Page 15 of Cash

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Cash

She was notwhat I expected. I watched her hands as she worked. She was afraid to touch me. I considered teasing her a little, asking what was so scary about a big guy like me. Did she know who or what I really was?

Only one way to find out.

“What do you know about me? Did Mary tell you why I need this?”

She shook her head. Her hair was the color of wheat, hanging in a braid over one shoulder. I looked at the top of it while she focused on finding a vein in my arm.

“I got the impression that this is very much a need-to-know sort of thing, and I don’t need to know. At least, not according to those who assigned me to you.”

“Why did they assign you?” I winced when the needle pierced my skin.

Her blue eyes met mine for the merest second, then went back to what she was doing.

“Honestly? I have no idea.” She shrugged. “I guess they figure I can be trusted. And I’m probably the only person in my group who had any success with work. A bunch of slackers, really.”

“What’s your work?”

“My team is working to develop a new vaccine. It’s sort of confidential.” She glanced at me in between removing one full tube and replacing it with another. “Like what we’re doing here.”

I grinned. “Well, that’s two points in your favor. You’re a discreet, hard worker. It’s not rocket science. You’re the best person for the job.”

And I wanted to shake the hand of the man who suggested her to Mary. I’d shake his hand, buy him a drink, maybe put his kids through school, if he had any. Because she was gorgeous.

My dragon thought so, too. He was aware of every move she made. The smell of her skin, the way her pulse jumped in the side of her neck. The touch of her hands. The warmth coming from her, calling out, wrapping itself around me.

This is way too important for us to screw it up, I reminded him when a whiff of her light, musky perfume made my cock thicken. I reminded the dragon about the rest of our clan. His family as well as mine. If we scared this girl away, we were screwed. Mary’s buddy Harrison, wouldn’t want to work with us anymore.

And Mary would have my ass. So would the rest of the family when I got home.

“What about you? What do you do?”

She was up to three tubes and inserted another. Blood filled it like magic, thick and deep red.

“Security,” I replied smoothly. It wasn’t strictly a lie. We just happened to guard a secret cache instead of a bank or a store.

“That makes sense,” she murmured.

Suddenly, her head ducked a lot lower, but I caught a glimpse of the deep red color that painted her cheeks.

This was too good to let go. “Why does it make sense?” I asked, playing innocent.

The scent of her perfume got stronger, which told me her skin was growing warmer. Was it embarrassment or something else? Arousal?

“It’s not important.” She covered the insertion point with a piece of gauze before withdrawing the needle. “There you go. Hold this.”

Our fingers brushed when I placed mine over the gauze pad. She turned away before I could read her expression. Was she as curious about me as I was about her?

“You know about me?” I asked.

Might as well get it out of the way. She probably had questions and if she was busy asking them—silently, to herself—she wouldn’t pay enough attention to solving my iron problem.

“Yes. I know about you.” Matter-of-fact.

“And it doesn’t bother you? Who I am, I mean?”

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