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

what it’s like to lose everyone you love.”
    “Do you?” She sat back in her chair, studying him. He could almost see the wheels turning in her mind, curious as one of her new barn cats. “I’m sorry… your… wife?”
    Kai felt a sudden weight on his chest and a wave of sadness he hadn’t experienced in a thousand years. He had no photographs or drawings, nothing to remember her by, but the image of his beloved still burned bright in his memory.
    “A very long time ago.” Kai poured himself another glass of wine, seeing a puzzled look on her face.
    “But…” She worried her lip between her teeth, a gesture that drew his gaze and quickened his pulse. “You can’t be… I mean, I’m twenty-three… so you can’t be any older than… thirty?”
    “Where are those salads, Sebastian?” he called, clearing his throat, grateful to see the old man bringing in two plates.
    Jules was distracted by the salad, at least momentarily—long enough for Kai to find words.
    “I guess it feels like I’ve been alone a long time,” he told her, watching her lick dressing from the corner of her mouth. He chided himself for staring, but he couldn’t seem to help it. “Like you, I don’t have any family. Only a few close friends.”
    Jules nodded, chewing, looking thoughtful. “I don’t really let people get close anymore. There’s Stuart, but we’ve been friends since we were little kids.”
    “Stuart?” He fought his urge to spit the man’s name—and Kai didn’t even know him. But he already didn’t like him. And not just because Jules clearly thought the world of the moocher. “The booty call?”
    “It wasn’t a booty call.” She rolled her eyes, dabbing the corner of her mouth with her napkin. He just gave her a long, steady look until she sighed and admitted, “Okay, we dated. Back in high school. But it’s over—it’s been over for a long time.”
    “So what did Stuart want then?”
    “None of your damned business.” Jules put her fork down and those little gold flecks in her eyes sparked like she had a fire burning inside.
    “Money then.” Kai chuckled when she huffed at him but didn’t deny it. “How much did you give him?”
    “Didn’t I just say it’s none of your business?” she snapped. Her attitude changed slightly when Sebastian came to collect the salad plates, but her color was still high.
    He didn’t like how defensive she got about this Stuart guy. If he hadn’t already disliked him, that alone would have raised his hackles.
    “Is it warm in here?” Jules fanned her flushed cheeks with one hand.
    “I apologize,” Kai said. “I do like it warm—mostly so I can walk around the house naked.”
    He couldn’t help smiling when she looked over at him, aghast, until she realized he was joking and then burst into a bright, lovely laugh.
    “You’re incorrigible,” she said with the shake of her head. “Aric warned me.”
    “Did he?” Kai glanced at Sebastian as the old man took his plate. “Can you make it cooler in here?”
    “Certainly, Sir.”
    “Are you sure he’s not Alfred?” she whispered as Sebastian left the dining room.
    “Was it more than a thousand?” Kai persisted.
    “Oh fine.” She threw her napkin on her lap, sulking, as she took another sip of wine. “It was just that. A thousand.”
    Kai didn’t say anything, but the thought of her giving Stuart money—and while he didn’t know the man, he knew enough from Barb Wolfe and her penchant for gossip—made his jaw clench.
    “You know, he really just needs to find something he loves to do,” she said, making excuses for him. At least, that’s all he heard. “I’m lucky to have the ranch, to have found something I love to do. He’s just kind of… lost and looking. If I can help him find that thing, to be happy…”
    “Sounds to me like he’s already happy,” Kai observed. “Taking your money.”
    For a moment, she glared at him, defiant, and then her shoulders sank. Her whole body sagged