Page 74 of To Match A Dragon's Fire

She doesn’t know that yet,I tried to soothe him.

Ember must’ve felt it though. There was a pull between us that couldn’t be explained by chemistry. We fit together, sitting side by side, and an invisible force demanded us closer.

She fought against her instincts out of principle. But I could tell she was affected too by the way she flushed with desire when our legs accidentally brushed and the quickening of her heart when she looked at me.

Hurry up and tell her,he grumbled.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ember was watching me intently. How great it felt to be the object of her attention.

I was in over my head.

“Perfect.” I sipped the lukewarm water.

It was the best thing I’d ever tasted.

“Where are you from, originally?” Riley asked, drawing me out of Ember’s hazel eyes flecked with gold and back to the room.

“I’ve spent most of my life traveling around the different entry points to the Pacific Ring, but themajority of my clan’s roots are nomadic European,” I explained, hoping I wasn’t boring them.

Most humans I’d met didn’t have a long attention span when it came to history.

To my surprise, every female in the room was hanging on my every word.

But I didn’t want to speak about me. “Where have you traveled?” I turned back to Ember.

“A few places.” She shrugged, looking nervous, and I remembered that I had an extensive list of all the addresses she’d lived since leaving here.

“Ember’s been all around this area,” Willow said, breezing over to the table with a tray of sandwiches in her hand. “She used to barrel race. Didn’t you go to nationals in Montana one time? I always wanted to visit Yellowstone.”

“But she moved down to San Diego after graduation. That was right before the Pacific and North American fault crash where LA shifted north to San Francisco,” Riley said, passing around a stack of thin multi-colored ceramic plates.

I recalled that time a few years ago.

Malachy hadn’t taken it well.

And I remembered the addresses on the notices I sent to all the random locations, some where she and different males were the only registered tenants of the place.

Ember let out a mortified groan as she put her face in her hands. “I was finding myself, okay? Can we leave my travels in the past?”

Her embarrassment made my beast smile, soothing his jolt of protective jealousy. She’d lived an entire life before we’d met. So had I.

“You ride horses?” I asked, thinking of the old rodeo posters hanging on the wall in the back bedroom. That room was a child’s room and I struggled to place her in it now.

“Rode. As in past tense.” She lifted her face from her hands and offered a sheepish smile. “I started barrel racing in middle school and took home a few belt buckles from local competitions, but I was never pro.”

“She’s lying.” Riley took her seat across the table. “Don’t let her downplay her accomplishments.”

“It’s not good to lie,” Harper scolded as she climbed onto the chair to my left.

“She’s not actually lying.” Willow set down a bowl of cut fruit. I was pleased to see it was from my greenhouse and wondered if Ember knew. I wouldn’t say anything if they hadn’t told her though.

I didn’t need to stroke my ego.

“But Ember doesn’t give herself enough credit,” Willow continued as she draped a napkin across her lap. “Did you know she was rodeo queen two years in a row?”

“Did you wear a big dress?” Harper gasped.

“Please let this be poison,” Ember mumbled as she took a sandwich from the plate.

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