Page 54 of The Dragon's Captured Heart
My stomach flip-flopped.
He hadn’t been aware of what he was doing either. It had just happened.
Okay, so what do I do now?
Not letting myself stare at our joined hands was growing harder with every passing step. Parts of me were screaming to drop it, to step away from him and keep that distance, a wall, to prevent anything else from going on.
“I hope you like this,” Cal said as we turned into the hallway that led to his rooms.
“Why do you say that?” I asked. “Why wouldn’t I like it?”
Had my voice cracked there? Were my nerves showing through? It was impossible to know for sure. My brain was jumping at shadows.
“You might think it’s … I don’t know, inappropriate?” He shrugged, and the motion bounced my arm in time with his.
He still didn’t drop my hand or even look down at them. Was he truly that oblivious?
“If you’re about to tell me the surprise is in your pants …” I threatened.
Cal’s jaw popped open, followed a second later by uproarious laughter. “What? No! No, no, no. That is not at all what I—wait, do people actuallydo thatwhere you’re from?”
“Sometimes,” I said, thinking back to one particularly awkward situation. “With exactly zero success.”
“I wonder why,” Cal chortled, shaking his head. “I promise you, that isnotit. There are no surprises there for you.”
The bottom of my stomach fell out at the unexpected sexual nature of his comment. Neither of us had really mentioned what happened in the field as if sensing it had happened completely by accident and thus should not be brought up.
Until now.
“Haha,” I managed awkwardly, trying to settle not only my stomach but the embers of something a little lower and a lot deeper. They had stirred at his comment and the sudden smoldering blue-green flames in his eyes as Cal glanced over at me.
Gulp.
He led me to the door of his bedroom, where he finally dropped my hand so I wasn’t dragged next to his bed. Apparently, his brain recognized that would be a bit much. Opening his closet, he rooted around for a moment.
While he did that, my eyes started to scan the room. I hadn’t actually ever been inside it before, and he always kept the door closed. Now, I took in the large room with its four-poster bed with intricate wooden posts rising up to form a gorgeous dark-stained interlocking canopy.
Thick, plushy, ash-gray covers were haphazardly pulled up to the pillows in a very male manner of “making” the bed. It was better than being strewn everywhere at least.
“Here.”
I looked to see him holding out a folded garment, the indigo-colored fabric soft and silky looking.
“For me?”
When he nodded, I smiled, biting a lip as I held it up and let it unfold, the material falling to the floor. I noted the shimmer in the light.
“It’s beautiful,” I said. “What is it?”
“It’s called aglani,” he explained, showing me how to wear it. “It’s the traditional wear of a dragon woman. I thought that maybe, since you’ve been here awhile and are starting to grow comfortable, you might want to participate in our culture some more.”
I smiled at his awkwardness. This was clearly a big thing for him. The fact that he’d already bought the outfit spoke to a level of thought toward me that I hadn’t realized he possessed.
“Thank you,” I said, clutching it to my chest, admiring the way it draped down my body. I swished back and forth, well aware I was grinning like an idiot. “So, you like it?”
I looked up. Cal was watching intently. Watchingmeintently. I liked the attention. The heat of his gaze was instantly warming my body as it traveled up then down … then back up again. Hiseyes widened, drinking in the sight of the soft material against my skin.
“I do,” he said deeply, stepping forward. “I like it very much.”
