
And how was any of it even possible? How was it possible that she ended up in this place and with people who were dragons?
“I’m so quitting that dating app,” she muttered, “As soon as I get back.” Tears came up again, stinging her eyes as she realized that she might not be able to get back despite Max saying that as soon as the portal opened again, he would see to it that they were sent home.
How long would that be? How long until the portal opened? She had a job that she had to be at almost every single day because in her profession, you were only ever as good as your last deal, and she had had some stinkers lately, not that she had shared that with Heather either.
Heather was her bestie, but Heather had zero idea what Christy’s job as a high-powered investment manager was like. Heather was always struggling in her job as a lawyer because it had never been the profession she had wanted to be in, and because Christy knew that and knew that Heather needed to vent, needed to think people who went after their passions always succeeded, Christy had not mentioned that she had not been succeeding or very happy in her job as of late. It was the job she had always wanted. She had gone after it with a single-minded determination, waitressing and scraping by on scholarships and student loans and ramen noodles just to make it happen, to get that college education she had to have, to be able to take on the internships that had given her good references and experience in the field—the things that had gotten her into the company she now worked for.
How could she tell Heather that she’d been wrong? Not just about her career either but about how happy she was just having NSA sex with random guys who didn’t know her and did not really want to? She didn’t know why she wasn’t that happy with it; she had been in the beginning. It had been exactly what she had wanted, to satisfy her itches without having to worry about making excuses as to why she was too busy for the rest of it. It kept her from having to worry about having her heart taken, or ever falling in love. It was hard to fall in love with someone who already had another date lined up for the next night. Especially when she knew that they did. It was hard to loosen her heart to someone who only wanted her body, and just for a short amount of time.
Her mother had taught her a really hard lesson, whether she had meant to or not. Her mother had always been looking for love, and she had always been sure that the next guy would be the one. The one who would love her, who would marry her, who would be Mr. Right, who would make all the hurt of her mother’s past fade away.
None of them ever had been, and her mother had turned into a bitter woman with nothing in her life but her fading looks and her romance novels and her disillusions. Christy loved her, and while her mother had not been the best mom, she had given Christy the clear understanding that if she wanted better, she would have to work hard to get it because she had nobody else to count on, and she had always paid the bills on time—two things that Christy never forgot.
She had wanted more. She had wanted success and to not have her heart broken. She had her job and her dating apps, and they had always been enough, up until recently.
It was true, whether she wanted to admit it or not. She wanted something else; she just had no idea at all what that something else might be.
What she knew she wanted, whether she wanted to admit it or not, was Blake. For the night, anyway. She groaned and headed to bed, determined to get some sleep. Come morning, she and Heather had to figure out a way to get the hell out of there, and fast.
She lay there, restless. The memory of his magnificent body would not let her be. His blond hair was his own, as witnessed by the thick thatch between his legs, the curls that had surrounded his thick and full rod. The long and plump length that had jutted up from his body at a hard angle and had fired off so much lust in her body that she’d been stricken speechless.
“Great. I’m hot for a dragon.”
Yeah, she was. The more she thought of him, the more restless and uncomfortable she had become. She wanted Blake, and she was terribly afraid that that was one itch she just might be foolish enough to scratch.
