Page 24 of Shifter For Hire (For Hire 2)

“Excuse me, so easily? You were under there a good five or six minutes. Normal people would have their brains scrambled and their lungs filled with water.”

“I’m—”

“I know. I can see that.” She stepped back and took him in again. This was amazing. People like him existed, and they’d been around all along? It didn’t make sense.

She ran her fingers over his arm without asking, traced the scales over his chest, up his neck and across his cheek. He stood motionless, allowing her to explore. The scales felt cool to the touch. In fact, now that she thought of it, he’d always felt cooler to the touch than anyone else.

As if her thoughts conjured his discomfort, he shivered and dropped like a stone on the sand. His head dipped, and he shut his eyes. She sank beside him.

“Gerard? What’s wrong?”

He looked up at her. Those silver eyes drew her in. They looked so sleepy all of a sudden. God, he was sexy. She couldn’t fight the attraction. Even in this odd form, he turned her on. For that matter, because of the exotic nature, he intrigued her even more.

“You’re sleepy,” she teased, leaning against his side. The chilly water soaked her arm, but she didn’t care. “Oh! You’re shivering.”

Removing the jacket she had worn down to the water just in case she got cold, she wrapped it around his shoulders. His lips curled on one side in amusement that she would deign to take care of him.

“Hey, I owe you. I don’t want you to get sick out here.”

“I won’t. Just cold.” He leaned back on the sand, completely heedless that it covered his skin. “If you want to help me, you can come closer. Human warmth is best.”

“Who are you fooling? You just want me to rub against you.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“Do you always tell the truth?”

He shrugged.

She lay down beside him but supported her head on an elbow. Her hair was not going to be filled with sand if she could help it. All traces of the dragon disappeared, and he was back to the form of a regular man.

“You’re making goose bumps pop out on my skin,” she complained, but her body was on fire being so close to him, her hand resting on his chest. “Does this happen every time you go for a swim at night?”

“It does, but it’s not dangerous. I shut down when I’m cold. It takes me a long time to leave.”

“Like a turtle?”

He looked insulted, and she laughed.

“Okay, you got me out here,” she said. “No one’s around. Why don’t you tell me about the hunters you mentioned? No more delays. Tell me everything. And…”

She hesitated, wanting to ask him what he thought about Skip. At the same time, she didn’t want to know. They had broken up, but she still cared about him. Part of her didn’t want to throw away the dream of having a baby with him.

At the very least, it should be with a human, not a dragon shifter. That’s just too much to process.

She gasped, thinking about her sister and her baby nephew. Bannon was half shifter!

“Lachelle?”

She came to realize Gerard said her name several times as she got lost in her thoughts. “What?”

“I asked ‘and’ what? You were about to ask something else?”

“Nothing.” She sat up and hugged her knees. “Tell me about the hunters.”

He sat up as well and let her jacket fall to the sand. Perhaps he’d gained enough warmth to move. “I have been hired by one of my people to find the hunters.”

“But they’re humans who’ve sworn to get rid of all of you. What will you do with them after you find them? Are you just going to give him a list?”

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