Page 23 of A Savior for the Arrogant Dragon

“Well……okay then,” Corey said. “I’ll see you tonight.”

As soon as Corey was gone, Kira turned to him, opened her mouth, then shook her head, “Come on, let’s find you some ice,” she said, starting for her cooler. “I don’t know why I put up with you. Corey seems like a nice guy. You didn’t have to be so rude.”

He started after her, feeling a little guilty now that the jealousy had faded, “I was jealous. I’ve never been jealous before,” he admitted, surprising them both. “I didn’t know how to handle it; I was thinking about hitting him until that ball got me. Isn’t that crazy? I’ve never wanted to hit anyone in my life.”

***Kira***

Kira froze, wishing Simon had kept his mouth shut, hating the way her body was reacting to his words, “I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say that,” she said, her voice a bit shaky from the thrills rushing through her. “Your lines won’t work on me, Simon. They didn’t before and they won’t now.”

“Kira, that wasn’t a line,” he said, catching up to her. “I swear I was telling the truth.”

She looked over at him, saw the sincerity in his eyes and let out a long sigh, “Alright, I believe you,” she said. “But you still can’t say things like that to me.”

“Why not?” he asked. “I mean, I thought women wanted men to be honest with them.”

“We do, but this is different,” she said, walking faster to get away from him. “I need to get you some ice.”

“Why is this different?” Simon persisted. “I’m really trying to understand, Kira, for once I’m not just thinking about getting you into bed. Give me a break.”

Instead of answering, she started making him an icepack, hoping that he’d give up if she didn’t answer. “Here you go,” she said when she was finished, holding it out to him. “Put this on your face. It should help with the swelling, but you should take a pain reliever too.”

Simon took the icepack and put it on his face, “It doesn’t hurt that much,” he said, plopping down in the sand. “Since you’re clearly not going to answer me, I’m just going to sit here and feel sorry for myself for a while before I go back to the village and make a fool of myself again.”

Kira rolled her eyes at him, “It can’t be that bad,” she said, sitting down in her chair. “It’s not like you’re a monster or anything.”

“No, just pathetic,” he said, then gestured to his clothes. “I don’t even know what this tee-shirt means. These shorts look ridiculous, and don’t even get me started on my hair. I have no idea how to relate to other people now. I scared Cindy in the coffee shop. She thought I was some gross old guy coming onto her, and you know what, she was right. I don’t know how to do this; I don’t know the first thing about being me without all the……extra stuff. I’ve been laughed at today and beaned with a football. I don’t know how much more I can take.”

She looked over at Simon and he looked so miserable, she couldn’t help but feel bad for him, “You do understand that you deserve everything that’s happening to you?” she asked. “I just want to make sure you’re clear on that.”

“You don’t have to rub it in,” he said, pulling the icepack away from his face. “How bad is it?”

“Well, you might have a black eye,” she said, then grinned at him. “But at least you still haveall your teeth.”

“Very funny,” he said. “Way to kick a man when he’s down.”

“I was trying to get you to look on the bright side of things,” she said. “Stop being such a gloomy Gus. If you’re unhappy, do something about it instead of sitting around complaining.”

“I’ll take any advice you have,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I’m not exactly enjoying myself over here.”

“I’m not going to tell you what to do, but if you want my advice, start with the things you can control,” she said. “Stop worrying about how you’re going to get the old you back, and make the most of what you’ve been given.”

“You mean this?” Simon said, gesturing to himself. “It would take a full-blown makeover to fix this.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, studying him. “A good haircut and some clothes that fit might help a lot. I bet we could find everything we need over on the big island.”

Simon perked up, “Are you going to help me?” he asked. “I mean, would you help me, please?”

That hadn’t been her intention. She had her day at the beach to finish and knew it was dangerous to be around him too much, but she couldn’t refuse when she saw the hopeful look on his face. Looking back out at the ocean, she let out a long sigh, sure that she was making a mistake. The man both infuriated her and intrigued her, which was a dangerous combination, and she realized that she was probably playing with fire.

“I’ll help you on one condition,” she said. “We have to be back in time for the crab boil, and no flirting or coming onto me while we’re together today.”

Simon jumped to his feet, “That’s a deal,” he said. “I’ll be on my best behavior, I promise.”

She studied him for a second, “You’d better be,” she finallysaid. “Come on, let’s go find Max and see if we can get a ride off the island.”

“I’ll help you carry your stuff,” Simon said, rushing over to help her pack up, then stopped and looked over at her. “Thank you, Kira. I know I’ve been a huge jerk to you most of this week and I don’t deserve it, but I want you to know how much I appreciate you helping me. You’re the only person on this entire island who has treated me nicer since this happened. Well, except Max, but he’s supposed to care about me, he’s, my friend.”

“I meant it when I said we were friends, Simon,” she said. “You’ve wormed your way into my life, and I can’t seem to get rid of you.”

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