Kai squeezed her hand. Relaxing her clenched teeth, she turned her head and smiled at him. His eyes flashed, and one eyebrow cocked up at her.

“In any case, I’m glad you made it through,” Cutler said briskly. Then he patted her shoulder and turned to leave.

“He’s not what I thought,” she said as Cutler slipped out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Leaving her alone with Kai. Kai and those eyes as deep as the ocean itself.

“No, he’s not.”

Kai slid across the sofa toward her with liquid ease. He flipped her hand over. Lifting it to his lips, he kissed the underside of her wrist. Heat electrified her nerves, flushing her skin with heat.

“Bad dragon,” she said, slapping his hand away.

A grin twisted across his lips, sexy and slow, like he was savoring every second. “I was worried about you.”

“And you’re not used to that?”

His smile faded, and his hand tightened with possessive unease around hers, like he expected an attack on her at any second. He looked ready to jump in and take a bullet for her. It was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen, and his next words were like dark chocolate icing on that devil cake.

“No, I’m not,” he said.

Chuckling softly under her breath, she climbed into his lap and rested her head on his chest, hyperaware of the hard muscle pressed against her cheek. She reached up to trace a finger along his jaw. She was playing with fire and knew it, but she just didn’t care. A deep groan rumbled in his chest, sending a wave of delicious vibrations down her neck.

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” His words brushed against her lips; his hands massaged her back in slow, deep circles.

She smirked at him. “You’re just saying that because you want into my pants.”

“Yes.” His voice dipped lower—and his hands too. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

“Mmm.” She nipped at his lower lip. “You’re not so bad yourself, dragon breath.”

“I prefer Sexy Shifter.”

Heat scorched her cheeks. She pulled back and met his eyes. “Where did you hear that?”

“You were muttering in your sleep.”

Shit.

A sleepy chuckle buzzed in her mind.

We have got to talk about you putting ideas into my head. And words into my mouth.

Her dragon didn’t respond, which was just as well. Kai was already giving her an odd look. She didn’t need to add to his suspicions by having conversations inside her head right in front of him.

“Sera—” He dropped his hands. The heat in his eyes faded.

Was Cutler back? She turned, then froze. No, not Cutler. Riley and Naomi. Her fairy friend’s eyes danced with delight. She was barely holding back a happy dance. Riley, on the other hand, looked like someone had just died. Guilt flooding her, Sera climbed off of Kai’s lap and scooted as far away from him as she could. Oh dear God, she hadn’t just been straddling him when her brother walked in. This was a dream, a far inferior one to their earlier rendezvous in the field of daisies. That one had been devoid of witnesses or humiliation.

“So glad you’re awake, Sera!” Naomi said brightly.

She was the only person in the room who wasn’t acting awkward. Well, maybe except Kai. Nothing ruffled his feathers—err, scales. He met Riley’s narrow-eyed stare, a challenge in his eyes. Riley pulled something out of his pocket, something that looked like one of his magic bombs. If Sera didn’t get between those two soon, they were going to blow the plane out of the sky. She rose, her bones popping in protest. Couldn’t the boys have waited until they were back on the ground before having their shoot-out? She was too tired for this nonsense.

Naomi glided across the room with balletic grace. She caught Sera by the hand, pulling her back down to the sofa. Except Naomi was now between her and Kai. Riley relaxed noticeably. Kai shot Naomi an irate look but said nothing.

“How are you feeling?” Naomi asked Sera, wrapping an arm around her.

“Alive. Mostly,” she added with an amused grunt.

“Kai told us about what happened. And Cutler. Wow. Didn’t see that one coming.” Her eyes twinkled with tiny golden lights, a perfect match to her glittery eyeshadow. “He looks hot in his Knight of the Occult suit, by the way.”

“Don’t tell me you hit on Cutler?”

Naomi grinned. “What can I say? I have a weakness for a man in uniform.” Her gaze slid over to Kai. “Speaking of which, I’m curious to see your threads.”

He arched a single eyebrow at her.

“I heard you were in the military. And played with tanks.”

“By playing with tanks, he means tanks shot at him, and then he threw hissy fits and knocked them over in a fit of rage,” Sera told her.

“Knocked them over? The soldiers?” Naomi asked.

Sera shook her head. “No, the tanks.”

Naomi winked at Kai.

“So I don’t think there’s a uniform for that,” Sera said. “He was in dragon form.”

“Oh, honey, it’s the military. There are always uniforms,” Naomi drawled, the words sliding off her tongue.

Kai glared back at her like he wanted to shoot her out of a tank. She winked at him again.

“So Cutler tracked me?” Sera said quickly, before she had to stop another shoot-out.

Riley had drifted over to Sera’s side of the sofa. He was leaning against the window, giving Kai the stink eye, which Kai was pretending to ignore. Sera decided to ignore them both.