Gold(20)

Dante stayed where he was in front of Ella. As far as he was concerned, John had gotten the least he deserved for insulting his mate.

John wiped his mouth indignantly, but as Dante challenged him wordlessly to stand, he stayed down.

“That’s what I thought,” Dante said, putting his arm around Ella.

“That’s right. Walk away, fatty,” John said.

Dante let out a roar and was about to go back to him, but Ella’s soft hands reached up to catch his face, and he felt himself jerked down by surprisingly strong fingers into a kiss.

She was standing on her tiptoes to reach him, and for a moment, he tried to pull back, the need to go end that guy surging through him uncontrollably.

Then it hit him. Ella was kissing him. Ella was kissing him. Ella was…

He melted into her, curving an arm around her waist, pulling her in tight as their lips melded together. He didn’t need to open her mouth; he just wanted to stay there like that, joined with her, softly touching as the dragon inside him slowly calmed.

When she pulled back, he was sure his shock showed on his face.

“Thanks for that,” he said.

“No problem,” she said, putting a hand in his to lead him to the Ferris wheel. “Let’s get airborne before we cause more trouble.”

Fine by him. Maybe snuggling would be involved.

After they gave their tickets to the attendant and stepped into the little car together, putting the guardrail down, Dante gasped as they were lifted off the ground and up in the air in a smooth circle. The view around him was amazing. The view beside him? Sublime.

“Thank you,” she said, putting a hand over his. “No one has ever stood up for me.”

He froze. “What?”

“I know,” she said. “I was bullied all through high school by John and guys like him. I guess I always dreamed of having a prince to stand up for me. Now I have one, even if he is just doing it as part of his job.”

But I’m not, he wanted to say.

“I noticed other couples were cuddling,” he said. “Maybe since you’re so grateful for what I did, you’d be into that?”

“Don’t push your luck, dragon,” she said. But she leaned into his chest.

As her curvy form fit in against him, he felt all his fantasies confirmed. Her soft breasts pressed up against his arm, making his whole body tighten.

“Are you okay?” she asked, looking up at him innocently.

“Sure,” he said, not knowing how he was going to hide the huge “problem” that was going to result from this. But hey, she’d know he was sincere in his attraction.

Luckily, she seemed focused on the view.

“I’ll always stand up for you,” he said quietly.

“Sure,” she responded. “Until the contract ends.”

He didn’t say anything, just quietly put a hand over hers and enjoyed the ride.





Six





When they got home from the fair, the whole family ate dinner together, and then Ella asked for some time in her room while her dad invited Dante to play a few games of pool.

He was really growing to like her family. Goodness knew he’d never had much of one. But still, every moment without Ella just felt a little empty. After excusing himself and thanking her father, he headed upstairs to find her.

Once again, he forgot to knock before entering, and he saw her jump up nervously, trying to hide something. This time, the embarrassed look on her face was just too cute, and he couldn’t resist lunging onto the bed to retrieve whatever it was she’d tried to hide.

He rummaged around, ignoring her pitiful attempts to stop him, and was surprised to find… a book?

He pulled it out and looked at it, narrowing his eyes when he saw a man’s torso with rippling abs on the cover.

“Mine are better,” he muttered.

She jerked it back from him, clutching it to her chest. “Get out. You had no right to do that.”

He grinned. “Come on. Show me. What kind of book is that?”

“A romance,” she snapped.

He realized her hair was coming loose from her ponytail, almost all the way down. She was wearing sweatpants and a big, baggy, buttoned-up sweater above it.

She held on to the book like a lifeline, and he wanted to know why she so badly wanted to hide it from him.

“Let me see it,” he said.

“No,” she said stubbornly.

“Oh, come on,” he said. “I’m not going to judge you. Besides, I thought you hated romance.”

“I—”

He took advantage of her slight distraction to swipe the book from her. Opening it to a random page while holding it high above her attempts to get it back, he read aloud.

“They kissed, and the kiss went on forever, as if eternity weren’t long enough and the love they shared…” He trailed off as he realized she wasn’t grinning.