Page 43 of Surge of Heat

All I fucking had over Aydan was that I was a dragon, and now he’s one too. When I realized what he was, I wanted to kill him. To rip his fucking throat out and claim Sam for my own. The only thing that stopped me was realizing that she would probably never forgive me if I did that, and I’d lose her anyway.

So now, I’m being a coward. I’m hiding from all of them, because I’m terrified that I will kill Aydan if I see him with my woman. Yet, the feeling in my chest won’t stop, won’t go away. I need her. I need to go to her.

I pace to the door and stop, pressing my head against the cool metal. If I go to her room, and he’s there, I’ll lose my mind. She’llhate me forever. And I’ll lose her anyway. But I need her. I need to be with her.What the fuck should I do?

There’s a knock at the door that sends me jumping back, heart racing. I slam the button beside the door, ready to lose it on whoever was foolish enough to bother me… when I see Sam.

Everything inside of me calms. She’s in her pajamas. Her hair has been left loose around her shoulders. Her big green eyes are filled with uncertainty.

“Evander–”

I grab ahold of her wrist and pull her against me, groaning as her scent washes over me. She smells like that Granger fellow, but also fucking Aydan. Always fucking Aydan. Their scents on her make anger rise inside of me, and I swear fire burns at the back of my throat. But I ignore the possessiveness that threatens to make me lose control, and I sweep her into my arms.

Her eyes are wide as I carry her to the bed and lay her down, but then I’m wrapping myself around her. Breathing in her scent. I love the way she feels against my body. I know that she’s still angry with me, that I lost her trust, that I fucked things up between us.

But she doesn’t protest me holding her, so I keep her tightly against me. My cock stirs. Hardens. But I command the damn thing to stay in control. The last thing I want to do is push her away by being too eager.

Yet, I can’t help myself. “Do I have any chance now?” My words sound edged with desperation, and I hate it.

“Any chance at what?” she asks, her voice so soft and feminine that I have to choke back another groan of desire.

“Any chance against him now that he’s a dragon?”

She’s quiet for a moment, and her silence rips out my heart. It leaves me dizzy and gasping for breath. Ihaveto have a chance. If I don’t, there’s no reason to keep going. There’s noreason to get up in the morning. I’ll wither away and die without her beside me.

“You do.”

I start to breathe again. Grasping her face, I turn her so she can look at me. Her mouth is inches from my own. Her beautiful face is soft against my hand. “I can’t be without you, so what do I need to do to fix this?”

Her heartbeat is faster. I want to say it’s because we’re close, but maybe it’s because she’s so angry with me. My woman is all fire and heat, and as much as I love that, I need something calmer right now before I break.

She licks her lips, and her gaze holds mine. “I need the truth. I need all of it. One minute, you’re some kind of military guy, and the next you own this company. It doesn’t make sense, and I need you to make it make sense.”

I nod slowly. Being honest and open is not something I’m accustomed to. I’ve been alone most of my life, at least inwardly. I can’t remember the last time I just had someone to be open and honest with. But if I don’t want to lose her, I need to figure this out. And quickly.

Taking a deep breath, I remind myself just to be honest. That’s all she wants. “I grew up with my mom and dad, but I always felt different. Out of place. They loved me, but we just didn’t connect. I didn’t connect with most people. One day, my parents died in a car accident, and I was bounced from foster care to foster care, where I felt even more lost. When I was able to enlist, I did, and I got the hell out of there. When my time was up in the military, I was notified that my grandparents had died… I hadn’t even known I had grandparents. They left their billion dollar company to me, Specter Inc. Running a company wasn’t really my thing, so I let the board handle most of it, but they invested in a lot of science related things. One of those was this branch, which studied the possibility of dragons. I took aninterest in it and got involved, which is what I’ve been doing for the past three years. And the rest, you’ve probably figured out.”

I may only be twenty-five, but I feel like I’ve already lived a lifetime.

She stares at me. I stare back.Is there something I left out?

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I hope I’m not making a mistake. “We barely knew each other. It seemed simpler to continue playing the role of employee over employer. I figured I’d explain when everything got calmer and safer.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” I repeated, unsure of what that one simple word really meant.

“I get it,” she says, “but I don’t want any more secrets, any more lies by omission. I don’t want to discover more things by accident.”

Some of the pressure leaves my chest. “You won’t.”

There’s more silence. “I’m sorry about your parents.”

The words hurt for reasons I don’t understand. “Me too. I never thought about them being gone until… they just were.”

“That must have been painful.”

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