Page 26 of Primal Dragon

Henrik reached his hand out to her. He just wanted to touch her, have some sort of contact with her. She slipped her hand into his, her lips parting, like the connection between them was as strong for her as it was for him. He gently pulled her toward him until he could engulf her entirely into a hug. He just held her to him, inhaling her sweet scent, and enjoying the feel of her pressed against him.

“Come on in,” she murmured taking his hand and leading the way.

By the gods, he would follow her anywhere, of that, he was entirely sure.

7

Bedtime

Quinn had a plan to be bold and just take him to her bedroom. She was exhausted, but the second she saw him standing on the other side of the door, she couldn’t catch her breath. Now that she didn’t have the cover of being a male vampire, she was exposed as herself.

She let go of his hand and headed into the kitchen. “I was just about to make some hot cocoa. Would you like some?”

“No, thank you.”

She could feel Henrik’s eyes on her as she moved around the kitchen. Once the electric kettle was going, she glanced over at him.

“Are you nervous?”

She shook her head. “No.” It was a lie. She was shaking she was so nervous. The feelings brewing inside of her were far from normal and they left her off balance. And after the evening she had, unbalanced was turning out to be her new normal for the time being.

“I make you nervous,” he replied with more surety.

Quinn leaned against the counter and faced him, folding her arms over her chest. “You’re overwhelming.” It was an understatement, but she didn’t want to puff up his ego too much.

“Overwhelmingly handsome?”

Her eyes narrowed. “You think you’re cute.”

He smirked. “Come on, Quinn, don’t take it all so seriously. I’m not here to seduce you, take advantage, or even kiss you. I just want to be in your space, get to know you some.”

“What happened with you tonight?” she asked. “You look tired.”

“I am. It’s been a long night of trying to convince someone to trust me, who has no reason to trust me, and I’m supposed to do the same. He seems like a good guy. He’s a friend of a friend. I just can’t help but feel like he’s keeping something from me.”

“You just met him tonight?”

Henrik nodded.

Quinn chuckled. “Maybe give him a little time. It doesn’t sound like you had an easy night. Do you want to talk about it?”

His eyes met hers. “I do. But there’s a lot in my world you wouldn’t understand. I’m afraid if I tell you about it, I’m going to scare you off.”

She nodded slowly. “Okay, so let’s start with something small. I’ll share something and you share something.”

She didn’t like lying to him, but she needed to get to know him as a woman. She wanted to see how different he would be. There was a lot riding on her disguise with Henrik. She wanted to find James and he could help her do it. She had no doubt that if Henrik knew that Q was her, he’d bench her.

Henrik pulled himself onto a stool behind the counter that framed one wall of her kitchen. “All right. I’ll start. I’m a prince.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow. “A prince? For a country?”

“Not really. A small region of specific people.”

“Wow. Uh, that’s different. What brings a prince of a specific region all the way to Chicago?”

He laughed, and she snuggled down into the pleasure it brought her to make him laugh.

“It’s in Brazil. A man killed my parents and is trying to destroy my people and do bad things in general. I’m here to stop him.”

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