Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

T wo hours later, Asher sprawled on her couch between Lori and Kaylee, surrounded by empty pizza boxes and half-full wine glasses. Her enhanced senses picked up the security detail Talon had stationed around her building—including Levi, who’d volunteered for first watch and somehow ended up debating ancient Norse poetry with Lori through her security feeds.

“So,” Kaylee topped off their glasses, “on a scale of one to ‘oh my god’, how attracted were you to him before all this?”

“Does ‘regularly required cold showers after budget meetings’ qualify as a rating?” Asher sank deeper into the couch. “Because watching him roll up his sleeves while arguing about profit margins should not have been that hot.”

“And now?” Lori’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Now?” Asher groaned. “Now it’s like someone took that attraction and amplified it by a thousand. I can smell when he’s worried about me. His voice does this thing that makes my dragon purr. And do you know how unfair it is that he somehow looks even better with glowing eyes?”

“Speaking of attraction,” Kaylee singsonged, catching the exchange.

“We’re not talking about me,” Lori said primly. “We’re talking about Asher’s magical dragon mating situation. With bonus electrical powers, which, by the way, how does that feel?”

“Like lightning under my skin.” Asher let sparks dance across her fingers. “Though that could just be the mate bond. Everything feels... more. Brighter. Stronger.” She paused. “Hungrier.”

“Hungrier like food, or hungrier like you want to climb your CEO like a super hot attractive bush?” Kaylee dodged the pillow Asher threw. “What? You said it, not me!”

“Both? Neither? I don’t know.” Asher buried her face in her hands. “I spent months carefully maintaining professional distance, and now my dragon’s like ‘give me, give me’ every time he does that thing with his jaw.”

“What thing with his jaw?”

“You know, that clenching thing when he’s trying not to growl.” Asher demonstrated, then caught herself. “Oh god, I’m actually noticing his jaw movements. This is what I’ve become. A jaw-noticing dragon disaster who can’t stop thinking about how badly I want to get him naked or how good he smells.”

“How good does he smell?” Lori leaned forward with interest.

“Like a thunderstorm about to break. All lightning and rain and...” Asher trailed off, cheeks flushing.

Kaylee set her glass on the side table. “Why, Ash? Why did you inject yourself when you could’ve died?”

“I was dying,” Asher said. “That’s why I took the risk. We all know it was only a matter of days, possibly weeks. I wanted to live long enough to maybe find out what all this—” she waved vaguely, “—felt like. Love. Connection. Someone looking at me like I’m their whole world.”

“And now?” Kaylee asked softly.

“Now I have a dragon inside me who very much knows what she wants. While my human side is still trying to process the fact that my unreasonably attractive boss is apparently my magically destined mate. Who I really want to do crazy, probably illegal in some state things to and who I desperately want to kiss. Like, really, really want to kiss.”

“So,” Kaylee curled deeper into the couch cushions, “on a scale of one to ‘spontaneous combustion’, how hard is it to be away from him right now?”