Ruby Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 3) Read online

  Jealousy flowed through him as he backed her up toward her door. “Why wouldn’t you want me to? Don’t tell me that guy is your boyfriend.”

  She exhaled slowly, clearly affected by his closeness. “He’s just an ex.”

  “A what?”

  “An ex-boyfriend,” she said with a sigh, trying to push him back. “We dated.”

  “Ah, so you’ll date that guy, but not me. Makes sense.”

  “I don’t date guys like you because of that guy,” she muttered, looking to the side.

  He noticed teardrops on her blond lashes and stepped back immediately, feeling as though his heart had just dive-bombed out of his chest to land at her feet. “What’s wrong?”

  “He scared me,” she said, swiping at her eyes. “I opened the door, thinking it was you, and he pushed his way in. When I wouldn’t give him what he wanted, he broke things.”

  He gazed down at her, unsure what to do. Usually, she didn’t want him to touch her, but he felt a strong urge to pull her into his arms.

  She’d been helping him with his problems, and now he’d just seen one of hers.

  And for once, he actually cared about what someone else was going through.

  He reached out and pulled her into his embrace. She came in reluctantly and then sighed in relief as she rested against his chest.

  So odd to be doing this out in the hallway, under the flickering lights.

  He put a hand over her hair, stroking her head. She looked up at him in amusement, her eyes still red-rimmed.

  “I’m not a cat,” she said.

  “I know,” he replied. “I’m just trying to comfort you.”

  She moved his arm back around her and just leaned in. “Just keep it like this.”

  “Okay.” He could do that. Sort of. A certain part of his body was rebelling at the closeness to her lush curves, her soft body, her scent, like wild roses.

  He inhaled gently, trying not to feel like a creep.

  “Are you… sniffing me?” she asked.

  “Maybe.”

  “You smell good, too,” she said, wrapping her arms around him.

  Yup, that was his limit. He stepped back, putting a hand through his hair. “Want me to go get dinner? You want to eat at my place this time?”

  She nodded. “Let me lock up.”

  He waited while she went inside to get her keys, and then she came out, locked the door, and joined him.

  “All right,” she said. “Let’s eat and forget that just happened.”

  Red didn’t say anything, but he was definitely going to get to the bottom of who this man was. No one was allowed to make Faye cry.

  Nobody.

  “This meat is incredible,” Faye said, trying to focus on her food and not the alarming state of Red’s apartment.

  It truly was some of the best meat she’d ever tasted, succulently grilled with a woody taste she couldn’t place. “Do you have a grill?”

  “A grill?” he asked.

  “You know, did you barbecue this?”

  “I used flame, if that’s what you mean,” he said.

  “Well, it’s great,” she said. “Thanks for making it.” She felt a flush work its way up her pale cheeks. “And thanks for helping me… out there.”

  “Looked like you handled it by the time I came over.”

  She sighed. “He made me so angry I forgot to be scared.”

  “What did he do?” Red asked, body tightening.

  She’d been sensing a heavy amount of anger from her usually easygoing friend tonight.

  His whole body seemed to be vibrating ever since he’d manhandled Braden.

  She’d never thought he would show up at her apartment, asking for more than she was already giving. She’d already taken on all their credit cards just to get him to agree to get out of her life.

  But now he was back, breaking their deal. And breaking her things.

  “He broke a statue I had,” she said. “It was important. My mom gave it to me.”

  “Can she get you another one?” Red asked.

  “She’s dead,” she replied quietly. “I don’t want to talk about it now.”

  He frowned but focused on the food.

  She glanced around the room. “You need furniture.”

  “I have a bed,” he said. “And a table and chairs, as you can see.”

  They were seated in the kitchen. There were cans littered about and things left on the counter. And singe marks on the cupboards, which was weird.

  And in the middle of the living room, there was a coffee table. A TV sitting on a stand. But nothing else. A blanket lay folded up in one corner.

  “You need couches,” she said.

  “Like you have?” he asked. “I don’t know. I mostly go to your place to watch TV.”

  She sighed. “Yeah, well, if you’re going to invite me over here, you should have couches.”

  He stood awkwardly and disappeared down the hall. When he came back, he was holding a paper bag. He dumped it on the table in front of her, and money fell out. He spread the bills out with his hands, and she didn’t have to count it to know it was a hell of a lot.

  More than she’d need to pay off all of her debts and be free from waitressing for life.

  But how had he gotten it?

  She stood warily. “You aren’t a drug dealer, are you?”

  He blinked, green eyes confused. “What?”

  “A drug dealer?” she asked. “How else would you get this kind of money?”

  “From friends…” he answered reluctantly, and she looked him over.

  Of course, she thought with revulsion, looking over his perfect body in that dark-purple shirt that set off his eyes and made him look even more masculine. “Your lady friends?”

  His dark eyebrows screwed up. “What are you talking about?” He scooped the money back into the bag. “I shouldn’t have shown you. Look, I’m not from here, and I was given this to survive on. I was going to ask you if it’s enough to buy a couch, but—”

  She let out a sigh. “So it really is from friends?” she asked. “Guy friends?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Friends I have known for a really long time, who wanted to help me get started in a new place.” He fingered a thin gold chain at his neck and looked nervous for the first time since she’d met him.

  She sat down, slumping. “I’m sorry. Dammit, why am I so quick to judge?”

  “Maybe because you’ve met people you should have judged harder,” he said quietly. “Like the jerk you wouldn’t let me pummel.”

  “You know,” she said, taking another bite of meat. “I wouldn’t have thought you were the type that would go all alpha and want to beat up someone.” She grinned. “You might get your pretty face scratched.”

  “When someone I care about is in trouble, the last thing I’m thinking about is my face. Actually, lately, it’s caused me a lot of trouble.” He shook his head, letting his hair fall in front of his face as he cut more meat and offered a piece to Pumpkin. “Human women have no control.”

  She frowned. “Not all of them.”

  He smiled ruefully. “You do seem to be the exception.” He tilted his head. “Why is that? Just don’t find me sexy?”

  She nearly choked on her food but then used a napkin and wiped her mouth gingerly. “No, it’s not that at all. I’ve just learned the sexier I think a guy is, the more of a jerk he turns out to be.”

  “So you’re into me?” he asked, looking ridiculously pleased.

  What sort of alternate universe was she in where a man who looked like that was that happy because she liked him?

  “I think you’re hot. I mean, I’m not blind. But as I said, the hotter they are, the more of a jerk they turn out to be.”

  “So,” he said, standing over her and placing a hand on the table to lean down and put himself at eye level with her. She could see all the colors in his striking natural hair, the dark green at the center of his irises. Feel her whole body respond with a tense want. “H
ow much of a jerk would I turn out to be?”

  She breathed in, unable to resist the sensation of his lips coming closer as he leaned over the table. “A huge jerk. A tremendous jerk. Probably the biggest jerk of all time.”

  He grinned, moving forward, teasing her with the distance between them.

  She couldn’t. She shouldn’t. She knew not to get caught up again. All men could be good at the start. Charming. Sweet. Sexy. But it didn’t last. They wanted something from you, and once they got it, they were gone, leaving you in the wreckage.

  His face sobered, and he looked at her with an odd expression, considering their position. Then he pulled back slightly so she could look in his eyes.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly. Hovering just out of reach. Making it clear it would be her responsibility to come closer.

  Did he want her to? He’d been asking her on dates since they’d met, but that was before they were friends. Still, he seemed happy she was into him.

  “I…”

  He pulled back, stood, and stretched, giving her a view of his muscles.

  Her body ached in disappointment at the same time her breath came out in a relieved huff.

  As much as she wanted to be, she just wasn’t ready.

  Maybe, despite their rough start, he was a true friend for seeing that.

  He sat in the chair across from her to continue eating, a casual smile on his face that said he was willing to pretend nothing awkward had happened, which she appreciated.

  “So,” he said, “tell me all about Braden.”

  4

  Red stabbed at his meat, trying to ignore the painful lust surging through him.

  He didn’t want Faye to see any of it.

  He was coming to adore her. Her little stray curls. That half smile she wore when she thought something was ironic. The way she got so angry about board game rules or cheaters on reality TV.

  He’d thought it was friendship but realized it was more when he’d met Braden.

  He wanted to tear every male away from her, keep her to himself like a lost treasure. Keep her safe. Make her his.

  It could only mean one thing. Something he’d thought impossible for a dragon whose main influence came from attracting people.

  He’d found a mate.

  He wanted to scream at the irony of it being Faye, who wasn’t interested in a relationship with him at all, but he couldn’t.

  It was just a fact.

  And as he’d been about to kiss her, he was even more sure when they touched, it would feel like home. Feel unlike any kiss with any woman had ever felt before.

  But even though he tried not to read thoughts, he’d been so close to her, so connected, that he hadn’t been able to avoid it. And she’d been scared. Worried. Not wanting it.

  And if he’d learned anything in the past few days, it was physicality could be complicated. Much more than he’d thought.

  He didn’t want to kiss Faye while she had so much running through her head. While she was thinking he could hurt her. While she was compromising what she wanted.

  He wanted to kiss her once she felt like he did. Like it would be the most amazing thing of her life. Like she wanted it more than anything.

  But above all, he didn’t want to lose her friendship.

  “What do you want to know about Braden?” she asked in a dull voice.

  “Just what’s so special about him that he can keep an amazing woman like you from all the other men in the world?”

  She sighed. “Men like you?” She shook her head. “Sorry, that’s not fair. I guess it’s not just Braden. He’s the last in a long line of losers I picked out. My friends blame my loser stepdad, who used my mom for a paycheck. I don’t know if that’s the case. I just know I keep trying to choose better. When Braden came along, he was the best I’d found. He seemed like he had a secure job. Seemed like the type who wanted to settled down.”

  “I see,” Red commented.

  “I mean, he seemed crazy about me.” She shrugged. “And then we moved in together, and it just started getting worse.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t really want to talk about it anymore. It was just bad. And it shouldn’t have been, and I’m just realizing I don’t have the taste to choose the right men.”

  “I’m not using you,” he declared.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you? You only wanted me to help with your cat.”

  He snorted. “I could have figured out something else. I wanted an excuse to talk to you more. You intrigued me.”

  “Oh. Good for me,” she said sarcastically.

  “No, really,” he said. “You were refreshingly different. It was interesting, being yelled at.”

  She laughed. “You’re so weird.” She looked around the apartment. “Still, I owe you one for overreacting. How about I go with you on my day off and help you pick out some furniture?”

  He nodded vigorously. “If you can make it look anything like your place, I’d be forever grateful.” He gave her a smile he hoped she found charming. “And besides, it’s an excuse to spend time with you.”

  She bit her lip. It was full and pink, and he wanted to kiss it. “Look, Red. You’re hot. I admit that. But I’m really not looking for a relationship right now. I’m enjoying what we have. But let’s not ruin it.”

  He stared at her a long moment. “How would we ruin it?”

  “You know.” She averted her eyes, blushing adorably. “Sex.”

  He sat back in his chair. “How would sex ruin it? I’m not saying we’d have it, but still…”

  “You almost kissed me,” she said.

  “I came close.” He admitted. “I made you want to kiss me.”

  “Fine, you did.” She agreed. “No doubt because you want to kiss me.”

  “Of course,” he said.

  “But that just makes things complicated. And in the end, it just isn’t worth it because it doesn’t feel that great anyway.”

  “Kissing?” he asked, screwing up his face in confusion. “You don’t think kissing feels great?”

  She shook her head. “It’s just wet and unpleasant. I don’t like it at all.”

  He stared at her, dumbfounded. He’d never wanted to kiss someone so badly in his life, and now he had another reason. He wanted to show her how good kissing could be. Women loved kissing.

  Kissing was a preview to what kind of lover a man would be, so he had to think the rest of her boyfriends had let her down in that department, too.

  Perhaps he could help her by showing her it wasn’t always like that.

  But perhaps he needed to focus on going slow instead, so he could make her his mate without scaring her away.

  “I’ve never heard that about kissing,” he said. “I’ve only heard it’s amazing when I do it.”

  She snorted. “I guess women will say anything to get you in bed.”

  “Do you think they’d bother if it wasn’t an amazing experience?” he asked, folding his arms.

  She stared at him, and her blue eyes burned with curiosity. It was like watching a fish trying to resist a tasty baited hook. Her eyes strayed to his lips, focused there, and she wet her lower lip subconsciously.

  Then she sat back, letting out a tense breath. “I don’t know.”

  He stood again, walking over to her. He reached down to tilt up her chin, raising her out of her chair. “Want me to show you?”

  She was having trouble breathing regularly, and a deep flush moved up her cheeks. She put her hands on his arms to steady herself. “I don’t… want things to get complicated.”

  “What’s so complicated about a kiss?” he asked. “I’m just doing this to make a point, and I promise not to go further.”

  “What are you, some kind of kissing god?” she asked. “Here to show me your magical powers?”

  No, just a guy who is falling in love with you, he thought, glad she wasn’t a dragon and couldn’t hear him.

 
She looked at him hesitantly, eyes falling to his lips again. “I guess one little kiss couldn’t hurt.” She licked her lower lip again, breaking his last strands of control.

  But still he waited, poised on the edge of a precipice until he was positive he had permission to jump.

  “Just one little kiss, then,” she said. “For research—”

  But she didn’t get to finish before he cut her off, resting his lips against hers, gently, softly, velvet on velvet, as his hand snaked around to cradle her head.

  He held their closed lips together, just enjoying the warmth, the fit, and letting her feel his body against her. Letting her decide where this went. Letting her sense his willingness to please her in whichever way she decided.

  He would give her whatever she wanted.

  Her lips moved under his and then slowly opened, and he ran his tongue gently over her full lower lip, making her shudder. Her hands came around his waist, and he grinned against her mouth, loving how even that felt.

  Then he got serious, dipping his tongue tentatively inside, feeling her wet warmth, exploring her sensitive areas, reading the signs of her body.

  She squirmed, opened wider, her tongue exploring naively with his. He loved that she didn’t really know how to do this. Loved that she wanted to play.

  He pulled back and let their tongues play, and then when she gasped and released him, he dipped to catch her lower lip between his teeth, lightly sucking it until her nails dug into his back.

  So she liked it a little rough.

  He became more dominant, his hand around her head pulling her into a deeper, harsher kiss as his other hand curled around her waist, trapping her against his body.

  She nearly melted, and he took advantage of it to get even closer, letting her know he was here; she was safe. He would take care of everything, and all she had to do was stand there and feel good.

  His hand played with the sensitive nape of her neck as the kiss grew hotter, more sensual, the play of their mouths simulating everything he would like to do with her.

  Her scent was stronger in the air. Roses and musk. Delicious, driving him to kiss her deeper, deeper, communicating with her silently in a way that felt like home. Taking her little moans and mewls in stride as he found new ways to please her.