Page 16 of Dragon Thief of New York
Lincoln tilts his head, looking confused. The man with him drops his eyes to the ground.
“That’s Damian, remember?” Otto wrinkles his brow and twirls his lip ring with his tongue, glancing nervously at the guy standing next to Lincoln.
“Right.” I nod slowly, remembering Otto said something about a friend named Damian. “The guy with a great bathtub. But what the fuck is he doing in my apartment with my son?”
“Mom, he’s been here since you came home.” Lincoln’s looking at me like he’s worried I’ve completely fallen off the deep end.
Shit, I’m puffing smoke again. I bite my bottom lip between my teeth and close my eyes. I’ve got to calm down. It’s not that big of a deal that Otto invited a friend over.
“You really don’t remember?” Lincoln asks. “He came in with you.”
“No, he didn’t.” I open my eyes and scan Damian. He’s annoyingly gorgeous with a strong jawline and straight, masculine nose. His dark eyes draw me in like a whirlpool, full of swirling emotion I can’t understand. I shake my head. “I’d remember him.”
But Lincoln doesn’t lie. And I’ve forgotten things before. Shit, maybe I should go see that neurologist again. I look to Otto for help.
He’s gaping at me with eyes as big as the dinner plate in his hand. “Ooooh shit.” He shakes his head. “How? When?” He turns to Damian. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Damian steps around Lincoln to take Otto’s hand, an intimate gesture that probably should upset me, considering Otto’s my mate, but something warms low in my gut.
“I didn’t think it was important,” Damian says. “It doesn’t matter. She didn’t choose me. And she’syourmate now.”
“What’s going on?” Lincoln asks. “I feel like you’re having a conversation over my head again.”
“Same.” I put my hands on my hips. “And I don’t care for it.”
It’s clear they’re talking about me, but I’m missing a whole hell of a lot of the subtext.
Damian sighs like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I should go.”
“Oh no, you don’t.” I grab his arm, feeling more familiar with the man than I should. “Sit down and explain why the fuck I don’t remember you.”
Damian looks at where I’m touching his arm—his very muscular arm. I quickly let go, but there’s a tingling sensation that lingers as I pull out a chair at the kitchen table and sit down. Slowly, Damian does the same, Lincoln and Otto following his lead.
“It’s a bit of a story.” Damian spins the empty plate in front of him, adjusting it like it wasn’t facing the right way even though it’s a solid white plate with no top or bottom.
“We’ve got time.” I pass Lincoln the panang curry, since I know it’s his favorite, and let him dish up first.
“I don’t mean it’s long. It’s just…” He sighs. “It might be difficult to believe.”
“Ha! Can’t be stranger than what I’ve already experienced today.”
“It might be,” he mutters under his breath.
“I still can’t believe it.” Otto stares at his friend with the same wide-eyed expression he had before. Lincoln passes him the rice, and he dishes some onto his plate without looking away from Damian. He keeps shaking his head as if he’s in shock. “How did this happen? I thought… why didn’t you tell anyone?”
Damian ignores the food, gaze locked on his empty plate. “It was the last day of Goddess Week and the first day of law school.”
“You went to law school?” Otto asks.
“For one week.” Damian’s gaze comes up to meet mine. “When you walked into the classroom, you stole my breath away.”
My heart beats erratically in my chest, my skin clammy and hot. “I’ve never met you before,” I whisper, but he just gives me a sad smile.
“I made someone change seats with me so I could sit next to you. Borrowed a pen as an excuse to talk to you. At the end of class, I asked you out to lunch. We spent the rest of the day… and night together. Then, I told you I’m a dragon, showed you my dragon form, explained about Goddess Week, and asked you to make a choice.”
The tremble in my hands is so bad I drop my fork. It clangs against the plate, the noise disturbingly loud. “That didn’t happen.”
Otto scoots closer and wraps an arm around my shoulders.
