Ruby Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

going to ask you if it’s enough to buy a couch, but—”
    She let out a sigh. “So it really is from friends?” she asked. “Guy friends?”
    “Yes,” he said. “Friends I have known for a really long time, who wanted to help me get started in a new place.” He fingered a thin gold chain at his neck and looked nervous for the first time since she’d met him.
    She sat down, slumping. “I’m sorry. Dammit, why am I so quick to judge?”
    “Maybe because you’ve met people you should have judged harder,” he said quietly. “Like the jerk you wouldn’t let me pummel.”
    “You know,” she said, taking another bite of meat. “I wouldn’t have thought you were the type that would go all alpha and want to beat up someone.” She grinned. “You might get your pretty face scratched.”
    “When someone I care about is in trouble, the last thing I’m thinking about is my face. Actually, lately, it’s caused me a lot of trouble.” He shook his head, letting his hair fall in front of his face as he cut more meat and offered a piece to Pumpkin. “Human women have no control.”
    She frowned. “Not all of them.”
    He smiled ruefully. “You do seem to be the exception.” He tilted his head. “Why is that? Just don’t find me sexy?”
    She nearly choked on her food but then used a napkin and wiped her mouth gingerly. “No, it’s not that at all. I’ve just learned the sexier I think a guy is, the more of a jerk he turns out to be.”
    “So you’re into me?” he asked, looking ridiculously pleased.
    What sort of alternate universe was she in where a man who looked like that was that happy because she liked him?
    “I think you’re hot. I mean, I’m not blind. But as I said, the hotter they are, the more of a jerk they turn out to be.”
    “So,” he said, standing over her and placing a hand on the table to lean down and put himself at eye level with her. She could see all the colors in his striking natural hair, the dark green at the center of his irises. Feel her whole body respond with a tense want. “How much of a jerk would I turn out to be?”
    She breathed in, unable to resist the sensation of his lips coming closer as he leaned over the table. “A huge jerk. A tremendous jerk. Probably the biggest jerk of all time.”
    He grinned, moving forward, teasing her with the distance between them.
    She couldn’t. She shouldn’t. She knew not to get caught up again. All men could be good at the start. Charming. Sweet. Sexy. But it didn’t last. They wanted something from you, and once they got it, they were gone, leaving you in the wreckage.
    His face sobered, and he looked at her with an odd expression, considering their position. Then he pulled back slightly so she could look in his eyes.
    “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly. Hovering just out of reach. Making it clear it would be her responsibility to come closer.
    Did he want her to? He’d been asking her on dates since they’d met, but that was before they were friends. Still, he seemed happy she was into him.
    “I…”
    He pulled back, stood, and stretched, giving her a view of his muscles.
    Her body ached in disappointment at the same time her breath came out in a relieved huff.
    As much as she wanted to be, she just wasn’t ready.
    Maybe, despite their rough start, he was a true friend for seeing that.
    He sat in the chair across from her to continue eating, a casual smile on his face that said he was willing to pretend nothing awkward had happened, which she appreciated.
    “So,” he said, “tell me all about Braden.”

4
    R ed stabbed at his meat , trying to ignore the painful lust surging through him.
    He didn’t want Faye to see any of it.
    He was coming to adore her. Her little stray curls. That half smile she wore when she thought something was ironic. The way she got so angry about board game rules or cheaters on reality TV.
    He’d thought it was friendship but realized it was more when he’d met Braden.
    He