Page 18 of Hungry Like A Dragon
“Where’s Sadie?” she asked.
“With Rebecca.”
“And why are you here instead of with your daughter?”
Good question. Best not to answer truthfully. “I was hungry. Rebecca gave me some recommendations to try local cuisine.”
She didn’t look like she believed him, and he didn’t blame her.
“Look, you need to get out of here. I’m in the middle of something and—”
“Gigi?”
Petra winced. Noah glanced over his shoulder at her date, heading in their direction.
“Gigi?” Noah repeated, and she averted her gaze.
“This guy bothering you?” the date asked.
If she says…
“No. Not really. Nothing I can’t handle. I’ll be right there,” she said, dismissing him.
Except he didn’t leave. Instead, he gave Noah a head to toe once-over and flexed his biceps under his skintight red T-shirt.
Bring it, asshole. Noah stared him down, without doing the bullshit pec-flexing act. Wasn’t necessary.
“Gods above,” Petra snapped. She placed her hand on Noah’s chest and gave him a little push, and he stayed right where he was. Although he certainly enjoyed the contact. More than he should.
“Go away.” But instead of dropping her hand, she curled her fingers into his shirt. “This doesn’t concern you,” she said, her gaze on his chest.
Her date latched onto her hand and pulled it away, and Noah grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back before slamming him face first into the brick wall. Leaning in, he whispered in his ear, “Don’t ever fucking touch the lady like that again.” He pulled back and then shoved the guy into the wall again for good measure before stepping away as a group of employees came rushing toward them.
“Time to get out of here,” he said to Petra, who grabbed his hand and dragged him behind her as she headed for the nearest exit. It took her well over a block to realize she was still holding his hand, at which point she jerked hers away and continued speed- walking without looking at him.
“Gigi, huh?” he said conversationally, easily keeping up with her hurried pace.
She didn’t respond.
“So why’d you give the guy a fake name?”
“None of your business.”
“You just had a date with a volatile asshole and you gave him a fake name. That’s not normal behavior, Petra. Why don’t you tell me what the hell is going on?”
Before she could say anything—if she even planned to—he snapped his fingers. “The assignment. This has something to do with breaking the curse, doesn’t it?”
“Why are you here, Noah?”
“I told you, I was hungry.”
“Bullshit.”
“Okay, fine. I wanted to check up on you. Make sure everything was okay.” That was close enough to the truth, especially given he didn’t even want to admit the full truth to himself.
She sighed and stopped walking. He dodged a group of humans heading down the sidewalk and stepped to the side, leaning his shoulder against the nearest building and trying to resist the urge to reach out and touch her. She was obviously irritated, and he was pretty sure most of it was directed at him, even though it was the other guy who’d manhandled her.
“Look, I know I should have told you about Sadie sooner.”
