Page 22 of The Dragon's Captured Heart
He stared back blankly.
“You’ve just proven everything right,” I said dryly. “Guess I’ve got you all figured out. Simple man.”
“Ha!” Callum threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, really? Is that so?”
“Yes, it is.”
“That’s pretty rich, coming from the single, never-married woman who has no idea the depths of true love and has probably never had a serious relationship. Someone who was lied to by her own people to get rid of her, probably because she was a screwup of monumental proportions that they’re glad to be rid of. You think you’ve got it all figured out, but really, you’re fishing in a cave with a lighter, and you can’t see anything beyond what’s right in your face. So tell me, how am I doing so far?”
I leaped to my feet, bristling. “I don’t need to listen to that from someone I’ve only met today!”
Callum looked away but not in time. Not before I saw the tightening around his eyes. He’d tried to hide it, but he was a fraction of a second too slow.
“Have we met before?” I asked, thinking back frantically.
Clearing his throat, he swung his head back. “We may have had a prior encounter,” he admitted.
My eyebrows rose. “I doubt it. I would have rememberedthat.”
The comment was far more sexually charged than I had intended. Trying to cover it up, I coughed and looked away, hoping he wouldn’t say more.
“You might remember it better if …” he sighed and headed for the door. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
Trailing slowly behind him, I followed Callum out of the room, all the while trying to puzzle out just what the hell was going on.
There was no way I’d met him and forgotten. Was there?
Chapter Thirteen
Madison
“Where are we going? Is there a reason you can’t just use words to tell me?”
Callum led me to the stairs, where I had a picture-perfect view of his ass as he ascended them ahead of me. It was really quite a nice b—
Stop. Admiring. Him.
Now.
I tried telling my brain it was a traitor. After all, it was the one watching his cheeks rise and fall with each step. It was the one noting his pants were well-tailored, emphasizing the curve of his booty. It was the one running the current narration yet again as my eyes returned to his physique. So, how dare it criticize me for doing what it wanted to do?
“Because it’s easier to just show you, I think. I could say you might recognize my other form,” he explained, pushing open a door onto the roof.
The wind tugged at my hair while I squinted in the sudden daylight. The palace's interior was brightly lit with manywindows, but it wasn’t the same as being outside under the sun, devoid of any cloud cover.
“Your other form,” I repeated. “You mean your dragon?”
Callum shrugged and stepped away from me, creating some space. “Yes,” he said simply before beginning to shift.
It happened swiftly and slowly, all at the same time. I could see his limbs change and grow, fingers and toes becoming giant claws. The tanned skin gave way to a ruddy red that quickly blossomed as the bright, ruby-hued scales burst forth, covering him from snout to tail in armored protection that no human weapon could penetrate.
“Careful,” I warned as he uncurled, his neck exploding in length while his face jutted forward into the full dragon snout. “I know where the fridge is, so stay back.”
Callum smiled, careful to hide his dragon teeth, but he didn’t reply. He didn’t have to because my brain was screaming at me that I did, in fact, know him quite well.
“It’s you,” I breathed so softly I wasn’t sure it had come out.
The dragon head bobbed in acknowledgment, and then it was gone as Callum reappeared.
