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  Brittany shuddered as she finished speaking, and Simon reached over to pat her hand without thinking about it. “It’s okay. You’re okay now, and you did an amazing job at keeping that boy safe until I got there.”

  Within seconds, Simon realized that there was undeniable electricity between his hand and Brittany’s when their skin came into contact. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, he knew he was attracted to her, so it was only natural that there would be some chemistry between them. But the chemistry was stronger than any he’d ever felt, and he knew by the way that Brittany looked up at him that she felt it, too. Her eyes were wide and questioning, and Simon was tempted to ask her out again right then and there. But he held himself back. Maybe another night he would try again. Tonight wasn’t about him. It was about seeing if there was anything she could tell them about the grizzly shifter, and about thanking her. He’d accomplished both of those things, so this would probably be a good time to get going.

  He drew his hand back and reached for his coffee mug to take a few more swigs. For someone who’d barely slept last night, he felt surprisingly awake. But it was still good to get a bit of strong caffeine in him. He was about to stand up and bid Brittany farewell when she started talking again.

  “I owe you an apology, by the way.”

  He paused and looked over at her. “It’s fine. You really don’t. I know we dragons have a bit of a reputation, and, honestly, some of it probably is deserved. We can be a bit…proud.”

  “It’s not fine, though. Perhaps you are a bit proud, but I judged you without really knowing you. I thought you were selfish and full of yourself, but what you did last night was anything but selfish. You jumped in right away to save that boy, and to save me.”

  Simon raised an eyebrow at her. “Save you?”

  “Yeah. I mean, if you think about it, I couldn’t have held that grizzly off forever. If you hadn’t shown up, I probably would have gotten torn up just like that boy. So thank you. I owe you one.”

  Simon felt his heart swelling. It felt good to be appreciated, even though he didn’t feel like he’d done that much last night. He’d faced much scarier challenges than a grizzly shifter before. But he only smiled and shrugged at Brittany. “You’re welcome. But you don’t owe me anything. I was just doing my duty as a Torch Lake Dragon shifter.”

  “Still, I feel badly for writing you off so quickly. Last night made me realize that no one is really as safe as they think they are in this city. It’s good to have dragons around.”

  Simon smiled sadly. “Yeah. It would be nice if the city was just safe, whether there were dragons here or not.”

  Brittany frowned, her brow furrowing into an expression of deep concern. “Does…does the High Council have any idea how to stop more Dark Warriors from getting in?”

  Simon looked around uneasily. He shouldn’t be talking about this in a public place, but no one was close by. Besides, he felt like Brittany deserved to know the truth, after what she’d been through last night. “Honestly, they have no clue. Without knowing how this one got into the city in the first place, it’s hard to come up with a plan to keep it from happening again. Keep that between you and me, though. If the whole city knows that Dark Warriors might be slipping in, there will be mass panic. And there’s not much worse during a war than mass panic.”

  Brittany shuddered. “It just makes me feel so exposed. Like I could just be walking down the street minding my own business and at any moment I could be attacked.”

  Simon patted her hand again. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that. If a Dark Warrior does manage to get into the city, he’s going to attack someone of note. Like that government official’s son, for example. I don’t think they’re going to go after random citizens. It’s too much trouble and wouldn’t help their cause much.”

  Brittany looked somewhat reassured, but Simon himself was starting to feel worried. As he patted Brittany’s hand and once again felt the undeniable electricity between them, he couldn’t help but thinking how devastating it would be to lose her. Sure, he had no claim on her. But he did care about her deeply, and the thought of a Dark Warrior trying to harm her, however remote the chances of that might be, made his blood boil. He realized that he needed to get out of here and get some fresh air. He was once again feeling like he wanted to punch a hole through the wall, although his reasons for feeling that way tonight were somewhat different than last night.

  “I should get going,” he said, hopping off his barstool and reaching for his wallet. “Can I pay you for the coffee?”

  Brittany waved his wallet away. “No, it’s on the house, like I said.” Then she tilted her head sideways and gave him a funny look. “Where are you going?”

  Simon shrugged. “Home, I guess? I should sleep, although I have a feeling I’m going to be too wired to actually get any rest.”

  Brittany chewed her lip for a moment, as if trying to decide something. Then she looked up at him and smiled—a coy little smile that sent delightful shivers up and down his spine. “Do you want to go night swimming with me and some friends?” she asked.

  Simon blinked at her like an idiot, not sure if he’d heard her correctly. “Night swimming?”

  “Yeah. One of my buddies from a bar I used to work at has a boat. On warm nights like tonight they all like to go swimming on the lake really late. I asked to be off before midnight tonight specifically so I could go. It’s really fun to boat out to the middle of the lake and swim under the moonlight. There’s usually plenty of beer, too, if you decide you want something different after that coffee.”

  A small smile played at the corners of Simon’s lips. “Are you asking me on a date?”

  Brittany blushed. “Not exactly. It’s just hanging out with a bunch of my friends. But I do feel bad about the way I rejected you yesterday and I thought, I don’t know, maybe…”

  She seemed to struggle for words before finally throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. “Look, do you want to come or not?”

  Simon grinned. “I’d love to. Do I have time to run home and grab my swim trunks?”

  Brittany glanced at her watch and nodded. “Yeah, if you hurry. Meet me down at the main Torch Lake boat docks when you’re done. My friend’s planning to launch off at fifteen minutes past midnight.”

  “I’ll see you then,” Simon said, already reaching for his keys and turning toward the door. After the day he’d had, he definitely didn’t want to pass up the chance to go swimming with Brittany.

  Maybe there would even be some sparks out on the lake tonight.

  Chapter Four

  Brittany closed her eyes and savored the way the wind felt, whipping across her face. The weather tonight was perfect. Unlike last night, there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. The air was warm, and the water would be, too. There wasn’t much Brittany liked better than a summer night on the lake.

  She opened her eyes and took in the moon, full and bright above her. Its reflection shimmered on the water beside her, distorted in funny ways by the waves the boat made as it bounced across the water. They were almost to the spot in the middle of the lake where her friend always stopped. Brittany had been swimming out there more times than she could count, but it never got old. Being in the very middle of the lake made her somehow feel like she was in the center of the universe.

  Tonight, as usual, the boat was crowded. There was never a shortage of people interested in going on a night swimming excursion, and Brittany was forced to sit so close to Simon that their skin was touching. She had to admit that she was a bit happier about that than she should have been. There was an undeniable electricity between them, and Brittany couldn’t help smiling as she thought about the fact that she had chemistry with a dragon. If he could tell how infatuated she was becoming with him, he did a good job of not showing that he knew. He was staring out at the water in the opposite direction of her, but even from the little bit of his face she could see, he looked pensive. She imagined it had been quite
a rough day for him, and she only hoped that spending some time out on the lake would ease his troubled mind somewhat.

  When the boat finally came to a stop, all of its passengers let out whoops of excitement. Now the true fun would begin. Coolers were cracked open and beers were passed around, and a flurry of splashes sounded out as the more impatient ones started launching themselves into the lake. Brittany felt suddenly shy, realizing that she was about to be in front of Simon in a swimsuit. She hadn’t thought about that little detail before, and now that she was thinking about it she felt embarrassed. She had never been overly shy about her body, but she was starting to realize that she cared a great deal more than she wanted to admit about what Simon thought of her body.

  There was no turning back now, though. She had invited Simon to swim, and swim she must. At least she knew that once she got into the water it would be too dark for anyone to see what was below the surface anyway. The best thing she could do, she decided, was jump in as quickly as she could.

  “Last one in is the rotten egg,” she sing-songed into Simon’s face. Then, with lightning speed, she tore off her shorts and t-shirt and went diving into the lake. The water enveloped her with its soothing warmth, and she lingered under the surface to enjoy it a few seconds longer than she normally might have. When she surfaced again, she barely had time to wipe at her eyes before a giant splash sounded off right next to her, dousing her face anew with water.

  Cursing under her breath, she wiped at her eyes then looked up to see who the culprit was. A moment later, Simon popped up in the water next to her, his green eyes sparkling with mischief.

  “You!” she said, and tried to dunk him. Of course, her efforts were useless. There was no way a simple wizard like her was going to be able to dunk a dragon. But she tried anyway, and of course ended up getting dunked herself instead. He laughed when she popped back up, and she swam for him again. But this time he stopped her by merely grabbing each of her arms above the elbow.

  “Hey, hey,” he said, his voice choked with laughter. “Do you really want to try that again? It’s not going to end so well for you.”

  Brittany grunted and tried to lunge toward him, but it was useless. He held her back easily, and finally she gave up with a sigh. “Fine, you win.”

  “I do win,” he said, his eyes still sparkling. “Since I get to swim under this beautiful moon with such a beautiful woman.”

  Brittany could feel herself blushing at his words and tried to look away, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his. Something about him drew her in. Was this really the same man she had rejected last night? Because at the moment all she could think about was the fact that she had never been so attracted to anyone in her life.

  Simon finally let go of her arms, but Brittany wished he hadn’t. She loved the way his skin felt against her skin, and she wanted to feel more of it. All of her worries about the war and the Dark Warriors seemed to magically melt away when he was with her. There was just something calming about being with a dragon.

  Now, that dragon looked at her with mischievous eyes and took off swimming. “Catch me if you can,” he yelled over his shoulder. Brittany grinned and took off after him. She was pretty sure she would never be able to catch him if he swam even half as fast as he was capable of swimming, but she wasn’t going to give up the opportunity to try. He swam just fast enough to stay out of her reach, until they were a little ways away from the rest of the group. Then he slowed to almost a complete stop so that Brittany easily caught him.

  “Oh! You got me,” he said in an overly dramatic voice.

  Brittany laughed. “I did! What’s my prize?”

  The moment she said it, his eyes turned hungry. “Me,” he said in a husky voice. “I’m your prize.”

  Brittany giggled nervously but still found the nerve to swim so that she was treading water only inches from his face. “Hmmm, a dragon for a prize. What a lucky girl I am.”

  Her own voice was low to match his, and she looked up at him through her eyelashes, openly flirting. She felt his hands reaching for her under the water. They found her waist and held her there, close to him. Brittany trembled and for a moment could not force herself to meet his eyes. She looked away, pretending to be completely interested by what was going on back by the boat. Back there, several rowdy friends of hers were doing cannonballs off the side of the boat in rapid succession. In the water, others were cheering them on, lifting their beers high and letting out whoops every time another person jumped in.

  There were a few other couples that had swum away from the main group, though, nuzzling each other in the moonlit water. Brittany knew that Simon had purposefully led her away from the group to have some alone time with her, and the thought both terrified and excited her. She pulled back a little bit, feeling suddenly shy.

  “Anyways,” she said, grasping for something to say. “What do you think about the lake at night?”

  “You know I’m not thinking about the lake.”

  She chewed on her lower lip, willing her heart to stop pounding quite so wildly in her chest. She couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she kept quiet, looking over at Simon and wondering what was going on in his head. Simon looked a bit like a god as he treaded water in the lake. The moonlight made the water on his broad shoulders glisten, and Brittany couldn’t ignore how perfect his biceps looked as they sliced effortlessly back and forth through the water. His hair was full of water droplets that looked like diamonds, and Brittany had the strange urge to swim over and run her hands through all those “diamonds.” She didn’t though. Instead, she kept staring at Simon, waiting for him to make the next move. He smiled at her, a wide, warm smile that she found put her surprisingly at ease.

  “How often do you invite men you met at the bar out to night swim with you?” he asked.

  Brittany was a bit startled by the question. “What? I, uh, have never invited a guy from a bar out before. To this or anything else. I usually keep my work as strictly work.”

  “So why me?”

  Brittany shrugged, the warm water rolling softly off her shoulders as she did. “I guess I’ve never had a guy I met at a bar save my life and the life of a helpless child. I figured I should show my appreciation somehow.”

  Simon swam over to Brittany, closing the small space between them that she’d been counting on to keep him from hearing how wildly her heart was beating.

  “Look,” he said, his face only inches from her own. “I’m a dragon, and I don’t like to beat around the bush. So I’m just going to say this to you straight. I’m attracted to you. You know that. And the fact that you invited me out here makes me feel like, despite how strongly you rejected me last night, you’re attracted to me, too. If I’m wrong about that, you better tell me right now. Or else…”

  Brittany could feel herself trembling beneath the water. Her stomach twisted and turned in a nervous fluttering motion. “Or else what?”

  “Or else I’m going to do this.”

  And he leaned in and kissed her. He gave her time to pull away, if she really wanted to. But she didn’t want to. She wanted to melt into this dragon’s kiss, and that’s exactly what she did. His lips were warm on hers, and he reached to hold her up with strong arms. She no longer had to worry about treading water. He was treading for the both of them, all while holding and kissing her and not even breaking a sweat.

  When he finally pulled back, she felt breathless. “I guess I am just a little bit attracted to you,” she said with a flirtatious smile. He laughed and kissed her forehead, then pulled her close again.

  “Does this mean you’ll go on an actual date with me?”

  Brittany didn’t hesitate for a second. “Yes. I’d like that very much.”

  She felt Simon’s arms tighten around her, and she melted into his embrace. This night was perfect. The warmth of the air, the laughter of her friends, the soothing feeling of water lapping against her, and the way Simon’s arms around her fit perfectly—it all made Brittany’s heart
sing. She wanted this moment to last forever. In the magic of the moonlight, it felt like anything was possible.

  But the moment broke much sooner than she thought it would. Brittany’s reverie was cut short by the sound of horrified screams coming from the boat. She whirled around and saw to her horror that several wizards were rushing by the boat with their broomsticks in the air, yelling out some sort of attack spell she’d never heard of. Her friends on the boat who were wizards were trying to put up magic shields, but their shields didn’t seem to do much to stop the incoming wave of attacks.

  “What in the world?” Brittany said, her voice catching in her throat in fear. She barely had time to realize that they were under attack before Simon was pulling back from her. At first, this made her angry. Was he really going to just leave her alone in a moment of danger?

  But then, she realized what he was doing: shifting into dragon form. Hope leapt in her chest. Surely, whoever these attackers were, they wouldn’t stand a chance against a dragon shifter. Brittany had heard plenty of stories about how dragon hide was impervious to magic attacks. She hoped all the stories were true, because it looked like her friends could all use some help right now.

  In the distance, war sirens started to go off. The sound sent a chill through Brittany’s whole body. Was the whole city under attack? Or were the sirens going off just because of this attack at the lake? She had no way of knowing, but it was awful feeling like a sitting duck out here in the middle of the water, with evil wizards circling above her. Not knowing what else to do, she started to swim toward the boat. If she was going to die tonight, she was going to die fighting with her friends. She wasn’t going to try to disappear into the darkness of the lake water and hope no one noticed her. Brittany might not be a soldier, but she damn sure wasn’t going to let anyone call her a coward. She would do what she could.