Page 30 of Dragon in Boots

Now here he was, sitting at the hotel lobby bar with the redheaded woman, Jacquelin, hoping she might be the key to gaining the dragon’s cooperation. Dash seemed to have a thing for her based on what he’d witnessed at the club. Going toe-to-toe with a unicorn was only for the brave. Going toe-to-toe with Minky was only for the insane.Or for a dragon who’s smitten with Jacquelin.

“I only have a few minutes,” Jacquelin said. “I’ve got to get home to my animals.”

She was an animal person. This was good. It might help convince her to step in. It also explained why she was wearing big rubber boots and smelled of animal urine.

“This shouldn’t take long,” he said. “Let me start with telling you—”

“Are dragons real? Is Mrs. Peepers, also known as Cimil, a goddess? Was I attacked by a unicorn back there?” she fired off.

Jacquelin certainly knew how to cut to the chase. “Yes.”

“To which question?” she asked.

“All.”

She grabbed her glass of red wine and downed it.

He flagged the bartender and signaled for a refill. “I realize this is a lot to take in, but—”

“So all that crap back there was real,” she blurted out.

“Yes, which is why I wanted to talk to you about—”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me that you weren’t yelling at a wall earlier either, too. It was another unicorn.”

Damien cleared his throat and straightened his gray silk tie. He did not want to dive into his romantic boondoggle. “It was, uh, a ghost.”

Her big green eyes went wide. “Shut up.”

That was difficult to do when she wouldn’t let him speak. “Jacquelin, the reason I asked you here is because—”

“Call me Jac.”

“Jac.” His irritation began to spark. The clock was ticking. “I realize this is a lot to take in, but I need your help. For reasons we don’t need to go into, it seems that the fate of Dash’s entire species rests on his shoulders.” Damien went on to explain how the blast had killed off most supernatural life on the planet, and for reasons of her own, Cimil wanted to prevent dragons from dying off.

“So you work for her?” Jac asked.

“It is more like she blackmails me and gets me to do things I inevitably regret. I am going to assume this situation will be no different; however, Cimil is a very powerful, conniving, and determined being who is in a position to help a woman I…afriendof mine, if I get the dragon to—eh-hem—dance, if you will.”

“So that’s why I overheard her demanding he splooge all over the place tomorrow.”

“Crass, but yes,” he replied. “After that, I hope the goddess will leave us all alone.”In prison or dead.

The bartender brought Jac’s refill, which she stared at pensively, her mind somewhere else.

“Well? Will you help?” he prodded.

“I don’t understand what you expect me to do. It’s not like Dash and I get along.”

That was not what Damien had witnessed. Dash had thrown himself in the path of a dangerous, psychotic unicorn to save her.

Maybe I should get her to focus on their mutual attraction.“Do you not find him handsome?”

Jac shrugged. “He’s hot. Until he opens his mouth. Also, there’s the small issue of him mistreating that kitten.”

“That’s no ordinary kitten,” Damien muttered without thought.

“What?”

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