Dragon Heartstring(7)

I snapped my attention back to Jessen who was observing me while she set out four plates. Heat crawled up my neck as I took a container from her and set it on the blanket.

“He’s a good-looking man, isn’t he?” she asked with a small smile.

“Um. Yes. He is.” I didn’t know what else to say. I wasn’t going to lie.

She set out the napkins. “I wish he’d find a good woman and settle down. But that’s likely to never happen.”

“Why’s that?”

“Demetrius is married to his work. There is nothing that gets him more excited than a deal going down or a new venture on the rise.”

I smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with hard work.”

“Not at all. But there is something wrong when you don’t know how to loosen up and enjoy the little pleasures in life.”

“He seems to be doing that right now.”

We both watched as Demetrius stretched out the elaborate kite while Julian held the strings.

Jessen grunted. “You’re right. I suppose I’m too hard on him. I just want him to relax. I don’t want him to be so—”

Julian whooped and shouted, “Hooray!”

The kite was up and flying. Demetrius was back at his side, showing him how to let the reel out slowly as the wind carried the kite higher into the air, red streamers trailing out underneath the green dragon’s belly.

“So…what?” I urged her to continue.

“So like my father,” she said, expression somber.

“Would your father be spending an entire workday afternoon in the park with your son?” I asked.

“No.” She sighed. “I’m not sure my father even knows I have a son.”

I couldn’t imagine my own father not being in my life. I had no words of comfort to that.

“Uncle Demetrius!”

We both looked over just as the kite caught in a high branch of a tree. Demetrius took the strings from Julian and worked to see if he could free it.

“I’ll be right back.” I stood and walked over to the two. “You having a little trouble?”

“I got it caught,” said Julian, his sad expression upward where the kite dangled in a branch.

“I think I’ve almost got it,” said Demetrius.

“You might tear it. Let me help.” Without waiting for a response, I opened my wings, flapped with a bend of my knees, and shot straight up to the top of the tree.

Hovering with a steady beat of my wings, I pulled on the string, which had wound twice around the branch. The green dragon dangled upside down. I unwrapped the string from around the limb and carried the kite back to the ground.

“Thank you, thank you!” said Julian hopping up and down, his small wings flapping excitedly as I handed over the kite.

Finally, I met Demetrius’s gaze. I’d felt him watching me and wasn’t sure what I’d find in those dark depths. Curiosity or distaste, perhaps, for I’d just displayed the most obvious difference between our kind. His expression was one of admiration, a gentle smile and warmth to his eyes that made my knees buckle. A delightful shiver ran down my body. I needed to get away from this man. No matter how much my head said he was a dull executive with no attractive characteristics, my body said something entirely differently. And I knew what that meant. My dragon liked him, which was shocking to say the least.

“Thank you, Shakara,” he said in a much calmer demeanor than Julian, who now ran around in a circle, making his kite soar in his arms.

“I was glad to be of help.”

“Julian!” called Jessen. “Come and eat.”

He ran over to her in the shade.

Demetrius openly stared at my wings. I cleared my throat to jar him out of his little trance, but he remained transfixed.

“Why are you staring like that?”

“Sorry. It’s just that, well… I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but I’ve never seen a Morgon fly up close.”

“What? You’re kidding, right?”

He shook his head. “It’s always been from afar.”

Of course, he hadn’t. He didn’t know any Morgons. Not as friends. He may have witnessed Morgons in flight over the city or leaving from rooftop terraces, but he hadn’t seen one up close and personal.

“And does it make you uncomfortable? I know that you’re not around Morgons often. And perhaps not very fond of them.” I added the last in a hushed tone.

He frowned. “No.” He stepped closer, leaning toward me as if he might reach out and touch my wing. But he didn’t. “I found your flight…breathtaking.”

Breathtaking was watching him study me with those beautiful brown eyes. “That was nothing. You should see me when I really fly.”

Why was I enticing the man? My dragon wanted to prance around for him.

His heated gaze captured mine. “I would like that.”

I’d meant it hypothetically, yet he answered as if it were an invitation. Right then, I knew I wasn’t imagining things. Demetrius Cade was flirting with me. This was dangerous.

“Shall we go eat?” I asked.

“After you,” he said with a wave of his hand.

I moved ahead, once more feeling the intensity of his gaze at my back.

Some people exude a light aura, making one feel comfortable and secure, no matter how close they stand next to you. Then there are others whose presence feels heavy and daunting, an immovable fixture whose weight fills up the space around them. And then there’s a presence like Demetrius. One who seeps up the very air around him, filling it with his dominance, as if he owns every domain in which he steps. Perhaps that’s because he usually did. But as he followed behind me, it was more than that. I felt his gaze like a physical touch, like a lover’s caress. By the time I knelt down on the blanket, I was breathless, my chest rising and falling too quickly.