The waitress set a warm bottle of sake between them.
Pouring it into small ceramic cups, he grinned. “I remembered you like this.” So did she. Except, she had chugged the sake straight out of the bottle the last time she drank it.
What was so urgent in America that it couldn’t wait a few more weeks? Ishi liked his new toy very much. She made him laugh and was fun to play with. She was strong, with just enough muscle to punch like a man. He rubbed his shoulder. Nothing like the delicate flowers he’d plucked from the island from time to time.
How could he not admire a female brave enough to approach him to make a deal? Most humans cowered or cried, or worse, pissed themselves when he was in dragon form. She’d cared for his hide and treated both his forms as equals.
The air seemed too thin to breathe all of a sudden as his gaze met hers. Sweat trickled down his back. By his grandfather’s hairy balls, she cared for him. He tossed his sake back like a shot. Worse, he cared for her.
She made him happy.
“You look a little pale.” She placed a hand over his. “Maybe you should take it easy on the sake. I don’t think I can carry you home.”
The image made him chuckle. “It would take more than a bottle to get me that drunk, sweetie.” He did sip his next cup, though. These feelings swirling in his chest worried him. Normally he’d stomp them out or deny their existence, but they wouldn’t let him ignore them. They’d been there all along, ever since she asked him for directions to a brothel instead of a hotel. He had thought his attraction was only carnal.
“Should I ask what I’m going to eat, or is it better I don’t know?” She finished her drink and made a face. “I won’t eat tentacles.”
Warmth that had nothing to do with the sake spread from his belly. She had such a lovely way of expressing herself. “Nothing bad. I promise.” She opened a new world for him. All he had to do was step in and conquer her heart.
“This, coming from someone who has eaten goblin.”
“Dragon taste buds are different from human ones. I won’t eat dog in this form.”
“Dog?” She leaned away from the table.
The serving wench returned with a tray. Samples of their culinary art were displayed for Sandra.
She regarded dinner with a strategic expression.
He plucked a piece with the chopsticks provided. “It won’t bite. It’s dinner, not a battle.” Lifting it to her mouth, he waited. First, she needed to learn to trust him. He’d never harm her.
With a huge sigh, she opened her mouth and closed her eyes.
He wasn’t feeding her entrails, but she acted like it. The sushi roll he’d chosen didn’t even contain meat. He popped one in his mouth as well, with a generous piece of wasabi and ginger.
Nodding, she chewed with more vigor. “Not bad. So if your tastes are different depending on your form, why don’t you hunt in Outremer as a dragon? Or are you not allowed to pass through the gate?”
“I can pass, yet it calls me when it’s breeched. Like here, I might be able to fly in any direction, but I always get called back.”
“What about just outside the gate? Like here?” She struggled with the chopsticks. Pieces of sushi kept slipping from her grasp, and then with the bravery of a warrior, she used her fingers, tucking one in her mouth.
“Not exactly a place I want to stay. Shadowburn is populated by the darker brethren of supernaturals.”
She paused in taking a sip of her sake. “In English now?”
“It’s where the bad monsters live.” He offered her a roll with tuna hidden inside. “The goblins have a huge nest outside my gate. Well, had a nest. A colony of dwarves have driven them out of their cave system. They even herded a few groups through the gate so I’d do the killing for them, lazy metal grinders.” He shook his head at their audacity. “That’s how I got Urgle.”
She gave a crooked, gentle smile. “You have a soft spot for him.”
“Of course I don’t. He’s just a pet.”
“Most people love their pets.”
“I’m not sleeping with Urgle. No matter how much you beg. I’m not into that kind of thing.” He understood what she meant, but he loved how she threw her head back when she laughed and how her eyes sparkled.
“Okay, so no menage with the goblin, and no vacations in Shadowburn.” She blinked. “Where do your people live?”
“Oh, we can’t bear to live together.” Just the thought sent a shiver down his spine. “But most of us live in Upper Firth. There’s a high concentration of humans in that realm. You’d like it there.”
“You’re isolated from everyone.” Her eyes turned sad.
That was the last thing he wanted to see on her face. “They visit and I can’t wait until they leave. This island provides enough entertainment.” Until recently…
“Oh, well, that’s good.” Her gaze traveled to the waitress serving another couple.
He offered her another piece of sushi.
“You know I can feed myself.” She took the morsel, the delight in her eyes tempering her words.
“I believe you can, but why should you when I’m here?”
“Very smooth.” She dabbed the corner of her mouth. “Don’t you miss your home?” The wistful words caught at his heart and sizzled on its surface. She obviously missed hers.
“The gate is my home. I’ve been here so long, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t guard it.”
She leaned forward. “How long exactly?”
Ah, the age old question every human eventually asked him. Experience had taught him discussing time with short-lived species always made them sad. He didn’t want her ever being like that around him. Yet, time would stalk her, unlike his race.
“Long enough for me to think of this realm as my own.” He waved at the waitress and signaled for another bottle of sake, since theirs had emptied quite quickly.
“Fine, Mr. Evasive, how did this become your job, then?” She jabbed a piece of sushi, spearing it viciously with both chopsticks, and offered it to him.
He appreciated a ferocious streak in his females. Chewing the piece she’d fed him, he considered his toy–companion. “A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away–”
She held up her hand. “Does this involve a man in a black outfit and helmet?”
“It does!” He grinned as she rolled her eyes. “Except where I come from they use real swords, not those fancy light gadgets.”
“Sabers.”
He shrugged. “A dark knight tried to take over all of Outremer. I fought in the war against him.” It was a bloody time in the realm. His mother had thrived on the battles and he had learned there could be more to a dragon’s life than gold.
“And you killed him?”
“No, his son did, but the boy was my squire for many years before obtaining his own knighthood.” The good old days, the clash of metal against metal, the cries of the fallen, the wenching…
“Ishi.”
He blinked, returning to the present. “I may not have swung the killing stroke, but I led many armies against evil and trained even more warriors in my wake. When this gate lost its keeper, it called me. I’ve guarded it ever since.” Goblin hordes had killed the last keeper and almost taken over this island. The offer to fight and defend a helpless realm rang true with his soul when he’d agreed to it.
“Fighting goblins and whatever else that comes through the gate, protecting us.” She took his hand in hers and pressed her lips to his knuckles.
He scanned the room to see if anyone had noticed. “What are you doing?” Males kissed female’s hands. Not the other way around.
She rubbed her cheek against his palm. “You’re a real live hero.”