Read Romance: Auctioned To The Panther: BBW Dragon Shifter Romance Standalone (Wild Shifters Book 2) for Free Online Page A

if you're sure,” he said, shrugging. It was, after all, her decision: for all that Christian wanted to keep his mate safe, he also didn't want to stifle her, and if she wanted to do this, that was her decision.
    “You said something about a dress for me?” Grace asked tentatively. Christian led her over to the closet where the dress was hanging in a plastic sheath.
    Once she was in the dress, she was even more stunning than Christian had expected. For a moment, he couldn't even put together the words to tell her how amazing she looked. “Wow,” he breathed finally, walking around her so that he could see her from all angles. “You look absolutely… I've never seen anything like it.”
    Grace plucked nervously at it. “Are you sure it's not too much? I just...”
    Christian's look turned protective again. “If you're not comfortable in it-” he began but Grace was already shaking her head.
    “No, it's just… I've never worn anything quite this fancy before. Ever.” She shook her head again, offering up a dazzling smile. “It's just going to take some getting used to, that's all. Truth be told, it'll kind of help me out at this party, I think, if I don't feel like myself!” She laughed nervously, and Christian pulled her close.
    “You can still back out,” he reminded her. “Whenever you want to, for the entire evening, you can still back out. I'll make the excuses, say you're not feeling well or whatever. Don't worry if you want to leave early.”
    But rather than leave early, Grace absolutely surprised the both of them. She'd never felt this comfortable amongst the socialites before, not when she'd been attending parties with Liam.
    Of course, this party seemed to draw a more cultured crowd, but… Well, she was almost having a good time. The stories that were being told were entertaining, and she felt hardly any stress at all with Christian's hand down on the small of her back, leading her around the room from one group to another.
    There were very few people there from the party at which Christian had bought Grace, something he noted with an internal sigh of relief. Although he'd suspected they wouldn't run into many of the same crowd, he'd been a bit worried about it all the same, for all that he'd reassured Grace that everything would be fine.
    He quickly located Orlovsky and smiled at him. “Nice to see you again, Orlovsky,” he greeted. He tugged Grace forwards a little. “And I'd like you to meet Grace, my partner for the evening. Grace, this is Mr. Orlovsky, the man I told you about.”
    Grace smiled prettily at the man, even though she moved a step closer to Christian while she did so. “Pleased to meet you,” she said. “I heard you and Christian are working on some sort of business deal?”
    “That's correct,” Orlovsky said, his eyes roaming over Grace and seeming to like what they saw. He gave Christian an approving look that Grace wasn't too happy with, but she chose not to comment on it, instead remembering what Christian had said about not letting anything happen to her.
    She held her head a little higher. “I've read over the documents you've submitted,” Orlovsky said to Christian, “but I'm afraid I'm not fully on-board with your terms regarding...”
    Grace tuned them out, instead turning her attention to the rest of the members of the party. She wondered what brought them all together like this, if they could possibly have interests in common or if they were just here to network like Christian was. As the two men continued to talk about whatever business deal they were attempting to strike, Grace began to get bored and fidget.
    Finally, she turned back to Christian and his business partner. “Oh, shop talk is so dull!” she exclaimed, startling both of them. “Why would you let it ruin such a fabulous party? You're totally ignoring all these beautiful people around you!” She hoped she hadn't overstepped or ruined the deal in anyway, but–
    Christian's mouth twitched into