I yanked my phone out of my purse as soon as I stepped into the bathroom and called Cherry. She didn’t answer the first time, but that didn’t stop me from calling her again, right away. Still no answer. Not until I tried another three times. I needed her input.

When she finally picked up, she was out of breath and swearing. “You better be dying right now, Chyna.”

“I met a dragon. Three of them. I’m thinking of sleeping with one of them.”

“What?!” She barked an order away from the phone, but I was pretty sure she was telling Cezar to back off for a second. “What dragons? Which one do you want to sleep with?”

“His name is Blaise. My body is going crazy. I’ve never felt this way before. Like, ever. Tell me this is crazy. Tell me that I should go home and sleep this off.” I blew out a wild breath but didn’t give her a chance to answer. “Cherry, he’s so hot. He’s hot, and there’s something about him that makes me want to strip naked right here in public and beg him to take me on the table. Oooh, there might be enough room here in the restroom.” I looked around the tight room and mentally mapped out the space. I imagined that if I leaned up against the sink and raised my leg in the air, I could prop my foot against the paper towel holder and…

“Smoldering flames!” Cezar’s voice rang out in the background.

“Why do you need my input? It sounds like you know what you want.”

“Is he…um, a nice…dragon?” I hated the insecurity in my voice, but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to hook up with a guy and find out later he was a monster. Er, well…

“Cezar?...Cezar?...Hang on, I’m asking Cezar. Not sure where he disappeared to.” Cherry was quiet for a while, and then the sound of Cezar’s laughter filled the line. When Cherry spoke again, her voice was filled with regret and anxiety. “Uh-oh.”

“What?” I stared at my reflection in the mirror and held my breath. “What do you mean ‘uh-oh’?”

“So, you know how I haven’t quite gotten the knack of this telepathic dragon-party-line thing yet?”

I hissed. “Cherry! What did you do?”

“I was only trying to ask Cezar if Blaise would be sensitive. You know, for you to lose your virginity to. I don’t know him well enough yet to give you an answer.” She rushed on. “I had to ask Cezar…and…well…maybe Blaise didn’t hear me!”

“He heard.” Cezar laughed again. “Sorry, Chyna, but we should hang up now. You will have a dragon hanging off of you any second now. And, for the record, yes, Blaise is a worthwhile male.”

“Oh, god. Cherry, I’m going to murder you! After you give birth to the perfect niece, you’re dead.”

“Nephew,” Cezar growled.

“Or niece,” I shot back before hanging up.

I shoved the phone back in my purse and assessed myself in the mirror. My eyes were dilated, and I could see my pulse fluttering at the base of my neck. I was also ruddy cheeked from the embarrassment of knowing that Blaise was now aware I’d been asking my sister about him because I was considering propositioning him.

That wasn’t exactly smooth, but at least he knew where I stood. That’s what the whole night had been about, anyway. Mission: deflower Chyna. If Blaise was willing, and I’d been picking up vibes that he was, I could lose my virginity to a sexy dragon with the hottest bod I’d ever seen.

I couldn’t deny the chemistry between us. It was electric. As soon as I’d spotted the man, it was like everyone and everything else in the room had faded away. My body had instantly reacted to his presence, and that was as good of a go-ahead as I really needed. Blaise was the first and only man I’d ever really been sexually attracted to and, boy, was I hella attracted. That meant green light, full speed ahead as far as I was concerned.

I took a few more minutes to reapply my lipstick and remove the tie that held my hair and finger comb it out. Halfway down my back, it was basically unmanageable while down, but I thought it left more of an impression than my normal ponytail. I swung it over my shoulders and slipped my purse back on my arm before nodding at myself in the mirror encouragingly. I could do it. It was just casual sex. Everybody was doing it.

Some niggling in the back of my mind warned me that it might not be just a no-strings-attached hit and run. That was crazy thinking, though. Of course, it would be just sex. For research purposes. With my mind made up, I raised my chin, took a deep breath, and pulled open the bathroom door…and found Blaise there in the hallway leaning against the wall directly across from the bathroom door.

I should’ve been embarrassed. I should’ve been freaked out that he was just standing there, waiting on me. Instead, I couldn’t take my eyes off his. His irises had a reddish-amber hue that was stunning, and I found myself moving closer to him, wanting to crawl as deeply into those eyes as I could. They almost matched his shock of flaming red hair.

“Your sister hasn’t lost her flair for making group broadcasts.” His low voice was barely more than a growl, but it echoed in my ears like he’d screamed at me.

I shook my head. “I’m thinking of disowning her.”

“I am very pleased with what she has broadcast this time.” Still, he stayed put, leaning against the wall in a way that made me want to grab his T-shirt and yank him to me. He seemed too calm, besides the husky voice. I wanted him to be just as addled as I was.

I stepped closer to him, counting on the fact that he wanted what I wanted. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be standing in the hallway alone and waiting seconds after he’d learned that I wanted to sleep with him, right? “What happens now?”

He flashed a predatory grin and pushed off the wall. Standing straight up, he towered over me. I was 5’11” which meant he had to be at least 6’5” or 6’6”. His unique eyes raked over my face, and then he lightly trailed his knuckle over my jaw, down my neck and across my collarbone, teasing me in the most innocent of ways as it traveled, driving me crazy.

My body felt the stroke of his knuckle through every nerve fiber. My core pulsed, and I realized with a start that my panties were damp and the dress I was wearing suddenly seemed indecent. My thighs felt slick, and I worried that with his enhanced shifter senses, he could smell how turned on I was.

“You tell me, Chyna. What do you want to happen now?”

“You know.” I tugged my bottom lip into my mouth and held his gaze. “Cherry simulcast it to the lot of you dragons.”

His grin was slow as he closed the distance between us, leaving only a gap of less than an inch. Electrical charges crackled and pulsed between us like a Van de Graff generator. “I do not want to hear it from Cherry. I want you to tell me.”

Someone came down the hallway, and I had to step farther into Blaise so they could get by. As my body pressed firmly against his, I sucked in a sharp breath and stared up at him. “Sex. I want to have sex with you.”

A throat cleared behind us as the person walking by hadn’t made it all the way past before I’d blurted out my confession. I was already beyond the point of being embarrassed. The way Blaise pulled me into his gaze was like a tractor beam, erasing everything surrounding us. His heavy-lidded expression was far too distracting to care about someone overhearing what I had to say.

His large hands clasped my waist, and a puff of warm air drifted over my face as he swore. “How close do you live?”

“My car’s in the parking lot. We can use the front seat.” I wondered if there’d be room for both of us. “Or the backseat. Or the trunk. Whatever.” I wasn’t feeling particularly picky. Matter of fact, I was feeling about as unpicky as a girl could be. I just wanted to do the deed, and I wanted to do it with him. I took another look at his massive chest and thick biceps. “Will you fit in my car?”

He grinned. “Probably not.”

“Want to try?”

“Let’s fly.”

“Fly?”

His hand slid to my back, then lower, resting on the top curve of my ass. “Fly.”

I let him lead me out of the bar, and we quickly jogged to an abandoned parking lot a few buildings over. The sun had set, and I should’ve been worried about following a strange man into the dark, but I knew I was about to see a dragon for the first time and, for that, I would’ve followed him anywhere—as long as it also included the promise to deflower me and make it as amazing as I’d always hoped it might be.