What Fire Dragons Treasure - Cristina Rayne Page 0,40

to her husband. She then turned and gave Sevek a wink. “I prefer that kind of straightforwardness, myself. It saves everyone a lot of grief in the long run. Although—I do believe Raphek was consciously declaring something with that PDA.”

“He was,” Sevek agreed, his tone a bit startled. “Especially if that was the first time he kissed you.”

Amber’s hands suddenly became very fascinating. “He—kissed me earlier in Oklahoma when we were waiting for it to be safe for him to shift and launch into the air,” she admitted.

Sevek barked a laugh and then winced, looking down at a still-sleeping Matty. Her son didn’t even twitch.

“And here I thought he was being rather old-fashioned by announcing his intentions to court you with that kiss just now,” Sevek said in a much quieter voice. “I should’ve known better.” When she flashed him a confused look, he elaborated, “Raphek has always been a follow-the-flow-of-a-river kind of male. The kind of rules of etiquette of the ancient royal court that would have once required him, a member of the royal House of the Red Flame, to announce his intentions to court with a chaste kiss before witnesses don’t suit his personality at all. You were probably sending him signals that you would be receptive to a courtship by him all day. No need for an announcement first, just mutual attraction. The kiss a few minutes ago was just him casually telling us, his friends, that he was courting you.”

“Worse than bloodhounds, like I said,” Emma chimed in, shaking her head.

For a split-second, Amber had the urge to cover her face in sheer mortification. Instead, she just let out a quiet chuckle at the absurdity of the whole thing. So what if Emma’s husband knew that she had been lusting after Raphek all day, and probably because he had smelled her arousal, himself? She was a grown woman with needs, dammit! It was nothing to be ashamed about at all.

It wasn’t.

“I didn’t expect that kiss at all,” she said, once again looking down at her hands, “but when it did…” Amber trailed off and shrugged uncomfortably.

“Draknos are too damned charismatic for their own good,” Emma commiserated. “After all the stuff both Briana and another have told me about their own courtship periods, I’m really starting to believe they’re like catnip to us—to us Terran women, I mean.”

“I am still present in the room,” Sevek retorted dryly.

Emma leaned her head onto his shoulder. “Doesn’t make that statement any less true, darling,” she said affectionately.

So, it’s not just because I’m hopelessly weak to affection?

Amber suddenly didn’t know how to feel about everything anymore. While she had enjoyed the kiss, that didn’t mean that she hadn’t felt extremely guilty about taking that short moment for herself. She wasn’t even divorced yet, for God’s sake! It didn’t matter that her marriage wasn’t legally recognized in Elysia South or that she had already signed her copy of the divorce papers. That was just semantics. Never mind her relationship status, was it really okay to start a relationship with a man she barely had known for a couple of days? Neither Emma nor Sevek seemed to find the thought of them as a couple weird or even scandalous, but…

She looked down at Matty. First and foremost, she had to think of her son, what was best for him.

But what if Raphek could be the kind of loving father that Matty’s never had?

The second that thought entered her brain, Amber could have slapped herself—hard and several times. Talk about counting your chickens before they hatched. Maybe Raphek’s lips had broken something vital in her brain for real—like her common sense.

“Any chatter on social media happen while we were outside the kingdom I should know about?” Amber asked Emma, wanting to change the subject, but at the same time, worried that Creepy Mechanic Guy might stir the pot in a bad way. A loose end like him was always worrisome.

“Just the usual speculation when someone high profile goes missing, especially if that person is tied to a politician,” Emma replied. “A lot of people really despise Senator Johnson, so most of the really nasty comments are targeted at him.”

“Anything about a reward?”

Sevek snorted. “It was all over the senator’s social media. Fifty thousand to the one whose tip brings you and Matty home.”

Amber’s jaw dropped. “Fifty-k! No wonder that man at the convenience store grabbed me!”

Emma sat up. “Someone grabbed you?”

“Yeah, but I kicked him in the balls and was able to run