Read A Dragon's Dream of Love (Song of the Sídhí Series #2) for Free Online

began
trusting his suggestions so she dipped the bread stick in the sauce and took a
small bite. “Mmmm!” Leah’s eyes closed, savoring the expanding flavor as she
chewed. “Oh, my! That’s to die for!”
    A short time later, Leah wistfully
looked at the pizza left on her plate. She felt ready to explode, but the
others continued eating.
    “Full?” Derek asked.
    “I think so, I really wish I wasn’t.
Mom told me how good food was, but I didn’t have anything to compare it with.”
Leah shrugged her shoulders, still eyeing the pizza on her plate.
    “What was your favorite?” he asked.
    “All of it, but the garlic stick and
red sauce – Mmm! – that's fantastic,” she said enthusiastically.
    “They’re the best,” Beth agreed,
nodding toward the cafeteria doors. “You can get more.”
    “No, thanks,” Leah shook her head,
“I’ve never eaten food, but mom drilled me for hours on table manners.” She
sighed, feeling a bit uncomfortable talking so freely. “I’m sure one day I’ll
change my mind, but if I ignored everything she taught, I’d feel like I was…
well, hurting her or something. She’s had enough of that.” She squirmed in her
chair as she felt herself turn a light shade of pink that darkened her sunburn.
    Derek excused himself and went inside
the building. He came back a few minutes later with a plate piled full of
stuff, which he sat in the middle of the table. He grabbed her plate and dumped
her remaining pizza on top of his. He grinned at her. “Problem solved. I got
enough garlic sticks, sauce, and cinnamon sticks for everyone.”
    Leah smiled and reached for a garlic
stick. “Thanks, Derek.” Feeling a twinge of remorse, she let out a loud sigh.
“I’ve been nothing but unpleasant to you and yet you keep doing things like
this.”
    She pointed the garlic stick at him,
trying her hardest to figure him out. “I just don’t understand you.”
    Derek casually shrugged his broad
shoulders. “We’re going to be in the same cabin for four months. We might as
well get along.”
    “That’s all?” Leah questioned him,
doubt crept into her voice as both Beth and Brianna chuckled outright.
    “I like you,” he said, giving Leah a
sweet smile, which lifted one corner of his firm lips a bit higher than the
other one. “Isn’t that enough?”
    Leah narrowed her eyes at his seemingly
casual answers, silently watching him as he took a large bite of pizza and
washed it down with a drink of pop.
    “I will not have sex with you,” Leah
said tartly.
    He choked on his pop, madly grabbing
for a napkin as it spewed from his mouth. He struggled to breath and his face
turned an alarming shade of crimson red. Pizza crust and pop made a terrible
throat blocker. He couldn’t quit coughing.
    Beth and Brianna's chuckles turned into
gales of laughter, while Leah maintained her quiet observation; she sat back
and watched Derek gasp for breath.
    “That wasn’t funny.” His voice sounded
rough and his eyes watered as he snarled at the girls.
    His grumpy words made them laugh even
harder.
    Beth was laughing so hard she couldn't
speak, so she mentally crowed, “Yes, it was! I can’t believe she hit it on
the head! Literally! I think you've bedded every debutante at court.”
    “She’s got you totally pegged!” Brianna
said, rocking with laughter.
    Derek ignored them both. Turning to
Leah he snapped at her, “I can’t believe you think that.”
    Leah sighed; she felt a bit guilty, but
from his sister's reaction she must've guessed correctly. Her lips twitched,
trying very hard not to laugh at his disgruntled look. “Well, I’m not sorry I
said it. I’m probably the very first girl that has ever turned you down. Derek,
I’m not an idiot. My refusal makes me a challenge for you. I should’ve realized
it before now, but I just wasn’t thinking.” She motioned toward his face and
muscled body. “Guys, especially the 'beautiful people of the world,' never refuse
a challenge. I’m sure