Page 17 of Lahaina Noon

She tilted her head, “You said these, Wielders, joined forces with another species. Like what? Unicorns? Pegasus?” She smiled, joking with him.

Vaughn looked at her seriously and took a deep breath. “Dragons.”

Bridget sat there for a moment. “Dragons?”

He nodded gravely as if it was the most serious thing he’d ever been asked.

“Dragons,” she repeated, then burst into laughter. “Oh, Vaughn, you had me for a minute. Dragons. I could almost believe in magical powers because I’ve seen the shadows myself, but come on. Dragons were never real. Is this some sort of joke? Look, I liked you for you. I’m not sure why the elaborate story.” She wiped under her eyes and picked up her wine glass. “Dragons.” She snorted and took a sip.

Vaughn stood suddenly, and she saw flames in his eyes. “I assure you, Bridget, it’s no joke. I need you to believe me. For your own safety.” He growled as smoke began to pour from his nostrils, and his fingers began to elongate into claws.

Bridget jumped up, terrified, wondering how to get away.

The sound of fabric tearing and a flapping noise drew her eyes to his shoulders where a pair of enormous black scaley wings with golden webbing were spreading from his back.

Her hands trembled, and she looked at his face again.

He had a wicked smile, which caused her to drop the glass, hearing it shatter as it bounced from the table to the floor. She could feel the blood drain from her face, and the room began to lose all color. Her world and vision narrowed down to the flames in his eyes before everything started turning black.

She saw his eyes return to their normal color, and concern filled them before the darkness took her under, and she collapsed.

She was out cold.

Chapter 11

Bridget stirred on somethingsoft and silky. She was either lying in a nest of angel feathers, or this was the world’s most comfortable mattress. She didn’t remember buying this, but good lord, she might never get out of it.

Suddenly, she remembered this was not her mattress and the last thing she saw was, “Wings!” She shouted and sat bolt upright in the bed. She looked around the very masculine space and realized she must be in Vaughn’s bedroom. She checked herself and was relieved to see she was still wearing her clothes, although her shoes were sitting neatly by a nearby dresser.

She noticed the cozy feeling of the rest of the house had been carried into the bedroom. There was another comfy looking chair in the corner by some bookshelves filled floor to ceiling. It looked very inviting and certainly more appropriate than lying in a strange man’s bed. She started to get up when Vaughn walked into the room.

His black wavy hair was slicked back, dripping wet, his upper body bare, and a towel hitched low around his hips. Reality was much better than her imagination.

Wow,she thought,I could just bite that hip bone and lick;she looked up at his face, mortified to be caught staring at him while thinking what she was thinking. Her face heated and the desire she’d felt earlier swamped her again.

His gaze was steady on hers, his face unreadable as he stood in the doorway.

She looked down and realized he was barefoot and trailing water behind him. “Uh, shower?” she asked feebly.

He glanced down at the puddle. “Pool. I went for a swim to uh, cool off while you uh, recovered and um.” He shifted his feet nervously.

She started at this version of Vaughn. He seemed unsure of himself for the first time, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it. He was unsure? She had just laughed at a dragon, and he didn’t eat her.

She gasped and scooted back across the bed in alarm. Trying to get off the other side to put space between them. “Dragon,” she whispered.

“Relax,” he tried to assure her, holding up his hands, “I’m not going to hurt you, remember? I promised you.”

Had he? Had he promised that, or did he just say it to confuse her? She continued to back away.

“Bridget,” he groaned, “Please, my sweet Bridget, if I was going to hurt you, I could have done it a dozen times before now.”

That’s true,she thought,maybe I was just imagining things, and he didn’t really change right in front of me.She gave him a small, tentative smile. “So,” she cleared her throat, “Is it. True?” She hated that her voice wavered. “Are you really a,” she paused.

“Dragon.” He nodded. “It’s okay, you can say it. And despite the legends, we don’t devour virgins or demand sacrifices anymore.” He winked at her.

She took a deep breath and tried to settle her pounding heart that hadn’t let up since he said the D word. “Okay. Dragon. Draaaagon. Dragonnnnn,” she said it a few times, drawing the word out, testing how it fell from her lips.

Vaughn was watching her face as she took it all in and seemed to be waiting patiently for her to become comfortable with it.

---