Page 38 of The Dragon's Mate

“No.” He sat down at the table, the sightof Elora’s wiggling ass not doing a thing for him in the libido department. “Whatare you looking for?”

“Barley,” she said. “You got any barley?”

“Nope.”

Elora straightened and closed the cupboard.Lilianna was investigating the narrow space between the cupboard and the fridge,and Elora skirted around the large crow before opening the fridge and grabbinga couple of beers. She twisted off the tops and handed a bottle to Bren thensank down into the chair next to him. “You’re home late. Long day at work?”

“No. I had a thing with Tyler.” He drank aswallow of beer, the cold liquid easing the dryness in his throat.

“What’s wrong?” Elora asked.

“Nothing,” he said.

“Bullshit.”

“Nothing’s wrong. Hey, did you ever hear fromyour sister?”

Elora nodded, relief crossing her prettyfeatures. “Yeah. Sarina texted me this morning. Finally.”

“Where was she?”

Elora drank some beer. “I don’t know. Allshe said was that where she was, she didn’t have cell service. With my sisterthat could mean she was torturing some bad guy in a dungeon in Mongolia orsunbathing on a remote beach in Fiji.”

“Your sister leads an interesting life,” Brensaid.

“She does.” Elora leaned forward andsqueezed his hand. “Tell me why you’re so sad, buddy.”

“Tell me why I am apparently an open bookto you and Tyler, but everyone else in my life says I’m incredibly difficult toread,” Bren said.

Elora smiled at him. “You show us the realyou, honey. Plus, we love you – that makes it easier for us to see when you’resad. What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” he said. “I took Tylerand Corey back to Kaida’s tonight to start their self-defence training.”

“And?”

“And nothing. It went well, I’m taking themback on Friday night.”

“And?”

He drank two large swallows of beer, the hopslingering on his tongue. “And I asked Kaida out and she said no, she wasn’tinterested.”

Elora stared sympathetically at him. “I’msorry, buddy.”

“Thanks.” He stared moodily at the beerbottle. “The thing is – I could have sworn she was into me.”

“Maybe she’s interested but a little gun shyabout dating a human?”

“She literally said she wasn’t interested.The words ‘I’m not interested’ came directly out of her mouth.”

“Ouch.” Elora leaned back in her chair. “Well,at least she was honest with you. On a scale of one to ten – how awkward is itgoing to be to see her again on Friday night?”

“It won’t be awkward. I’m a grown-ass manwho can handle being rejected by a woman. It’s just…”

“Just what?” Elora petted Lilianna’s smoothback when the crow flew up and landed on her thigh.

“I really thought she was interested in me.Maybe I’m losing my ability to read people,” he said.

“So, you misread her, it happens,” Elorasaid. “I know you’re a detective and, like, one of your superpowers is readingpeople, but there’s bound to be people here and there who are mysteries toyou. Right?”

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