Chapter Six
Jacques held his arm out to both ladies as they met him in the lobby of the Miramare Sea Resort. Olivia, wore a bright yellow dress, modest to her knees, and curve right above the perfect swell of her breast. She’d left her hair down and he couldn’t help leaning a bit closer to smell the sea along with fresh citrus and a hint of coconut.
“I almost didn’t recognize you.” He forced his attention away from his intended mate to her friend. Marissa’s husky voice did nothing to attract him. While she was pleasing to the eye, his dragon had eyes for only Olivia.
“What she means is you found clothes.” Olivia ran her hand down his sleeve covered bicep.
“We can always go skinny dipping later, if you’d like.”
Olivia’s sweet pink blush went clear down her neck, he would never tire of seeing it.
Marissa spoke up once again and reminded him they weren’t alone. “The soon to be Mrs. Zoltan will have to decline such a proposition, but I’m game.”
He felt Marissa press against him, but his attention remained on Olivia. He had to force a smile and pressed his dragon’s sudden urge to take and claim down before he could respond. “I might have read it somewhere in the papers recently.”
Seeing Olivia’s engagement photo in the local paper during a surprise visit from Bogdan, one of Giresun herd members, had tipped his dragon over edge in a frenzy. Had he known his dragon’s internal mate GPS would track her here, he would have slipped away to this island sooner.
Her upside-down smile brought him a sliver of hope he could still win her over before she proclaimed herself to another. Over my dead body, his dragon hissed.
And that could happen sooner rather than later if Bogdan found him on the island and alerted Blake before he could prove his worth.
“The wedding is in only a few weeks, so we have limited time to some fun before then.” Marissa ran her tongue over her bottom lip, looking at him suggestively.
“Then you’re in luck, because fun is my middle name.” He grinned, leading them out into the bright morning sunshine. He couldn’t help gulping in the fresh island air. It tasted and smelled a thousand times better than back in the foggy city of Rainsburg. After a night of healing in the packed mud of the beach, his ribs didn’t protest one iota of expanding to take in the clean breeze.
“Alright then tour guide, what shall we do first?” Olivia spoke, and it sent a dozen little sparks exploding inside him.
Jacques had to be careful. He didn’t want to run into Bogdan here own his own mission. Jacques had recognized the mate hunger in Bogdan’s eyes when he told Jacques about the human female dragon healer, Paisley. He would do what he could to help them obtain the antidote to heal Dr. Kovak from Jacque’s mother’s deadly dragon poison, but he couldn’t interfere too soon. His dragon side had his own pressing matter at hand, he didn’t have much time of his own to seduce his intended mate, so she would choose him.
“There’s a bit of damp in the air my ladies, I’d hate for us to have our morning outing ruined by rains, so why don’t you say we check out the shops and have lunch at the best little cafe near the harbor.”
“You certainly know the way to a girl’s heart.” Marissa laughed, and Olivia squeezed his arm.
As he walked, he couldn’t help noticing how Olivia’s hand fit right into the crock of his arm. His blood warmed at the sight of her slender wrist and the vision of his mark burned beneath her skin.
He led them inside a small little boutique filled with wraps, bathing suits, and dresses. The shop owner, Manuia, came out from behind a beaded curtain. Her smile never faltered at the sight him. She opened her arms and welcomed them inside.
At first, Jacques didn’t know if his intended mate and her friend would linger, but as soon as Manuia showed them something glittery Marissa was lured deeper into the little shops offerings.
“Would you look at this?” Marissa held up a champagne colored skirt with tiny teardrop rhinestones.
Olivia’s eyes sparkled with interest, but she held onto Jacques.
“You’re not going to go over and try it on?”
He would buy her anything in the shop she desired if she would become his. He tried to slow his racing heart with thoughts of Olivia bond to him.
“I have plenty of clothes.”
“With your golden hair and that color…” Manuia pulled out a haltered top to match. “Come, try it on.”
Jacques slipped his arm from her grasp and gave her a gentle push against her back. “Show me. Please?”
Her stormy blue eyes, swirled with a mixture of desire and reluctance. He senses all came to high alert around her.
“You’d like that?”
“What man wouldn’t?” Manuia pulled out a few other garments, “Come, you and her friend can give us a show, yes?”
Marissa beamed with the idea, already the other blond had a stack of clothes waiting in the dressing room.
“You’re not going to go and try running off from us, are you?” Olivia asked.
He slid his hand around to the side of her waist and gave it a squeeze. “Try me.”
Then she turned with her back to Manuia and Marissa, she placed a hand on his chest and leaned close to whisper in his ear. “There are punishments for slaves who try to escape.”
His dragon-side reared with lust. Shocked, he stood, trying to control the blaze of desire sweeping through him as she walked to the dressing room. Marissa stood frowning, her gaze bouncing between the two of them before she slipped into her own private dressing area.
Manuia pinched his arm and he flinched away from her.
“What do you think you are doing?” She kept her voice down.
“I promised to be their tour guide.” Jacques followed her over to the counter where he leaned back and watched, waiting, hoping, Olivia would come out and show off her outfit.
“What kind of trouble are you in now? Does your mother know you’re here?” Manuia stayed between him and the dressing rooms.
“I can take care of myself, you know that.” Jacques tilted his head up, looking over the racks of clothes when first Marissa came out and twirled in a pink sundress that reached mid-thigh.
“What do you think?”
At the same time, Olivia stepped out with the champagne skirt and matching haltered top.
“Nice,” Jacques said.
Marissa regarded him with cautious eyes for a moment, looked over at Olivia and smiled. “That is totally a keeper.”
Manuia pinched Jacques again and he scowled at her, rubbing his arm.
“You are playing with fire.” She nodded toward the two women chatting before parting to try another outfit.
“Would you say the same to Asia if one of them were her intended mate?” Jacques looked at the older woman. Her hard stare softened, and she sighed. “That is different.”
“Your daughter is still part dragon, Manuia. Once we feel it, we cannot deny the selection of our dragon’s heart.”
“You bring me good business.” Manuia wagged her finger at him. “Dragon or no, you cannot take what belongs to another, even my Asia knows this.”
Marissa stepped out and twirled in the Juliet style green dress. She made sure he noticed how high the skirt twirled and winked at him before going back inside the dressing room while Olivia still changed.
“Need help dear?” Manuia left him by the counter. She looked back at him and shook her head.
With their purchases made, Jacques carried their bags. Manuia warned him. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the ring on her finger or the way the other’s eyes are watching you.”
And as they exited the shop, she stood at the door and waved. “Give your mother my best when you see her.”
Jacques groaned inward.
“What did she mean by that?” Olivia asked.
Jacques directed them toward Le Cale for lunch. Once more, he’d found himself caught in the middle of a triangle. Only this time it involved his heart.