How to Date a Dragon

crowd.”

Anthony hesitated but eventually said, “I followed her scent as far as I could. The smoke may have thrown me off, but on Branch Street her scent just—disappeared. Do you think Zina may have something to do with it?”

Drake swore. “I didn’t want to even entertain the idea, but yeah. It’s quite possible. If she’s the one who set the fire, she may have been nearby.”

Anthony sighed. “I’m sorry, Drake. I said I’d be responsible for her and I feel terrible. I was in my office and didn’t know she was missing for quite a while. I think the staff was covering for her.”

“Don’t blame yourself. Neither of us would have expected she’d run off in the middle of her shift.”

“That’s not much comfort, is it?”

Drake dropped onto his cot. “No. It isn’t.” After a short silence, he said, “I’ve gotta go.”

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

“I will, if I think of something. I don’t even know if there’s anything I can do.”

Suddenly Drake had an idea. It might backfire, but it was all he had.

“Talk to you later, Anthony.” He hung up and tucked his cell phone into his pocket. Then he ran downstairs to the street and yelled, “Taxi!”

Chapter 13

Bliss was tied up and gagged. If she weren’t so scared, she’d be amused that the woman seemed more intent on gagging her than tying her to a chair. Bliss’s mouth had always been her best weapon, and yet she hadn’t even taunted the bitch. I could have… Oh, I could have.

Thank goodness she’d thought better of it. All she’d done was try to reason with the woman. Apparently reason didn’t appeal to psychos. Now that Bliss was forced to sit and think, she should have been planning a way to get out of this. Instead she was furious and chiding herself for getting into this predicament at all.

Why did she care if the bank burned? She had her designs on her computer and could have simply created another CD. But for some damn reason, worrying about an arsonist—and knowing all her designs could be lost again if anything happened to her laptop—had her seeing things a little cockeyed.

If I get out of this alive, I swear I’ll make dozens of CDs and mail one to each person I know before Monday’s presentation.

The she-dragon had flown them all around the city before landing in a deserted park. That’s where she found a dirty, disgusting sock and shoved it into Bliss’s mouth. A nasty sweater lay nearby, and the dragon had used that to tie Bliss’s hands and blindfold her. Probably a couple of kids were canoodling in the park and something scared them off before they could grab all of their clothes. Maybe they saw a dragon swooping down on them.

And if they were drinking, they’ll probably never touch alcohol again.

Bliss glanced around the room, trying to figure out where she was. It looked like some kind of warehouse. How cliched. A forklift and numerous boxes were clearly visible from her vantage point. High windows wouldn’t aid her escape.

She twisted her torso, trying to see what was behind her, but boxes obscured her view of the door. The woman with the long dreadlocks walked out from behind a pile of boxes, zipping up her leather pants.

She halted and stared at Bliss. “What? You didn’t think dragons had to go potty once in a while?”

Bliss tried to mumble something around the sock, but it was useless. The she-dragon sported a mean- looking grin and strolled over to her.

“What’s that? Speak up. I can’t hear you.”

I really don’t want to play this game. Bliss let out a defeated sigh and let her shoulders slump.

The woman ripped the sock out of her mouth. “Go ahead. Scream. No one will hear you.”

Bliss lifted her chin. “I wasn’t trying to scream. I just thought the idea of a bathroom sounded good right about now.”

The woman got down into her face. “Oh, yeah? Do you need to pee?”

Bliss so wanted to answer her with sarcasm. She could hardly resist the urge. Oh, what the hell. I’m probably going to die anyway.

Dragon Lady grabbed hold of Bliss’s hair and yanked her head back. “I asked if you need to pee.”

“No. I want to put on my makeup.”

To her surprise, the woman let go of her and laughed. “In another life I might have liked you. Unfortunately, we’re in this one, and you are in my way.”

“What’s your name?” Bliss asked.

“Why do you want to know?”

She shrugged. “I just want to know what to call you besides, ‘Hey you.’ That seems rude, and I really do have to go to the bathroom.”

“Well, since you want to be polite, you can call me Zina, like the warrior princess.”

It was all Bliss could do not to burst out laughing. She pasted on the blandest expression she could muster. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. What’s wrong with that? I’m descended from dragon kings in the Amazon and my name is Zina, with a Z-I—not an X- E like the chick in the old TV show.”

“Gotcha. Okay, Princess Zina, may I use the bathroom, please?”

Zina blew out an exasperated breath. “I just asked if you needed to pee.” Then, as if she’d thought of something funny, she chuckled and threw her hands in the air. “You should have gone before we left the house.”

“I almost went in midair.”

Chuckling manically, Zina untied her. “Fine. Go, but be quick about it.”

As soon as she was free, Bliss prayed the bathroom would offer some way to escape. Although if Zina the warrior bitch was letting her go, she’d bet there wasn’t one.

Striding around the boxes, Bliss spotted a small door near the windows. She prayed there would be a stack of boxes, like stairs, leading up to an open bathroom window. Yeah, and with my luck, flying monkeys would be waiting on the other side.

Deciding she had seen too many movies, Bliss opened the bathroom door and took in the small windowless room. Damn.

“Disappointed, are you?” Zina called out.

“Why should I be?” Bliss yelled back.

“There are no windows to climb out of.”

“Gee. I never thought of that. All I wanted was a toilet, and it seems to have one. Maybe I’m not spoiled like you.”

The woman was silent.

Frig. Maybe I went too far. Bliss had to remind herself not to taunt the psycho. Kind of like not taunting tigers in the zoo. Hopefully, if she could just stay alive long enough, some kind of opportunity to escape would come up.

While she did her business, Bliss pondered possible scenarios, concentrating on the ones in which she’d get away in one piece. Zina would have to leave at some point. Bliss remembered reading an article on how to present your hands to be tied if you’re ever taken hostage. There was a way to look cooperative while giving yourself enough room to slip out when you changed hand positions later. Yeah, that’s what I’ll—

Suddenly, she wasn’t alone in the tiny room. A man was standing right in front of her! She blinked to be sure she hadn’t imagined him. Nope. He’s still there.

The well-dressed older gentleman was not an attractive man. His eyes were small and too close together.