Page 14 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

5

EMILY

Jax followed me halfway to my room. “What about lunch?”

I continued walking and shook my head. “I need to shower first.”

He grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop and face him. His dark hair was slick with sweat which made his ice blue eyes stand out even more. But instead of being playful, they were serious.

Welcome back, Jax.

“You need to eat,” he said. “I could hear your stomach from the stairway.”

I smiled. “I really need to shower. I stink.”

He sniffed. “No. You don’t.”

“I would feel better showering first,” I argued.

“Come on. Ten minutes is all I’m asking. That’s long enough for you to eat a sandwich. Then you can take your shower,” he added.

I stood silently considering his words. He had a point. It might be easier to work through all the hormones raging through my body if I had something on my stomach. Maybe good food would be a suitable substitute for what it really wants.

“I won’t take no for an answer,” Jax said and started pulling me toward the kitchen.

“I was actually going to agree with you,” I muttered as he continued to drag me along. “I can also walk for myself. I don’t need you dragging me behind you.”

“Fair enough.” He released my arm and I fell into step behind him. “But just so you know, I wasn’t going to drag you for very far. I was going to carry you.”

“Yeah right,” I muttered.

He turned around and leveled his serious gaze on me. “You don’t believe I would?”

My heart skipped a beat. “No, I believe that you think you would. My willingness to be captured and carried is a whole other story.”

He smirked as he listened. “All right then.”

We continued toward the kitchen in silence for several moments. Then Jax spoke again.

“Do you usually need to consult with your conscience before making decisions?”

When it came to him and the other two men, apparently, I did. But I wasn’t going to tell him that. “Not really. Was just weighing my options.”

“And?” he asked as we stepped into the kitchen. He promptly went toward a cabinet next to the fridge and pulled out some bread before grabbing out some tomatoes, mayo, lettuce, and grated parmesan from the fridge.

“And I figured you may be right. I can’t think on an empty stomach and though I desperately need that shower, having lunch first isn’t going to be the end of the world. I can eat, and then I can get clean.”

He chuckled to himself as he slapped a layer of mayo onto two slices of bread. He stacked slices of tomato on top of each with a leaf of lettuce before heading to the counter where the bacon sat leftover from breakfast. He swiped a few slices for each sandwich and then topped both off with another piece of bread. He handed one to me and took a seat at the island.

“So, why didn’t you leave before now?” he asked around his bite.

I took the time to chew my first chunk of the sandwich before answering. Once I had swallowed it down, I shrugged. “As I said before, I needed proof to be let out of the arrangement. Otherwise, I would just be dragged right on back.”

“You still could have come here,” he said.

I met his gaze for a moment, and I wasn’t sure what was behind his eyes but there was a seriousness in them again, which only added to my confusion. He was gorgeous and cryptic, and my hormones spiked again. Heat filled my neck, inching into my cheeks.

“I didn’t think this place was an option,” I said after swallowing down the last bite of food. “After how I left, I figured you three would want nothing else to do with me.”

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