Her soft fingers explored his scales. Curious, delicate. He shuddered.

She lifted. "Is it sensitive?"

"Yes." His voice sounded husky. He cleared his throat. "I have not shifted in a long time."

No one wanted to be subjected to his ugly coloration, so even as a dragonlet he had assumed human form. He had been the most prepared to come to Earth, a planet full of recessive-gene humans who could not shift.

And now a curious female stroked those very scales carefully. Reverently. Inspecting them without horror or disgust.

The band released and blood seeped back his heart, flooding it with warmth.

"So many colors," she murmured.

"Syenite," he said.

She glanced up. An open smile lit her face. "Is that what your name is short for? I have never heard of that mineral."

"It is a type of granite." A rare, ugly type.

Her smile widened as though she were happy to learn it. "It is beautiful."

His throat closed on a painful lump. "Do not."

"Hm? Do not what?"

"You are beautiful. Your colors. Mine are..." He could not say it. As if by saying it aloud, she would suddenly realize that she had been blind, and he really was awful.

Shock stole her smile. "You do not think you are beautiful?"

He shook his head. "Not like..."

Not like her.

Her brows rose. Incredulity mixed with laughter. "But mine wash off. The 'dramatic color' is all dye and polish. And body spray, I guess."

He knew. She had intense bravery to put on and then wash off her colors as if she knew she were worthy no matter how she looked on the outside.

How many times had he wished his scales would change, wash off overnight, and leave him any other color?

Sober understanding softened her features. She cupped his face and stroked soothing thumbs across his cheeks. "May I?"

His tactical shades. She was determined to remove them. He swallowed hard.

She did not want to see his eyes. But maybe he needed her to see.

This tenderness and her kind words were treasures he would carry to his funeral pyre. Even when she destroyed them with her horrified reaction from seeing his eyes.

But... there was a very tiny possibility she would not react with sickness. As with his scales, she might surprise him.

For that reason only he nodded. Quick, before reality intruded and he changed his mind.

She hooked gentle fingers under the hard metal and slid the shades down his nose and off. His ugliness was revealed.

Peridot followed Karmel off the escalator. She swerved toward a busy coffee shop. The line stretched out of the red-frilled doorway. She stepped to the end, craned her neck inside, and sighed. "This might take a minute."

He checked his human wristwatch. They were already exceedingly late.

She bit her lip. "What coffee do you normally get?"

"Water."

"You do not like coffee?"

"I have never tasted this human liquid."

"Never!" Her mouth pooched. "Is this your first visit to a coffee shop?"

He nodded.

"But this is Portland! Land of microbrews and DIY roasters. Well, you are in for a treat." She described the different drinks. Then, she stopped and frowned. "You are not anticipating a treat."

"I avoid coffee shops."

"Oh. Did you not like the smell? Or..."

A couple pushed their way out. Fresh, peppery fragrance emerged from their paper cups. It was pleasing.

The line moved forward. He and Karmel stepped inside the shop.

"The smell is... unique. Not bad. But we do not have these unnecessary varieties of food and drink on Draconis."

She raised a brow. "Unnecessary? Well, after you try coffee, you will know how necessary it really is."

"That is my fear."

Her brows lowered. "Wait. You will not try coffee because you are worried about becoming addicted? Well, that is understandable I guess. Did you prefer tea or a smoothie?"

"I do not know. I have never tasted those either."

"Not those either... So what do you like?"

He shrugged.

"Cookies? Scones? Biscotti?" She could not seem to fathom his non-response. "What do you eat?"

"Protein paste and electrolyte liquids meet all my intake needs."

"You have never eaten out? Or tried any human food? Ever? Why not?"

"I avoid unnecessary stimulation."

The other dragons had boasted. Earth is not bad. Human things are addictive. Foods, furnishings, females. He could have as much as he wanted. He could live comfortably in disgrace. Once you surrender, you will do anything to recapture their flavors.

He respected their warnings.

She tilted her head, evaluating him from top to bottom. "Why?"

"I cannot risk addiction to something that might be taken away."

Her brows lifted. Warmth flushed her cheeks and soft kindness gleamed in her honey-brown eyes. "That is the saddest thing I have ever heard."

He did not understand. "Sad?"

"My grandma used to make this amazing Christmas cake. Moist white cake, pie filling canned from her summer raspberries, thick whipped cream center, and the whole rectangle was wrapped in vanilla fondant. She never used measuring cups or a recipe." She sighed softly. "I would give anything to taste that cake again."

"So. You are sad."

"Yes and no." She held out her hands to illustrate. Her nails were painted alternating red and green shades. "My grandmother loved Christmas as much as I do. When she passed away, our traditions ended." She curled her fingers into fists. "It is hard to restart her traditions. I do not have her cake."

"You regret it is gone."

"But not that I had it. That cake was one of the best memories of my life."

"Yet it cycles in your mind as a torture."

"Torture?" She turned and cupped his cheek. "Peridot."

He froze into ice.

Her cool fingers stroked his hard jaw. "I would rather hunger for one mouthful of heaven than only know tasteless paste."

Heaven. Like her delicious scent.

Would one taste of her be worth a lifetime of hunger?

His throat convulsed. He swallowed.

Her lashes fluttered. Her gaze dropped to his mouth. Her lips parted.

The question stretched. Time elongated. There was only him and her in this small coffee shop. Neither of them moved. They hovered on the edge of a precipice. A blade's edge between question and regret.

Would her taste be worth it?

Julie eased her weight onto her heel. Her son snored. Almost to the doorway... almost to the door...

Ding-dong.

She froze.

The breathing sound changed. Her baby made a small noise, then returned to sleeping.

Oh, thank goodness.

Ding-dong. Ding-dong.

Her baby made a whimper.

Rage crackled in her. She breathed steadily through her nose and silently prayed. Go away.

Ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-

Her baby son, Copper, wailed.

Argh!

She thundered down the stairs, grabbed the pen from the neatly organized entryway table next to the front door, and threw it open with the pen raised like a weapon. "What? What do you want?"

The bald, hulking gangster covered in piercings and wearing a leather jacket on her doorstep should have frightened her, but she was too used to dragons to react. True, they never came to her house, but the normal fear was gone. There was only a brief moment of confusion in her brain as the man, whose smile was accented by silver caps, blinked and answered in that familiar gruff voice that made her insides quiver.

"What do I want? You."

Shock, then blazing heat flushed through her as her body recognized him before her brain did.

Sard Carnelian, the powerful CEO dragon shifter who had shattered her heart with a sledgehammer two years ago, stood before her in all his imposing glory. Late afternoon sunlight caught the silver piercings on his eyebrows, ears, and chin, making them glint like distant stars. His head was bald and smooth just like she remembered, and his red eyes, the same gemstone color as his scales, glowed with inner fire.

"What are you..." Pen still raised, she gripped the door for support as the strength left her legs. Her voice was so soft in her dry throat that it cracked. "What are you doing here?"

"I have returned..." He grinned, and his silver caps glimmered, making her frozen heart jump with electrical shocks as it came back to life. "...to accept your declaration of love. Become mine."

Her heart thumped. "I decline."

His grin dropped. "What?"

"My declaration of love expired."

"It cannot have expired."

"Two years ago," she said numbly.

His brows darkened as he became the stormy, dominant male she remembered.

Her heart squeezed. She pressed her lips together. They were numb. All of her was numb. She could barely feel her fingertips. "You missed it. Sorry."

His nostrils flared. "Fine. I will convince you to declare your love again."

That was just like him. She put up the slightest obstacle, and he did not even try to argue with her about it; he simply vaulted over it and smashed right back into her life just exactly how he broke out of it.

No.

The aching pain of the last two years crystallized in her chest. He would do it too. If she gave a single inch, he would stroll back in, and she absolutely could not get sucked into his dragon world of epic drama and heartbreak again. She had more than herself to worry about now.