Page 18 of A First for the Playboy Dragon

“Juliet, I can’t answer that question,” he said, shaking his head. “Why the sudden curiosity about my time in the Seals?”

“I’ve never met anyone like you, Harrison,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I was just curious about that part of your life, I guess.”

He studied her for a second. “Those were some pretty specific questions,” he said. “You’re not planning on kidnapping someone, are you?”

“No, of course not,” she said, smiling at him. “I’m not the kidnapping type.”

“Well, that’s a relief. For a second there, it felt like you were hiding something from me,” he said. “You know that you can trust me, Juliet. If you ever need help, I’ll be there for you. It’s who I am and what I do.”

She was so close to telling him everything, even opening her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, she fell silent, earning Harrison a concerned look. To her relief, he didn’t push her, and they walked on in silence as the sun began to slowly sink in the sky behind them. A few minutes later, Harrison came to an abrupt stop, almost tripping her, and she was forced to grab onto his arm or fall to her knees.

He steadied her, his eyes scanning the jungle around them, a look of confusion on his face, and she began to get worried. “Harrison, what’s wrong?” she asked, following his gaze. “Is there something out there?”

“No, but something isn’t right,” he said. “We should have reached the turn in the trail that leads back to the village by now.”

She looked back the way they’d come. “Do you think we missed it?” she said. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention to where we were going.”

“We didn’t miss it,” Harrison said, shaking his head. “Maybe we haven’t gone as far as I thought we had. Let’s keep going; we’ll probably find it in a few minutes.”

Ten minutes later, the turn still hadn’t appeared, and Harrison pulled her to a stop, a frown on his face. “This just doesn’t make sense; we’ve been walking for almost two hours now, the sun is about to go down, and there’s no sign of the trail we need.”

“Are we lost?” she asked, looking around. “The island isn’t that big, we can’t be lost.”

“Let’s retrace our steps. I must have missed the turn after all,” Harrison said, turning around and heading the other way. “This is really embarrassing. I thought I knew every inch of this island, but I guess I was wrong.”

It was almost dark when they came to a fork in the trail. “There it is,” she said, pointing. “We did miss it.”

Harrison looked around. “I don’t know, this doesn’t seem right,” he said. “I thought the turn was on the other side of the trail.”

“What do you want to do?” she asked. “We don’t have much daylight left, and I didn’t bring a flashlight. We won’t be able to see anything in a little while.”

“Let’s take it and see where it leads,” he said. This island isn’t that big, and we can’t be that far from the village. I bet this will lead us there.”

“I hope you’re right. I’m getting hungry,” she said. “And I’m not too crazy about the idea of spending the night out here.”

“We’ll be fine,” Harrison said, but the look on his face didn’t reassure her. “I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

CHAPTER 12

***HARRISON***

It didn’t take Harrison very long to realize that he’d never been on the trail they were following and that he’d never seen this part of the island, but he kept going for a few minutes, unsure what he would tell Juliet. He’d been so sure that he’d covered every inch of the island, taken every trail that existed. Even Mateo had been pleased with the map that he’d made. But nothing looked familiar, and the trail had been full of so many twists and turns that he wasn’t even sure which direction they were traveling anymore.

“Harrison, I don’t think this is right,” Juliet said, pulling him to a stop. “I think we’re lost.”

“I guess so. I was so sure I knew this island. There aren’t that many trails. I should know, I mapped them all out myself, or at least I thought I did,” he said. “I guess I missed this one, I just don’t know how.”

“What are we going to do?” Juliet asked, wrapping her arms around herself. “It’s almost dark. We’ll never be able to find our way back if we can’t see.”

“I can see pretty well in the dark. If I can just figure out where the village is, I’m sure I can get us back there,” he said,looking around at the trees. “I think I have an idea, I should have thought of it sooner.”

Picking the sturdiest tree he could find, he walked over to it and began to climb up the branches, hoping that he could get a glimpse of the lights in the village from the top. “Harrison, be careful,” Juliet called. “I can’t carry you out of here if you break your leg.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he called to her, but let his magic flare just a little to give himself an edge. “I was a Navy Seal, remember?”

“Sorry, I forgot,” Juliet called. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t worry about you.”

His head cleared the top of the tree, and he looked around, not believing his eyes at first. He sat staring out over the canopy of trees, trying to figure out how it was possible for the village to disappear. Heart pounding, feeling suddenly off balance, he scanned the island again, then slowly started back down the tree, searching for a logical explanation, not sure what he was going to tell Juliet.

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