How to Date a Dragon (9 page)

Nick and Anthony grasped hands beneath Drake’s back and thighs, forming a makeshift stretcher, and lifted him carefully. Bliss hurried to the door and held it open for them as they passed through it. Then she fumbled with the lock on her outside door until she managed to get the key to turn.
Damn
sticky
lock.

She held the door open, and the trio slowly made their way up the narrow stairway to the landing in front of her apartment.

Bliss could tell Drake was in pain by his occasional wince, but he didn’t moan or cry out, even when jostled. She felt bad for him but still wondered what had happened outside. Did she have a right to ask?

Hell, she was a Hall-Snark card designer. She could find a creative way to put anything unpleasant into words. So far she hadn’t done nearly enough to resurrect her portfolio. She’d been waitressing every night for four nights in a row and sleeping late each day. But tomorrow was her scheduled day off. Perhaps she could get some work done as soon as Drake was feeling better. Right now he seemed to need her attention more than her cards did.

Anthony set Drake on the lounge part of the sectional sofa and straightened to his full height. “Stay with him, Bliss. If it gets busy, I’ll have Angie and Wendy close early.”

Bliss was grateful for an early night and doubted Anthony would dock her pay, but she could have used the tips. She figured he wouldn’t have felt right letting his friend lie injured and alone in another person’s apartment without someone who lived there present.

“I’ll look after him,” she said.

Nick and Anthony nodded to her, said good-bye to Drake, and left. When it was just the two of them, Drake reached out to her.

“Bliss, I want to explain…”

“You don’t have to.” She was about to walk away when he caught her arm and flinched. He sucked in air through his teeth, and she realized the effort must have caused him more pain.

“I want to.
I
need
to
. Please sit with me for a minute.”

What
harm
could
it
do? Besides finding out the guy I like is a two-timing heartbreaker, that is.

She sat down on the sectional next to him and waited for him to speak.

“Before I found you again, I had tried everything I could think of. I called a bunch of greeting card companies in alphabetical order asking for Bliss, and I got hung up on, a lot.”

She couldn’t help chuckling.

He smiled and seemed encouraged. “I had no way of finding you. Because of the suspension, I was home going stir-crazy. Meeting you drove home what I’d been missing—a relationship—so I tried looking into those dating sites on the Internet. But then I got your card. It gave me hope that I might find you again, and I forgot about the dating site. Then a few days ago when I went to close my account, I discovered I had an answering email.”

Bliss shrugged. “I get it. We didn’t have an exclusive relationship. I mean, if I had known you were trying to meet anyone else, I’d have held back a little more. Just out of curiosity, how far into the alphabet did you get?”

“I got through the
A
’s, and was just about to start the
B
’s—”

“That’s it? You gave up at the
A
’s?”

“My phone died. I made a mistake. I
wasn’t
trying to meet anyone else. I was about to delete my account but then got sidetracked because duty called. By the time I got back from the run, I’d forgotten. When I went back to it, I saw her email. I shouldn’t have even read her response, but I did and we seemed to have a lot in common. I felt I had an obligation to check it out.”

Bliss raised her eyebrows. “You had a lot in common with
that… that…
”

“I know. She wasn’t at all what I expected, but I shouldn’t have even been curious. I really like you, Bliss. I hope I haven’t messed things up with you completely.”

She smirked. “You mean you’d rather be with me than Betty Bruiser? Then why didn’t you call and break it off with her?”

He sighed. “I should have. I just put it off, knowing it was going to be unpleasant. I feel like a coward. A foolish, undeserving coward.”

She couldn’t let his self-loathing over one simple mistake continue, despite the temptation to get some payback. “I wouldn’t say a guy who runs into burning buildings is a coward.”

He sighed. “I know we didn’t talk about exclusivity, but if you can forgive me, I’ll swear to it now. I promise I’ll be true blue, if you can find it in your heart to give me another chance, and I sincerely hope you can.”

Bliss didn’t want to give in too easily. Sure he was gorgeous and seemed like a great guy other than this “one mistake,” as he called it. And having a committed relationship would be nice, but could she believe him? Did he really just forget to delete his profile? What was that little ditty she’d heard once? Cops beat, firefighters cheat? The fact that there
was
a little rhyme like that gave her pause.

She rose. “I need to think about it.”

“I understand,” he said softly.

Bliss strolled to the kitchen and put some water in the teakettle. For a split second she thought about her mother and how much she wanted Bliss to find a man, get married, have kids. Then she remembered that Drake, in the heat of the moment, had said he couldn’t get her pregnant.
Stop
it, Bliss. You’re not living your mother’s life. Decide what
you
want
and
go
for
it.

As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted Drake… at least the Drake she’d thought she was getting to know. Was he really being honest with her? He hardly seemed the type to avoid confrontation. Could he be covering up a relationship he had going simultaneously while romancing her?
Argh. It’s all too confusing.

Angie would be coming upstairs soon. Bliss wished she and Drake could have it all sorted out by the time her roommate got home, but life was rarely that neat. She still didn’t know Angie all that well and wondered what she’d think of Bliss and Drake just picking up where they’d left off after…
Knock
it
off, Bliss
.
You’re doing it again!
Stop
caring
what
others
think.

Bliss heard something from the living room and poked her head around the support column. Drake was trying to get up!

“Lie down,” she squealed and rushed over to him.

“I—I shouldn’t be here. It was nice of you to—” He gasped and clutched his chest as if he had moved wrong and reinjured himself.

“Stop.” She jammed her hands on her hips. “Do I have to push you back down on the lounger and sit on you, or are you going to stay without a fight?”

He snorted. At last their eyes met and she saw raw regret there. A corner of her chilly, suspicious edge melted. She braced his back and helped him lie down again. After he had sagged into the cushion, she sat next to him. Her thigh molded against his shoulder. Heat seeped into her leg from his, as if he were burning up.

“Wow, you’re hot.” She placed her hand on his cool forehead.
That’s weird. Maybe the blood is rushing to where he needs it more.
“I don’t think you have a fever, but you’re really in no shape to go anywhere.”

“I know, but if you want me to leave, I can call one of my buddies. The ribbing will stop eventually.”

“I don’t mind you being here. And I think Angie would be mad at me if I asked you to leave. She seemed as upset about the incident as anyone.”

He smiled. “Yeah, Angie’s a good kid.”

“You think of her as a kid?”

“Sure. What is she? Twenty-two? Twenty-three?”

“Yeah, thereabouts. How old are you?”

“Five hundred and fifty.”

Bliss laughed. “I didn’t ask how old you
felt.
I asked how old you were.”

“You know what they say… You’re only as old as you feel.”

She chuckled and focused on his face. His smile. His lips. She was just starting to lean in to taste his full mouth when the door opened and Angie appeared, carrying the beautiful bouquet that had started all the trouble.

“Hey, Drake. How’re you doing, buddy?”

“I—I’ll be right back,” Bliss said, and hurried off to the bathroom. She’d remembered some pain pills left over from a badly sprained ankle. She checked her little medicine kit to see if they were still in it.
Yup.
The fact that she thought of offering him some pain relief meant she still cared about him. However, she had no intention of pretending she was okay with his desire to date her while looking elsewhere at the same time.

While she was in there doing her business, she got the idea for a new Hall-Snark card. This one was generic enough to use in her new line, but Drake was getting the first one.

You
made
a
mistake, and that means you’re human, but do it again and you’ll see me fumin’.

She hurried to her bedroom to jot the words down before returning to check on Drake.

***

So many conflicting emotions whirled through Drake, he could barely handle just lying there, waiting for his regenerative powers to kick in.

What
an
idiot
I
am! Why did I bother meeting a dragon when I was still trying to find Bliss?

Because, Drake, ol’ boy, you’re a coward. You didn’t want to go through the trouble and uncertainty of telling a human that you’re an aberration.

I
should
have
called
Zina
as
soon
as
I
found
Bliss
again. No, she probably wouldn’t have taken the news well, but I should have told her. Now it looks like I was stringing both of them along.

Fuck… Bliss will never forgive me.

As he chastised himself, Bliss returned to the living room. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she stayed away.

Strolling over to him, she held out a prescription bottle.

“I have these pain pills left over from a bad sprain. If you’re not allergic to any medicines, you can have what’s left.”

She
must
really
want
to
get
rid
of
me… probably thinking, take a pill and get out of my apartment—out of my life.

Dragons were very hard to kill, so even an allergic reaction wouldn’t hurt him. He doubted he had any allergies anyway. If he could limit the pain, he could probably walk down the stairs and get to his apartment.

“Sure. I’ll take a couple, but not the whole bottle. I’m not
that
desperate to end it.” He grinned, hoping she’d recognize his joke, but her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

“You aren’t… you know…”

“Of course not! I was just making a joke, or trying to. I’m not as good at that kind of thing as you are.”

She let out a deep breath. “I’ll get you some water.”

While she was in the kitchen, he called out to her. “Bliss? I need to apologize more emphatically. I know you probably won’t forgive me, but it’s important that you know I’m so—”

The next thing he knew, she was bending over the back of the sofa, kissing him senseless, Spiderman-style. It didn’t even matter that she was facing him upside down. Their lips fit perfectly. Her soft warmth eased the ache inside, not the physical one. The emotional battering he had been giving himself.

When she let up on the pressure, she gave him another tender peck and said, “You’re forgiven, but I have something to tell you.”

This was it. He had to be honest with her. Better she knew exactly who and what he was now, rather than test her trust again later.

“I have something to tell you too.”

“Me first,” she said.

She handed him the pills and glass of water, and as soon as he took them, she disappeared down the hall again. A door opened and didn’t shut, so he figured she must be coming right back.

Waiting gave him a moment to compose his words, but what would they be?
By
the
way, remember during the fire when you thought you saw a reptilian form behind my face mask? Well, you were right… That was my alternate shape. I’m a shapeshifter. Had no choice in the matter. I was born that way. I hope you can accept my—um, uniqueness?

It took a few minutes before she returned with a card in her hand. During that time, he’d composed his little speech a few times, but every version sounded ridiculous. She’d probably assume he was lying to her again.

He was almost relieved when he saw the card. Whatever she had to say in there, he could take it. Hell, he probably deserved it.

He grimaced. “It looks like I’m getting a card.”

“Oh, yeah.” She stood in front of the lounger and handed it to him.

Crap. It’s the picture of the dragon again. Maybe she does know…
Then he read the words.

“You made a mistake and that means you’re human…”
Nope, she doesn’t know.
He sighed and opened the card so he could read the rest. “But do it again, and you’ll see me fumin’.”

This time the dragon had smoke coming out of its nostrils. He couldn’t help smiling, even if she was opening the door to his confession. The one he still didn’t know how to tell her yet.

“Does this mean you forgive me?”

“With conditions,” she said.

“Lay ’em on me, sweetheart.”

Bliss crossed her arms and said, “If you want to see other women, naturally you can, but if that’s what you decide, I’m out. And you’ll tell me right away. Agreed?”

“I won’t need—”

She lifted her palm as if to say,
I
don’t want to hear it
, and repeated, “Agreed?”

“Absolutely.”