Page 26 of Dragon His Heels
Chapter 9
“Living with him?” Petra exclaimed, staring across the table at Talia, who attempted to feign innocence while sipping at the fruity concoction her friend had ordered. It had been served in a fishbowl and contained at least seven different liquors. Talia’s taste buds had gone numb half an hour ago.
She nodded. “I introduced him to Ruby, and the next thing I knew, I was moving into the reeve’s mansion.”
“What about the reeve’s bed?”
It’s quite comfortable, if that’s what you’re asking. Soft, luxuriant, perfect for getting tied to while said reeve has his wicked way with me.
“Oh my gods,” Petra shrieked. “You fucked him.”
With a choked cry, Talia darted her gaze around the room, checking to see if any of the few other patrons in the tavern were paying she and Petra any mind. Thank the gods, no one seemed to have noticed Petra’s outcry.
She shook her head. They absolutely did not fuck last night. That wasn’t to say that it wouldn’t happen tonight, but at the moment… “We have not had sex.”
Petra tilted her head and studied Talia’s features, and Talia focused on sucking down more of the fruity drink to avoid looking her bestie in the eye.
“Fooled around?”
Talia slapped the table. “How can you possibly tell?”
Petra waved her hand up and down. “You look different. Relaxed. And the gods know, there’s nothing relaxing about working for our useless reeve.”
“He’s not useless. He just hasn’t figured out what will make him happy yet.”
“Or how to be a reeve. Maybe it’s the curse.”
“What the heck are you talking about?”
Petra leaned forward and took a pull from the second straw shoved into the drink that took up half the tabletop. “The curse on our colony. The reason none of us will ever find our fated mates.”
Talia fell back against her chair and rolled her eyes. “Gabe has some deep-seated fear of taking a mate, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the curse.”
“He’s afraid to take a mate? And here I just thought he was an asshole.”
“What the hell is your problem? And his? You hate each other, and I have no idea why. And frankly, it’s damned annoying.”
“He told you he hates me?”
“He says you’re never happy and that’s the reason you can’t find a mate.”
Her friend sniffed and drank more of the fruity concoction. “I could say the same about him.”
“No, actually. He’d have no trouble at all finding a mate.” A point that really, really bothered Talia. Far more than it should. She knew the ground rules. She knew the stakes. And even though he promised they were going to hook up again tonight, and yes, sleeping with the same woman two nights in a row would be a first for him, it didn’t mean anything. They hadn’t technically had sex last night, so maybe that was why. Maybe he was out buying condoms as they spoke.
One more glorious evening in Gabe’s bed and then they’d return to the way things were between them. Or as much as they could, after what they’d done together. She should be happy—Petra was right, sex, or almost sex, was good for one’s disposition—but she had a sneaking suspicion that sex with Gabe would be addictive. Gods above, she was probably going to start craving the man, and he would move on to the next conquest as quickly as he could.
Because that’s who he was. He wasn’t the settling-down type. And now that he had an heir, there was absolutely no reason for him to change his ways.
“Earth to Talia. Hello?”
Talia blinked rapidly. “Huh?”
“I said he’s a sorry excuse for a reeve. They never should have given it to him. The Elders selected him because they expected him to provide an heir, and what the hell has he done since? Other than ‘practice,’ I suppose.” Petra rolled her eyes so dramatically, Talia half expected her to fall backward off her chair.
“He has an heir,” she blurted, for some reason feeling the need to defend her reeve. She supposed it made sense; she was the man’s PR manager, after all.
Petra’s eyebrows shot into her hairline. Talia nodded her confirmation.
