“There you are,” Richie said the minute Remi walked back into the restaurant.
“Yep. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes, right?” Remi asked.
“You got it. I’ve got all your veggies chopped and the ground beef in the mixing bowl for you. The recipe book is opened to it.”
“Brown gravy or red?” Remi asked as he walked over to consult the recipe.
“Brown. We’ll make spaghetti and meatballs in a couple of days, so let’s make this gravy brown so we don’t overdo the tomato sauce.”
“I got it from here,” Remi said as he started taking the spices off the shelf and adding them to the twenty pounds of ground beef already in the biggest bowl he’d ever seen.
He was elbows deep in ground beef, spices, onions, bell peppers, egg, small pieces of torn bread, and Italian bread crumbs when he heard the purr of the Ferrari again. But this time, it sounded like it had pulled up right outside the restaurant. Shortly after, the front doors opened and Cristie walked in. He knew it was her without even looking up — his Dragon told him.
Ours
Remi didn’t reply, he just keep mixing the meatloaf. He wasn’t sure if Kaiser was in the car waiting on her or not and didn’t really want to look. His Dragon was just about losing his shit.
Cristie walked right up to the window and watched Remi and Richie cooking.
When neither responded to her presence, she went over to the swinging doors that led into the kitchen and stepped through them. “Good morning,” she said, her voice sounding confident to anyone who wasn’t Remi’s Dragon.
Nervoushis Dragon whispered in his mind.
I know,Remi answered silently.
Smell herDragon demanded.
Remi scoffed at the Dragon.No.
Smell Red Car?Dragon asked.
Remi’s vigorous mixing of the meat loaves slowed as he realized what Dragon meant. If he scented her and she’d slept with Kaiser — aka Red Car per his Dragon — then she’d smell of the male. Even if she’d showered he’d scent the male on her body. If she hadn’t, she’d simply carry a slight smell just because she’d been around him and in his car. Two completely different scents. The dilemma Remi had was that if she did smell like Kaiser, then he’d have to kill him. And while he knew it wasn’t fair, because he and Cristie weren’t mated, it was just the way things were sometimes. And even if he killed Kaiser, if he ever managed to get another chance from her, he was pretty sure it would negate that chance.
Dragon snarled in his mind and surged forward, his eyes taking on the orange of his Dragon’s eyes as he took in great lungfuls of air, scenting and even tasting the air for any lingering scent of Red Car on her skin.She is ours still!Dragon shouted triumphantly in his head.
Thank God I don’t have to kill him,Remi thought to himself.
Kill Red Car anyway.
I will not kill him,Remi answered firmly.
He wants ours.
He’s part of her Pride. I can’t kill him without provocation.
Kill Red Car!
“Shut up!” Remi demanded — aloud.
Remi’s Dragon huffed at him and retreated to the back of his mind, irritated that Remi wouldn’t do away with their romantic competition.
“Excuse me?” Cristie asked, immediately after he blurted ‘shut up’.
Remi turned to look at her quickly before going back to mixing the mass of meat in the huge metal bowl. She was perfect. Blonde hair caught up in a ponytail with wisps falling haphazardly around her face from the ponytail holder struggling to hold back the heavy Golden mass. She was wearing a dark pink scrub set, and a pair of white nurses’ crocs.
“Morning, Cristie,” Remi said.
“Did you just tell me to shut up?” she asked. “After I came over here to say good morning and invite you to dinner on Sunday?”
