Read Sassy Ever After: Dragon Sass (Kindle Worlds Novella) for Free Online Page A

hear you sing in Gaelic.”
    She smiled and blushed. “Not right now.”
    “Excuse me, Sir?” Sebastian poked his head in. “Would you like the hors d'oeuvres served in here?”
    “No, we’ll come to the dining room,” Kai told him with a nod.
    “Very good, Sir.”
    When Sebastian was gone again, Jules turned to him, her eyes dancing.
    “Do you know what I think?” she mused. “I think you’re Batman.”
    Kai chuckled, distracted from the plunging neckline of her dress by her comment.
    “You had me picked up in a limo, you have a servant who has an eerie resemblance to Alfred… and this house!” She looked around in wonder. “I’d be surprised if you didn’t have a Batcave.”
    “Oh, I have a cave,” Kai admitted cryptically, taking her elbow and leading her toward the table where he’d poured them wine. “But I’m not Batman.”
    “And you’re not a wolf shifter… right?” she asked, accepting the glass from him as they sat across from one another.
    “No.” He watched her sip her wine, her gaze still moving around the room. “But I’ve known the Wolfes for a long time.”
    “This view is amazing.” Jules stood, walking over to the wall of glass on the south side of the house. “How much property do you own?”
    “Less than you.” He smiled when Jules looked back at him, her eyebrows raised. “Yes, I did a little research. You’ve got almost a thousand acres out there, most of it cleared pasture.”
    “And yours is all woods.” She came back to sit in the chair, finishing her wine. “This house has so much glass—bad news in a zombie apocalypse.”
    “I’m not worried.” He chuckled, picking up the bottle. “More wine?”
    She held her empty glass out and he poured. Her cheeks were alcohol-flushed, little roses blooming in them.
    “I have to admit, when Barb told me about you, I thought…” Jules hesitated, biting her lip.
    “You thought…?” He poured himself more wine, enjoying the way her cheeks reddened even more.
    “Well, you know… retired investment banker. I had an image in my mind that was more like Sebastian than you.”
    “Are you disappointed?”
    Jules hid a smile behind her wine glass. “No.”
    “Sir, dinner is ready,” Sebastian announced from the doorway.
    Kai stood, holding a hand out to Jules, who took it as she rose. They took their wine glasses to the dining room down the hall. Kai didn’t use it very often—he didn’t entertain much—but even he had to admit it was impressive. Jules’s reaction thrilled him. She actually gasped out loud, running as fast as she could in heels to the wall of glass to see the view on the west side of the house.
    “With this much glass, I’d be afraid to walk around my own house,” Jules called over her shoulder and then laughed. “Especially naked.”
    “I own all of that,” he reminded her. “No one would see you—besides me.”
    The sun was going down beneath the trees, casting a soft, orange glow into the room. Jules’s blush was hidden in the sunset and he noticed, when she looked back at him, that those gold flecks in her eyes were dancing.
    “So what’s for dinner?” she asked, smiling a thank you to Sebastian as he held her chair. “Did you make this poor man cook supper for us?”
    “Sebastian loves to cook gourmet meals,” Kai protested. “Don’t you, Sebastian?”
    “I live for it, Sir.” The sarcasm in his voice made Jules laugh and the sound of it delighted Kai so much, he didn’t bother forcing the old man to admit what he said was true.
    Jules exclaimed over the first course—a cold watermelon soup. Kai hardly tasted it, because he was too busy refilling her wine glass and listening to her tell him about her ranch, her horses, her clients and her family.
    “It isn’t easy being alone in the world,” Kai agreed as Sebastian cleared their soup bowls and Jules thanked him for the third time for their first course. The old man was enjoying the attention, Kai could tell. “I know