Read Online Luck of the Dragon (Entangled Covet) by Susannah Scott - Free Book Online Page B

course.” Alec waved to the breakfast table. “We can go over it after breakfast.”
    Lucy gripped her briefcase to her stomach and looked like she might bolt. “I’ve already eaten.”
    “But I haven’t.” Alec tried to appear disarming. “I would enjoy your company. Would you eat with me?”
    Lucy wavered, biting her bottom lip, and then seemed to come to a decision. She stepped across the room with quick strides. “I didn’t expect you to be so…casual.”
    Alec seated her at his right side. Her just-showered scent filled his nose. Sharp longing raced through his blood. He took a quiet breath and placed his palms gently on her shoulders. Lucy jumped and frowned at him.
    “There are many things about me that you might find surprising.”
    “I’m here for business.” Lucy squirmed out from under his hands and set the contract between their plates. “I’m not interested in being one of your conquests.”
    Alec sat and spread his napkin across his lap. “Why do you assume that I only have conquests?” He drank a tart mouthful of fresh-squeezed orange juice and buttered a roll. “My relationships are not conquests—they’re more like mergers.”
    “Mergers?” Lucy laughed, all prickly and brittle. “Is that the best line you have?”
    “Do you always wear glasses?”
    “When I’m working.” She poured coffee from a silver carafe into her cup. The pot shook slightly before she put it down.
    “And a pant suit?” He let his eyes wander from the button below her chin to the curve of her waist.
    Lucy blushed. “Please quit asking me non-business related questions.”
    “Am I making you uncomfortable?” Alec took a bite of his roll.
    “No.” Her pulse raced at the side of her neck, but her stare was direct. “You do not affect me at all.”
    “Really?” He laughed because he knew she was lying. Her cheeks were red and she chewed her bottom lip in a gesture he now realized was her way of trying to conceal nerves. “Fine, you ask me something. Just no business.”
    Lucy tilted her head. She wanted to take the challenge. He could almost see her agile mind flipping through possibilities.
    “What’s your favorite jewel in your collection?”
    Her question was borderline business, but to a dragon, jewels were always personal. “I have a black opal the size of my palm. It’s my favorite.”
    “Like the one on your signet ring?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why is it your favorite, when you have so many?”
    What was she really asking? Whether dragon or human, the mind of a female was an enigma. He struggled to put his feelings into words. “It resonates with my heart.” He put down his knife and touched his chest. “When I hold it, I feel a part of it, and it becomes a part of me.”
    Lucy’s mouth opened, and she watched his face with wide eyes.
    “I can feel the history—the heat and fire and passion that forged it. I respect its journey, and it knows I will treasure it and keep it safe, always.”
    “A merger,” she whispered.
    “A melding.”
    …
    Lucy swallowed hard. The man was pure temptation. His worn gym shirt clung to his shoulders and chest and showed the ridges of his stomach muscles. Under the table, his bare feet reached toward her, brushing her leg at irregular, unnerving intervals, sending tingles up her proper business pants leg. She was totally disarmed by the sincere look in Alec’s eyes when he talked about his jewels. It was as if he also talked about her. As if he wanted to hold her, treasure her, keep her safe, too.
    Impossible.
    She tapped the contract beside her empty plate. Gino’s thug, Bruno, had said she could get Alec’s thumbprint on the contract’s plastic cover. But now that she was beside Alec, she realized it would not be an easy task.
    “Why’re you so tense?” Alec reached his hand across the table and stroked a warm, calloused palm over her clenched knuckles. “You’re not going to relax until we go through that contract, are you?”
    Lucy’s breath