Billionaire Dragon's Mate: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Dragon Romance Nove by Anya Nowlan Read Free Book Online

for a moment. But somehow, he’d still managed to put it aside and lock it away with all the other things he didn’t want to deal with. The time he’d managed to spend away from his parents’ watchful eyes in his youth had been spent chasing one thrill after another and finding more and more elaborate ways for driving his traditionalist parents up the wall.
    So, wasn’t it a bit ironic that he was now the one expected to keep the Greenmeadow name in good standing?
    You are doing it by fixing other people’s lives. Is it so damn hard to fix yours? Cillian mused, closing his eyes.
    Another sleepless night spent pondering on questions without an answer in sight. But, as always, his belief that things would work themselves out remained forever unrattled.
     
    ***
     
    The bike roared through the Chicago streets, catching a glance or two every now and then, but their helmets hid their identities and wrapped them in a safe cocoon of anonymity. Cillian liked the way Ruby’s hands clung to him tightly, squeezing just a little bit too hard. She’d admitted she’d never been on a superbike before, and a Fireblade was a far cry from a relatively comfy, leisurely chopper. It was the only thing he could ride that would give him any kind of a rush.
    Flying from point A to point B wasn’t the most sensible thing, what with most of mankind still safely unaware that dragons even existed outside of children’s fairy tales (not to mention them controlling a sizeable portion of the world’s wealth and being capable of making just about anything happen by throwing substantially large wads of cash at it). That was the one thing he missed about being in Emerald Ridge – no one would even bat an eye if a giant, green and gold dragon suddenly swooped over their house so low it could almost knock over chimneys.
    His mind had been racing all morning, trying to figure out a way to make everything alright. The more time he spent around Ruby, the less inclined he was to return her to her parents – it felt like he was offering up a part of his own hoard to be gobbled up by people who could never understand her value. It pained him. His dragon was adamant about forsaking his human form, tossing her on his back and making a break for Emerald Ridge. That way he’d have plenty of time to unravel the mess that were his feelings towards the little mob princess long before Antonio Accardo and Sergei could track him down.
    All that didn’t take into account Ruby’s personal opinions on the matter, but Cillian was getting a vibe from her that she wasn’t exactly looking forward to her family reunion either. Perhaps she even liked being around him a little. The way she’d looked at his body when they got up in the morning and he padded around the kitchen with nothing on but the sweatpants and his gold chains and cuffs certainly signaled that she might be interested in purchasing, not just perusing.
    He chose to ignore the fact that she might just have been looking at him that way because most of his wounds had magically healed up and he was fit as a fiddle again. Ignorance was bliss in that regard, and he liked his version of the story better.
    He could sense her becoming more and more nervous as they closed in on the bar he’d met Sergei and her father in. It was early in the afternoon, so the place would be deserted. Cillian pulled up on the curb outside the bar and shut off the engine.
    Reluctantly, Ruby unlatched herself from him, and he cringed a little as she let go. Good thing he had the helmet on. It was silly, really. He’d never bought into the whole fated mate thing, and he barely knew this woman. Cillian was a handsome guy, and he’d messed around with plenty of gorgeous women in his days, but this one was special. This one made his dragon roar with desire, and the man… well, he wanted her. Badly.
    He took off the helmet, careful to wipe away any trace of the disappointment he was feeling at having to let her go, and put it on the