Page 32 of The Virgin's Chosen Dragon

“Now comes the hard part,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. “We have to face everyone. Do you think they’ve been looking for us?”

“Assuming we’ve been gone as much time here as we were there, I’m sure they are,” he said. “We’d better get back.”

“You might want to get dressed first,” she said, reaching around and squeezing his firm buttocks with both hands. “Rose stuffed our swimming suits into the bottom of the basket. We should put them on.”

“I have a better idea,” he said, sweeping her up into his arms and carrying her back into the cave. “How about you get naked again, and we make love in our own time before we go back.”

“Theo, they’re probably looking for us,” she protested, but her body was already warming at the thought. “We should get back.”

“An hour isn’t going to make any difference. I want you to myself for a little bit longer,” he said. “I have a feeling we’re not going to get much time alone when we get back.”

“Okay, you talked me into it,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. “But an hour, that’s it.”

It was more like two before they stumbled out of the cave and made their way down to the beach. “Are you sure you want to go back?” Theo asked, taking her hand. “There are going to be a lot of questions we can’t answer without looking like we’ve lost our minds.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “We’ll just have to play it by ear,” she said. “But I think we have to tell Max the truth. He should know what the island is capable of.”

“I don’t know if he’ll believe us,” Theo said. “But I think we’d better give it a try.”

“Theo, does he know?” she asked, looking over at him. “I mean about you being……”

“A dragon shifter,” he finished for her, then nodded his head. “He knows. All my friends do because they’re shifters too, but that’s obviously a secret.”

“I would never tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me,” she said. “But now that we’re back, I think I do have a few questions, but it can wait for later.”

“We can talk as much as you want,” he said. “I’ll answer any question that you have. After all, if we have kids, they could be shifters, too.”

She stopped, then looked over at him. “I never thought of that,” she said. “Now I really have some questions.”

He laughed, “I thought you might,” he said. “But don’t worry, you’re perfectly safe. Having my babies won’t hurt you.”

“I never thought it would,” she said. “They’ll be a piece of you, and you’d never hurt me.”

“I love you, Eden,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “You do know that we’re going to have to get married, and soon.”

“Oh, really?” she asked. “Well then, I should warn you that I want a proper proposal, a flowery speech, a ring, you down on one knee, the works.”

He laughed, “I’ll have to see what I can do about that,” he said, then kissed her until she was breathless. “Now, let’s go see how much trouble we’re in.”

CHAPTER 19

***THEO***

Theo hadn’t been sure what to expect when they arrived back in the village, couldn’t even be sure how long they’d been gone, but his heart sank when he saw a group of people gathered around Max. He was shouting out instructions to people about where to search for them. His face was full of frustration and worry, making him feel a little guilty, but he reminded himself that the situation had been out of his control. It took Max a second to see them standing in the back of the crowd. He froze, then slowly got to his feet, his face full of disbelief.

Everyone turned to look at them. A stunned silence quickly turned into shouts of excitement, and they were rushed by the crowd. “Okay, everyone, give them some space,” Max shouted, and the crowd backed away from them, making room for him. “Where the hell have you been?”

Theo looked over at Eden. “It’s kind of a long story,” he said, looking back over at Max. “Maybe we could sit down somewhere not quite so crowded and tell you about it.”

Max studied them for a second, then let out a long sigh. “You’ve been gone for three days. This had better be good,”he said, then turned to the crowd. “Thank you, everyone, for your dedication to the search over the last few days. I want you to take the rest of the day off and relax.”

That seemed to satisfy the searchers, and they wandered off in small groups, talking among themselves about where they’d been. However, no one stopped to question them. He could tell by the look on Max’s face that he wasn’t happy, but didn’t have a chance to start explaining before a man he’d never met before came rushing up, a look of excitement on his face.

“Where did they turn up?” he asked, studying them. “You’re in pretty good shape for two people who have been missing for three days.”

He looked over at Max, who sighed. “Theo, this is Mateo. He works for the government, and his job is to make sure we don’t damage the island by being here.”

“It’s a bit more than that, but we’ll leave it at that for now,” Mateo said, then took a couple steps toward Eden and pointed to her necklace. “Where did you get that?”

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