“I manage the money I have. Keep any eye on the local shifters, that sort of thing.”
“By keeping an eye on local shifters you mean…”
“If they cause trouble with humans either me or one of my people will deal with it.”
“So local shifters might have reason to be afraid of you?”
“Yes. You may have met some of them. Someone has to police them and humans aren’t up to the task. Dragons are natural protectors. I protect shifters, but I also protect humans from shifters.”
They both drank from their glasses. Wrath nearly groaned aloud when she licked a drop of wine off her bottom lip.
Finally, she said, “I don’t know why I trust you, but I do.”
He didn’t know why she trusted him, either. At least one of them had working instincts. He realized he was wrong about her wanting to escape. If she was afraid of a snake, she certainly wouldn’t want to cross a basilisk.
“I’m glad you trust me,” he said.
“I’m not sleeping with you,” she said.
Taken aback by the suddenness of the statement Wrath said, “I don’t recall asking you to. Since you brought it up, I’m compelled to ask why not.”
“Because I’m a prisoner. I didn’t do anything wrong, but you’re not letting me leave.”
“Ah,” Wrath said, taking a sip of his whisky and leaning back into the couch. He put his feet up on the table and took a deeper drink of the amber liquid. “Well, you’ve been thinking about it, so that’s something. Then there’s the fact that you definitely want me. I wonder which one of us you’re punishing.”
Chapter 12
You definitely want me. The conceited man/dragon/whatever actually let those words leave his mouth.
“I just think it’s important to remember the true nature of our relationship,” Jess said.
It was hard to backtrack after flinging herself into his arms earlier. Then there was the way she didn’t want to stop touching him. Even now her arm was touching his. It had to be dragon induced temporary insanity.
“And what’s the true nature of our relationship?” Wrath asked.
“I’m your prisoner,” Jess said.
Was he just being difficult? Maybe she was the one being difficult, but she had to on principle. Yes, she wanted to learn more about dragons and magic, but he could have asked her to stay.
He could have said: Do you want to hang out here for a while and watch me breathe fire? I have to get naked first.
She would have said: Yes, please.
“You’re a guest until I figure some things out,” the daft dragon was saying. “If you’d rather play the prisoner, we have a dungeon. Or is this a role-playing thing? I wasn’t kidding about the handcuffs.”
She moved to take another drink of wine—while wondering what Wrath would look like naked and handcuffed to his bed—but found that her glass was empty. Without a word, Wrath took the glass from her hand and went to get her a refill. Only this time he came back with the bottle and set it on the table next to her refilled glass.
A knock on the door cut the tension in the room and Wrath called for the person to come in. A young woman who looked like an older version of Lily walked through the door. She was a little taller than Lily and lacked Lily’s cuteness. No, this one wasn’t cute. She was stunningly beautiful. Her blue eyes sparkled and her smile belonged in a toothpaste ad.
Jess felt a tinge of jealousy and then remembered that Iris was related to Wrath. What did she have to be jealous of, anyway? She’d already decided she didn’t want to sleep with him. Well, she wanted to, but she wouldn’t. On principle.
“Give Iris your keys,” Wrath said.
Jess got her purse from the floor and dug out her apartment keys. She handed them to Iris. She almost thanked the woman for going to get her things before she remembered that she wouldn’t be doing this if Wrath hadn’t taken her prisoner. Iris was doing it for Wrath, not Jess.
“Tomorrow's my laundry day so pretty much everything is dirty. You can just bring the hamper and stuff the rest in a suitcase. I didn’t bring a lot,” Jess said. She fought herself internally and then said, “Thank you,” as Iris turned to walk away.
“Don’t thank me,” Iris replied with a smirk. “It’s our fault you’re stuck here. If you need anything else, Po…Wrath can text me.”
Iris was about to call him “Poppy” as Lily had done earlier. Damn, Jess was lusting after a grandpa.
Iris stopped with the door still opened and turned back to Wrath.
“You be nice to her, Poppy. You’re a big scary dragon, remember?” Iris said.
“I’m always nice, baby girl. Be careful. Don’t go accidentally killing some poor deranged human.”
“I’m always good, Poppy. You know that,” Iris said with a grin that probably made grown men swoon.
As soon as Iris was gone, an uncomfortable silence settled over the room. Jess had to think of something to talk about other than sex. Only, trying to think of something other than sex made her think about it more. Stupid brain.
She kept getting flashbacks of Wrath’s naked body before he changed into a dragon and the way his cock rested against his thigh. Suddenly the room felt too warm. Must be the wine, right?
Who was she kidding? Her nipples were so hard they chafed against her bra.
Would it really be so bad to sleep with him? It was probably her only chance to ever have sex with a dragon man. It’s not like she’d be teaching him a lesson by not sleeping with him. She doubted she could teach the old dragon much of anything.
Damn but he didn’t look old. She loved the way his sweater hugged his broad shoulders. His dark eyes were haunted in a way that made her want to kiss him better. There was so much more to him than she’d seen, she could feel it. If only she could reach beneath the surface.
“You’re at war
