A small part of her hoped it would be Liam at the door. If for no other reason than she could see his face again, ensure he did still exist and it hadn’t been some horrible dream-turned-nightmare that had ended with her sexy handyman admitting straight-faced that he was a dragon.
She wanted some reasonable explanation for the whole thing. Something simple, like Liam had heat exhaustion. Or memory loss.
Not that she wanted Liam to have heat exhaustion or a bout of memory loss. It was just that the sincerity in his eyes when he expressed himself seemed to imply there was way more to what Magnus and he had said than just jokes or even insanity. The kind of surety that only someone who is one hundred percent right about something has. Like nothing else could possibly be true.
Several abrupt knocks sounded on the door, and this time Kate stood to go get it. It was probably just Buck or Connie here to complain about her landscaping or something else. And this time, she would just deal with things the way she always had before she’d met Liam.
But as the door swung open, the person before her was anything but familiar.
Standing in the doorway was a very tall man, probably a couple inches shorter than Liam, but still gigantic by her standards. And along with the height, the very first thing she noticed was long, golden hair so silky and shiny it reflected the dusky sunlight and was almost hard to look at.
Kate almost had to raise a hand to block the sunlight but resisted the impulse.
The man’s face was elegant and refined, with a long, perfect nose and high cheekbones and a straight jaw with almond-shaped eyes. His eyes, upon closer inspection, were similar in color to his hair, a kind of yellow hazel with what seemed to be little flecks of bright gold scattered around the center of his irises.
For a moment, he just stood there, appraising, wearing a cocky grin that gave Kate an uneasy feeling. And though he wore what appeared to be a casual outfit of polo shirt and chinos with boating shoes, Kate was familiar enough with luxury brands that she could tell the outfit probably cost more than a week’s pay for her.
And in his right hand was a large bouquet of flowers. Roses.
What the hell was going on?
“Good evening, neighbor,” the man said, his voice smooth and low.
“Neighbor?” Kate questioned.
“Yes, I just moved in recently, and I wanted to make the acquaintance of my fellow humans in the area,” he said with a polite bow.
Kate sure as hell hadn’t seen any moving vans recently. Or heard of anyone moving out of the small development she lived in.
But she wasn’t exactly a model neighbor either.
“I’m Kate. Nice to meet you,” she said, trying to sound polite but wanting nothing more than to slam the door on the douchebag’s face.
“Yes, I know. My name is Dante, and these are for you,” he said, extending the roses forward.
“Thank you, but I’m allergic to roses,” she said, lying. She didn’t want the guy’s flowers.
Dante’s smile fell just the smallest bit, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, before returning to unsubtle smoothness.
“A pity. I thought we could talk for a bit, get to know each other better. Shoot the breeze, as they say,” he said, and his voice was smooth, charming, in a way that probably worked on other girls.
And despite the fact that, compared to Liam, this Dante certainly wasn’t a beast, he was still very tall and incredibly muscled.
“I’m busy. Maybe some other time.” Kate didn’t know what was up, but the longer this guy was on her doorstep, the more she felt skeeved out by him and the way his gold eyes appeared to be looking through her.
Kate started closing the door slowly, hoping he’d get the hint, when she felt the door stopped by Dante’s hand. She tried harder to close it, but it was immovable.
“But I insist. We’ve only just gotten started. There’s so much more to discuss,” he said, voice darkening, becoming more menacing.
Suddenly, Kate regretted very much opening the door.
Before she could try anything, Dante’s hand, along with the rest of him, disappeared from the crack in the door.
“She said no, bastard,” Liam’s voice said from the other side of the door, followed by what sounded like a punch.
Surprised at the turn of events, Kate opened the door to look outside and saw Dante getting up off the ground, the roses scattered and disorganized, with Liam standing in front of her door like a guard dog protecting its turf.
Kate’s heart leapt at seeing Liam again. And despite whatever reservations she’d had, they were gone for the time being.
Aside from a small bruise on his cheek, Dante just stood and brushed himself off meticulously. He looked more or less unfazed by the whole thing, despite what sounded like a fairly strong hit. He was an odd contrast to Liam, whose dirty work clothes were as far as possible from the sharp, carefully styled designer clothing of the newcomer.
“Liam, I didn’t expect to see you here at this time of night,” Dante said coolly, cocking his head as he appraised the furious hulk on her porch.
“I can’t say I expected to see you here either. Or ever again for that matter,” Liam replied, the anger in his voice much more apparent.
“Well, you’re to blame for that. But I have to say this is certainly no improvement over the way you and your ragtag barbarian friends used to operate. I mean, digging ditches? Are you really that desperate?”
Liam took a step forward, so hard the deck rattled under his boot, but stopped at the top of the stairs.
Dante’s grin just widened a little.
“If you and the others have come on hard times, I’m sure I can lend you some of my treasure. But good luck finding a mate while you’re dressed like a common peasant.” At that, Dante chuckled at his own joke.
“Get the hell out of here, Dante. Go back to where you came from,” Liam growled.
Ignoring Liam’s threats, Dante addressed Kate. “Don’t let his good looks fool you. He’s nothing more than a barbarian and a common thief. If I were you, I’d find myself a real dragon with real wealth, not a pauper like him.”
Kate wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but she could feel herself getting angry on Liam’s behalf. Dragon or crazy person, whatever Liam was, she at least cared about him.
“I like him better than you. I know that.”
Dante’s smile fell and his eyes narrowed. “It figures that Liam would find a mate with taste equally poor to his own.”
“You bastard,” Liam spat. Then, before Kate could even process what was happening, he practically leapt from the deck, a huge, gleaming metal sword suddenly in his hands as he slashed down at Dante.
Dante dodged backward with reflexes unlike any she’d ever seen, narrowly avoiding the huge steel blade.
“Now you’ve gone too far, gold dragon,” Liam said. She could see his deep teal eyes gleaming in the last remnants of sunlight as the sky began to darken. Both hands gripped the long, masterfully crafted sword that looked like it belonged in some medieval museum.