Page 17 of Fire Dancing For Icey Dragons

"So, was that your plan when you suggested we came to shift?" I ask.

He chuckles, the sound rumbling through us both and feeling like it's inviting me closer. "Only the flying part."

"It was fun," I respond. "I haven't flown in so long."

"You looked like you were having fun."

"I was." There's a pause while both of us are trying to search for the right words. And there's no reason for it not to be me that says it. "Do you want to go for dinner tomorrow?"

Surprise flits over his face, and for one moment, I think I've misjudged the situation. Maybe he doesn't want more than one kiss.

"You want to have dinner with me?" Blaze asks.

"Why are you surprised, you asked me on the campfire date first," I say. "Unless you didn't intend for this to be a date."

"I'm honestly not sure what I intended," he responds. "I didn't think it through more than spending time with you."

"Oh."

"But I'd like to go on a date tomorrow, yes."

A smile stretches over my face. "All right, dinner tomorrow," I say. "There's a great BBQ place. It's not really first date material, but then, you've seen me eating s'mores."

He chuckles. "BBQ sounds great. But I do have a question."

"Yes?"

"Do I have to wait until tomorrow to get another kiss?"

I shake my head. "I hope not."

"Good." He leans in and kisses me again, a whole load of emotions within the gesture that are hard to fully put into place. I like the way it feels to be in his arms like this, and I hope I get to experience much more of it.

Chapter 10

ZARA

I'm surprisingly nervous waiting for Zara to arrive at the restaurant. I don't think she's going to stand me up, especially when she's the one who suggested we go on a date in the first place, but maybe she's thought about it more and decided she doesn't want this.

A blonde figure wearing a figure-hugging black dress approaches, and all of my worries fade away. She looks good, which isn't a huge surprise considering how much time she spends at cheer practice.

"Hey," she says as she approaches, leaning in to kiss my cheek.

"Hi," I respond.

"So, shall we go get food?" she suggests, gesturing to the restaurant.

I nod and let her head inside. I put my hand on her lower back and she leans into my touch, making me confident about the way the date is going to go.

A waiter leads us over to a table and hands over a couple of menus, leaving us to it.

"I'm starving," Zara says. "We spent five hours working on the routine for finals earlier."

"Five hours of cheer practice?"

"Intense, right?" she jokes. "But we've finally got our routine and learning it is the hard part, so we got that over today."

"So there are a load of grumpy cheerleaders around campus tonight?" I joke.

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