Page 33 of To Match A Dragon's Fire

“I’m surprised you don’t have hired help. A pretty boy like you doesn’t seem the type to get his hands dirty.” She turned her pert nose up higher.

I ignored her insult, trying to think over the sound of my beast preening that she thought I was attractive. “Do you need help?”

“Not from you,” Ember snapped.

“That’s not…” I blew out a heated breath. This was not going well. Humans didn’t normally get under my skin this deep, but as Fred said, this one was a particularly good distraction. “Never mind. I have no intention of helping you tear up my backyard anyway.”

That was not a funny joke.

I knew it as soon as I tried to deliver it.

Fred was right. I was failing here. And I was forced to ask myself again just what the fuck was wrong with me.

Ember fumed as she stepped into my space. Her scent made me growl with a primal hunger. She didn’t heed the predator in that warning.

“It’smybackyard. Shouldn’t you be clearing your stuff out of here by now?” She looked pointedly at the greenhouse behind me. I’d been alive long enough to notice the hint of jealous desperation in her eyes.

“You’re welcome to whatever produce you need,” I said, trying to salvage the meager hope this conversation never had.

“I don’t want your pity.” Her eyes burned as she turned them up to me. “I want you to leave.”

I wanted to scoop her into my arms.

Wait… I…

“If you’re not out of here by tomorrow, I’ll personally bring the sheriff out here to escort you off my land.” Ember spun on her heel to leave.

“What? No.” I grabbed her arm, feeling that heat burn between us again.

She must’ve felt it too, because she looked shocked, instead of violent like I expected in response to being touched by a strange man that she apparently despised.

“You can’t go into town. It isn’t safe.” I licked my lips, watching her breath catch as she tracked the movement.

“Why isn’t it safe?” her voice came out on a breathy whisper that had my body tensing with need.

“Those people.” I shook my head, trying to clear the spell she was casting. “They’re not welcoming to outsiders.”

Ember’s laugh caught me off guard as she pushed away my hand. The hurt within the sound didn’t mirror the stoic set of her beautiful face.

“Lucky for me then.” Ember grabbed the hoe from the dirt and walked backward as if she was afraid to turn her back to me. “I’m from here. You aren’t. So maybe you should take this as your last warning and leave.”

11

Ember

Cheap Shots

“Those people aren’t welcoming to outsiders,”I mocked the arrogant jerk’s words as I loaded another magazine with bullets.

I knew that better than anyone. I’d grown up here—thank you very much—andthosepeople weren’t even welcoming to their own half the time.

But I was willing to deal with the drama because the way he’d spoken yesterday let me know he had something to hide.

He should be scared of the town and what was going to happen, because when I came back with the sheriff, his butt was getting the boot.

It was such a nice ass too.

Sucked that he was a trespasser.

---