Page 8 of A First for the Playboy Dragon

“There you are, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Claudia said, giving him a big kiss and shoving Juliet away in the process. “Have you been hiding from me, you naughty boy? I know it was terrible of me to cancel on you last night, but I’ll all yours tonight. We can do all those things you talked about.”

***Juliet***

Juliet stumbled back a couple of steps narrowly avoiding an elbow to the face as the woman draped herself all over Harrison, her heart sinking when she realized that they were together. Stung and feeling foolish, she could only stare as the woman rubbed herself all over Harrison, whispering in his ear as he did nothing to stop it. Wanting only to escape, she started to backaway, but the woman turned around and stared at her, an evil look in her eyes.

“And who do we have here?” she asked. “Did you make a new friend, Harrison? He looks a little young to be hanging out with you.”

Harrison extracted himself from the woman’s arms, but the damage had already been done, anger was surging through her. It was bad enough that Harrison had made a fool of her; she wasn’t going to be insulted, and she opened her mouth to let the woman have it, but Harrison jumped in before she could speak.

“Claudia, this is Juliet,” he said, putting some emphasis on her name. “She’s been taking photographs of the island, and we were just talking about them.”

“Oh, I see,” Claudia said, sliding her sunglasses down her nose to study Juliet again. “My mistake, but if you want a piece of advice, sweetheart, don’t dress like a boy unless you want people to think that you are one.”

She gasped, so angry she was trembling, and for the first time in her life, she considered punching someone She knew that it would feel wonderful to wipe the smug look off the woman’s face. But Harrison jumped in again, put his arms around Claudia, and led her away a few feet, but she could still hear their entire conversation. She stood listening even though she knew that she should leave.

“Let’s have dinner earlier tonight,” Harrison said, his head bent close to Claudia’s. “I’ll stop by the village on my way home and pick something up. We can meet at my cabin in an hour. Won’t that be nice?”

Claudia let out a long sigh. “I don’t like competition, Harrison,” she said, then looked over her shoulder at Juliet. “Not that she’s much of a threat. I just thought you were into real women, not little girls.”

“Claudia, that’s enough. I’ll meet you at my cabin in an hour,” he said. “Don’t spoil the night. We’ve been waiting for this for days.”

The woman let out a little snort, looking over at Juliet again. “You’re right, I don’t know what I’m getting so worked up about,” she purred, putting her arms around Harrison again. “Just do me a favor and wait to find my replacement until I’m gone.”

Claudia flounced off before Harrison could say anything, her laughter only fading once she was out of sight. She started to back away, wondering why she’d stayed so long. Harrison wasn’t the kind of man she wanted to get tangled up with. She wasn’t out for cheap thrills no matter how wonderful that kiss had been. She had more self-esteem than that.

“Juliet, hold on, don’t run away,” Harrison said, walking over to her. “I’m sorry about that…Claudia just…well, I don’t know, I guess she was jealous.”

“Good thing she didn’t find out that you kissed me last night,” she said. “But at least now I know the truth about what kind of man you are.”

“Juliet, it’s not what you think, I’m not involved with Claudia,” he said. “I mean, not really. We just met a few days ago, and we’ve been spending time together, but we’re not committed to each other or anything.”

“That’s sure not what it looked like to me,” she said, anger flaring to life again. “Dinner at your cabin, all the things you’re going to do, that sure sounds to me like you’re involved.”

“But we’re not, I haven’t even slept with her yet,” he argued, not realizing he was only making it worse. “She canceled on me last night.”

“So, you made a play for me,” she said, disgusted that she’d ever been attracted to him. “Did you think I’d be easy, or was Ijust the closest substitute for Claudia? Did you think I’d just fall into bed with you, that I’d be grateful for your attention?”

“It wasn’t like that,” he protested. “I didn’t plan to kiss you when I asked you to have dinner with me. You weren’t even going to let me walk you back to your cabin, remember?”

“My mistake,” she said, giving him a dirty look. “I might not have changed my mind if I’d known I was just a replacement for Claudia when she leaves.”

“That’s not how it was,” Harrison said, stepping closer to her. “I wanted to kiss you, Juliet. You, not Claudia.”

She studied him for a minute, too angry to speak, not about to believe his lies, not when she’d seen Claudia with her own eyes. “You know it must be nice to just do whatever you want without worrying about anyone else’s feelings,” she said. “Maybe I should start living my life that way. Maybe I should just give into whatever feeling takes hold of me.”

Then, before she could stop herself, she closed the distance between them, wrapped her arms around his neck, stretched up onto her toes and kissed him, fueled by the anger still surging through her. He was stiff with shock at first, but then his arms slid around her, and he pulled her close before kissing her back. She almost lost herself in the kiss, but the anger wasn’t completely spent, and she managed to pull away from him.

“Now we’re even,” she said, then turned and stomped away but only made it a few feet before whirling around and facing him again. “If you were thinking I’d be Claudia’s replacement, you can think again. That kiss is the last thing you’ll ever get from me.”

CHAPTER 6

***HARRISON***

Harrison watched Juliet disappear into the trees on the trail that led to the cabins, his entire body throbbing with need, his mind frozen with shock. But the creature inside him knew what it wanted, and his feet started to move toward the path before he managed to get his mind working again. Coming to a halt, still staring at the spot where she’d disappeared, he felt the desire slowly fade, but he knew it would only be back, especially after that last kiss.

There was a fire inside Juliet, a strength that she kept hidden from the world. He’d just gotten a glimpse of it, and it only made him want to see more. She’d stirred something more than just his protective instincts with that kiss, she’d shown him who she really was and how much she valued herself. No woman had ever told him off the way Juliet just had. He’d never had his lifestyle thrown back in his face, and if he was smart he’d walk away and leave the woman alone.

Even Juliet knew that it was a bad idea for them to get involved; she’d made that clear enough, but deep down, he knew that wouldn’t stop what was happening between them. He was drawn to her in a way he’d never experienced before, and the feeling only got stronger every time he was around her. If he wascompletely honest with himself, he didn’t want it to stop. That thought shocked him more than any of the others; the feeling was more than just physical, deeper than just the usual desire he felt, and he knew that he was about to cross a dangerous line.

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