That, my dear liege, is why we have never had sex.”
Dawn slouched back against the lounger, chewing her bottom lip. She could still taste Micah there – a not altogether unpleasant flavour. But it also didn’t make her want to jump his bones either. All in all, the kiss had been a pale imitation of the one she had shared with Knox. She had absolutely no spark with Micah. Whatsoever.
“Now, care to tell me what this is all about?” Micah sat back, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Knox said something to me, and it came as a total shock. I mean, it was good news, welcome news even. But it came out of nowhere,” Dawn explained, waving her arms around for emphasis. “It made me think that maybe I’m bad at reading signs. Like, from guys. Guy signs.”
Micah appeared to choke a little, eyes going wide. “You? Bad at reading guy signs? He said that?”
“See!” Dawn pointed at her Captain. “That right there is sarcasm. Again. Which leads me to believe that I am, in fact, awfully bad at identifying signals from men. And I blame my sleep deprived brain for that then leading me to believe maybe I was bad at seeing signals from you.”
“Ah, hence the sex questions,” Micah nodded his head in understanding.
“Exactly,” Dawn said.
“You have not missed any signals from me, my liege,” he patted her hand, and Dawn felt herself relax. “You have, however missed signals from pretty much every other interested male – and female – since the day I met you.”
Dawn smacked his arm, “I have not!” she wailed.
“Oh, you have,” Reid agreed, coming to sit on the other side of her, apparently from thin air. “You missed my signals. Big time. It was hell on the ego.”
Dawn’s jaw dropped open in shock. “You?”
Reid grinned at her. “Of course, me. Dawn, you are an incredibly beautiful woman as well as being one of the kindest and smartest. I crushed on you hard for the first few years I was in the Order,” he revealed.
“You did?” Dawn was positively shocked.
Reid nodded, “I sure did. But don’t worry, I got over it centuries ago.”
Dawn thought about it for a moment, before leaning in and kissing a very surprised paladin for the second time that night. The kiss was brief, a mere peck, but it told Dawn everything she needed to know. She was no more sexually attracted to Reid than she was to Micah. “Huh. Perhaps I don’t pick up on attraction unless I’m the one who is feeling it?” she wondered out loud.
“Umm, what was that?” Reid asked, touching his lips with his fingers.
“That was another test. One you failed.” She patted his cheek, “Sorry, sweetie.”
Reid stared at her for a moment, before a smile lit up his handsome face. “Yeah? Well you failed too. No spark at all. But I still love you.”
Dawn grinned, “I love you too.”
She was just about to delve into this newfound information about herself so she could hopefully come across as suave and knowledgeable to Knox the next time they met when she heard a growling sound. Looking up she saw Knox standing a few metres away. The first thing she noticed about him was that his eyes were completely black. Hurriedly looking down she saw that his feet were not touching the sand and she knew something was very wrong. She was about to ask him what it was when she saw the way his eyes moved between herself, Reid, and Micah. Those obsidian eyes then narrowed in on Dawn’s lips and he sneered at her in a disgusted way before his body collapsed in on itself and he was whisked away on the wind. Dawn felt her stomach drop and a lump form in her throat. She knew, just knew what had caused Knox’s distress.
Willow and Piper hurried over, reaching for her with their hands, Piper offering, “Oh, no. Dawn, I think he saw you kiss the guys.”
“And very likely heard you tell Reid you love him,” Willow added.
Dawn swallowed loudly, looking around at her Order. “What am I going to do?”
“What do you want to do?” Micah asked. “Do you like him, Dawn?”
Dawn didn’t even need to think about it. He was the whole reason she was so confused and tied up in knots. She had been trying to clarify things for him, but instead, had made things worse. “Yes. I like him.”
“Do you like his brain or his body?” Piper asked further.