Page 10 of Dragon His Heels
Instead of giving in to temptation—booze or man—she focused on putting away Ruby’s clothes. And peeking out the window far more frequently than was strictly necessary. From this vantage point, she could see the beach, the dragons clustered there, capturing the end of summer rays, splashing in the water, taking advantage of one of Mother Nature’s finest days.
Not that she noticed any of them enjoying themselves down there. Nope. Her focus was entirely on one man.
Gabe sat in a lounge chair at the water’s edge, his feet buried in the wet sand, waves lapping at his ankles, while Ruby danced in the water in front of him. A couple of young girls who looked to be Ruby’s age wandered up to her and, a few moments later, she joined them in the sand, building not just a castle but what looked like an entire village.
Nothing to see here, she told her dragon, and she started to turn away from the window, but movement caught her eye and she glanced back to watch as a woman sauntered across the sand, heading straight for Gabe. Her hair was red, almost as bright as her swimsuit; what little there was of it, anyway. The swimsuit, that was. There was plenty of hair—long, luxuriant locks draping nearly to her toned, rounded ass.
Talia pressed her hand to the glass and stared down at them, the task of putting away clothing abandoned.
She didn’t recognize the woman, but that didn’t mean anything. This colony where she’d grown up was huge.
Brushing that wave of hair over her shoulder in an exaggerated motion, the woman thrust out her hip, resting one hand there while reaching out to touch Gabe with the other. The magic of the shift shimmered across Talia’s skin.
“Jeez, Talia, get a grip,” she said. Turning into a dragon and tearing a hole in the roof over Ruby’s bedroom was probably not a wise idea.
Best to hurry downstairs in human form and go check things out.
For Ruby’s sake, of course.
A few short minutes later, she was making her way across the sand, her flip-flops impeding the effort as they sucked up the white granules and filled the space under her arches. She finally kicked them off and then had to check herself to ensure she wasn’t running as she hurried over to them, a wide, fake smile plastered on her face.
“Hey,” she said, her voice breathy, as she stepped between Gabe and the overly friendly redhead.
He smirked, the bastard, like he knew why she was out there. Hell, she wasn’t entirely sure why she had come running like this. To be honest, this woman looked like exactly the sort of female Gabe would want to have a brief, no-commitment hookup with.
Oh.That’swhy she was out here.
“How’s it going?” she asked.
“Great,” Gabe said. “Crystal here was just about to give me her number.”
Crystal giggled.
“Excuse me?” Talia sounded as indignant as a jealous lover.
Gabe waved his phone in her face. “You know, her digits.”
“I know what a phone number is,” Talia said through gritted teeth. “I’d just like to point out that she doesn’t look like the type to want to become stepmother to your child.”
“Oh, I love children,” Red gushed.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Gabe asked.
Talia waved at the little girl, still playing with her new friends at the water’s edge. “Ruby. If you introduce them, she might get attached. And then what will you do?”
Gabe glanced at the hopeful-looking redhead. “Uh, not introduce them in the first place. You know my rule.”
“You have a rule about introducing Ruby to your flings?” Talia asked.
Gabe ground his teeth and said, “No. About one-night stands.”
“You have a rule about one-night stands?” Crystal sounded confused. Talia honestly didn’t blame her.
Gabe sucked in air and blew it out in great, smoky huffs, staring down Talia the entire time. She couldn’t see his eyes because of the sunglasses, but she sure as hell could feel his gaze. And it wasn’t hot like it had been earlier, either. In fact, it was pretty damn frosty.
Finally, he stuffed his phone into the pocket of his swim trunks. “Never mind,” he ground out. “I don’t want your number.”
“But…”
