His Feverish Embrace - Celia Kyle Page 0,16

skill was a major turn-on.

The one thing missing from Trystin’s life was a father figure—a good one, worthy of being a mentor to a kid as amazing as her son. She truly felt that being his parent was a privilege, an honor. Not just anyone was good enough for the job.

She thought back to that fateful night, recalling how freaked out she’d been when Thrett had revealed the truth about himself. He probably didn’t even remember—he’d been half-asleep at the time—but it had changed everything.

They’d been cuddled together after their second round of lovemaking. Thrett must have been drifting off, in that middle space between slumber and wakefulness, when he’s said, “I hope our kids take after me.”

She’d thought it was cute he was talking about kids already, and truth be told, the idea excited her. It wasn’t as if she’d dated a lot through college, but the bond between her and Thrett was special. Her friends would have laughed at her, but she felt connected to him all the way down to her bones. If he’d been anyone else, she would have run screaming from his room at the mention of kids after a one-night stand—not that she’d ever engaged in one before. From the way he’d been talking, that wasn’t what either of them wanted. They both wanted more. So much more.

She’d whispered, “Oh yeah? You want them to be players?”

She’d figured she’d get some dreamy nonsense answer, but instead he’d said, “No, dragons.”

At first, she’d thought that was a dreamy nonsense answer. She’d giggled and said, “Dragons don’t exist, silly.”

“Uh huh,” he’d grunted in his dozing state, and then the most incredible, impossible thing happened.

His body heated up and grew larger. Scales popped out in patches along his arms and back. His face stretched out a bit and a tendril of smoke wafted from his left nostril. In a blink of the eye, he was back to his normal, sexy self, leaving Rylan blinking in shock.

She’d tried to talk herself into thinking she’d been dreaming or hallucinating. Maybe he’d put something in her drink. But she knew better. She’d been taught to trust her own senses, and those senses told her the man lying next to her wasn’t completely human, like her.

To say she’d been freaked out would be the understatement of the century. She’d huddled in the chair across from the bed for hours, watching him sleep and willing him to be human. But every once in a while, a little puff of smoke would drift up from the bed, and she’d decided she had to face the truth, as crazy as it seemed.

She’d dressed quietly, terrified he’d wake up and blast her with dragon fire, or chomp her in half, or…whatever dragons did to those who pissed them off. It was insanity, the very idea, but she’d also known it to be true. Just as she’d known they had a special connection.

It nearly killed her to leave, every cell in her body screaming to crawl back into bed with him, but she did the only thing that made sense at the time. She left. They hadn’t exchanged last names, numbers or even emails. He had no way of finding her and vice versa. It was the end.

Except it wasn’t. Trystin was proof of that.

And now Thrett was back, having “man-to-man” talks with their son and plaguing her every waking thought. And lots of her sleeping thoughts too.

The door to the outer office opened and Thrett sauntered in, looking as good as ever. Maybe even better, now that she’d seen him helping Trystin. Her heart sped up in response and her mouth dried up, leaving her momentarily mute. Thankfully, Ginette picked up the slack.

“Good morning, Mr. Lacerta,” she said in an overly sweet tone.

“Morning.” He barely glanced her way. “Rylan, I just spotted—”

“I know,” she said curtly. “Ginny saw the whole thing.”

“Okay, good. It’s pretty clear from the way they raced off that they’re up to no good. We need to get some of those security measure we discussed in place ASAP.”

Rylan swallowed hard. The safety of the children was her priority, but she was also keenly aware that Trystin was still at recess, which meant he could burst into the office at any moment. In fact, it was all but inevitable since he’d just figured out how to unfurl his wings. He’d be too excited to wait to tell her. If Thrett found out Trystin was her son, he’d know instantly and she still wasn’t