Reaching out, she patted his leg. “Hey.”
He drew in a deep breath as he woke up from his nap.
“Here.” She held out the bags for him to take.
It took a second for his brain to kick into gear and take the shopping bags from her.
An amused smile slid across Terra’s face as she let out a soft laugh. “Listen. I know this trip to the bar is important to finding out who you are, but it’s starting to get late and we’ve both had a really long day.” She didn’t know how it showed on her, but she could see how the day had worn on him. “What do you say we grab a pizza and find someplace to hole up for the night?” Her stomach rumbled just thinking about food.
A smile spread across his face. “Sure,” he answered. “I think food and some rest would be a great idea.” Taking the bags, he pushed one of them to the floor.
Terra nodded and started the car up as her dragon man rummaged through a bag. “So, what do you like on your pizza?”
The man looked up from his search and considered Terra’s question. “I don’t know.” Concern crossed his face as he tried to remember. “I guess just get whatever you like, and we’ll go from there.”
Whatever I like? Terra’s grin widened. “All right. One anchovy and jalapeno pizza coming up.”
A look of disgust crossed the dragon man’s face. “Fish? On pizza? Please, no.”
Terra laughed. “All right. How about a large deluxe with everything?”
“Now that sounds reasonable.” He nodded. “But you had better make it two.”
She glanced at her passenger curiously. “Two larges?” She could feel his eyes run over her as he evaluated her.
“Better make that two larges and a medium.”
This drew Terra’s full attention. She turned and stared at him openmouthed. “Are you planning on putting away two full pizzas by yourself?” There was no way the two of them could go through that much pizza.
He just shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a dragon.” With that, he went back to rummaging in the bag.
Okay… Terra turned her attention back to the road to hunt down a pizza joint. If he could put away two full pizzas in one sitting, she would hate to see what his food bill for a month would be.
“What’s this?”
Terra glanced over to see what her dragon man had pulled from the bag.
He held up a pack of low-rise, cotton panties.
Reaching out, Terra shoved the pack back in the bag. “That’s my bag!” She yanked the plastic from his hands and shoved it into the back seat.
He snickered. “I was wondering why you had gotten me pink underwear.”
Terra shot him a dirty look. Only one pair of the panties was pink. The other two were flowered. “Well excuse me for wanting clean underwear,” she huffed. “It’s not like I could go home and get any.”
The dragon man let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry.” Regret was heavy in his voice. “I didn’t mean for you to get caught up in my problems.” He pulled the blanket back around him tightly.
Nice going, numbskull. “Hey.” Terra reached over and dropped her hand on his leg. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I know you didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” She patted his leg in a comforting way. “We’ll figure it out.”
A weak, ironic laugh slipped out of him. “At least you can walk away from this any time you want.” There was a depressed note in his voice that made Terra’s heart clench.
“No.” She patted his leg again. “I won’t leave you like this.” She glanced over to see him staring at her with those beautiful eyes. “I’ll help you find the answers you need.”
A spark of hope lit his face.
“But first,” she said as she pulled her hand from his leg. “Let’s see about some food.” She turned the car into the parking lot of a pizza place. “I’ll be right back.” She paused before jumping out of the car and considered him. “Will you be okay here by yourself?” There was something in his posture that made her want to hold him close and tell him everything would be fine.
A slight smile curved up the corner of his mouth. “I’ll be fine. Go.”
Terra considered him for a moment longer before getting out. It was amazing how fast he had gone from joking to depressed. If he were going to take her teasing so seriously, she would have to watch what she said around him. She was, after all, just getting to know him.
Alex watched Terra as she disappeared into the building. What the hell was wrong with him? He had just gone from laughing and joking to dark and depressed in a matter of seconds. The mood swing had hit him so fast it left his head spinning. If he didn’t know any better, he would have said he was pregnant, or brooding.
That thought made him stop. Brooding. He knew that word but couldn’t remember what it meant. A flash of scales provided him with the answer his human mind couldn’t come up with. It was a time in a male dragon’s life where his hormones got out of whack, usually caused by a growth spurt, a female dragon during her fertile period, or when faced with a potential mate.
Alex was sure he was finished growing, so a growth spurt was out of the question. He would’ve had to have spent a fair amount of time in the presence of a fertile female for that to bring on a brooding, and he didn’t think that was the case. So, that left a potential mate. The ads in the window of the shop hid most of the lobby, but Alex could just see Terra waiting in the short line. A feeling of contentment rolled through him.
He closed his eyes and focused on his dragon bit. “She’s human,” he protested.
His dragon laughed at him. That was a weak argument, and both of his halves knew it.
Taking a human as a mate could be problematic, but there were lots of dragons who did. Dragons tended to live much longer than the average human, but there was something in the magic of bonding and the sharing of a scale that would extend a human mate’s life. They would live as long as their dragon did. Why Alex knew this piece of trivia and not his own name irked him. He kept remembering little things, but none of the information he needed.
Turning his eyes away from the woman helping him, he pulled the bag of clothing up from the floor and opened it. While the other bag had female clothing and essentials, this one held male. He ripped open the pack of underwear and pulled out a pair. At least she had gone for the dark-colored briefs and not the plain white ones. It took him a moment, but he shimmied into them. Next came the long-sleeved T-shirt. It was amazingly soft and the same shade of blue as his dragon. Just the fact that she had chosen something in his color made his dragon happy. The pants she had gotten him were a little large in the waist. They would hang low on his hips, but he could make them work.
Now that he was mostly dressed, Alex slipped from the car to go in and help with the food. He also wanted to make sure there weren’t any weird misunderstandings between them. His random mood swing had thrown them both.
Pausing in the doorway to the shop, his eyes landed on Terra, and he sighed contently. She stood back from the counter, waiting. Something in her posture told him she was annoyed with the older woman at the counter.
“So, I can’t use this coupon?” The woman held out a crumpled piece of paper to the cashier.
He took it and looked at it. “No. This was last month’s special.” He pointed to the bottom of the ticket where the date was clearly printed on the paper.
“But that was only three days ago,” the woman complained. “You can still give it to me for that price.”