Page 168 of The Dragon 2

With caution.

With curiosity.

With the strange ache that comes from already caring too much.

What does he have to say?

I didn’t expect to feel this nervous. Not after everything we’d already shared. The stories. The jokes. The looks that lingered just a little too long.

And yet, as Kenji swirled his drink and stared at the condensation pooling beneath it, I felt a flicker of dread. The kind that creeps in when things are going too well.

Shit.

I’d opened my heart tonight—maybe more than I ever had with anyone else. And he’d done the same.

Still my pulse picked up, and just like that, my mind pulled back to earlier, before the club, before the music, before the Dragon had arrived.

My thoughts went back to Zo dressing me for this date. He had been fluttering around me like a nervous stylist-slash-hype-man, making sure the red leather gown sat just right on my hips, and the corset wasn’t pinching too tightly.

“Okay now,” Zo lowered and tugged at the hem. “Turn. Let me see the slit. Perfect. When you walk in. . .show that damned thigh!!!”

I looked down at him. “Do you have to scream like that? I’m already nervous.”

“That thigh is nice. I would bite it if I wasn’t already full off cornbread.” He pointed at my leg. “When you walk in, stop, then stick your leg out slowly. He MUST see the thigh. This is how kingdoms have crumbled.”

“That serious?”

“Very serious. I am a full-blooded man. I can tell you that slits are one of our many weaknesses, and I’m not just saying a slit in a dress—”

“Alright. You’ve had too much gin.”

He rose. “You look like danger’s favorite recollection.”

I looked in the mirror. “I hope so.”

“And don’t let him rip up that dress. It just came off the runway last week. I’m hoping to sell it or at least get a magazine spread.”

“Don’t worry. If he rips it, he will pay for it.”

“Hmmm.” Zo smiled. “If he rips it, he’ll probably be paying a lot more than I can get for it so. . .definitely make sure you show that thigh.”

Then the door flew open so hard I nearly lost a heel.

Hiroko stormed into the room, her kimono sleeves fluttering like wings. Her usually calm demeanor had evaporated. “Nyomi!”

Zo and I both jumped like we’d been caught doing something illegal.

I held out my hands. “Y-yes.”

Hiroko’s eyes grew wide. “Your date is with the Dragon?”

“Yes, Kenji Sato—”

“The Dragon!!” Her hand slapped her chest.

Zo whispered. “You never told her that it was going to be Kenji?”

“No.” I shook my head.