Page 40 of Dragon Kissed
“Not yet.”
“That phrase is getting old.”
“I know.” He wanted to go to her, to close the distance and put himself between her and every word he wasn’t allowed to say. He stayed where he was.
“About last night—” she started.
“You owe me no explanation.”
Pain flashed in her eyes.
Wrong. Again.He had negotiated treaties in six languages and could not, it seemed, say one right thing to the woman he loved.
“I didn’t say I regretted it.”
The dragon stopped pacing, and Demetri’s pulse struck once, hard.
Nica gripped the stair rail. “I said I wasn’t ready for forever after three days. That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
“I don’t know what this is.”
“Neither do I.” That was a lie; he knew exactly what it was, knew it in his blood and his beast and the failing silver. He simply did not know what to do with it.
Nica studied his face. “You look like you know.”
“I know what I want.”
Her throat moved. “And what’s that?”
He took a step closer. “You.”
She looked away. But she did not retreat. Not this time, and the dragon marked it, hoarded it. “I will not demand promises,” he admitted, “but I also will not pretend I do not want them.”
Her fingers tightened around the railing. “That sounds like pressure.”
“It is honesty.”
For several heartbeats neither moved, the sea filling the silence below them. “I need to work.”
“I will join you.”
“I thought you were giving me space,” she bantered dryly.
“I can work across the room.”
“You loom across rooms.”
“So I’ve been told.”
A reluctant smile touched her mouth — small, brief, enough — and the dragon settled for the first time all morning, curling down and going quiet. She had smiled. That was enough.
CHAPTER 10
Nica: margaret how do you tell if your boss is lying to you
Margaret: all bosses lie. what did he lie about
