Page 23 of A First for the Playboy Dragon

A blush rose to her cheeks. “I think I can show you better than I can tell you,” she said, stretching up on her tip-toes and winding her arms around his neck.

She kissed him until they were both breathless, then pulled back and looked up at him. “Harrison, I’ve never…well, you know,” she said, feeling her cheeks getting even redder. “I want my first time to be with you. I know how you feel about love. I know that you’re afraid that you’ll hurt me, but I don’t care; I want you.”

Harrison sucked in a breath and groaned. “Oh, Juliet, I don’t think you have any idea what you’re asking,” he said, voice strained, his eyes glowing a little in the darkness. “This thing between us, well, it’s a little complicated because I’m a shifter;the dragon in me wants you, doesn’t care what the consequences are if we’re together, but the man knows it’s not that simple.”

Humiliated, she slipped out of his arms. “Okay, I’m sorry I asked…I just thought… never mind,” she said, trying to hold back the tears that burned her eyes. “Maybe we should go back inside, it’s getting late and we need to get some sleep.”

She made a few steps before Harrison said something that made her pause. “So, that’s it, you’re just going to give up?” he asked. “You’re just going to walk away, give up on us without even listening to what I have to say? That’s not very fair.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly fond of rejection,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, Harrison, and I can’t throw myself at you again.”

He smiled at her and shook his head. “My brave little princess,” he said, walking over to her and pulling her into his arms. “Let’s go inside and have a little chat. There is nothing I would love more than to make love to you right now, but before we do, I just want to make sure you understand what it might mean. This is new territory for me too, Juliet, I never thought that I would be here. I guess you should never say never.”

“I’m not brave. I’m the biggest chicken in the world. The only place I feel safe is at home and with my kids at school,” she said, shaking her head, then looking up at him. “And when I’m with you.”

He smiled down at her, then shook his head. “Sweetheart, you are the bravest woman that I know. You were just about killed, discovered that I’m a shifter, and you’re still perfectly sane,” he said. “If you can handle that, you can handle anything, including what I’m about to tell you.”

She crawled back into the cave first, then walked over and sank down next to the fire. It had seemed so clear outside the cave that they were supposed to be together, at least for the night, but now Harrison had her questioning her instincts. Herstomach twisting in knots, she watched him add wood to the fire, then put on a pot of coffee before joining her in the sleeping bag.

He took her hand but didn’t say anything for a few minutes. “I don’t know where to start, I’ve never done this before,” he finally said. “The thing is, shifters are a little different than regular people in a lot of ways, but there’s one important difference that will affect you more than the others.”

“Affect me?” she asked. “How?”

He didn’t say anything for a second. “Let’s see how I can best explain this,” he said, a frown on his face. “The dragon inside me is a lot like a wild animal. It doesn’t have the human intellect that comes from me. Sometimes, the traits of the dragon override the human side of me and come through; I can control them most of the time, except when it comes to you.”

“Me?” she squeaked, her heart beginning to pound. “What does that mean?”

“Dragons mate for life, Juliet,” he said, then looked over at her. “When they find their perfect mate, a bond forms that can’t be broken. It was a way for them to survive in a world that didn’t want them.”

She looked over at him, and their eyes met. She knew instantly that he was completely serious, and her head began to spin just a little. “Harrison, are you trying to tell me that I’m your perfect mate?” she finally managed to ask. “I didn’t think…I mean…how do you know?”

He nodded his head. “I knew it the first time I saw you, but it wasn’t until I thought I’d lost you tonight that I let myself see the truth,” he said. “If I’m not already in love with you, I’m as close as you can get, and I think you feel the same way; sleeping together would only bring us closer, maybe even start the bond between us. It scares me, Juliet. It’s about the only thing that scares me, not because of you, but because of all the damage I’ve seen bonds like this can do.”

“George and Annie,” she said, understanding instantly why he was scared. “They were bonded, weren’t they?”

CHAPTER 15

***HARRISON***

Harrison didn’t answer right away. He needed a few minutes to gather his thoughts. He’d never talked about how deeply he’d been wounded, first by his parents and then by the loss of George and Annie. Not even his friends knew the depth of the scars that had been left behind. He kept them well hidden behind his playboy persona, but everything had changed when he thought he’d lost Juliet. He understood that he’d have to make a leap of faith. He’d have to trust that his feelings for Juliet were worth the risk they’d both be taking if things went any further between them.

Feeling Juliet’s eyes on him, he looked over at her and their eyes met. A wave of warmth spread through him, and he couldn’t help but smile when her eyes widened and she gasped. “What is that?” she asked. “What are you doing to me?”

“It’s more like what we’re doing to each other,” he said. “It’s the connection between us. Don’t ask me to explain it to you, but I’ve never felt it with anyone else but you; that’s what scared the hell out of me.”

“But that can’t be right. I’ve been feeling it since we met,” she said, shaking her head. “We didn’t even know each other, we couldn’t have had a connection then.”

“It’s not the kind of connection you’re thinking about, at least not completely,” he said, then paused, searching for the right words to explain, wondering if it would scare her. “It’s deeper than that. Our souls match perfectly together, two halves that make a whole, or at least that’s what the legends say. Alone, we’re both strong, capable people; together, we’re even stronger; the dragon inside me craves that power, which is what creates the bond.”

“And it can never be broken,” Juliet said, staring into the fire, a thoughtful look on her face. “That can’t always be a good thing.”

“My parents were bonded, but I think they truly hate each other now,” he said with a sigh. “They were supposed to be the golden couple, the ones who were actually in love even though their marriage was arranged, but the glow didn’t last. By the time I was old enough to remember, they fought constantly. When it got really bad, Mom would take me and leave. I can’t tell you how many times my entire life was uprooted because they couldn’t get along. Eventually, my mother would go back home, dragging me with her, only for them to start fighting a few days later, and the entire cycle would repeat itself. When I finally got old enough, I put my foot down and refused to go with her, but I guess the damage had already been done. Love seemed more like a curse to me than a blessing, at least until I met George and Annie.”

“They were different than your parents,” she said. “They showed you the other side of love.”

He nodded, then took a deep breath. “They were so committed to each other. I’d never seen anything like it, and at first, I didn’t believe it could be real. But the more time I spent with them, the more I began to understand what was possible between two people who truly loved each other,” he said. “I was just beginning to think that I was wrong, that there might be aplace in my life for the kind of love they shared. Then George was killed, and I saw the price that Annie paid; her grief was deep and endless, in the end it killed her.”

Juliet was silent for a second, then took his hand. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that,” she said. “I think I understand now what I was asking, I don’t blame you for saying no. I shouldn’t have put you in that position, and I’m sorry.”

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