Page 37 of Marked By Moonlight

Mina grimaced. “Things didn’t end well for them.”

“Er, I mean, nothing like Bonnie and Clyde.”

Romeo and Juliet came to mind next, but they hadn’t celebrated a happy end either. Dammit, was every great love story doomed? Were we?

Mina squeezed my hand, and a little hope crept back into my heart. Dangerously so, but that was the thing with hope. It was a persistent little bugger that was hard to shake, especially around Mina.

“Ah, yes. Incredibly romantic,” she muttered as I led her around giant spools of wire.

No, it wasn’t, but that wasn’t the priority right now. Not with her safety at stake.

I made a beeline for the container that housed the construction office, all closed up for the night, and took the stairs that led to the roof.

“Shh…” I warned, making sure my boots didn’t ring against the metal.

Mina followed, quiet as a mouse, then looked around. “Back there was a zero on the scale of romantic locations. Now, you’re up to about a three.”

I checked the perimeter, then sat facing the boat basin with my back to a higher container set behind the first.

“At least a four,” I tried.

I expected Mina to sit beside me, but she nestled into the space between my legs and leaned against my chest.

Ten out of ten,my dragon sighed.

She must have done it on autopilot, because she tensed a moment later. Then she turned and held a finger in my face. “I meant it about being mad at you, you know.”

I stuck up my hands. “I promise to keep my hands off.”

“Don’t you dare,” she muttered, tugging my arms until they were crossed around her.

So, lots of mixed messages, but I was just as guilty of that as she was.

The next few minutes passed in blissful silence, and I nearly forgot the mission I’d tasked myself with.

“As nice as this is, I guess we’re not here to snuggle,” Mina sighed, reading my mind.

Ha. Snuggle. Not a word that applied to too many instances in my life. Only a few rare ones, and only ever with Mina.

“No, we’re here because it’s an elevated position where I can keep a lookout,” I said, reminding myself to do that instead of enjoying her scent.

“Keeping a lookout for…?” she asked.

I clenched my jaw. That was the hard part. “I’m not sure.”

Mina thumped her head back against my chest in exasperation. Then she drew a long,I shall be calm nowbreath and grunted, “Explain.”

I leaned to one side to pull my phone from my pocket.

“Hey, you said no phones,” she protested.

Once a teacher, always a teacher. They loved sticking to the rules. She was like Roux that way.

“I said, don’t bringyourphone,” I pointed out, though theRouxthing occupied most of my mind.

My dragon rumbled unhappily at the thought of a potential competitor, but I just snorted. Mina and Roux? As if.

Mina and that ass of a police officer who kept sniffing around the château, on the other hand…