Page 34 of The Dragon's Warlock

While he worked to put their breakfast plates back on the cart and wheel it out into the entryway, Diem walked out of the bathroom in a tiny red bikini. When she turned to grab a cover-up out of the suitcase, he groaned at the sight of the small red strip covering her ass crack.

“What the hell are you wearing?” he grumbled. Diem hadn’t been the one to pack the bags. Hers were still in the car at his house.

Diem turned, her lip ticking up. “Swimsuit. Don’t you like it?”

“You sure as hell know I like it. What I’m trying to figure out is how I’m not going to fuck you when we get to the waterfall. Or kill someone for looking at you.”

She walked across the room and placed her hand on his chest. “As long as I can kill any woman who looks at you.”

“That’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard.” He brushed his lips against hers, and she wrapped her small body around his. Her fingers tugged at his hair, and their tongues danced together. When he drew back, they were both panting.

He grabbed her hand and walked out of the room. The waterfall was a short walk from their villa. His mind wandered back to what Diem had said. She’d seen two bears in her vision. The ritual cut through the fog of the brain and highlighted the things that people hid. He wondered what two bears meant.

When Diem gasped next to him, he smiled. She was looking at the double rainbow in the water.

“This is so cool, I might never want to leave.” Diem frowned. “I shouldn’t think that way. Who knows what’s happening to my sister?”

He tugged her hand until they were at the water's edge and swung her into his arms. Before she could figure out what he had planned, he jumped into the water, taking her with him. She tightened her grip around his neck.

When they came to the surface, she glared at him. “What the hell, Gideon?”

“I promise to help you find your sister. But you deserve to have a little fun. Every time you really start to loosen up, you feel guilty.”

“You’re one to lecture about feeling guilty.”

Ouch.She’d made a valid point. “Okay, we both need to work on things,” he said.

He loosened his grip, and she swam under the waterfall. He followed her to find her sitting on a rock. Her gaze was focused farther back in the cave.

“What’s going on, Diem?”

She let out a sigh. “My dragon pushed me to come back here. I think I need to figure out more about my dragon and a place to hide the things it wants to collect.”

“Have you denied your dragon something it wants to keep?”

“The dragon wants to put the trinket you got me in a safe place. It can wait until we get back home. But I don’t even have a home.”

“I told you before, I have a cave for your dragon. Is there something else your dragon wants?”

She blushed and looked away. “Yes.”

“What is it?”

“You.”

His heart stopped for a second. Her declaration chipped a piece off the wall he’d built up. Suddenly, she was in his arms, and his lips were against hers.

Gideon heard a throat clearing. Again. He might not make it out of Costa Rica without killing someone.

* * *

“You really needto figure out how to make this taste better.”

“This is an ancient ritual. It’s not something to make taste better,” Ethno said.

“Says the man not drinking it,” Diem muttered.

Ethno ignored her comment. “Tonight, don’t fight the medicine. Just listen to the surrounding earth.”

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