Page 8 of Under the Dragon's Spell
Don't read anything into those words.
I knew I was just another applicant, but the way he looked at me, damn. Did he look at everyone like that? I hoped not.
He took the chair opposite me.
"Tell me a little bit about yourself, Adrian," he said. "You're unmated? I find that surprising."
"I wasn't always un… Well, I mean, I wasn't always without a partner. Just never married or anything." I tried tokeep the hurt out of my voice, but didn't quite manage. For a minute there, looking at Tyrel, I'd almost forgotten that I wasn't over my last boyfriend yet.
How did he do that?
"Recent breakup?" he asked, a curious expression gracing his handsome face. He leaned back a little, as if to give me space. I didn't want him to back off, though—I wanted him to lean in, as ridiculous as that was.
"Sorry, I'm a little direct," he said when I failed to say anything. "But this is why we're meeting, no? To get to know each other a bit? I can imagine you might not be too comfortable carrying a strange man's offspring, and in the same way, I'm not too comfortable having a complete stranger carry my offspring."
Well, when he put it like that. I hadn't thought about it from that angle, but he had several reasons to carefully pick the man he wanted to mix his genes with.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just still having a hard time talking about that relationship."And if you knew what had ended it, you would never consider me for this job.
For a moment, I thought about telling him how I hadn't been able to conceive with Rory. If I really didn't want this to go any further, that was my way out. But… he fixed me with his eyes and I didn't want him to walk away just yet. It felt as if something terrible was going to happen if I let him do that. What exactly, I didn't know, but I didn't want to find out, either.
"We had some problems," I said eventually. Just that moment, a waitress came by our table to take our orders.
"And what can I bring you today?" she asked Tyrel, leaning in a little too close for my liking, as if she was familiar with him. Did he come here often?
Of course he does. This is probably where he does all his so called interviews. Don't think you're so special.
"I'll have the usual," Tyrel said, confirming my suspicions. Then he looked at me. "What about you?"
What about me? Right. He wanted my order. I turned to the waitress. "I'll take a regular coffee. Black."
She nodded at me, gave me a smile that didn't seem genuine, and off she went.
"You come here often?" I asked Tyrel before I could stop myself. I wasn't usually so aggressive, but damn, the thought of all the other men he was currently flirting with bothered me. I'd already had one lover leave me because he'd knocked up someone else, and I couldn't go through that again.
"It's a nice place," Tyrel said. Then he leaned forward a bit with a smile on his face that made my heart skip a beat. "Jealous?" His eyes seemed to glow as he looked at me.
Tell him the truth.
The thought came unbidden, and it felt… foreign.
And Tyrel's eyes really did glow. In a way that made me feel both hot and a little uncomfortable at the same time. His eyes were so intense that part of me wanted to do whatever he asked me to do. But at the same time, I realized what a ridiculous notion that was. I hardly knew this man.
"I'm not jealous," I said, if only to spite the voice in my head.
"Oh?" Tyrel raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" His eyes lost their glow and for a moment, I thought I'd imagined it ever being there in the first place, but then it was back, even stronger than before. He fixed me with his gaze and I couldn't break eye contact. I couldn't do anything except stare back at him and… and what? Wait for an order?
What is he doing?
The heat I'd felt before came back, like invisible tongues of flames licking at every part of me.
"Are you still in love with your ex?" he asked.
"How could I be?" I shot back. After the way Rory had kicked me out…
Tyrel seemed a little taken aback by my outburst, but persevered. "Tell me why you two called it quits."
"No." It was none of his business and I was growing really uncomfortable with this conversation and whatever he was trying to do to me. I hadn't believed all the stories of dragon magic, but damn, there was definitely something weird going on here. Something bad. I didn't even care that it was making me hard, too; I just wanted it to stop. So I forced myself to rip my eyes away from him and stood.
