Page 14 of Here Be Dragons

“Her face is pretty enough. But you’re right; she’s way too chubby and plain for a billionaire dragon. They ain’t fucking.” He laughed.

Great. Desmon and Iaren’t fucking, but I really didn’t need that analysis.

“Well, I ain’t cutting into my share. I’m the only reason we even have an in at the fucking museum. You can pay her from your share.”

“What the hell, man?Youdropped the ball. You’re the one who lost sight of the package. If you’d just done your job, we wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

“Fuck you! You didn’t have a chance to make the mistake because you didn’t do any of the work.”

Knife Guy got all up in Leonard’s face at that, but his action turned out less than intimidating as he had to hike up his pants to stop them from falling down. “None of the work? I set this whole fucking thing up! I did all the meetings with the she-dragon because you were too chickenshit to face her.”

While the two bickered, I continued working the belt against the sharp piece of metal. I was so close. I’d be free any moment now. And if I was lucky, those two would be so busy squabbling that they wouldn’t even notice me sneaking out the back. Especiallysince they weren’t looking my way right now, and they’d moved a bit, so a large piece of machinery was blocking their view.

I could totally do this.

With one last jerky movement, the webbed belt finally snapped. Not expecting the force of my hands pulling apart, I bashed my already painful wrist against something hard and metallic. I stifled a yelp, but the reverberation of my hand against whatever it had hit echoed throughout the open factory floor.

Shit! Why? Why was I such a klutz?

“What the fuck was that?” Leonard asked.

I had two choices. One, I could pretend nothing happened and hope that they didn’t realize the sound had come from my direction and wait for a better time to bolt. Or two, I could make a break for it now, since there were several rows of heavy machinery between us, and while they didn’t have a straight line to the door, I did.

“What did you do, bitch?”

Okay, so they knew the sound came from me. That decided it: I ran.

I pulled my wrist free of the belt and bolted for the door. I pumped my legs hard, cursing the fact that I hadn’t gotten as much exercise in as I should for the past few years. Despite being in the shittiest shape of my life, I managed to get to the door as the other two were still looping around the big machinery. I shoved it open and ran into the sunlight.

Oh fuck.

Ahead of me was a concrete lot that seemed to go on forever, and beyond that, still more concrete and other buildings. I looked to the side and saw a closer building that probably also belonged to the fabric mill. I ran for that.

The goal was to be out of sight by the time my two pursuers made it out the door. I reached for the handle of the door and swore. It was locked.

“There she is!”

Shit! Out here, without the machinery blocking their way, they’d be able to catch up to me for sure. I was screwed.

Suddenly, a loud screeching sound had me covering my ears, even as a shadow darkened the sky. I looked skyward and froze. There, right above me, was the underbelly of a freakingdragon!

Its wings were spread wide against the brilliant blue sky, scales gleaming red and orange. It was huge, more like a small plane than any living being. It almost appeared to glow with fire as it looped around the building. Its eyes, reptilian but brimming with intelligence, glowed a molten gold as they landed on the two men chasing me.

Was this the dragon lady the two were talking about? Or was it Desmon? And should I be running? Or was it useless to try?

I peered up at the magnificent beast again, this time looking down its belly to the lower half. The scales seemed to lighten there, but I saw nothing that would give away its sex. Then,perhaps because of the stress of everything that had happened, I started giggling to myself like an idiot. I was actually trying to determine the sex of a dragon, which sounded just as ridiculous as I felt right now.

“Oh, fuck! Fuck! Fuck!Fuck!” Leonard screamed as he turned tail and ran back toward the other building, with Knife Guy hot on his heels.

I could only hope that it was Desmon.

The two never made it to the building, because the dragon in front of them forced them to skid to a halt and trip over each other, landing in a pile at the dragon’s feet.

“How dare you!” boomed a voice. It sounded like Desmon but with something else as well, a growly quality that had my belly fluttering with…desire? No. I must be mixing it up with awe because I couldn’t possibly be lusting after a dragon, even if the man version of him was sexy enough to turn my knees to jelly.

This version of Desmon was raw, magnificent power. Every inch of him exuded danger. I never thought I found danger so thrilling and arousing, but—hot damn! I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself from jumping him and humping him like a dog in heat the second he was back in his man form. Great. I’d embarrass myself even more.

“How dare you covet my treasure!”

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