Page 14 of Charming the Dragon
Despite the words, Hayley heard the love behind them. They had to be close, like her and her sister.
Luke stated, “I’m surprised to see you here, Nathan. Taking the female out on a date?”
“No. Definitely not.”
His firm tone irked Hayley. She turned away from him and smiled at Luke. “Nathan and I will be working together on a project. I just arrived today, and Denise asked Nathan to take me here and show me around.”
Luke grinned. “Well, then I’m going to invite myself to join you, too.”
Nathan growled. “Aren’t you running behind on your building project?”
Luke rolled his eyes, looked at Hayley, and explained, “I help my dad with his construction company. We’re working on the new cottages.” He moved his gaze to Nathan. “And we’ve finished for the day. Even if we can see just fine in the dark, no one wants to freeze their bollocks off at three in the morning.”
“You’re out fairly late most nights anyway, so you should be used to it. What was her name again?”
“No one.”
As the two dragonmen stared at each other, she sensed undercurrents she couldn’t begin to understand. Wanting to break the tension, she said, “Well, I’m going inside. When you two finish your argument, come find me.”
She walked into the pub and stopped to scan the room, but didn’t spot anyone she knew.
But then an older guy who looked a lot like Nathan waved at her. She went to the bar, and he said, “You must be Hayley. I’m Paul Woodhouse. Didn’t my son accompany you?”
“Yes, but he’s outside with his cousin.”
“Right, then let me get you something to drink whilst you wait.” She glanced at the door, but Paul said, “Don’t worry about them. They’re more like brothers and they can row for a while.”
Hayley gingerly sat on the bar stool, ordered a soda, and did her best not to keep looking at the door. Instead, she studied her surroundings, noticed someone setting up a karaoke machine, and decided she would have a go and relax a little.
Yes, singing a song at the top of her lungs was just the thing she needed. And so she put in a request, sipped her drink, and waited for her turn.
Nathan glared at his cousin.“Why the fuck are you stirring the pot?”
Luke put on a fake, innocent expression. “Me? Why would I ever do that?”
“Yes, you, and it’s exactly the kind of thing you’d do.”
His cousin laughed. “You kept stealing glances at her, so I wanted to test something. Is she your true mate?”
Nathan blinked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Luke crossed his arms over his chest. “Is she? You definitely fancy her, and when I tried to flirt, your pupils started flashing rapidly.”
He asked his dragon,Is she?
I don’t know. We haven’t spent much time around her, and both of you have been extremely formal and distant. But I like her.
Oh, fuck.
Stop it. Would it be the worst thing in the world?
Yes.
And they say dragons are dramatic.
Luke asked, “Well?”
“I don’t know.”
