Page 17 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

And unlike Marcus, I would refuse to let her go. Ever.

“He’s right. I need to go…” Jax said as he let Emily go and then settled his gaze on me. “Unless you would like to pull a double.”

“Not on your life,” I muttered. His reactions told me he was aware what he was doing did to me, and I hated that he knew me so well. Whatever he did with his time with Emily, he was trying to rub it in my face.

It wasn’t like Jax to want to blow off work, especially for Emily. But we all had missed her terribly. Her absence was felt in the air we breathed each day that she wasn’t bouncing down the halls.

But that jealousy was getting the better of me and I took a deep breath in. She didn’t smell like him, and he wasn’t bathed in her scent. So at least he didn’t have sex with her. It was a small miracle. Very small. It was only a matter of time before he lost his self-control and took her.

Not if I got to her first.

Jax laughed and clapped my arm. “Oh, come now, you know you love me.”

“What has gotten into you?” I asked, glaring at him. “Since when do you joke around?”

He shrugged, holding his hands at his sides, about shoulder level. “Things are changing. And for the better, my friend.”

I glared at him. He wasn’t making a lick of sense. But I supposed I couldn’t blame him. Emily had a tendency of making the people around her—particularly me—euphoric. But that didn’t matter when we had a job to do. “You better be going.”

Jax sighed. “I really do. Don’t have too much fun.”

He seemed sobered up. A little. Like the threat of me getting to Emily before he could had started bothering him. I almost chuckled.

Good. He should be worried.

Jax walked off toward the middle of the courtyard and shifted into his white dragon. He let out a roar which caused Emily to shriek and laugh seconds before he flew away. I turned to face the woman I had fallen in love with years ago but had remained out of reach thanks to being attached to Marcus. She leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest, smiling at me.

“So,” I said, clapping my hands, “tell me all the juicy bits.”

She laughed. “You’re impossible.”

“Maybe, but you have to admit you like it,” I said as I walked through the door. Emily stood off to the side, allowing me through. “Besides, you promised.”

“Maybe like it, and you’re right. I did promise,” she said and headed into the living room as I shut the door on my way through.

“Seriously, how was your day?” I asked as I followed her to the couch.

She shrugged. “It was fun.”

“But was it too much fun?” I asked hoping I didn’t sound to desperate.

She shrugged again and took a seat on the couch. “Maybe.”

“I need the details,” I said with a little too much gusto. I cleared my throat and added, “I’m dying to know.”

She laughed. “Nosey much?”

“Possibly, but spill,” I said and sat on the arm of the couch next to her.

“We finished the game, sparred, ate lunch, and then I took a long shower,” she said.

“You’re making me jealous,” I said.

She laughed. “You’ll live.”

“I hope so. Can’t leave you to deal with that dragon alone,” I said, tossing a thumb in the direction Jax took off in.

It was nice letting my guard down like this. Normally it was my way of coping with uncomfortable situations. But this time was genuine. Real. And I couldn’t get enough of it. Though I was fully aware she didn’t have any thoughts of being with me when she first came around, it wasn’t the same for me. I had feelings for her. Deep ones. Ones that had resurfaced with a vengeance with her return.

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