Page 68 of Dragon Tempted

Sienna put the jewelry back in the box. She ran her fingers over the opal necklace and took another sip.

“That necklace would look good on you,” John said.

Her heart sped up. “My mother wore it all the time. It makes me think of her.”

“Then why not wear it? Unless thinking about her causes you pain.”

“It doesn’t on most days.”

He nodded. “On the days it does, you can leave it in the box.”

She blinked back tears. “I could do that.”

“Would you like me to help you put it on?”

She swallowed before nodding. He lifted the necklace gingerly and held it out. Sienna turned her back to him, and he dangled the necklace over her, the cool metal hitting her sternum at the same time his warmth surrounded her. She pulled her hair out of the way, and he secured the clasp.

She rested her fingers over it before turning around in his arms.

“It looks good,” he said, backing away from her.

A calm settled over her as the pads of her fingers ran over the oval pendant. A sense of completeness. Of coming into her own.

Veronica called out a quiet, Woot, woot, cheering her on.

And now she had an additional cheerleader on her side. She just never thought it would be a four-hundred-year-old Grumposaurus. Although he was slowly breaking out of his self-imposed hermit persona. And she liked who she saw.

She took a step forward and looked up into his eyes. “Thank you.”

He swallowed. “For what?”

“For supporting me.” Veronica squealed in her ears as she went up on her tiptoes and leaned forward to kiss him. He rested his hands on her shoulders and stopped her ascent.

Sienna’s heart expanded like a balloon as he bent closer...

And kissed her on the forehead before stepping back. “You should get some sleep.”

Her heart deflated with a squeaky hiss and landed like a limp noodle at the bottom of her chest.

For once, Veronica had nothing to say.

Chapter 25

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Ryan asked.

“Why would anything be wrong?” Sienna answered before shutting her laptop. She was not talking about what happened last night with John. Or what didn’t happen. Her heart and pride had yet to recover.

Instead of letting it drop, Ryan gave her his cut-the-crap look. “Let’s see. You told everyone about the keys this morning at breakfast, and then announced that you would be going to the vault facility to ask about the keys and you were not taking a bunch of guards with you. I thought Marcus would choke on his eggs Benedict.”

Sienna sighed. “I agreed to the protection when we met Mia, but I can’t go to meetings and other events as clan leader with a muscly entourage.”

Ryan laughed. “Muscly entourage? What an interesting visual.”

She smirked. “Hah! Speaking of, how was your night with Jonas?”

“You mean my night of sitting in his office staring at him working?” he deadpanned.

“You’re seeing him in his natural habitat, right? Figure out how to make your move.”