Page 7 of The Baby Dragon Cafe
Her eyes welled up with tears, and she quickly blinked them away. He was overwhelmed by the urge to do something, then, though he didn’t know what.
“Can I … um … help?” he asked.
“No, no, it’s okay!” she said, forcing a smile. “I mean, it isn’t, obviously, but it’s fine. Not likeactuallyfine, but it will be. I think.” She took a deep breath. “Well, I’ll let you go!”
She was dismissing him. Of course she was dismissing him. He was so useless.
Saphira stepped forward, and his heartbeat quickened. Fora moment, he thought she would touch him, and he stopped breathing, but she was only giving Sparky one last pet. She looked up at him with eyes he could drown in.
“Goodnight, Aiden,” she said. A shiver ran down his spine.
Aiden turned away from her, heading toward the door. But he only made it two steps before he stopped, an idea forming in his mind.
“Wait,” he said, turning back. She was already heading up the stairs, but stopped at his voice.
“Does Sparky want another treat?” she asked.
His heart beat fast. Maybe this was a bad idea; maybe she wouldn’t want to; maybe he shouldn’t even ask. But before he could overthink it further, he blurted the words out.
“Yes … no, I mean—would you be willing to train him?”
Her eyes widened with surprise. Aiden had looked for trainers before, but he’d had no luck. Anyone who was good with dragons tended to have one of their own and didn’t want another to train because they could be such a handful.
Yet here Saphira was and, as far as he could tell, she didn’t have a dragon of her own.
“But you’re his rider,” she said. The rider–dragon bond was special, unbreakable. As such, riders always trained their own dragons.
But Aiden had tried for the past six months and made no progress. The Sterlings were one of the most esteemed Drakkon families anyone could belong to; he came from generations of riders. Every other member of his vast family had taken to their dragons instantly, but here Aiden was, still struggling—a failure.
Perhaps Saphira could help him. She clearly loved dragons and was good with them and …
“I’ll pay you, of course,” he said, walking toward her. She was on the third step, and he had to look up at her to meet her eyes.
“I don’t know,” she said, trailing off, but her gaze went to the espresso machine.Say yes, a voice chanted in his head.Please say yes.The more he thought about it, the more desperate he was for her to agree.
“An advance upfront—how about two thousand?” he said. “Then weekly—is five hundred okay?”
Her jaw dropped. “That’s a lot.”
“I can afford it, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he said.
“No, I’m not,” she said. “I know who your family is.”
Her eyes went to Sparky, then. She came down a step, and his breathing hitched. They were standing close enough to touch now. Blood rushed in his ears.
“Okay,” she said, meeting his eyes. “Deal.”
Chapter 3
The next morning, Saphira woke up a little before dawn to get ready for work. Gold bangles jingled on her arm as she changed into a yellow dress that reminded her of vanilla custard.
Her stomach rumbled on cue as she loosely braided her hair back. She wondered if there were any elaichi buns leftover from yesterday. Saphira had hardly slept last night, so maybe breakfast would revive her. She was hardly ever functional before her morning caffeine fix.
Just as Saphira contemplated exactly what to eat, the doorbell rang downstairs. She stepped out of her small apartment and headed for the stairs leading to the cafe, wondering who could be here at this hour. She didn’t have any deliveries scheduled for this early. The sun hadn’t even risen yet; the world was still dark.
As she opened the side door to find a tall and handsome figure standing in front of her, Saphira recalled preciselywhyshe had barely been able to sleep last night.
“Aiden!” she said, voice high. “Hello!”
