Drake inclined his head and smiled. “He is at that. But Allesandra will soon have him in hand.”
“Don’t tell me!” Willa said, dropping her fork to clap her hands over her ears. “I don’t want to spoil the mystery of how it all ends up until I read it myself. I should be done tomorrow and then we can talk about it.”
He held up a hand in surrender and set his own fork down. “All right, take it easy. I’m not going to spoil it for you.” He swiped the snowy white napkin over his unyielding mouth. “I have to say, I’m pleasantly surprised to find you so interested.”
His green gaze locked with hers and she barely suppressed a shiver. Instead of breaking eye contact and looking away like she would normally do, she held fast. It would be far too humiliating to make the first—second—wait, third move, but maybe if he saw that she wasn’t as opposed to the possibility of the two of them together as she was before, he’d…
“I was thinking we’ll make our trip to the mall tomorrow, and spend the day in Bozeman, if that’s good with you. I have the chance to acquire an ancient dragon sculpture and I need to verify its authenticity. After that, we can do some shopping and get dinner.”
She nodded, distracted as she digested his words.
Bozeman. Tomorrow.
Drake pushed his chair back from the table and stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some more work to do tonight. I’ll be at it until late, so whenever you’re ready, you can turn in without me. I can get the dishes later.”
A pang of regret tugged at her insides and she forked up another bite of pot roast.
What the hell was the matter with her? They were going to the mall. She’d just been wishing for a chance to run and this would be the perfect time to make a break for it. At a mall packed with weekend shoppers, she would only need a few seconds to slip away and then douse herself in perfume samples to throw him off her scent.
From there, it would just be a matter of blending with the crowd until she got out the door. Gallatin National Park was only a mile away. Once she hit the tree line, she’d be a ghost.
“Sure, the mall sounds good.” She swallowed hard, ignoring the sudden ache in her throat. “I’ll take care of the dishes, you go ahead and do your work.”
“Okay, thanks.” He gave her a long, searching look, and seemed to want to say more, but then snapped his mouth shut with a nod before turning on his heel and walking out.
Once he was gone, she let herself slump forward and rested her head in her hands. What had he been about to say? Damn, what she wouldn’t give to be able to read his mind. Even now, her skin tingled from the heat of his gaze.
It was high time to start skipping the dragon history books and start reading some books on dragon biology, because clearly, they had something working for them. Maybe some sort of sexual chemical ooze…a hormonal concoction they gave off to lure idiots into their clutches, like Venus flytraps.
She made a mental note to look into that the next time she was in the library. In the mean time, she had dishes to do. And afterward? She was going to take a long, hot bubble bath. If anything could soothe her jangled nerves, it would be that.
By the time she flopped onto the bed a couple hours later, her skin was prune-y and soft and her eyelids were heavy. The lack of any real sleep over the past few nights was finally catching up to her, thank god. Maybe she’d actually get some rest, and if ever there was a time she needed to be rested, it was tonight.
Because tomorrow she was going to need every bit of her strength.
She had to escape from a dragon.
Chapter 6
Splash.
Willa’s lashes fluttered open and she peered around the dark room blearily, in search of the sound that had woken her. The neon numbers on the clock read 3:14, and she instinctively looked to her side, noting Drake’s still undisturbed pillow.
Another soft noise from across the room caught her ear and she sat up slowly, rubbing a hand over her sleep-filled eyes.
At first, she didn’t see him, but then she caught sight of his dark head clearing the surface of the infinity pool. He only stayed above water for a second before diving down again, underneath the giant pane of glass that acted as a wall between the indoor half of the pool and the rest that lay outdoors.
For a moment, she lay there, paralyzed with indecision. She had no swimsuit and it was the middle of the night. If she got into the pool and swam out there to join him, she was essentially giving in. Practically begging him to ravage her. Was that truly what she wanted?
She watched as he broke through the water’s surface again and stood, tall and strong in the shallow end of the pool. The moon lit his body like a kiss of magic and her pulse pounded at the sight. Thick shoulder muscles bulged as he lifted his arms and ran both hands through his wet hair.