Page 15 of Fire Dragon
Once beneath the hot flow, she savored the beat of the water against what she realized was a large collection of very sore muscles.
But happily sore.
Good sore.
Battle weary sore.
Oh, yeah.
She’d gone on her virgin battle run, she’d survived and so had her warrior dragon. Battling eleven Magi wasn’t the largest number of dragons a first-time rider had faced, but it was way up there.
She felt pride in her accomplishment and, yes, a mild degree of chagrin that early in the game she’d turned her back on the enemy in a totally rookie move.
Mostly, however, she felt an increased certainty that this was her true calling.
Once out of the shower, she slid into a snug pair of jeans, purple ballet flats, and a scarlet tank. Like most of the people with any level of dragon ancestry, she ran hot.
After she dried her long hair, she took a moment to pat the tops of her breasts. “You can relax now. You’re no longer on display.” Later, she’d deal with the person responsible for the uniform fiasco. She wasn’t really pissed. Logan was one of her good friends and she liked him a lot. Besides, hazing was a traditional part of the process. But, still…
As one of the magnificent seven, Logan was friends with Liam and had told her she had a shot with the dragon if only she’d make an effort.
Recalling how she’d hooked up with Liam in the first place, Emma reminded herself that she really did need to watch how much she drank. Because she was susceptible to alcohol, she honestly didn’t drink all that much. But that’s what had gotten her into trouble. Sleeping with Liam hadn’t just been an extraordinary experience, it had left her wanting more. A lot more.
Logan knew just how much she lusted after Liam and teased her about it often.
Even so, she trusted the dragon with her whole heart. She’d often wished she’d fallen for Logan instead of Liam. But the platonic nature of their relationship seemed completely mutual. They were BFF’s, nothing more.
While Liam slept, she spent the next hour defrosting two porterhouse steaks, each two inches thick. She had a grill in her cave as did most dragon warrior types. She liked red meat, usually rare. They all did. Something about the blood kept them fired up and ready to protect their territory from encroachment.
With dinner in the works, she called Liam’s personal attaché, Anthony. She told him the situation and requested a change of clothing.
Anthony was a good man, a minor dragon and well-suited to performing the duties of valet to a warrior like Liam.
When he arrived, he looked down at his boss and frowned. “He’s in rough shape. I can’t believe he went into battle after a caravan run.”
“I know.” She nodded several times. “But once he caught wind of the Magi, he was full of energy. Okay. So, besides sleep and food, is there anything else I can give him when he wakes up?”
She glanced at him and saw he’d gone wide-eyed with his mouth agape. He had blue eyes, more cornflower than Jane’s lighter hue. His brown hair was cut and groomed corporate style. He blinked a couple of times.
When he didn’t say anything, she realized what he was thinking and offered him a serious eye-roll. “Are you kidding? Besides that.”
Anthony chuckled. “You caught me off guard is all. The men often go on the hunt after a battle.”
“I know.” Once she and Liam had headed back to the hangar, she’d experienced a certain amount of neediness herself. If she’d had a boyfriend, she would have dropped Liam off at the medbay, sprinted home and taken her man to bed.
Anthony looked at Liam again. “A massage would be good. He’s been having problems with his tailbone lately.” The issue was not uncommon for dragons, especially those that made war. Something to do with using a powerful tail during battle afflicted the human anatomy.
“Good to know. Anyone in particular I can call?”
“Sure. I’ll text you the info.” He got out his phone, punched in some numbers then she heard the chime on her phone.
She was surprised. “How do you have my number?”
He just looked at her. Theirs was a small community and Anthony would have known one day her path as a dragon-rider would intersect with Liam’s. He also knew of their one-nighter because, well, everyone did.
“That’s it. Make sure he eats, but I know you know that.”
“Will do.”
When Anthony left, she fired up her grill, uncorked a bottle of red and put three beers in the fridge. She knew Liam drank both and wanted something of each ready for him. She chopped some onions to sauté, as well as mushrooms, but other than that, they both needed a nice grilled steak.
What she didn’t know was how she was supposed to work exclusively with Liam for the next few weeks and not fall head over heels in love with him.
