“If you could please finish taking me home.” She fastened the bottom of her coat and zipped it up primly.
Damian stared at her, and she didn’t dare match his gaze. It was like there was a livewire between them and he was charging it while she kept trying to let go, but she couldn’t, not for as long as he kept electrifying her. “I wish things were different,” he said, his voice dark. Andi swallowed again, fighting not to sway.
She really didn’t owe him any other explanation, except for the look on his face that said she was breaking some deep part inside of him. “You said it yourself at the restaurant—and in here, just an hour ago. You’re a jerk, and you’re dangerous. And as good as I am at dating assholes, apparently, I’m not willing to go there again. Not even for you.” She found strength in her as the words kept tumbling out, knowing that if she was going to cut the cord between them, she was would have to be cruel.
He weighed her words, and she watched his jaw work as his teeth ground before saying, “I’m not like the others,” in a growl. Pre-dawn light poured through the windows and over his face and he looked so stricken then, this massive man brought low, and Andi realized she knew the exact right thing to say to end it—even if it killed her.
“Really?” she snorted softly. “Because I have a hundred-dollar bill that says otherwise.”
He took a big gulp of air as if he’d been gut punched and swallowed, but he didn’t say another word as he twisted back to the steering wheel to turn on the car.
Damian focused on the road ahead in silence. The ache in his chest was from the night’s exertions, he told himself, just a reminder that he needed to get back to training harder, rather than wasting his time with humans. She knew who he was, what he was, and he had gotten exactly what he wanted.
Her acknowledgement that together, they were a bad idea.
Even though he wanted her more than he’d wanted anything ever before in his life.
Lust raced through him like wildfire—he knew how good they’d been, and he needed it again—but instead of yanking the car over, he wrung the steering wheel until his knuckles were white, forcing himself to stay on the road.
Damian glanced over at her and saw her staring straight ahead, completely resigned. It was like a wall had come down between them.
Fly over it! his dragon suggested, intensely concerned.
He swallowed as his pride raged inside himself, not knowing what to do. He shouldn’t have to explain himself. He should just get what he wanted at all times; it was what he deserved—and that kind of thinking was why he’d left the Realms. If he’d really wanted to be an asshole, he could just go back there and be king.
He wheeled his car into the lot in front of her apartment, parked, and started talking before she could reach for the door handle. “My people are working on technology to predict when the gates will open, so we can get to them faster and close them in time.”
Andi looked at her hands in her lap instead of him. “I’m not sure I know what you’re trying to say.”
He searched desperately for any kindness in her tone. “That I won’t always have to be dangerous.”
She looked at him then, her brown eyes dark like wet stone and every bit as unforgiving. “No? So…just a jerk, then?”
“Andi,” he said, his voice low. “I was trying to keep you safe.”
Her smile was bright and brittle. “And you did. Congratulations. You were right. You are dangerous to people who might care,” she said.
And he knew she wasn’t talking about the monsters.
He had hurt her.
“Most people have to work themselves up to that caliber of…dangerousness. It takes a lot of practice, but no, you…Olympic level, right off the bat.”
The thought of anyone else hurting her—especially other men—made him murderous, no matter that he was among their number. He inhaled deeply so as not to yell, and the air still smelled like her—apples, saltwater, caramel.
“But…we…just…” he said slowly, spreading his hands wide, indicating the space in the car they’d occupied, their bodies entwined. Her hair was spread over her shoulders and the blue streak followed a line he’d kissed from her throat to her breast.
“Olympic level too, yeah,” Andi granted. “But, Damian, I’m telling you no.”
And it felt like the first time he’d really heard it. Maybe in his entire life. Suddenly there wasn’t enough air for both of them inside the car, and inside of him, his dragon was roiling just like his stomach. “No?” he asked her louder than he’d meant.
“It’s not just my last name,” she said, shaking her head at him.
But he knew that that wasn’t really how one was supposed to say her name. She was telling him the family name given to clueless outsiders, the name given to those to who couldn’t be bothered to learn the difference.
She was telling him he wasn’t anything to her.
And it hurt.
He watched her try to hide herself with her coat beside him, divorced from emotion. He would feel it all later, in a rush, but if he let himself feel it now with her still so close…maybe she was right. Maybe he would always be dangerous.
But goddammit, he did not want it to end with her like this.
“Here,” he said, his voice guttural, handing his coat over. She took it from him and used it like a sarong, kicking out of the last of her dress.
“Thanks,” she said when she was done. “I’m going to go now.” He watched her inhale as she chose her next words carefully. “I don’t regret a thing.”
She swung her door open as he swung his, too, stepping out, even though he didn’t know what to say or do to change her mind. “This isn’t the end, Andi.”
He didn’t shout, but he projected his voice loud enough for her to hear. She didn’t turn around. She just kept walking—away from him.
Go to her! his dragon commanded. Now! It wrestled with him, fighting him for control in a blind rage, and he wanted with all his soul to let it win, but he choked it back.
We can’t! This…is for the best, he told his dragon, adding, for now, to calm it.
Because it was true. There was no way he was going through the rest of his life without her. Whatever he had to do to make her trust him again, to make her feel safe around him, he would get it done. He watched her ass sway as she started up the stairs to her apartment, and then saw her stop on the final one to look back at him.
She was fierce and beautiful, and she was his, and there was no way in hell this was over.
***
Thank you for reading DRAGON CALLED!
Andi and Damian’s story continues in DRAGON DESTINED.
Find out what happens when Andi discovers dangerous magic threatening patients at her hospital. What’s a mortal nurse to do, other than call on the most magical being she knows, even if he is hazardous to her heart…
Can’t wait for more Andi and Damian? Turn the page for your exclusive bonus deleted scene from DRAGON CALLED!
Bonus Deleted Scene!
Authors’ Note: This deleted scene takes place after Damian rescues Andi from the shimmer tiger. They are both inside the interior bathing pool inside his mansion. While we loved this scene, we realized it was just too early for Andi and Damian to get together, which is why it ended up being deleted. Even so, we thought you might enjoy these sexy times!