Following Fabian by Holley Trent Page B

that regard.”
    “Ha ha. I bet.” Heat suffused her cheeks, and she turned her face toward the window so no one would see. She wouldn’t mind a little experimentation with Fabian, truth be told. Potentially magical sperm would just be a fringe benefit. She did want a kid someday. She probably wouldn’t be naming him Javier, though.
    She stole at glance at Fabian, who was wearing that damnable Castillo smirk.
    “I’m so sorry,” Agent Rodriguez said. “Here we are going on and on, and Mr. Castillo can’t understand a thing we’re saying.”
    “What’s she saying now?” Fabian asked.
    Astrid sipped. “I suspect you’ll find out soon enough. I think she speaks your language, sugar.” She locked her stare on the pretty Latina and ground her teeth. The agent had lit up the moment she laid eyes on Fabian.
    Astrid didn’t know what the woman had expected, but if she knew what was best for her, she’d keep her hands off.
    Fabian didn’t need any new distractions. He needed to handle his business, fly to North Carolina, and maybe repay the Shrews by helping them with their sticky Bear situation.
    That was the only reason Astrid cared.
    Yep.
    Agent Rodriguez began spewing off some rapid-fire Spanish, along with immediate English translation, that had David beside her nodding and occasionally grunting.
    She wanted to reach for her fork and stab him in the bicep with it—to make him feel pain just like she had all those months in the hospital when her organs were systematically shutting down, one at a time.
    No. She had to be the bigger person.
    She wasn’t that woman of four years ago anymore.
    Nope.
    She meditated on the specks of the laminate tabletop, only half-listening to the chatter going on around her.
    Fabian occasionally got a word in edgewise, but mostly the talking came from one side of the table.
    Astrid picked up a menu and held it inches from her face, unseeing.
    When Fabian nudged her thigh beneath the table and sought out a bit of skin, she nudged his hand away after projecting “Sorry” to him.
    He may have been the balm she needed to her bruised soul, but for the moment, she needed her thoughts to be her own. She didn’t want pity.
    * * *
    Fabian couldn’t remember ever meeting such an inscrutable woman before. He’d had his fair share of hookups throughout the years as the troupe traveled the world and performed shows. Women following him back to his trailer was a typical occurrence, and occasionally, he partook of their company. Not once had a woman ever made him second-guess his own intelligence. Dealing with Astrid required him to stay one step ahead—to predict what she’d say and what she’d do in order not to offend her.
    He didn’t even know why he cared so much. He’d never been the kind of man who’d chase after women who played hard to get. Maybe that had been his problem. If he didn’t recognize that there was something between him and the cranky dragon, he wouldn’t be standing outside her motel room at five in the morning bearing the donuts he’d struggled to order, and nearly burning the skin off his palms carrying a hot coffee cup in each hand.
    He pounded the kick plate again, and moments later, Astrid pulled the door open and set her heavy-lidded gaze on him.
    The room was dark, and she was undressed down to her underclothes. He tried not to stare, and how he managed the feat came down to his healthy fear of the woman, and not so much his self-control. She’d probably rip him a new asshole if she caught him staring like a letch.
    “I told you I’d come get you from your room at seven,” she said, still blocking the doorway.
    He shook his head. “Don’t understand.”
    She blew out a breath and moved from the doorway. “I’m going back to sleep.”
    He used the sliver of light from the hallway to watch her fit form stalk back to her rumpled bed.
    To think that’s what she was hiding under those baggy clothes…
    Perfect, round ass just begging for a