Page 5 of A First for the Playboy Dragon

“Oh, Claudia that’s great,” he said, giving her a hug. “You must be so relieved.”

“I am,” she said, then hesitated. “Harrison, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to cancel on you tonight. I’ve got a big conference call that I can’t miss. Max has already made all the arrangements. Could we do it tomorrow night?”

“Of course, I know how important this is to you,” he said, alarmed to discover he wasn’t that disappointed. “I was looking forward to tonight, but that call is more important.”

***Juliet***

Stumbling away from Harrison, Juliet couldn’t quite catch her breath. The man made her feel things she’d never felt before, and it both thrilled and scared her. It didn’t help that she’d been caught prowling around the other cabins taking pictures of them, but Harrison hadn’t seemed to notice, hadn’t questioned what she was doing, which had been a relief because she had no idea what she would have told him.

Spotting a bench under some trees, she plopped down and looked down at the camera in her lap, wondering why her brother thought she could do this. She’d almost blown it the first time she was challenged, and it wasn’t even a challenge,not really. Harrison hadn’t even been interested in what she was doing. He’d been too busy staring at her in that weird way that made her insides turn to jelly, her heart go a little crazy, and think things that weren’t possible, not for a woman like her.

Harrison was so far out of her league, she was surprised that he even talked to her, but it didn’t matter, she reminded herself. She was here to save her brother and nothing more. Pushing thoughts of the man who had her more unsettled than she liked, she forced herself to think about Joe and what she had to do to keep him from being killed, still not sure she was up to the task.

The first thing she had to do was come up with a backstory, a good explanation of why she was taking so many pictures of the island just in case someone noticed her. It didn’t take her very long to realize that sticking as close to the truth as she could would make the lies she’d have to tell that much easier, a story slowly began to unfold in her mind, and she started to feel better.

Getting up from the bench, a renewed sense of purpose filling her. She told herself it was just a few pictures, even she could manage that much. She had to have more confidence in herself. Joe’s life depended on it. Retracing her steps, she picked up where she’d stopped when Harrison had suddenly appeared on the trail, but this time, she paid more attention to her surroundings, not wanting to be surprised again.

When she finished the last cabin, she saw the main path to the village was only a few steps away and decided that she’d done enough for one day. The sun would be setting in less than an hour, her stomach was rumbling with hunger, and she still had to figure out how to download the pictures onto the computer her brother had given her. Looking at the village in the distance, the idea of dinner started to become very appealing. She couldn’t think on an empty stomach after all, and it wouldn’t hurt to take advantage of what there was to offer even if she was here on false pretenses.

Promising herself that it would just be the food, that she’d stick to her promise to herself not to have any fun while she was on the island, she walked to the village, the smell of something wonderful reaching her long before she got there. She made her way past the shops, telling herself to ignore them; the last thing she wanted was a souvenir of her treachery. Then, she stopped in front of the row of huts where the enticing smells were coming from and studied the menus posted outside the open doors.

When she realized how long she’d been standing there, she finally just picked a door and walked toward it, ignoring the little tingle of guilt when she thought about what her spying might cause. Shaking her head to chase the thought away, she gritted her teeth. Joe needed her help. She couldn’t let him down. He’d finally agreed to get clean, the one thing she hoped for. She had to stay strong, see this little adventure through. What happened with the information she gathered was not her concern, her brother was. She had to save him from himself before it was too late.

Just as she stepped up to the door, Harrison came out, nearly crashing into her and dropping the stack of takeout boxes in his hands. She let out a little cry of alarm, then reached out to help him steady the stack of food before it went crashing to the ground and spilled all over both of them. When their hands touched, a bolt of electricity traveled up her arms and into her chest, releasing a wave of warmth that made her entire body begin to tingle.

Gasping, she looked up at Harrison, frozen in place by the sensations shooting through her body. She was very aware that the only thing that separated them was the stack of boxes. He had that same strange look on his face, and for a moment, she thought he was going to lean over and kiss her, but the moment passed, and she finally managed to step away from him.

“Juliet, we meet again,” he said, the look gone from his face. “If I didn’t know better I might think you were following me.”

Horrified that he would think that, afraid that he could tell what she was thinking, her cheeks began to flame. “I wasn’t following you, you ran into me earlier,” she stammered. “I was just going to get some dinner.”

“Hey, relax, I was just teasing you,” he said, smiling at her. “But haven’t you noticed that we’ve been running into each other a lot? I’m beginning to think that means something.”

She was sure that her heart was going to beat right out of her chest, and it was all she could do not to start gasping for air, but she managed to stay in control. “It’s probably just a coincidence,” she said. “It’s a small island.”

“Maybe, but I’m going to take this as a sign,” he said, flashing her another smile. “My dinner plans for tonight fell through and I’ve got all this food that’s just going to go to waste. You said you were here to get dinner. Why don’t we share this?”

He held the takeout containers out to her, and she felt panic beginning to well up inside her. The thought of sitting down and sharing a meal with him was so frightening that she almost turned and ran away. “We can stay right here. We’ll eat in the food court,” he said, a spark of understanding in his eyes. “I’m perfectly harmless, I promise, and we’ll be right here in public the whole time. I won’t even offer to walk you back to your cabin when we’re done.”

She felt herself beginning to relax and let out a shaky sigh. “You must think I’m silly or paranoid or something,” she said, hating the heat that came to her cheeks. “I just…well…”

“What I think is that you’ve been hurt by someone you trusted,” Harrison said, his voice soft and soothing. “I won’t hurt you, Juliet, that’s the last thing I would ever do.”

CHAPTER 4

***HARRISON***

Harrison led Juliet over to a table, set the food down, then helped her into a chair, not sure what had possessed him to invite her to share his dinner, but had the sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the wounded look in her eyes. Reminding himself that it was just dinner, he sat down across from her and started unboxing the food, then filled a plate and handed it to her.

“I hope you like fish, I didn’t even think to ask,” he said, putting together his own food. “This is about as fresh as you can get it. Max has his own fishing fleet that supplies the island with as much food as we can eat.”

“I love fish. This looks fantastic,” Juliet said, then took a bite and let out a little moan of pleasure. “And it tastes even better.”

“I’ve been here for two weeks and I haven’t been able to pass it up yet,” he said, trying to ignore how his body responded to the pure bliss in Juliet’s eyes when she took another bite. “We’re about due for a crab boil. That’s even better than this.”

“You’ve been here for two weeks?” she asked. “How long are you staying?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” he said. “This is a work vacation for me. I’m a security expert, and Max asked me to come to theisland and put together a security plan for him. I’ll be staying until it’s finished.”

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