to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud.
Letting his chin fall forward, his arm still wrapped around her waist, the Guardsman groaned, "Sorry, Ji. Just got…"
"Carried away?" The voice on the speaker chuckled with a heavy dose of sarcasm. "Yeah, I know. There are cameras in all the elevators. I saw the whole thing, Loverboy. Now, get your scaly ass down here before I have to come up there and get you."
Not the slightest bit embarrassed for one of the first times in her life, Ellie was too busy laughing at Ranger to feel anything but happiness. No, it wasn't the way she'd planned to confront him. And the kiss hadn't even been a whisper of a thought when it came to telling him how badly he'd hurt her, but all in all, watching him get called out then sheepishly hit the button on the elevator and releasing the car had been more than worth it.
And the kiss wasn’t bad either.
Running her fingertips across her lips to be sure her lipstick wasn't smeared and to feel the tingle left in the wake of her Mate's kiss, Ellie couldn't help but tease, "I didn't know you had a sister?"
“I don’t,” he grumbled, finally looking up at her. “That’s Jianna, the owner of the resort and a very old friend of mine.”
Jealousy instantly nipped at Ellie’s good mood. Had this Jianna been what kept her Dragon away for so long? Was that how he ended up at Crimson Moon? Who did he think…?”
Pulling her close and dropping a kiss on her cheek, Ranger whispered, “A friend. Jianna has only ever been and will only ever be – a friend. You, Ellie MacLeish, are the only woman for me.”
“What? That wasn’t…”
“Yes, it is,” he chuckled, the sound making Ellie’s heart happy even as her cheeks got hot. Tapping his temple, he added, “Just like you can hear my thoughts, I can hear yours.”
Turning back to face her and making her follow suit, he bent his knees until he was looking her right in the eye, and whispered, "Ellie Gwendolyn MacLeish, I have loved you from the first time I laid eyes on you, and it only gets stronger with every beat of my heart. There never has been and never will be another woman for me." Kissing the tip of her nose, he leaned back and winked. "So, please, after you've heard what I have to say, I am begging you to forgive me." Clearing his throat as the elevator came to a stop, he kept right on going as the doors opened. "'Cause without you, I will just fade away to nothing."
Feeling the eyes of the guests Ranger’s friend had said were waiting staring at her, Ellie quickly nodded. “Yeah, okay, can we just…”
"Out of the elevator, Cassanova," the woman she guessed to be Jianna growled, adding a loud whistle and a bark of laughter to her command.
Once in the lobby, Ranger pulled Ellie toward the tall, African American beauty with curly black hair and a figure to die for. Calling out before she had a chance to tell him that she wasn't ready to meet his friend, after being caught making out in the woman's elevator, Ranger signaled with the index finger of his free hand. "Hey, Ji. There's somebody I want you to meet?"
Holding out her hand, her smile truly radiant, the woman exuded a real feeling of warmth and welcome as she didn't wait for Ranger to introduce her and beamed, "Hey, there, how you doing? I'm Jianna."
Taking the woman's outstretched hand, the age and depth of her power skittering up Ellie's arm, the young Witch smiled in return, chuckling nervously, "I'm Ellie MacLeish, but I'm sure you already know that."
"I do, but it's great to meet the woman who can make Ranger think about something other than work." Her sentiment was as true as the massive amount of magic contained within her five-foot-eleven-inch frame. Ellie could feel it all. Had just that one passionate kiss with her Mate made her enchantment stronger? She'd heard a lot of stories, most of them she thought to be little more than old wives' tales, but now… It made her wonder where her new insight had come from and what else might happen the longer, she was with Ranger.
“Well…” Ellie hurried to respond after getting lost in her thoughts for a second.
“Well, nothing,” Ranger interrupted, pulling Ellie close, his happiness palpable. “I fucked up, but I plan