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

looking for you everywhere, Chrissie! I’ve finished learning the break room.”
    Xander looked from the beaming girl to Kryssa and then over to Dominic, who looked ready to duck and cover. The bouncy blond came over and held out her hand to Xander.
    “Hi, I haven’t met you yet, I’m Cassie, her new assistant. Isn’t that neat, Chrissie and Cassie? C and C? I just know we’re going to be great friends.”
    Xander shook her hand, somewhat dumbstruck. He went for the most obvious flaw in her sentence and then decided it wasn’t his place to speak on the impossibility of friendship. So he went for the second flaw instead. “It’s Kryssa, and it’s with a K. It’s right there on the door where you came in.”
    A bright smile and accepting shrug were his only reward. “Oh, that’s okay. I mean, I can be Cassie with a K, right?”
    He watched both Dragons actually flinch at the high, grating laughter the girl let loose and stepped out of the way in case of a sudden stampede to the door. Not that Kryssa would likely abandon the food. She’d started eating as if they’d never been interrupted and the girl didn’t exist. But the set of her shoulders told him she took in every word.
    “We’ve been having a great day. Krys- sa has been teaching me all about Dragon Shifters this morning. Did you know she was warm blooded?”
    Xander bit his lip and nodded. “Therians are mammals, regardless of what they shift into.” He said it in the slow, higher pitched tone one would use with a toddler.
    She went into a slow nod of discovery, and he caught Kryssa’s telltale flinch in his periphery. “That’s what she said too. Isn’t it just wild? Hey, does that mean she doesn’t lay eggs either?”
    He leaned forward as if covering the distance might mean less strain on her IQ. Again, he spoke slowly and deliberately. “Mammals. They’re mammals. Duck-billed platypus and spiny anteater aside, mammals don’t lay eggs.”
    A big Bambi blink of puzzlement. “Spiny anteaters? You mean porcupines? They lay eggs? Are there were-porcupines?”
    Kryssa got to her feet, Xander got to Kryssa, and Dominic got to the temp and got her out of the room while the getting was good. A muffled explanation about another department needing her across town drifted through the door, and then the two were out of earshot for Xander.
    He rubbed Kryssa’s shoulders, turning the symbolic restraint into an impromptu massage. At six feet six inches, he was one of the few non-Therians taller than she was even in her modest heels, which made her six feet three inches at most. He knew the height advantage contributed to the comfort factor, and he went into full soothing mode.
    “She’s gone,” he coaxed. “She’s gone. We can sit down and have lunch and forget any of this ever happened. In fact, we’ll never speak about it again.” He pressed his cheek against her hair and hid his smile in the abundant curls. “Although I freely admit I’ve never seen a living bobble-head before, and I’m deeply fascinated. When you take out the part where you looked homicidal, it was so painful as to be funny.”
    Kryssa kept her feet and took a long swallow of water. The moment the bottle touched down on the desk, she turned without preamble and caught Xander in a kiss. His body—way ahead of his mind on these things—jumped into it with both feet. By the time his brain caught up, his arms were already wrapped around her and interesting things were happening elsewhere as he shaped her to him with his embrace.
    Her tongue explored his mouth like there’d be a quiz on it later. He hoped it counted for the half the year’s grade because she put all the right effort into it. The unexpected displays of intimacy and affection were by far the best thing about their daily lunches and the thing that kept him holding out hope. By the time she broke the kiss, he’d almost forgotten such a thing could actually end.
    “Thank you.” She said it against his lips as