Page 41 of Dragon Stepbrother's Secret Baby

I couldn’t survive standing here with my back to him. I wrenched backward in his arms and attacked him as never before. I loved him. I loved everything about him. I would learn to love this, too.

I already did love it because it was a part of him. It was a part of Connor—that missing link they shared. I would never stop loving that.

I hurled myself at him with all my strength kissing him endlessly. I needed to shatter myself against the iron-hard solidity of his being. I would never find anywhere safer than here……except in that room.

He understood, lifted me in his mighty arms, and staggered into the room carrying me with him. He kicked the door shut on the rest of the world and now I left the last barrier behind me to finally find the place where I truly belonged.

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TRY COWBOY DRAGON’S MATE!

This Dragon has finally found his mate—and he’ll do anything to protect her…

Nikki Chantain is on the run.

San Dugan, Texas is supposed to be just another stop along the road to freedom, but a chance encounter leaves her stranded—and in the arms of a tall, dark, and arrogant stranger.

He’s gorgeous, and their connection is magnetic, but there’s more to it than that. Some secret that he won’t share. Something deep. Something…hard…and she isn’t sure she’s ready to know what it is.

Shane Magnus is a cowboy, and a gentleman.

Being a protector is in his blood, and the moment he lays his eyes on Nikki’s beautiful, broken face, he knows he has to help her. What he doesn’t expect, is just how much she needs him—or how muchmorehe needs her.

He wants to let her into his life and tell her all his secrets. But if she’s going to love him, she will need to love all of him.

Both sides.

Because he does have a secret—and it’s covered in scales…

Cowboy Dragon’s Mateis book one in the ‘Southern Shifters Do it Better’ Series from Aurora Storm. These stories feature steamy alpha shifters, mystery, and plenty of panty-drenching heat. Each book is a standalone read with a guaranteed HEA! For readers 18+

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Chapter One

A new town.

One more stop on her way to a new start. That was what Nikki Chantain was hoping for, at least.

The past she was running from was in the rearview mirror now, and she wanted it to stay that way. That Greyhound bus that was sitting, idling in the parking lot, was her version of a winged stallion carrying her into the future. Whatever lay ahead of her was going to be her choice, and hers alone. All she knew for sure was that right now she wanted to get as far away from Falstaff, Arizona as possible.

The Greyhound barked out a hiss of air from its brakes and settled where it was. The passengers were getting a lunch break before continuing on its route. Considering the driver was three hundred pounds or better, straining the buttons on his blue uniform, Nikki had the feeling this stop was more for him than for the comfort of any of his riders. He’d said something about needing gas for the bus, too, but she noticed he was heading right for the diner, and not for the nearby fuel island. That was fine by her. She could use some of the money in her wallet to get a bite to eat while she waited. She didn’t have a huge amount of savings to her name, and she had to be careful how she used it now, but hey. A girl still had to eat.

She checked her phone and saw the dozen or so texts from her mother, asking her when she would get to her parents’ house, telling her everything was all set for her stay, and she was welcome there for as long as it took to get back on her feet. Nothing flat out said “you failed,” but Nikki read it clearly between the lines. Her perfect life back in Falstaff was gone now. She’d set herself up to fall on her face and even if it was only metaphorically speaking, she still felt the sting. No job. No home. No guy in her life, either. Not anymore.

Thinking about how badly her life had fallen apart was starting to give her a panic attack, and she had to put the phone aside before she started sending things back to her mother that she would regret later on. She loved her parents, and she hated relying on them now that she was a grown woman. She wasn’t looking forward to answering their questions or living under their rules again, was the thing. For now, she had no other choice.

Standing there in the parking lot of the Half Cup Diner, here in the West Texas town of San Dugan, she tried to look forward to the rest of her trip. This was the first stop on her path to a better place, she told herself. A place where she could start over, and find herself again.

She gripped the handle of her duffle bag and steeled herself, taking momentary stock of herself and her earthly belongings. A few clothes, a toothbrush, a crystal heart-shaped shelf sitter that she loved and was not going to leave behind. Somewhere in this one bag she had her dignity, too, but she knew she would have to look deep to find it.

The wind caught her long auburn hair and blew it across her heart-shaped face, like it always did, and she wished she had thought to put it into a ponytail. Youth and good looks, she added to her list. She had those, too, for what it was worth. At twenty-eight years old she was as athletic as she had been back when she ran track in college. Long legs filled out her jeans nicely all the way up to her ass. Her breasts did the same thing for her red top, the one with the puffy short sleeves and the three buttons at the neckline. To keep herself occupied on the bus ride she’d painted her short nails robin’s egg blue. She wasn’t trying to be shallow, but hell. If you had it, you had it.

Any number of guys had told her she was attractive, but she knew that was mostly to get her into bed. They liked a girl with curves in all the right places, and a button nose, and freckles. Then again, she reminded herself, her curves and her freckles were what had gotten her into this mess in the first place. If you were going to attract guys you had to make sure it was therightguy, not one you would eventually come to regret. Well, she wasn’t trying to attract anyone right now. The outfit she had on was flirty, but she hadn’t chosen to wear it today so much as it had chosen her…these had been the clothes she was wearing when she left Harley Jones for good. Her boyfriend of two years had turned out to be exactly the sort of loser all of her friends warned her he was.

If you can’t pick the right guy, you have to leave him behind. She felt like that should be a bumper sticker on the car of every woman out there. Oh, wait. She didn’t own a car of her own, either. Harley had told her that would just be a waste of money. The real waste, of course, had been Harley Jones.

Nikki didn’t plan to waste any more of her life. Starting now, life was hers for the taking.

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