Hour of the Dragon - Heather Killough-Walden Page 0,2
don’t use lotion right after, but sure as hell kills all the germs. She smelled like that, like Dial and Ivory and Coast. And most of all, she smelled like White Rain shampoo.
The clean, fresh scent of her literally brought me to a stand-still. She was rounding the corner when I turned in place and looked up. I will never forget those six seconds. They’re imprinted on my memory like a film reel made of titanium. Some nights it’s on loop in my damn head. A dream and a nightmare in one.
The first part of her to appear was her left boot. Knee-high, block-heeled, corset-laced, red suede. I remember my gaze fixing on those laces and following them all the way up as more of her emerged from behind that wall… smooth bare thigh, off-white linen long-sleeved mini-dress, brown suede vest… and buckets of natural strawberry blonde hair. She hadn’t ironed it like a lot of girls had started to do. Instead, it fell in waves that looked careless.
It was perfect. I loved careless.
She was looking down at the floor, lost in thought and mumbling something about not being allowed to take advanced physics because she had ovaries. Her inner dialogue gave me just enough time to stand there like an idiot and study her profile, taking it all in.
White Rain girl was a little younger than my human form, maybe fifteen or sixteen. A sophomore perhaps. She had a clear complexion, probably from that extra-drying soap she used. Her lips were full and pink, but she was worrying the bottom one with her top teeth. Those teeth were slightly crooked at the canines, and very white. It was seriously cute.
There was a light café-au-lait birthmark on her left temple but I didn’t dwell on it long before my eyes were continuing on their way. Her eyelashes were long and thick, easy to spot in profile. She had yet to look up, so I still couldn’t see her eyes. She had a small chicken pox scar on the apex of one cheek, but like her birthmark it did nothing to mar her beauty. It only made her seem more careless. More free. Unafraid to scratch that itch.
My head filled with the sound of her footsteps, leather soles on linoleum. I zeroed in with dragon sense and isolated the sound of her breathing. Her breaths were shallow and quick, the kind humans got when they were pissed or anxious. I zeroed in further and caught the rapid-fire beating of her heart.
This physics thing was troubling her, which would explain the furrow in her brow.
She was maybe half a foot shorter than me. And wonder-of-the-sixties-wonders… she wasn’t wearing a bra. With a linen dress, that was gutsy. I couldn’t help but wonder what that material felt like against her... skin. It wasn’t a soft material. And I knew without even touching her that she was soft. The knowledge of that contrast had a hard effect on me, pun intended. I’d been human all of two days and I was already having to use magic to hide my very physical response to her.
When she finished rounding the corner and was heading toward me, a lock of her hair flew in front of her face, making my body flush hot – and she finally looked up.
Purple. White Rain girl had ever-loving purple eyes. I’d seen purple eyes before, but never on a human. When she looked up and those eyes met mine, I swear I felt like someone had cold-cocked me. There I was with several thousand years of social lessons under my belt, and what did I do while she approached? I stood completely frozen in place and watched her like a nine-year-old boy who’d just caught a glimpse of his older sister’s boobs.
She watched me right back for a few beats. Then she tilted her head to the side and smiled. That white, slightly crooked smile was hands-down the most beautiful thing this black dragon had ever seen.
“You’re new here, aren’t you?” she asked.
I couldn’t answer.
But she gave a small laugh good-naturedly. “I just ask because you seem a little lost.” She stopped right in front of me and waited.
I still couldn’t answer.
More soft laughter, like crystal rain. “I’m guessing that’s a yes. Tell you what, I’m headed to the admin offices right now if you wanna tag along?”
That was how she was. She was straight-forward, kind, helpful, and not at all shy.