Page 46 of Red Dragon’s Heart

“So…” she said, keeping her eyes averted. “Are we still not talking about the thing that didn’t happen? I mean, that didn’t happen again?”

She really wanted to talk about it, he realized. Maybe it was a girl thing, or a human thing, or just a Maddie thing. But he could feel that her emotions were all confused inside her, and she needed… something.

Slowly, he went over and sat down in the chair next to hers. “Full disclosure? I’m not really good at communication. Or relationship-type things. Not that we’re having a relationship-type thing.” Shit, that sounded like he didn’t want her. “Unless you want us to? Then maybe…”

He broke off. “See? I suck at this. Maybe you should talk, instead.”

“I don’t think I’m going to be any better at it,” she admitted. “But I can’t help wondering… It seems like every time you touch me, I—we—this thing happens that’s wild and amazing and insane. And I feel like I’m inside you and you’re inside me and then I end up with feelings for you, but it’s like, so sudden and I don’t even know you, and I’m a scientist so then I start wondering if it’s not really about me at all and this is just some kind of dragon power, that when human women are around you they just want to—you know. Throw themselves naked at you.”

She felt all that? She had feelings for him? And she wanted to throw herself naked at him?

And what did he say now?

“Um. Sometimes they do? But not—” He gestured helplessly between them. “Not like this. This—this ‘us’ thing? It’s different. Really different. And honestly, I don’t know how to handle it and I’m probably going to ruin it by being a dick.”

He reached out and stroked his fingers over the back of her hand, where it lay on the table. “Which will suck, because I don’t want to ruin it. I want—”

He didn’t know what he wanted. Except for her not to go away. “Whatever that wild insane thing is that happens with us, I don’t want it to stop happening.”

She was watching him now, those eyes looking straight into him like they’d done since the moment they met. He realized she wasn’t wearing the blue contacts, but surprisingly, the effect was the same.

She said finally, “You know, you’re not nearly as much of a dick as you pretend to be.”

“You don’t know me that well yet. I’m probably more of a dick than I pretend to be.”

She laughed at that, her whole face lighting up, then shook her head, getting serious again. “You didn’t hurt me, even when you were the monster. You let me go, when you thought you might be a monster so long that I would die. And you like Princess Diana.” She leaned over and whispered, “I think you’re nice.”

That was a step too far. “I am not. And I don’t like Diana, she’s nothing but an obnoxious fluffy-tailed rat.”

“Liar,” she said, her lips quirking with that humor that had first captivated him. “You like her. And you like me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Human Captive. Show me what you’re working on.”

She let him change the subject, which was a relief. He had a feeling that honest communication was a thing you had to work up to in small doses.

She said, “I’ve been analyzing the formulas that are the most likely candidates for the one they used on you, and there are some notations in one of them I completely don’t understand. Could you take a look?”

He scooted his chair up to the table. “Sure. Where?”

She slid the printouts over to him. “Starting here.”

“Hmmm. Okay, this part is Draken.” He picked up a pen and bracketed it lightly. “The dragon language. I can translate it for you, but the gist of it is that they added dragon blood to the mix. That’s no surprise; any substance that’s going to affect dragons, it has to be specially formulated using dragon parts. Blood works best.”

“Interesting.” She made a note. “What about this part?”

He looked it over. “Damn,” he said. “I was afraid of this.”

“What? Can’t you read it?”

“I can read it, but I can’t really translate it. Whatever they jabbed me with wasn’t just a chemical compound. It was magic.”

Maddie snorted. “Come on, Zak. Be serious.”

Fuck. She really didn’t believe him; science was her life. Even the things she’d seen him do—like turn into a dragon and back, fully clothed, or cast a spell to throw the purple dragon off their track, or even pull her into his dreams—she either assumed there was a rational explanation for, or just refused to acknowledge.

But if she was going to help him—hell, if this crazy thing between them was going to be anything—she had to accept reality.

“Maddie,” he said. “Look at me.”