Page 75 of Never Flirt with a Dragon

I squeezed my eyes shut, and waited for the anxiety to fade.

It didn’t.

So I finally crossed the room and picked up my tablet.

Drawing would be a distraction from my panic, at the very least.

I didn’t bother with attempting the art I was supposed to work on for my job after I folded myself into my chair. It would have to come later, when I’d settled down.

I usually sketched whatever was in my line of sight when I needed a distraction, so I lifted my gaze to the horizon and began. The mountains were breathtaking, so it wasn’t painful at all to focus on them.

My anxiety faded slightly as I tried to get lost in the art, but it wasn’t working the way it usually did. I supposed a lot had changed for me, and I hadn’t really faced any of it.

That didn’t make me want to face it, though.

It just made me want to disappear deeper into my artwork.

An image came to my mind—one of Jasper sleeping peacefully, a sheet draped over his lower half while his gorgeous, bare chest was on display. The same image that had lingered in my mind ever since that first night together.

Though I bit my lip, and my cheeks flushed, it was what I wanted to draw.

So, I erased the mountains and began.

Sure enough, I managed to forget all of my problems for a few minutes, and focus on properly portraying the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen.

fourteen

JASPER

I paced the kitchen for twenty minutes before I finally forced myself to admit that I was entirely clueless about what to do.

Then, I called my brother.

He was probably sick of giving me advice, but what other option was there?

August answered on the second ring. “The bond is sealed?”

“Yeah.” I closed my eyes.

My throat bobbed.

I could still taste Miranda on my tongue. Feel her wrapped around my cock. Smell her pleasure on the?—

“Congrats, then.” August’s voice was neutral. He was probably wondering why I’d called instead of just texted.

“Did Elodie like flying right away?” I asked, unable to keep up the pretenses any longer. Not that I’d been keeping them up for long. Or very well.

There was a beat of silence.

I heard Elodie’s muffled voice on his end of the call before he replied.

“The first few minutes were rough, but she warmed up to it by the time we started gliding. She loves it as much as I do now. Why?”

I didn’t answer right away.

Couldn’t get the damn words out.

My jaw was clenched, my body tight and wound-up.

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