In a Dragon’s Dream by Riley Storm Page 0,24
she took it right away. Rakell doubted she could resist her curiosity.
“I mean, what is it?” she asked, swallowing hard enough he could practically hear the thud as the lump hit her stomach. “All depends on what you had in mind.”
“Of course,” he replied, drawing the moment out, prolonging her curiosity and likely a little bit of fear.
Finally, he decided she’d had enough, and so he took pity on her. Mostly.
“I was wondering, if you could help me buy a house?”
Chapter Fourteen
Laura
“You want to buy a house?”
There were all sorts of things she’d expected Rakell to say, from polite, to explicit and everywhere in between. For a moment she’d expected him to talk about blue-balls after their kiss, but she’d discarded that. Rakell was too polite to be so crude and blunt.
“Yes, please,” he said, looking at her now, a huge grin on his face.
You darn well know what you just did, she thought to herself, sending the thought across mentally, hoping he’d pick up on her telepathy.
Of course, she’d started it by teasing him about kissing her, about being more than her bodyguard, so perhaps she’d earned a bit of retaliation. It was probably more the fact that he’d won that irked her, more than what he’d done.
“I thought that you lived up on the mountain?” she asked, giving voice to her real confusion.
The dragons all lived on the mountain. Some came into town, but they lived up there, by their clans. One clan per mountain peak. That’s what she’d read. That’s what had been told to her.
Was it all wrong?
“I do,” Rakell said. “But I’m thinking of moving. Out. Down the mountain, and into town. Into Five Peaks. Exciting!”
“Definitely,” she said, wondering what his motivation was behind the decision to move. Was there trouble brewing on Mount Teres? How would he be able to let his dragon out when he lived within the city limits? There was nowhere that would offer privacy for such a thing to happen.
“You don’t sound like you approve.” Rakell turned, their eyes meeting for the first time since the incident at her scanner.
Incident. Is that what it’s to be called now? It was a make out session. You can’t pretend otherwise.
She held herself firmly in control, despite the memories of those white-hot fifteen seconds.
“I just don’t understand,” she confessed. “I would expect that up on the mountain would be beautiful and free. Not to mention private.”
Rakell shrugged. “Oh sure, it’s all of those things.”
So why leave?
She wondered if the trouble had anything to do with the men who had tried to take her, and had taken Sam.
Kristin had called to talk to her about that just before leaving the office. She’d wanted to meet up with the other two women, and a Sheriff’s Deputy from Five Peaks, who was apparently going to explain everything for them.
Laura doubted dragons would have been included in that explanation, which meant it was all false. She had to look deeper, into actions then, not words. Such as someone like Rakell buying a house in Five Peaks. Where he could be much closer should any problems arise.
“Why leave then?” she wanted to know.
“It’s also boring, stuffy, and filled with family,” Rakell explained, answering just a hair too quickly for her to entirely believe him.
It felt like a rehearsed answer, not one with real emotion. Something was definitely up. Now she just had to find out what. A gust of wind whipped down the street, forcing her to sink deeper into her jacket.
Very well Rakell, you want me to play along? I’ll play along, for now.
“What sort of house did you have in mind?” she asked. “Size, location, style, age? Any must-haves, or not-wanted features?”
“Um,” was her only reply.
“When did you decide you wanted to move?” she asked, changing tactics.
“Today. I’ve been thinking about it for a little bit, but today I’m sure. It’s going to be the best move anyway, may as well get ahead of the game.”
Laura frowned. Ahead of what game? What was he talking about? And what was it the best move for?
“Do you have a budget?” she asked, trying not to pry too much.
The mountain families were rather wealthy. If he wanted to buy a house, maybe he was going to buy a big one, give her a nice big commission. She wasn’t going to complain about that. The bigger the better.
Her eyes were drawn over to him again as they turned down the street that the pub was located on.
“Not really,” he said.