Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

E ron Atarah glanced around the restaurant and tried not to feel sorry for himself. It was Saturday night, and, as expected, the place was filling up with couples fast. If he was a smarter man, he would have just ordered room service, but this restaurant was one of his favorites, and he enjoyed tasting all of the food as soon as it was ready to be served.

Room service was nice sometimes, but the wait time to deliver the food to his room took something away from the meal, and that wasn't what he wanted right now. Not when he would be eating alone. Of course, recent events made it feel like he was always eating alone. He wasn't—he shared plenty of meals with his clan—but he didn't have a mate, and once Evander found Kari, his own single status bothered him more than ever.

In the past, whenever he'd felt lonely he would just find a woman for a night, but that practice got old about a hundred years ago, and though he did occasionally still have random sex, it wasn't something he enjoyed. Finding a suitable woman felt more like a chore than anything else, and the encounters never left him completely satisfied. There was always something missing, and he knew that something was a connection only a mate could provide.

Unfortunately, dragon shifters were immortal, and it could be thousands of years before he ever found his mate. He didn't actually know any dragons that were quite that old, but the possibility was there, and the thought of living alone that long only dampened his mood.

All of his clan mates were mated, and though he was happy for every single one of them, it was easy to feel like an outcast. More so when they all sat down to dinner together—a rare occasion—and he was the only one without a mate by his side. That had happened the night before, and the sense of loneliness that swept over him while sitting at a table full of friends and family had been what prompted his impromptu escape for the weekend.

The five-star hotel was situated in the center of the city, and there were several popular clubs and restaurants within walking distance. He had no desire to visit a club, but he loved food, and though he was a gifted chef, he appreciated the talents of others. Not to mention that it was nice to have a few days out of the kitchen. At least in theory, because he already missed the comfort of the dual kitchens back home.

He briefly wondered what it would be like to have a mate who liked being in the kitchen as much as he did, but he forced himself to bury the thought almost the moment after it surfaced. He had come out for the sole purpose of enjoying a good meal, and wondering about a mate that didn't exist would only play into his self-pitying mood.

He was alone, and would be for the foreseeable future, so he might as well get used to it.

Still, when the waiter came to take his order, he shook his head at the man and continued nursing his drink. Almost all of the tables in the place were full, and except for a few singles sitting at the bar, couples surrounded him. He glanced around the room, and suddenly, he could almost feel the atmosphere change.

Nothing was different, except that everything was, and he continued to survey the space, trying to figure out what caused the change.

A waiter was standing next to a small, rectangle table located in the center of the room, and when he moved, Eron's breath caught.

Mate!

A woman was sitting alone, and she looked like a beacon of light surrounded by all the other patrons who could never match her beauty. Because she was sitting, he couldn't see how tall she was, but he had a perfect view of her side and all of her beautiful curves. She wore a pair of snug jeans and a white flowy top that had light and dark blue flowers all over it. Her feet rested flat on the floor, and they were encased in a simple, patent leather flat that his sister called ballet slippers, and a small purse made of the same shiny material rested on the edge of the table.

Hecouldn't see her eyes from his distant spot against the wall, but her light brown hair had highlights that made her look kissed by the sun, and the wavy locks fell to the middle of her back. The long strands were pulled away from her face with a clip dotted with rhinestones, and it matched the hoop earrings she wore.

When she opened her purse to check her phone, he noted that the bag had some rhinestone detail on the flap, and the idea that she liked sparkly things made him sit up straighter. He didn't have a hoard of jewels hidden anywhere, but he liked the idea of covering his mate in diamonds and gemstones. The ancient thought almost seemed barbaric, but when his dragon growled in agreement, he was reminded of why he didn't care.

He was a dragon shifter, and while he didn't consider himself barbaric, he was ancient. He'd been alive for nearly two-hundred-fifty years, and though he wanted nothing more than to throw his mate over his shoulder and fly her back to the castle, he stayed seated.

She was waiting for someone, and though he didn't see a ring, he wasn't sure how he felt about breaking up a committed relationship. What if she was happy with the man she had now? Or had kids? He didn't think that fate would be that cruel, but he also knew that finding a mate wasn't an automatic guarantee for happiness. Luckily, if she was taken—or not interested—he would be free to pursue someone else, but that wasn't what he wanted.

He wanted the woman fate decided was his, and though she sat perfectly still, he could tell something had changed. She watched the door with a neutral expression on her face, and then slowly turned her head and looked out the large bay windows that showed the pedestrians on the street.

A man in a suit hurried past, and when he was completely out of view, she turned back toward the door and lowered her eyes to the glass of water in front of her. She blinked a couple of times and when she opened her bag to retrieve a few dollars for the table, he realized what she was planning to do.

For whatever the reason, the man in the suit had stood her up, and there was no way Eron was letting her leave after that.

He started scooting out of his booth at the same time the waiter made it to her table, and he moved faster, winding himself between the throng of tables until he reached hers.

She stood at the same time the waiter walked away, and after she grabbed her bag, she looked up and nearly crashed into him.

Holy fuck!

She was beautiful from a distance, but up close she was stunning. Her eyes were a deep blue that matched the dark blue flowers on her top, and even though she was tall for a woman, she was still about eight inches shorter than his six-foot, six-inch frame. He knew he was huge—something that was both a pro and con with other women—and he didn't like tiny women. His mate wasn't only blessed with curves, but she was the perfect height for a man his size, and his dick started to swell.

The look on her face was wary, as if she expected him to scold her, and he forced himself to think about Bastian's accident from a few months ago in hopes of reigning in his dick. He didn't want her to look down and see the huge bulge in his pants—at least not yet—because even though sex was suddenly all he could think about, that wasn't all he wanted from her.

He smiled, aware that many of the diners at the surrounding tables were now watching them with rapt attention. He hadn't meant to draw attention to them, especially not when his mate was feeling so vulnerable, so he decided to take a page out of his ancient past and offered her his arm.

"Walk with me?"

J enna Nichols stared at the man's outstretched arm and hesitated—until she noticed several pairs of eyes on the two of them. If he wanted to lead her away from the disaster of this night with at least a little bit of her dignity intact, then she would let him. She slid her hand under his arm and placed her palm on his forearm.

His very thick and solid forearm.

Her pussy tingled as she allowed him to lead her toward the front of the restaurant, and when he stopped to whisper something to a waiter, she couldn't help but notice how well his clothing molded to his body. He was dressed casually compared to many of the patrons in the dining area, but there was nothing casual about him .

Her hand tingled where their skin touched, and he seemed to vibrate with a sort of controlled energy.It was both thrilling and incredibly nerve-wracking, and a gush of liquid heat dampened her panties.

She wasn't sure why he'd approached her table, but walking out with him was better than walking out of this place alone, and that was what she'd been about to do. Her date for the night had looked directly at her, and then scanned the rest of the room as if looking for someone else, before turning on his heal and walking out while the host was still talking.

She'd known that agreeing to a blind date was a risk, especially with the type of man who wanted to meet in the expensive hotel restaurant, but she'd been hopeful that this time would be different. She'd been honest about her looks, and the man had agreed to meet with her anyway, but as soon as their eyes met, she knew she'd never hear from him again.

Men that could afford to eat in a place like this didn't want a woman who looked like her on their arm—not permanently—and that truth caused an invisible band to tighten around her heart. Her ex had proven that fact when he ended their secret relationship for something much more public with one of her coworkers, and the pain of being cast aside because she wasn't good enough plagued her nearly every day.

A smarter woman would find a new job and leave the company, but he'd given her a raise when he'd ended things, and the significant increase made building her savings account that much easier. It would only take a couple more years to pad her account with enough savings that she could quit permanently, so she wore her mask of indifference daily, and kept as much distance between her and the man as possible.

He was her boss, so it wasn't always easy, but for the most part he left her alone.

Of course, she didn't want to be left alone by other men, but apparently her ex had been right. She wasn't good enough for more than anything except a secret fuck, and no man would keep her on his arm out in the open.

At least, not for more than one night.

She glanced up at the man leading her to the lobby of the hotel, and suddenly didn't care about being hidden away somewhere. She wasn't big on one-night stands, but if this man offered to take her to his room, there was no way she'd object. Hell, just the thought of his big body pressing her into the mattress had more liquid heat dampening her panties, and she had the sudden urge to strip off all of her clothes and let him fuck her against the wall.

There were a few people milling around in the lobby, but he led her to a small alcove a few feet away from the restaurant entrance, and once she entered, he blocked her view of any passersby with his big body. She knew he probably didn't want anyone to see him with the chubby girl, but she was glad that he'd chosen this alcove to issue his proposal instead of trying to take her directly to his room.

She marveled at how wide his chest was, and the sudden urge to grab the two sides of shirt and send the buttons flying rode her hard. Instead, she tightened her grip on the strap of her purse and looked up at his face.

His perfect, gorgeous face.

His high cheekbones, perfect nose, and strong chin all looked like they'd been carved from granite, but his lips were full and soft, and though she wanted to know what it would feel like to have him kiss her, it was his eyes that held her captive. They were dark amethyst, and in the soft light of the alcove, they looked like gemstones shining in the walls of a mine. His bronze hair was cut short, and when the light hit it a certain way, she could see some of the strands sparkle with gold.

He seemed more fantasy than reality, and the sudden urge to see him standing in the bright sunlight made her think that she might be going crazy. Maybe this man wasn't real at all, and she'd just conjured him to make up for feeling embarrassed about being stood up.

She glanced down his body, and though he wasn't wearing a full suit, the dress-shirt he had on was crisp and white, and despite having the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, he looked perfectly at ease in the expensive clothing. And she knew it was expensive, too. She could tell by the way his shirt and slacks caressed his body without any wrinkles, and the sudden urge to feel the fabric between her fingers caused her hands to hold the strap of her bag even tighter.

When she glanced down at his shoes, she could see the shine from the little bit of light filling the alcove, but it was the bulge in his pants that got her attention. He appeared to be huge everywhere, and she pressed her thighs together to try and stop another wave of heat from gushing out of her core.

When she looked at his face again, the small smile on his lips let her know he knew exactly what she was doing, and her cheeks warmed. She'd been flat-out ogling him, and she was lucky that he didn't seem to mind. Probably because he wanted to have some fun fucking the fat girl, which was fine by her. At this point, there was no way she would tell him no—except if he blatantly insulted her.

"You are so beautiful," he said, reaching out and rubbing a lock of her hair between his fingers.

Okay, definitely not an insult. In fact, the way he was looking at her—like she meant something to him—made that band tighten around her heart again.

What would it be like to have a man—this man—look at her like that every day for the rest of her life?

Oh my god! What is wrong with me?

A man like this wouldn't want forever with her, and it would be stupid to start wishing for things that could never happen. But that didn't mean she couldn't have a good time tonight.

"Thank you."

"I saw that you were about to leave without eating, and I was wondering if you would join me? I have a booth reserved against the wall, and I'm about to order a massive amount of food. I'd love to share it with you."

He wanted to feed her? It was a far cry from taking her up to his room to have his wicked way with her, but she was hungry. As if to prove her point, her stomach chose that minute to growl, the sound echoing around the small space, and her cheeks warmed even more.

"I'll take that as a yes," he smiled.

He took a step back, dropping his hold on her hair, and offered her his arm again.

This time, she took it without hesitation.