Big City Uptown Dragon by Cynthia Sax Page A

between your breasts, drawing all gazes downward.” He unfastened the clasp and lowered the pendant, the cool gold sliding between her curves. Her nipples tightened, and her body quivered with awareness. “Like so.”
    The saleswoman silently moved the mirror, and Hailey gazed down. Her breath caught. He was blond perfection, his chiseled, tanned face and strong chin movie star handsome. The skin at the corners of his golden eyes crinkled, and his teeth flashed white in his divine face, his smile smug.
    Oro was good-looking, and he knew it. She wrinkled her nose, finding his arrogance both appealing and challenging.
    “Yes, like so,” Hailey quipped, ducking under his arm, escaping his embrace. “Clearly, you need our assistance.” She took a step back from him, tilting her head upward. God . He was tall… and strong, his muscles rippling under his black suit jacket.
    “ Our assistance?” Oro raised an eyebrow.
    “Ember and I work together.” Hailey nodded toward her forgotten friend. “You’ll hire us both as your assistants… which is a prudent move, seeing as your last assistant went insane, getting himself killed while fighting a suicidal battle against a very old and very powerful vampire.”
    Oro narrowed his eyes, his nostrils flaring. “You’re very well informed, mate.”
    Hailey took another step away from him, the possessive gleam in his eyes warning her to proceed with caution. “I am well informed.” She supplemented her lack of any real paranormal powers with knowledge. “But I’m not your mate.” Tiny green scales covered her fingers. Wow. She stared. That was new.
    “You will be.” Oro sauntered forward, casually closing the gap between them. “You feel the connection as deeply as I do.” She did. A throw-caution-to-the-wind sexual attraction surged through her body. “And I’ve been waiting for a mate for over a century. I’m not about to let an unattached female dragon enter my territory without claiming her.”
    An unattached female dragon . Hailey’s hands shook. She’d known when she didn’t age that she wasn’t normal, but she hadn’t known what she was, not until now. She flexed her fingers, her scales shimmering. Holy shit . She was a dragon shifter.
    And Oro wanted her because female dragon shifters were rare, not because he cared for her, or wanted her. Hailey had heard how he had recently fought for and lost a potential mate to a rival male. She was no sloppy seconds. Hell, no . She’d be her mate’s first choice or have no mate at all.
    “You’ll have to wait a bit longer.” Hailey raised her chin, indignation dampening her raging desire. “Because I’m interested in a job, not a mate.” She held his gaze.
    Flames danced in his golden eyes and smoke curled around his nostrils. His looks might be that of a male model, but his spirit was all dragon -- big and strong and dominant.
    “A job working by my side.” Oro followed the slope of her cheek with his index finger, releasing tremors along her skin. “Close by my side.” He swept his fingertip over her lips back and forth, back and forth, teasing her senses.
    Unable to resist tasting him, Hailey flicked his finger with her tongue, transferring the delicious flavor of charcoal and salt into her mouth. So good . A rumble of appreciation rolled up her throat.
    Oro groaned, his intense gaze fixed on her mouth, and he leaned into her, pressing her back against the display case. His head lowered, and Hailey’s lips parted, desire overwhelming her caution.
    “Darling.” A soft, Texan twang rolled over them. “I’m interested in what she’s buying.”
    Oh, shit . Hailey twisted away from Oro and his dragon wiles. An elderly matron, her lips rimmed with a liner three shades darker than her lipstick, stared at them, her blue eyes bright with curiosity.
    She’d almost lost control in public, in a store with customers and her friend Ember and that haughty paranormal poser Vanna watching. Hailey’s face