that Oklahoman thicket. Amber could clearly see the desire in his beautiful fire-colored eyes, the way his slightly-larger-than-a-human’s pupils dilated as his gaze lingered on her lips. No one, not Garrett or any of the handful of guys she had dated before him had ever looked at her quite like—as though she were the most desirable woman on the planet.
Her heart rate spiked almost painfully. “Raph…” Amber breathed, suddenly unable to form a more coherent thought other than that one syllable.
Her lips were already sensitive and tingling with anticipation when Raphek lowered his head and took her lips in a fierce kiss that she swore made her toes curl. Raphek was such a calm personality, serious and straightforward, so it was a complete surprise how much passion the dragon-man could express in a single kiss.
All too soon, Raphek pulled away until their lips barely touched. “Sleep well,” he murmured, his warm breaths against her kiss-swollen lips making her shudder in excitement, “and when you awake, I’ll begin my courtship of you in earnest. The morning light may bring with it more troubles, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy the times between dealing with those troubles.”
Amber clenched his shoulders more tightly. The reminder of the shitshow that was probably just around the corner instantly cleared the fog of desire from her mind. When Raphek was kissing her, it was just so easy to forget the crushing weight of all her problems. That was dangerous, she knew it was, but at the same time, she hadn’t felt so invigorated in years. Maybe Raphek was right. Maybe it was okay to feel a bit of joy even when surrounded by enemies.
Just the thought of seeing Matty’s eyes lighting up with pure happiness completely free from the threat of violence that had hovered around them like a poisonous cloud had pushed her to do the utterly insane thing that had landed them to this point where she had seen that very happiness she had hoped for in his eyes in that Elysian marketplace. It was almost inconceivable, but could she find the same kind of happiness with Raphek?
Her lips firmed resolutely as she looked up into his intense eyes. She damned well would fight tooth and nails to find out.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The moment she saw Raphek standing over her, holding Matty and Matty clinging to his neck wearing a huge grin on his face, Amber thought for sure she was dreaming.
Matty was dressed in a light blue tunic that fastened with ties along the side and matching pants of the same linen-like material as the top. His feet were bare. The outfit was unlike anything he had worn before.
However, his clothing wasn’t the main reason for her sense of unreality. It was the picture of domesticity that the two presented, like a father holding his son as comfortably as though he had been doing it for years.
Other than instances where he had paraded Matty around his social and donor circles as pretty much a symbol of his bedroom prowess, Garrett had rarely paid his own son attention. Both she and Matty had been his trophies, props, nothing more.
Amber blinked slowly, but the astonishing scene before her didn’t change.
“I thought you might be awakening,” Raphek said. “I thought it best to bring the little one back in before you could realize he was no longer sleeping beside you.”
She sat up so quickly that the room spun as a wash of dizziness hit her, suddenly wide awake. “What in the world…!”
“Mommy, Mr. Dragon let me play in his pool!” Matty informed her happily.
“Pool?” Amber parroted in confusion.
“Matty woke up about a couple of hours ago and decided to go exploring while you slept,” Raphek said. “He found me in the sitting room. I hope you don’t mind, but I figured I should prepare him for the day. The pool he mentioned is my bathing pool.”
Oh. Right. They had both used such a pool at Emma’s to bathe before their lunch date with Princess Briana. Her brain must still be half-asleep.
“He let me eat a big grape again,” Matty added.
“A lithla fruit,” Raphek interpreted.
It took her a while to remember that it was the eggplant-looking fruit Raphek had bought for Matty at the marketplace yesterday.
“I’m sorry. I probably overslept,” Amber said, suddenly flustered as she slipped off the cushion-bed and struggled to her feet. Since there weren’t any windows in the room, she had no idea if it was still morning or past noon.
“Not at all,” Raphek