A Dragon's Dream of Love (Song of the Sídhí Series #2) by Jodie B. Cooper Read Free Book Online Page B

from the old harridan – who dared ridicule his Leah – and looked at
the sliver of wood in his hand.
    “In Lord PhñDick's house it’s forbidden
to eat human food.” Leah stopped leaning toward Derek, self-consciously
shifting away from him. “The topic of human food in a dhark overlord's court is
rather restricted.”
    “Hmm, yes, I suppose it would be,”
Claire half-muttered to herself.
    Derek frowned at the wrinkled old
woman, carefully keeping his fangs from glaring at her as well. The dragons
shouldn't let mundane humans work in the commissary if they couldn't be polite.
    Turning to Leah, he softly said, “After
a week, maybe two, of not drinking human blood you won’t be as sensitive to the
sun. Your eyes will turn black in the sunshine instead of red and your skin
won’t burn.”
    “Oh, thanks,” she said with a sigh,
glancing at him she nervously tugged at the end of her braided hair. “I heard
about differences between blood-drinkers and non-drinkers, but no one talked
about it. It’s a totally taboo subject.”
    Derek dug out his black Royal Haven
credit card, but Claire waved it away.
    “No charge,” she said. “The dragons
will provide everything you need, including snacks or whatever.”
    He shrugged, gathering the assorted
plastic bags in one hand and grabbed a couple more items on the way out of the
store. He looked forward to introducing Leah, to the joy of sweets.
    He followed Leah to their table and
watched her grab a small suitcase and carry bag.
    “Hold up,” Derek said, dropping his
assorted bags on the round surface.
    She didn’t stop; she turned on her
heel, ready to leave.
    He grasped the tail of her braid as she
swept past him, pulling her to a stop. "Wait a second."
    "No, I'm headed toward the cabin.
I'm so ready to get out of this sun," she said with a glare.
    He grinned and gently tugged the end of
her braid until she returned to the table. “The sooner you get sunscreen on,
the better off you’ll be. Who knows how far our cabin is.”
    She grumbled, but finally agreed to his
insistent tugging.
    She smeared the sunscreen across her
legs and arms. Quickly capping the bottle, she dropped it into her bag.
    Derek reached in her big beach-like bag
and snatched it back out.
    “What are you doing?” she demanded. The
tips of her small fangs peeked out and her eyes narrowed in warning.
    He chuckled at her threatening glare. A
surprising thought hit him like a two-by-four. He realized how totally besotted
he was with her when a glaring vampire looked adorable.
     “You missed a few spots.” He ignored
her protests. Getting up, he rubbed sunscreen on the satiny smooth skin along
the backside of her arms, relishing in the pearl-like quality of its healthy
glow. He swept his large hands in an arc, twitching her braid out of the way
continuing his gentle ministrations along the edge of her hairline, caressing
the gentle curve of her neck.
    He tugged her around, carefully
smoothing the creamy liquid on her ears and face.
    “Would you stop already? I'm not a
child. You don’t need to do this,” she said. “I can take care of myself.”
    It took every inch of his will-power
not to kiss her bare neck as he heard the quiver of desire lacing through her
voice. But she said stop and he'd never do anything against her will. He slowly
pulled his hands away, letting them linger across the shell of her ear.
    She shivered.
    To his complete delight, when he
started to pull away she moved forward, seeking his touch.
    “Your face and ears are already pink.”
He sighed in pleasure and continued his gentle ministrations, keeping his touch
light enough that she could easily pull backward and out of his reach.
    “I was trying to hurry,” she said
breathlessly, keeping still for a few more strokes, before sitting backward.
She blinked, appearing stunned that she was half-out of her chair and leaning
toward his body. “That’s more than enough.”
    “In a minute,” he said. He reached down
and