A Way to a Dragon’s Heart Read Free Page A

gives us a lot to talk about. In fact, if I didn’t own part of the deli, my brothers would have fired me by now for the two and three hour lunch breaks I have to take when I come over.”
    He pushed the cart from the doorway of the inner office all the way to her desk. It gave him something to do to avoid looking at either of them for the moment. With his expression obscured, he smiled to himself, knowing he’d exaggerated his brothers’ displeasure a bit. In truth, once his brothers had found out about Kryssa, they’d been all but pushing him out the door every day to come see her.
    He glanced up at her with the thought and grinned. “And, despite what Kryssa says, for the record, Caleb’s not my boyfriend, just a great friend and occasionally my lover, in an off-again, on-again, currently off-again sort of way.”
    The off-again part had his siblings concerned. Xander remained the only one in his family not in a stable, long-term relationship with at least one mate, and his brothers treated it like an affliction. Most of the time when he and Caleb were off-again, it felt like an affliction. But every trip over to Kryssa’s office changed that. Her no-dating policy had cramped his plans for romance, true, yet coming over each day made him feel less alone.
    “With that kind of daily dedication, how do the two of you manage when she’s away on business?” Dominic asked.
    “Skype,” they said in unison.
    Dominic just stared at them. Xander understood. If you didn’t have that kind of friendship, if you didn’t need it the way he did, you couldn’t get the dedication. He loved having someone who knew him better than his own family because she listened to all the things they didn’t. She knew where he wanted to live, what he wanted to do with his life, how he felt about his family, the deli, Caleb and everything. Everything, including her—for all the good it did. But every relationship had a snag or two, they’d work it out. A Luciano never gave up.
    He moved rapidly and set a bottle of water, napkins, and warmed plate from the steam drawer before her. With the necessary silverware and a second sandwich produced next, round two began. Xander smiled at her brother as she finished the last few bites of the first one.
    He explained, “The first is an appetizer. The main course has been soaked just shy of falling apart and then wrapped quickly. It can be a wonderfully sensuous disaster of a mess when you eat it with your hands, but it’s hard to convince her to do that at work.”
    Dominic nodded. “And with her working twenty-hour days, seven days a week, work is about your only chance to see her at all.” He frowned at Kryssa, but she ignored them both in favor of the food.
    “I plan to change that soon. I haven’t ruled out kidnapping as a possible method. I’m just checking the law and figuring out if it’s still a felony after she swoons into my arms and declares her undying love.” Xander smiled, ignoring the pull of worry. Undying love might be a stretch, but he knew when friendship had become something more. He just needed the chance to see if things could hold up outside of the comfort zone of her office. He had to know if a real possibility existed for things to become more than afternoon get-togethers and late night phone calls.
    “Just a second,” she chimed in. “First, let me point out that just because you take a break, it doesn’t mean he’s not your boyfriend. But as you will, you have a gorgeous lover, and you share details. So you’re definitely my favorite person.” She smiled at him with a tilt of her head. “Second, let’s talk about this kidnapping-slash-undying love thing. When did you start planning this?”
    She smiled, but the look in her eyes remained unreadable. Before he could regret opening this line of questioning and letting his mouth move ahead without double-checking with his courage—or lack thereof—they were interrupted.
    “ There you are. I’ve been