Page 22 of Hungry Like A Dragon
She glanced up at him. His face was somber, his eyes wide and honest. “You don’t?”
Don’t you dare pout, she warned her dragon.
He shook his head. “Not part of my life plan.”
“Me or…anyone?” Jeez, why had she asked that question? She made it sound like she cared that he wasn’t interested in her, which was stupid because she sure as hell wasn’t interested in him. At least, not as a potential mate.
One side of his mouth quirked. “Anyone.”
The deep exhale was released before she could catch it. His smile grew wider as he tapped the tip of her nose. A perfectly innocent gesture that sent butterflies to fluttering in her belly.
“Why are you so adamantly against love and happiness?” he asked.
“Not against happiness. Or love,” she said, raising her glass in mock toast before taking a drink. “It’s a family thing. My parents. And a couple of aunts and uncles. And my grandparents. I come from a long line of loveless relationships.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the vast majority of the Sharmells have done the whole kid first, mating later, happiness never.”
“You’re saying a few members of your family got pregnant and mated because of the baby, even though they weren’t in love?”
“Not a few. A lot. Most. In fact, Uncle Blake is the only relative I know of who didn’t end up in a loveless relationship, and I’m convinced it’s because he was gay. No chance of accidentally getting pregnant.”
“The fact that condoms are the only birth control that works for dragons is a bit of a challenge, I suppose.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. And I swore to myself that I wouldn’t follow in their footsteps. Except I’m already halfway there, and now you’re here, and even though I’m attracted to you, that’s not love. It’s lust. Big difference. And I need you to understand that. I’m not going to be like the rest of my family. I’m breaking the loveless relationship cycle if it kills me.”
“I understand.”
She canted her head and studied him. “You do?”
He touched the rim of his glass to hers. “Now that we got that out of the way, will you let me help you with this assignment?”
She blew out a gust of air that fluttered her bangs. “You aren’t going to let up until I do, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Ugh. Well, let’s go sit down. It’s a pretty long story.”
***
She sat on the couch with her feet propped on the coffee table, her laptop resting on her thighs. Noah was next to her, his leg pressed against hers, his arms resting on his knees. Two wineglasses and a pitcher sat on the table. The pitcher was two-thirds empty.
Noah made damn good sangria.
Petra pointed at the screen. “I knew her name was Dahlia, which isn’t terribly common, so that played in my favor. And based on information from Gabe’s father, we believe she’s living here in New Orleans. Within the first few months after I got here, I tracked down three different Dahlias who weren’t the right person. And then I figured out I was pregnant. I had to take a break to mentally beat myself over the head for being so stupid.”
“You weren’t stupid on your own. I helped.”
“I had never, ever had sex without protection before. Remember the whole refusing to follow in my family’s footsteps?”
“Me either,” Noah insisted. “Remember the whole not interested in mating bit?”
She chuckled. “We are a pair, aren’t we?”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice soft. “We are.”
“Anyway, after a while, it dawned on me that being pregnant was going to make this assignment ten times harder, and I didn’t really want to stay and have the baby here. I honestly thought I’d be home by the time she was born.”
