What Fire Dragons Treasure - Cristina Rayne Page 0,34

of trees bisected by railroad tracks near a main street where the convenience store is located. You’ll be approaching from the back of the store, so the property’s entrance on that side will be unpaved. There’s enough open land to the right of the copse that you won’t have to risk crossing through anyone’s yard. You won’t have to walk far—only a few hundred feet.”

“I can’t fathom how you can see all of that from so far away, much less in the dark!”

“Dragon eyes have a vision range that are pretty much telescopic,” he said seriously. “I’ll also be able to hear you whisper as well as your heartbeat even while you’re inside the convenience store, so if you run into any kind of trouble, I’ll know immediately.”

“I really, really hope we don’t get a chance to test that claim.”

Even just thinking about all the trouble she could find made Amber’s heart already start to race with trepidation, and they hadn’t even landed yet! They had picked Kingston because it only had about a thousand or so people, but she still dreaded having to walk around in public. Was she already suffering from PTSD from getting shot yesterday or did her fear stem from her usual paranoia?

God, she really hoped that she wouldn’t have a panic attack inside that convenience store. Matty, her parents, and the firedrakes were counting on her succeeding in throwing this big wrench into the senator’s plans.

After they landed, Amber spent a few minutes walking around in a small circle to stretch her legs, pointedly not looking in Raphek’s direction as he shifted back into a man and dressed. Seeing Raphek nude would not help matters at all right now. Her heart was pounding enough as it was.

“I’ve never worn jeans before,” Raphek said, making Amber automatically look over at him before she could stop herself.

She caught a glimpse of his six-pack abs as he finished pulling the hem of his black T-shirt down over them. Just as she had suspected after allowing him to hold her in his arms while she had fallen apart in the room that was to be her and Matty’s bedroom, the man was ripped. He filled out that T-shirt damned well—and yeah, she really should stop ogling him before she started drooling.

Thinking about her attraction to the dragon-man was utterly the wrong thing to distract her from how freaking scared she was about what she was about to do. Her mind needed to be clear.

Raphek plucked at the thick, black material experimentally. “I thought they would be uncomfortable, but they’re surprisingly more flexible and roomier than I expected.”

“Yeah, I’m glad I fit into a pair of Emma’s,” Amber said. “At any rate, we now both look sufficiently Terran—as long no one sees your eyes in the light.”

“I’ll be careful,” he promised.

Raphek then paused and stared over at her with an unreadable expression for a long, uncomfortable moment that sent her heart into overdrive. He then stepped closer to her until their shoes were practically touching and very deliberately reached down to gently cup her face between his scorching hands, his eyes suddenly glowing—yes, they really were freaking glowing—an eerie red.

Amber’s lips parted in a soft gasp, but before she could say anything, Raphek bent down and claimed her mouth with lips that made her feel as though she were kissing the sun. She gasped again in complete shock as an equally hot tongue swiped into her mouth for a sole sensual caress against her own before Raphek withdrew both lips and tongue completely.

“Make sure you stay as safe as possible after you leave my side, and I’ll give you an even better kiss when you come back to me,” Raphek promised in a tone so gravely serious that Amber, at first, thought her now short-circuiting brain had heard him wrong.

Amber had to clutch at his forearms to steady herself, her mind going a million-miles-a-second. What in the world had just happened?

“R-Raphek…?”

He offered her one of his signature gentle smiles and bent down to kiss her forehead tenderly. He then drew his hands away from her cheeks, and Amber immediately missed their warmth even though she was confused as hell.

“Draknos have an excellent sense of smell,” he said. “I just suddenly felt the need to give you an answer to what my nose has been picking up from you all afternoon.”

“All Draknos have noses better than a bloodhound. Remember that.”

Princess Briana’s offhand warning suddenly echoed loudly in her mind as her