Page 85 of Dragon's Honor

Finley curled up on the sofa with her arms wrapped around herself.

Ash wanted to comfort her, but he wasn’t sure there was any comfort for her. She loved her sister and she would probably die for her. Ash knew how she felt because he too would die to protect one of his siblings.

He sat down on the couch next to her, and without a word, pulled her into his lap.

“I’m too heavy,” she weakly protested as he cradled her against him.

“I hardly think so,” he rumbled.

She didn’t fight him. She laid her head on his shoulder. “None of this makes sense,” she muttered. Her fingers idly played with the buttons on his shirt.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m no one. My sister is a famous model, but that’s hardly important. Why would fate choose me for you? I have nothing to offer you. And my sister is supposed to mate with a dragon too. How is she supposed to find her mate if she doesn’t even have control over her own mind? And how could Grey be right there in the middle of your dragon business and none of you guys picked up that he was the bad guy?”

“We have alliances with other shifters, vampires, and fae. We help each other all the time. Especially since the world has become very small and technology very prevalent.”

“What do you help each other with?”

“Most exposure, but occasionally there are humans who liked to take revenge for a bad shifter or vampire killing their loved ones.”

Finley popped his top button. “Exposure?”

“If the humans find out about us, Grey will not be our biggest problem.”

Finley considered his words. “I suppose that’s true.”

With a sigh, she popped another button. “I can’t think about this anymore.”

Ash didn’t say anything. She popped another button on his shirt and then her hands dipped inside sliding over his pectoral. Her fingernails scraped over the hardened ridge of his nipple. He hissed, surprised by how good it felt.

His cock was already hardening as if he was a young dragon unable to control his impulses. Finley left him unhinged all the time. He constantly wanted her and when she touched him that draw was even stronger.

“I need you to get me out of my head for a little. I can’t think straight. I can’t see the whole problem. There are pieces missing.”

“It’s not your job to figure this out.”

Finley shifted on his lap until her ass was right on his cock. “Sometimes I take pictures to fill in the gaps and the blanks. It helps me see the whole picture.” She popped the rest of the buttons on his shirt and spread the material open to reveal his chest. “If I can just focus on your hot body for a little while, maybe I’ll be able to refocus.”

“You’re using me?” he asked, amusement in his tone.

Finley pulled back and looked at him. “It was so easy for you to leave me behind. Maybe you’re the one using me.”

“Finley,” he murmured softly like a prayer, “I pulled away from you because it’s all complicated, but it’s not because I don’t want you, because I don’t think you’re everything I want in a woman.”

“But you just want me out of the way?”

He squeezed his eyes shut. He did want her out of his way, but not like that. He wanted her to be waiting for him on the other side.

“Did it ever occur to you that I’m here because fate decided you needed a partner to get this done?”

He blinked at her. “Fate thinks I’m weak?”

“You think needing a partner, needing help, makes you weak?”

“Doesn’t it?”

“On the contrary. I think it takes far more strength to ask for help than it does to laugh it off.” She pushed off his lap. “What am I doing here, Ash?”