Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
The trip to Taos—such a sweet little town—sounds like a wonderful respite. And hanging out in my car with Dragon? That won’t suck either.
I’ll even let him drive.
I don’t really like driving long distances. Driving from the ranch to Denver is long enough.
I shed my work clothes and shove them into the hamper. Then I grab a pair of comfortable loose jeans, a Steel Vineyards sweatshirt, and my running shoes.
I throw some more clothes into a suitcase, grab my sundries out of the bathroom, scrub my face of makeup, moisturize, and then I’m ready.
I grab my small suitcase and walk out of my bedroom.
Dragon is standing by the door, his duffel at his feet.
His long hair is pulled back in a band, and he looks like a luscious bad boy in that black leather jacket, those jeans that hug his perfect ass just right, and his army boots.
My God, has any guy ever been so sexy?
He is so not my type.
At least not what I ever thought was my type.
But damn…
I feel things with him that I never thought I was capable of feeling.
“All ready?” I ask.
“Yup,” he says in that deep baritone that makes me swoon.
“Good enough.” I open the door. “We’ll take the elevator down to the parking garage. Then we’ll be on our way.”
“Sounds good.”
My stomach lets out a growl. Funny how doing the right thing brought back my appetite. “I forgot to eat lunch today. You hungry?”
He frowns. “I… I haven’t eaten either.”
“You haven’t? What have you been doing?”
He simply shrugs.
Definitely a story there. Definitely a reason why we’re going to Taos. Enough to keep his appetite at bay.
“We’ll get something on the road, then. My treat.” I give him a smile. “Let’s go.”
We take the elevator down to the parking garage where my burgundy BMW is parked. Dragon cracks a small grin as we approach it.
“What?” I ask.
“Just as I thought,” Dragon says. “Figured it would be either a Benz or BMW.”
“It was almost a Jaguar,” I say. “But this one rides better.”
He says nothing. Not that I expect him to.
I pull the key fob out of my purse and unlock the doors. “You want to drive?” I ask Dragon.
“That’s fine. If you want me to.”
“Honestly, I’d prefer if you drove. Plug in the coordinates to my GPS system in the car, and it’ll take you right there.”
He nods.
I look at him, flash him a smile. “So you’ve never been to Taos, right?”
“Nope.”
I squeeze his shoulder. “It’ll be great. Let’s go.”
Dragon starts the engine, pulls out of my parking space, and follows the exit signs out of the building.
“What do you feel like eating?” I ask. “We should probably grab something before we get out of town. The next major city we’ll hit is Colorado Springs, and that won’t be for another hour at least.”
“Whatever sounds good to you.”
“There’s a deli right on the edge of Seventeenth Avenue, and they won’t be crowded this time of day. How about a sandwich?”
He blinks. “Yeah. Sounds great.”
I show Dragon where to go, weaving through the diagonal streets of downtown Denver, until we reach the end of Seventeenth. With luck, there’s a parking spot open right in front of the deli.
“That never happens,” I say. “You must have good parking karma.”
“Good parking what?”
I laugh. “Never mind. I’ll go in. What do you want?”
“Corned beef on rye. Swiss cheese.”
“How about to drink?”
“Just water.”
“Sounds good.”
I get out of the car, enter the deli, put in my order, and then I wait. A few moments later, one of the employees hands me two white paper bags and two bottles of water. I bring them back to the car, open one, and find it’s the corned beef. I unwrap it, position the wrapper so that Dragon can hold the sandwich and eat while he drives, and hand it to him. Then I open his water and put it in the cup holder next to him.
“Thanks,” he says.
“Let’s get on the road,” I say. “I’ll unwrap my sandwich while we’re driving.”
He nods and grunts his approval and then starts the car. We don’t talk for the first several moments as we eat our sandwiches.
When we’re both done eating, and I’ve put all the trash into one of the white bags, I turn to him. “I know you said this trip is personal, Dragon, but maybe I can help. Does this have anything to do with what you’re having Alayna investigate?”
He doesn’t reply.
Not that I expected him to answer that question.
And as much as I’m looking forward to this trip with him, if we don’t talk at all, it’s going to be really, really long.
Chapter Nine
Dragon
I keep my eyes on the road, trying to ignore the pit in my stomach. Diana’s question lingers between us, making it feel heavier than before. The truth is, I should be doing this alone.