Page 114 of The Dragon 1

I blinked, trying to swallow the intensity of that image. Of the desire suddenly rooted so deep I could feel it in my teeth.

I knew he saw it all.

Kenji’s gaze was still on me, sharp and unmoving. Watching every twitch of my mouth. Every flicker of emotion in my eyes.

His nostrils flared, just slightly. His grip on his own cup tightened.

The silence between us didn’t grow awkward. It grewthick—like velvet and smoke, like the space right before lightning strikes.

And I realized something else.

Thatthiswas the performance too.

Not just what was happening on the stage.

Not the celloist or the woman spinning.

But this—me and him, imagining a thousand shifts in power between us.

Naughty dragon.

Chapter eighteen

Submission and Domination

Kenji

The waitress arrived with soft footsteps and a gentle bow.

She set porcelain dishes onto the table. Steam curled upward from lacquered trays and glass domes.

Somewhere behind her, the chef began describing each course—ingredients sourced from distant mountains, fish aged to exacting degrees, smoke infused with cherry bark.

I didn’t hear all the words.

My attention was fixed on her.

Nyomi was still holding her cup of sake, but her grip had changed— fingers more deliberate now, thumb brushing the rim in slow, absent circles.

Her breathing had changed, too.

Shallow.

Hitched.

Her chest rose with more urgency.

I watched the pulse at her throat flutter and the tip of her tongue sweep across her bottom lip.

She was aroused.

Mmmm.

She’d imagined making me submit.

Me.

Kneeling.