Page 40 of Knotted by the Mountain Man Dragon

“He’s an ancient gold dragon who looks at you like he’s calculating your net worth in fourteenth-century currency. I didn’t feel like pushing it.”

More silence. I can hear her thinking. Nina Lake has been my best friend since college. She’s an accountant, she’s between jobs, and she’s the most competent, unflappable person I know. She once did a full audit for a company whose CEO threw a chair at her and she finished the spreadsheet before she called security.

If anyone can handle Silas, it’s Nina.

“The pay is good,” I add. “Really good. And the lodge is gorgeous. And Blackridge is actually lovely once you get past the whole ‘tiny mountain town full of secret shifters’ thing.”

“I can’t believe you’re trying to sell me on a job working for a dragon.”

“A very wealthy dragon. Who is willing to pay WELL.”

“Mara.”

“Just come visit. Meet him. If you hate it, you hate it and I’ll buy you wine and we’ll never speak of it again. Or you can work for him for a few years, invest your money like you are always talking about, and retire ten years earlier than you were planning.”

She sighs. It’s the sigh she makes before she agrees to things she knows she’ll regret. I’ve heard it before every bad decision we’ve made together since freshman year.

“When?” she says.

I grin. “How’s next week?”

One week later, I’m sitting at Jess’s coffee shop when my phone lights up.

Nina: I’m at the lodge

Nina: Mara

Nina: MARA

Me: What? How is it?

Nina: The lodge is incredible

Nina: The man is TERRIFYING

Me: He’s not terrifying, he’s just formal

Nina: He answered the door in a three-piece suit. On a mountain. In the rain. Who does that?

Me: That’s just Silas

Nina: He told me there are four rooms I’m never allowed to enter

Me: See that’s more than I expected actually

Nina: FOUR ROOMS MARA

Nina: And he looked at me weird when I introduced myself

Me: Weird how?

Nina: I don’t know. He just. Stopped talking. For a really long time. And his eyes did something

I set my coffee down.

My heart starts beating faster.

His eyes did something.