Billionaire Dragon's Mate: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Dragon Romance Nove Page 3

You really need to improve your taste in men, Ruby. Like, take this guy. He’d likely piss dad off and he wouldn’t sell you to the Mexicans if you got on his nerves. Best of both worlds.

  She grinned at the thought. Though, as things stood, she thought she had learned her lesson. Better to toe the line a little than actually cross it and end up in a mess like this. And all for what? To rebel a little? She was a grown-ass woman for heaven’s sake! With a degree in medicine to boot! She didn’t need to be running around, making a fool of herself in skirts far too tight and with men far too idiotic to tolerate for more than an evening. But, as ever, all of those realizations came to her a tad bit too late.

  “I’m not your sugar,” she retorted absently, receiving the shot from Joe.

  He paused long enough that she had to look at him to see if he’d heard. He wasn’t paying attention at all; instead he had turned around and was leaning against the counter with his elbows, scanning the room. Ruby narrowed her eyes a little. He wasn’t just casually observing – like a bored man at a dreary bar. No, there was purpose to him. His gaze was calculating, strict, even though that twinkle of amusement in them could have fooled most onlookers.

  A mystery man…

  “Did you hear me?” she asked, cocking a well-groomed brow at him.

  He met her gaze, and that despicable smirk was back on his lips.

  “I did. I don’t agree.”

  “Don’t agree with what?”

  “I think you are my sugar, sugar. But we can argue about that later. In private. How does that sound?”

  He spun around and grabbed his drink, clinking it against hers.

  “I think you sound suicidal!” Ruby said, but she couldn’t keep the laughter from her voice. Hey, every court needed a daring jester, right?

  “Could very well be.” They kicked back the tequila, and Ruby made a bit of a face as the bitter liquid went down.

  When she looked up, he was suddenly so much closer. Ruby gasped as he leant in, smelling like a woodsy fire and black coffee. It filled her lungs, and for a crazy moment, she didn’t want it to stop.

  “Get out of here while I distract them. I’ll find you,” he whispered, already receiving scalding looks from the people around them.

  “Who are you?” Ruby asked, trying to find her breath again.

  “Cillian. But you can call me whatever you want, sugar,” he said, grinning like a fiend.

  She loved it. Next thing she knew, Cillian’s hand was on her cheek, pushing her chin up a little, and then his lips were on hers. She murmured in surprise, but the small noise quickly turned into a moan as her eyes fluttered closed and she dipped forward to meet him. His lips were so soft, like they were meant to be against hers, and the kiss they shared was flawless – no awkward bumping or teeth gnashing together. Just perfection. Like they’d been doing it forever.

  Her body heated up immediately, every nerve and fiber in her screaming to get closer to him. He was wrenched away from her just as her tongue slipped into his mouth. She saw him thrown across the floor of the bar and sliding several feet until he slammed into a crowd of onlookers.

  “What the FUCK do you think you’re doing!?” Cable roared, red in the face and heaving with blinding rage.

  “Cable, no!” Ruby managed to yelp, jumping out of her seat.

  The kiss still lingered on her lips, and her eyes met Cillian’s, who was up on his feet like a flash of lightning. He hooked brass knuckles around his fists, inclining his head towards the back exit ever so slightly before turning his attention back to Cable. He grinned like a man possessed, the bikers around him roaring for Cable to cut his head off. There was no way he was going to get out of there in one piece.

  “Shut up, woman,” Cable grunted, bringing up his fists. “If prettyboy here wants to throw down, we can throw down. I’m going to rip every limb straight off your body,” Cable snarled, and Ruby watched with quiet horror as Cable lunged towards his leaner, faster opponent.

  Cillian sidestepped Cable easily, and the big biker pounded into the wall, a drowning snarl of anger following him.

  Okay, so he can handle himself, Ruby thought, her heart constricting with worry.

  On the one hand, she would have loved to stay and watch Cable get his ass handed to him, but she needed to get out, now. Trying to attract as little attention as she could in the packed room, Ruby slunk past the bar and disappeared into a passageway lined with bathrooms. Just as she was stepping into the ladies room, she heard a sickening crunch and then a cacophony of surprised gasps.

  “Is that all you got, pup? Sheesh, I thought I was hanging with REAL men here!” Ruby heard Cillian’s voice bellowing over the tin, and then a moment later, a loud crack echoed all the way to the corridor – the distinct sound of a table being crushed by two bodies crashing into it.

  “Fucking hell,” Ruby muttered, locking the door behind her.

  She kicked off her shoes and picked them up, stepping into a stall. Even getting on the toilet bowl was a precarious trick in her tight skirt. Without a second thought, she ripped up the side of her skirt and reached for the window above. Then, it was a simple matter of opening the old, rusted shut window, heaving herself up on the sill, shimmying through the opening that was just barely big enough for her ass to fit through and then tumbling gracelessly down into the trash under the window in the alleyway.

  “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said to herself, eyes searching around frantically to see if anyone had seen her.

  The hooting and distant sounds of punches told her that everyone had something better to focus on than the boss’s girl making a break for it. Seeing as all directions were equally bad, she picked one and broke off in a run, hoping to put as much distance between herself and the bar as she possibly could before anyone noticed her missing.

  Welcome to your funeral, Ruby.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Ruby

  It felt like she had been walking for hours. Her silver shoes dangled from her fingers and her red skirt clung wearily to her thighs, the high rip making her look more like a battered streetwalker than the sexy minx she had been going for. Soon, it would be sunrise, and she wasn’t exactly sure where she was walking to. Or whether or not she’d been walking for very long at all. Her first instinct had been to go home, hug her mother, receive the cussing of a lifetime from her father and deal with the jokes and jabs of her countless older brothers.

  But the more she thought about it, the less she wanted to do it. This whole mess she had concocted for herself had begun with her wanting to step out of their massive shadow – the Accardo name being not so much an umbrella as an armored tank around her, keeping her from anything fun life had to offer.

  So no, going home wasn’t an immediate option. But what else was there? She was determined not to use her credit cards (paid by for her father), and she only had maybe fifty bucks of cash in the deposit box she had stashed her stuff in. Her only real assets were her name, which was problematic as she knew, her medicine degree (though it’s worth was questionable, seeing as she had missed her last half year of interning because of her sudden need to find herself) and… well that was about it, really.

  Ruby’s mouth was pressed into a hard line – a nervous tick she’d picked up from her father – as she trudged through the streets. An adventure she had certainly got, but whether it was the one she had wanted was yet to be seen. A part of her felt like a petulant child, wanting something so badly, and then when she received it, finding that it wasn’t what she desired at all. But what was it then? What was it that Ruby Accardo needed from life to make it worthwhile, to make it both exciting and meaningful at the same time?

  Her train of thought was cut short by the sound of a bike revving its engine somewhere behind her. Out of instinct, she jumped further from the curb, whipping her head around to see who it was. She was certain it had to be Cable or one of his guys, finally having tracked her down. But unlike the heavy chromed, low choppers Cable’s crew rode, this one was a
flashy, fast superbike. A Fireblade, she guessed.

  You’ve been hanging around bikers for too long, Ruby chided herself, though she relaxed seeing that it wasn’t an immediate danger to her.

  The bike pulled up next to her and stopped, one strong, booted leg propping it up against the curb. Ruby frowned but stopped, her hands wrapped around her body. It was cold out, or at least cold enough to need more than a tiny top and a skimpy skirt for a nighttime trek.

  The streetlight illuminated the man as he pulled off his black and green helmet, revealing Cillian’s tousled hair and familiar grin.

  “It’s you!” she exclaimed, her surprise quickly morphing into worry.

  He was sporting a nasty black eye and bruises on his neck, and the way he was holding himself a bit hunched over, told her trained eye the obvious story – he was badly hurt. Cable and his guys must have done a number on him.

  “It is I!” he agreed with equal fervor.

  He deposited his helmet behind him and handed her another helmet that had been strapped in behind him on the small seat.

  “Put this on. This is no place for a lady to be traipsing around.” Ruby took the helmet uncertainly, holding the heavy thing in her hands. “Go on, put it on. I won’t leave you out on the street like this,” he urged, his emerald eyes weary but still so bright that she wished she could keep staring into them forever.

  He gingerly peeled off his leather jacket and held that out for her as well. The yellowish light of the streetlamp licked at his strong arms and the flat, inviting plain of his chest. He had full sleeves of tattoos, all exquisite work, and she could spy a few more underneath his shirt. She wondered what else he was hiding. But as she admired his stunning body, she also noticed the trickle of blood that had seeped through his tee and the black and blue bruises popping all over him. She wouldn’t have been surprised to find him sporting a few broken ribs.

  “You’re hurt,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “You’re right. And if we continue this for very long, I’m going to be cold too. Now humor me, sugar, and put the helmet and the jacket on so you wouldn’t catch a cold and die on me, alright?” he said, dangling the jacket in front of her. She wouldn’t budge just yet though.

  “Why should I come with you? And where the hell are you taking me anyway?”

  His expression fell a little, and she wasn’t completely sure, but she thought she saw smoke rising from his nostrils for just a second.

  “If it’s better than The Rusty Nail, do you really care?”

  He made a compelling point. Damn him. And his sexy arms. She pulled his jacket on, and the warmth hugged her like a safe cocoon. She zipped it up and then wrestled the helmet over her head. She was completely surrounded by his scent, and she had to admit, it was not unpleasant.

  “Now the shoes,” he directed, and she put them on, cursing under her breath. “Get on, sugar. Let’s ride,” Cillian said, flashing her a grin before pulling his own helmet on.

  “I’m still not your sugar,” she grumbled.

  “And I still don’t agree.”

  Tentatively (and with some difficulty) Ruby threw her leg over the back of the bike and settled in behind him, her hands around his waist. He felt so warm to the touch, almost hot.

  “Aren’t you going to be cold?”

  “With a girl like you keeping me warm? Never,” he said, that warm rumble of his voice doing things to her again.

  She considered snipping back at him, but he felt so good next to her, and frankly, she was relieved to get some direction for the night that she didn’t feel like ruining it with being smart. He revved the engine again and took off down the street, leaving nothing but tire marks on the pavement to indicate that they had ever been there at all.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Cillian

  For a split-second before letting Ruby into his penthouse apartment, Cillian wanted to apologize for the state it was in. Then, he remembered that not everyone in the world was as pretentious as dragons, and that every sane person would be floored by his Chicago home, all whites and gold and ridiculously expensive furnishings with floor to ceiling windows. Still, there was that lingering, nagging feeling that if only the Greenmeadow fortune wasn’t in the state it was in, then maybe…

  Cillian shook his head, unlocking the door in front of a visibly exhausted, but still completely captivating Ruby.

  “Welcome to my humble abode. Make yourself comfortable,” he said, letting her walk in in front of him.

  It might have been a gentlemanly thing to do, but in all honesty, he just wanted to sneak a peek at that gorgeous ass of hers.

  Nice, he thought with a dark smirk, closing the door behind him.

  The lights flickered on all across the apartment and the curtains rolled out from in front of the windows, activating his morning arrival mode. Somewhere in the distance, the coffee machine whirred to life.

  “Wow,” Ruby said bluntly, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it on a hook near the door. “Tres chic, Mister Biker. I would never have guessed.”

  She wandered deeper into the apartment, the living room and kitchen all one spacious, almost ridiculously large room, with the master bedroom off to one side of it and his study to the other. It acted as his base of operations while he was away from Emerald Ridge, which had been more and more lately. There was something about the Greenmeadow mansion in Colorado that just didn’t sit right with him at the moment.

  But it was no time to be thinking about uncomfortable topics like that when he had a gorgeous redhead in his apartment and, perhaps more importantly, he was slowly bleeding out from a stomach wound.

  “Yeah, well, I am full of surprises, Miss Accardo. I hear it’s one of my least impressive qualities,” he said with a wink, kicking off his boots and socks.

  His toes dug into the plush white carpet, and he let out a relieved sigh. It was good to be home. Though he loved the job, he hated running around all the time, worrying about other people’s business. Dragons really weren’t meant for hard work, and even though Cillian was decidedly the flag bearer of a new generation of more productive, less lazy dragons, he still would have preferred sleeping his days away on a pile of gold somewhere.

  Ruby turned to face him, and the first rays of the sunrise licked at her auburn hair, giving her a bit of a halo. His heart beat faster than it should have. Cillian blamed it on the wounds and the residual adrenaline pounding through his veins, but he couldn’t even fool himself. She was something special, alright. Something special he couldn’t have.

  “So I assume my father sent you?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

  She looked cute like that. Like she really thought she could scold him for saving her from a pack of deranged werewolves.

  “You assume correctly,” he agreed, walking through the living room area to the kitchen sink while peeling off his black tee.

  He winced as it ripped off of a few wounds, having stuck to them when they were still fresh. Some jerk had given Cable what could be identified as a shank, and the big lug of a man had taken no time in putting it to good use. It was only when Cillian had managed to knock him face-first into a wall and then whack him over the head with a pool cue that the man went down. But that of course meant that Cillian had to deal with his friends. All in all, it had been thanks to his quick legs that he made it out of there in one, mostly complete, piece.

  He heard the way Ruby’s breath hitched a little as the tee came off of him, and he smiled privately. So maybe it was because of his wounds, but he’d like to think that it was at least partially the swooning sounds a woman makes when she sees one hell of a man.

  “You’re hurt. Badly,” she said, rushing over to him. He had just turned on the tap to try and clean himself a little, but she closed it just as quickly, giving him a stern look. “Do you have an emergency kit? Go lay down on that couch there. You shouldn’t be walking around.”

  His bemused smile melted off his lips and now it was his turn to sigh.

 
; “Yes, ma’am,” he agreed, pointing at a cupboard near the sink. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” he remarked sourly, stalking over to the couch and laying down with a plop.

  It wasn’t the right decision – the groan that tumbled forth from his lips was sign enough of that.

  “Hey, don’t sass me, mister. I barely know your name, and for some reason, you thought it was a good idea to piss off the leader of a gang of werewolf bikers. Really, I think you should be the one counting your lucky stars.”

  “It was well worth it,” he remarked with a grin, blowing a kiss to her as she sauntered over to him, med kit in hand.

  It must have been the right thing to say, because she blushed a little. It looked good on her. Made her look a little more like the delicate flower he assumed she was under all that makeup and tight clothes. Ruby took a seat next to him and opened the kit, finding some disinfectant, wipes and a needle and thread.

  “It’s really not necessary. Most of this will just heal on its own,” Cillian protested mildly, but just enough so he could say that he put up a fight.

  She was close to him, and while he could claim that he was doing his job by keeping her nearby, he had much more selfish reasons for doing so. For instance, then he could internalize that sweet lemon and vanilla scent of hers. Or he could sense her pulse racing when she looked at him – all things he and his dragon didn’t mind one bit.

  “You’re talking to a medical professional here. Let me be the judge of whether or not you’re okay, hmm?” Ruby spritzed the disinfectant on a few wipes and tapped carefully at the wounds on his abdomen, some piercing right into his sides and abs.

  He was lucky that Cable hadn’t got a bigger knife. Then again, Cable should have been thankful that he hadn’t just turned into a dragon and demolished the entire bar in a fit of rage. It was a nice ace to keep up his sleeve. For emergencies and really bad practical jokes. Ruby lifted the pad and looked at it, frowning. She showed it to him, cocking one brow.

  “Why is this green?”