Page 14 of The Last Bachelor Dragon

Max did his best to ignore the curious looks Harrison and Juliet gave him. “Come on, you two, get yourselves something to eat,” he said.Then we want to hear all about your trip.”

While they ate, his friends told the group all about their trip, keeping them all entertained. When their plates were empty, Harrison looked around the group with an excited look on his face. “Now we get to the best part,” he said. “We brought something back with us that should help with not only the Carlos situation but your security in general, but you have to come down to the marina to see it.”

“Is it what we talked about?” he asked, his excitement growing. “That was fast. How did you pull it off?”

“I called in a few favors, and once I got Mike started on the project, well, you know how he is,” Harrison said, getting to his feet. “Should we go see your new fleet of security boats?”

“I’m right behind you,” he said, turning to look around the room for Nora. “I just need to give Nora a few instructions for lunch if I can find her. I’ll meet you out front.”

The room emptied out, but there was still no sign of Nora, and he began to get annoyed. He was sure that she was doing it on purpose, but then she came through the door pushing an empty cart. Her cheeks were pink from the effort. Several strands of hair had fallen out of the knot on the back of her head, curling seductively around her face, and he had to take a deep breath to fight off a wave of desire, which only annoyed him more.

“Where have you been?” he demanded, relieved when the desire faded away. “I’ve been waiting for you forever.”

“It couldn’t have been forever, I’ve only been gone for five minutes,” Nora snapped at him. “Besides, it’s your own fault if you had to wait. You won’t let anyone help me, and that food can’t sit out all day. I’ve been lugging it all back to the kitchen myself.”

He wanted to snap back at her, but she was right. “I didn’t mean you had to do everything yourself, I just don’t want anyone else hanging around when we’re all together,” he said. “I thought you’d be smart enough to figure that out.”

Nora’s eyes flashed with anger, bringing back the desire. “You know what, Mr. St. Clair, I’m doing the best I can here; this was your idea in case you’d forgotten,” she said, squaring her shoulders and staring him down. “I’m tired of being insulted and belittled. It’s not going to happen anymore, I’m done. I don’t care what you do to me anymore, I’ll go live in a cave if that’s what I have to do. I’m tired of being treated like a criminal. I haven’t done anything to you.”

The desire that had been simmering under the surface became a raging inferno as the dragon inside him slowly came to life and he realized that this time, he might not be able to control it. “Haven’t done anything to me?” he barked. “That’s hilarious, you’ve done nothing but drive me crazy since you got here. You’re all I can think about. I dream about you every night, I think about you all day. Justbeing near you does strange things to me, but I can’t stay away.”

Nora stared up at him in shock for a few seconds, her breath coming in short gasps, just as shocked by his words as he was. He knew that there was nothing he could do to take them back, knew that now that they’d been said, everything had changed between them, and for a second began to panic. The urge to kiss her welled up inside him, the creature inside him in more control than he would have liked, and before he could stop himself, he pulled her into his arms, ignoring her little cry of protest.

When he lowered his mouth to hers, she didn’t pull away; instead, a little sigh escaped from her chest, and that was all the encouragement he needed. Deepening the kiss, he pulled her up against him, unable to suppress a groan of pleasure when her breasts pressed up against his chest. Lost in the kiss he’d been dreaming about since Nora arrived on the island, he was thrilled when her arms slid up his chest to circle his neck, and he couldn’t stop his hands from roaming over her body.

Nora stiffened in his arms. With a jolt, he realized just how far things had gone and slowly pulled away from her, even though the dragon inside him was demanding satisfaction. Their chests heaving with the power of the kiss they just shared, they stared at each other for a few seconds. Nora’s blue eyes, usually flashing at him with anger, were now filled with desire, stealing his breath and reigniting the urge to kiss her.

Slowly backing away from her, his mind spinning with the power of what they’d just shared, he searched for something to say, the panic back. “Find someone to help you do the setup and breakdown,” he said, falling back into boss mode. “We’ll be late getting back for lunch. I’ll text you when we’re on the way.”

Before Nora could say a word, he turned and headed for the door, his senses still spinning but desperate to get away from her before he did something else stupid. She was still standing in the middle of the room, staring after him, when he slipped out the door and hurried over to where his friends were waiting. He tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, but he was shaken by the encounter and he was sure that his friends could tell. Ignoring their curious looks, he put a smile on his face, and they all set out for the marina to see the boats Harrison and Juliet had brought back with them. However, his mind was on Nora and the kiss they’d just shared.

***Nora***

As soon as Max was out of the room, Nora gave into her shaking legs, stumbled over to a chair and sank down onto the soft cushion trying to catch her breath. He’d just kissed her, and it hadn’t been just any kiss, it had been so full of passion and promise that she’d been lost almost instantly. No man had ever made her feel that way, no kiss had never touched her that deeply. It was both frightening and thrilling. She just didn’t understand why it had to be Max St. Clair who had the power to make her feel that way.

Completely confused, not sure how to go forward, she sat in the chair, staring off into space. The man who had the power to send her home had just kissed her. She’d been so sure that he disliked her; she’d certainly given him every reason to, but his kiss had been full of so much more than just physical attraction. That was the part that stunned her most; she’d never imagined that he cared about her and that the responsibility he felt for her went as deeply as it did.

She was just beginning to wonder how she could know that from just one kiss when Peter came into the room. “Isaw them leaving, so I figured it would be safe to come in,” he said, then paused when he saw her staring into space. “Hey, are you okay?”

Snapping herself out of the trance she’d been in, she got to her feet. “I’m fine, I just needed a little break,” she said, glancing once more over at the empty doorway. “I was just talking to Max. He said I should get help with set-up and tear-down, so you don’t have to hide from him anymore.”

“Well, that’s good news,” Peter said, a look of disappointment on his face. “But I was kind of enjoying sneaking around, it made me feel like a spy or something.”

She laughed. “I’m sorry to spoil your fun, but it will be a lot easier,” she said, getting her equilibrium back. “Lunch is going to be a little late today, so that should give us plenty of time to make the switch over.”

“Cool, there’s nothing I love more than overtime,” Peter said, a big smile on his face. “I love this job.”

It was almost two o’clock and she was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to show up for lunch when Stella came rushing through the door, followed by Keith carrying a sleeping Jordan. “Oh, Nora, we’re so sorry to have kept you waiting all this time,” she said. “Just let us get Jordan settled, and I’ll tell you all about it. The others are right behind us. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“I’ve got the baby,” Keith said. “Have a good gossip.”

“Keith, we’re not gossiping, I just want to tell her about the boats,” Stella said, then turned to face her again. “You should see what Harrison came up with. They look like run-down fishing boats, but underneath, they’ve got these big engines and places to keep guns.”

“Wow, that’s pretty smart,” she said, trying not to watch the door, her heart pounding at the thought of seeing Max. “Harrison really knows what he’s doing.”

“He took us out in one of them. It was amazing,” Stella said. “Then everyone else showed up and that took forever. That’s why we’re late.”

“So, everyone is here now?” she asked, realizing that she had to get to work. “I should probably get lunch ready. You’re probably all starving.”

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