Page 38 of Fated to the Grumpy Dragon
Breathing heavily, unsure of what the fuck had just happened, I slowly extricated myself from his arms before anythingelsecould happen.
Why? Would that be a bad thing?
I pushed those thoughts down, trying to reassert control, even as I ached to feel him touch me. To do more than put an arm around me. The chairs looked perfect height for me to bend over while his hands gripped my waist and—
Enough!
“You okay? Got your balance?” Rhyse asked, one hand still extended toward me, gentle and protective.
“Yes, I’m good, thank you,” I said with a half-smile. It felt nice to be looked after like that. It was so different.
That thought struck a discordant thought. Different? Different compared to who?
I couldn’t come up with an answer, but it still rang true, nonetheless.
There was a long silence as Rhyse guided us out of the harbor and onto the smooth open seas, where the waves barely rocked the boat. At one point, I got settled on the bow, just as he’d said.
No palm trees appeared, and my hand was devastatingly empty of margaritas the entire time, but I managed, somehow.
Rhyse did, too. I could feel it every time his eyes landed on me. He tried to keep it to himself, but there was no escaping it. Not with the link. Not with the intensity of what we’d shared earlier.
It didn’t take long for me to begin to look forward to those little blasts of heat, the surefire signs of his arousal. I wanted to know he was looking at me. Admiring me.Thinkingof me.
“When are you going to tell me where we’re really going?” I asked, flipping onto my back, not bothering to adjust the suit as my ass swallowed up a bit more of it than was necessary.
Sure enough, fresh heat blasted my mind a second later.
“We’re going to look at something,” he said.
“That’s … it? Just to look at something way out here? What is there to see? It’s just waves.”
At that moment, the engine cut out. A second later, wicked delight reached my mind.
“Who said anything about it being on top of the water?” Rhyse chuckled as the loud sound of the anchor and chain splashing into the water reached me. I sat up, looking around. There was nothing but ocean around us.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
Then I realized Rhyse wasn’t there.
“Rhyse?” I got up quickly, looking around frantically. I could feel him. He was here, but—
A moment later, he popped up in the water next to the boat. “Sorry. Was making sure the chain reached the bottom and the anchor was snug.”
“Oh.” I looked around. “We’re going swimming?”
“I did tell you to buy a swimsuit.” He laughed at my glare. “Come on, let’s go. I actually think you’ll enjoy this.”
Again, the truth filtered through. He believed that.
“What about sharks?” I asked nervously.
Rhyse grinned and then disappeared beneath the ocean.
I waited for him to reappear.
Thirty feet away, a dragon head breached the surface, its brilliant blue scales matching the water so perfectly I didn’t see it coming until the last second.
“Rhyse!” I screamed, backpedaling away.
