The kitchen door opened. Daphne’s stomach sank when a server walked out. She scowled and admonished herself for her creepy behavior. Following Ford to work every day was the kind of thing stalkers did. Was she a stalker now?
When she heard the creak of the kitchen door, she didn’t look up until Ford’s scent reached her nose. He wore a grimace as he stood over the table. Daphne held back her laughter.
“Your server made me bring your plates out,” he explained, his voice low and filled with frustration.
The other women looked around, his remark going over their heads. Daphne knew, though. The restaurant employees were about to gang up on him just to see Ford and Daphne hook up.
He passed plates out to everyone at the table, but when Daphne expected her order, Ford was already on his way back to the kitchen.
“Hold up,” she shouted at him. “Where’s my food?”
He paused in the doorway, whipped off his apron, and threw a burning glance over his shoulder. “I have your snack back here.”
Oh, she had not expected that. Her cheeks warmed. She almost wished she’d thought up that line. Her core ignited, burning hotter than her face when the others turned their attention on her.
“I didn’t know they stocked Grade A meat here,” Evangeline said with a shit-eating grin.
Daphne wished she had a witty remark, but her mind blanked as she stood. Her body couldn’t decide which it wanted more, Ford or food, so she went in search of both. The kitchen staff gave her wary glances and made her feel like she’d made the wrong move. A server, though, winked and pointed Daphne toward the walk-in cooler.
The feeling of trespassing didn’t go away until Daphne saw Ford. He’d braced himself against a steel shelf, his head hanging in a private moment. She pressed her back to the door and watched as his knuckles whitened. The question of what was going through his mind nearly made her turn around. This was a moment she wasn’t sure she was supposed to see.
He must have caught her scent because he straightened.
“Uh, should I have followed you?”
His growl filled the room. Her heart thumped, hammering out a wild rhythm. She took a tentative step toward him before he whirled and gathered her into his arms. Boxes crashed, but they paid it no mind as their lips met.
His hand slid up her spine until he could cup the back of her head. She savored his embrace and how it felt to give herself over to him in this moment. She didn’t have to think about anyone else, about who wanted her to do what. There was only Ford’s hands and Ford’s lips.
Oh, and that growing bulge pressing into her stomach. She was tall for a woman, but not so tall that their bodies aligned.
“Why do you haunt my mind, woman?” he whispered against her jaw before dragging his teeth over her skin.
She shuddered and struggled to figure out a response for him. It wasn’t like she could stop thinking about him for long, either. Only here, within his arms, could she cope with the desire crouching inside her.
His other hand slid up her thigh. It vanished beneath her dress and drew a gasp from her.
“You’re going to get in trouble,” she said. “We shouldn’t be doing this in here.”
He kissed down her throat. “I don’t care.”
She gripped his shirt and held on while pleasure made her want to drift away. His fingers tugged at the waistband of her panties. Her core throbbed, a pulsing ache she couldn’t ignore. Her body begged for Ford. She wanted him inside her, so deep that she didn’t know where she left off and he began.
“No,” she managed to say. “Not here.”
Daphne pulled away from his touch. She immediately regretted it as the cold rushed in to remind her of all the ways they weren’t touching.
When she forced herself to look up at him, his eyes glowed and his nostrils flared like it took every ounce of his will to keep from pouncing on her. She wanted him to. She really did. Her morals had dragged her out of a dream.
“Not in here, around food. Not while you’re on the clock.” She tried to subtly fix her underwear. “Just because we have animals doesn’t mean we need to act like them. Woo me, Ford. Give me that once in a lifetime night that I’m never going to forget.”
His chest heaved. Her beast reminded her that he could run again. Ford had kept a distance between them until now. He could throw up his walls again and fortify them to keep her out for the rest of their lives. Now might be her only chance.
She would just have to live with her decision, then. Holding fast to her stance, she spun and walked out.
Daphne had never hated herself more than she did in that moment. Ford had finally given her what she wanted, and she told him to hold onto that thought? What was wrong with her?
She didn’t stick around for the rest of the meal. The others were deep in their conversation and barely noticed Daphne as she passed by. Her beast kicked and growled at her. Holding the creature back had never been this difficult. She needed to find an empty place to shift before she lost her mind.
On the edge of town, she found a grove. The paths were trodden by animals, barely wide enough for Daphne to slip in on two feet. Just past the grove, the trees thinned out to look over a small valley. Oh, that was exactly what she needed.
She shifted and opened her wings so she could glide into the little reprieve.
Ford made her feel so many things all at once. Daphne had prided herself on being reasonable and rational, but around him she became an anxious little bunny. She darted back and forth, pacing between throwing herself at him and running away out of fear. She’d told herself that she’d turned him down because having sex around the food was wrong.
Not that she’d panicked because she’d felt too much while he held her. When she’d been with other men, the sex had been fun, but not as overwhelming as it felt to be around Ford. He turned her inside out in every way imaginable.
But he couldn’t be her mate.
He’d already had one. Then, why did she feel like this? Had her beast chosen Ford despite his previous attachment? Was that even possible? She didn’t think their beasts made the decision, but that fate paired one dragon with another. She couldn’t possibly call Ford her mate if she wasn’t his in return.
Her beast lashed its tail back and forth, slapping it against trees now that the creature had assumed a tangible form again. It was just as mad at her as she was at herself. Now, the only logical step was to avoid him altogether. If she couldn’t handle being around him anymore, then she couldn’t visit.
She felt fire flash over her tongue. Hot and smoky, it seared her senses. The beast’s anger flared in the same breath. She couldn’t walk away from Ford. Not until she discovered what they had. Her beast wouldn’t allow it.
The dragon threw its head back, a hollow note pouring from its throat. It yearned so deeply, so completely that Daphne didn’t think she would ever be able to come back from this. She’d come to realize just how empty her life was. Working for others would never make her complete. Now, she found someone she wished could be her mate and knew that ship had sailed long before they’d ever met.
Was she meant to suffer like this? Would she have to go back to Zander and deal with his overbearing behavior for the rest of her life?
Chapter Nine