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  Frederica was just beginning to hunch her shoulders and turn away, when Scott said hoarsely, “You’re beautiful, Frederica,” and took her hand.

  It did wonders for Frederica’s flagging self confidence.

  “Freddie,” said Frederica. “Most people call me Freddie.”

  “Freddie is a little girl’s name,” said Scott. Leaning closer, he murmured in her ear, “And I’m not most people.”

  At the feel of Scott’s warm breath against the sensitive skin of her ear and the warmth of his nearness, Frederica gulped.

  “No,” she said faintly. “You definitely aren’t that.”

  Scott leaned back, revealing his grin to her. Clearing his throat, he said, “Come on. I want to wash your back.”

  Ho-boy, thought Frederica. She could hardly wait. Demurely, she said, “Only if I can wash yours.”

  Scott’s grin was lecherous.

  “I’m sure we can work something out,” he promised.

  And Frederica grinned.

  Chapter 04 – Frederica

  The next morning, Frederica woke feeling slightly sore but utterly satisfied.

  She lay in bed with Scott, happily luxuriating in how great she felt. Getting back out there had been scary, but she couldn’t quite remember why she had put it off for so long. Not if this was the upshot of being bold.

  Speaking of bravery… thought Frederica as she stretched, enjoying the pull of sore muscles.

  Everything was great.

  I should have started having partnered orgasms again ages ago, decided Frederica.

  Except if she had done that, Scott probably wouldn’t have been her partner. And as soppy as it sounded even in the confines of her own head, Frederica wouldn’t have traded her night with Scott for anything.

  Smiling, Frederica turned to look at her lover.

  Scott was beside her in the bed, still asleep, with his half closed hand lying near his cheek. It was tempting to kiss him, maybe see if they could squeeze in another round before the awkward morning conversation started, but he looked pretty tired. And he was happy.

  Frederica was soaped up and in the shower before she detected what was wrong with that last thought. There was absolutely no reason for her to know that he was happy in his sleep or at all.

  Well, not absolutely, thought Frederica, staring blindly at the white tiles across from her.

  She could think of one reason that she might know intrinsically how Scott Behr was feeling at any given moment. Frederica had just… never thought it would happen to her.

  All dragons had soul mates, except for lone dragons, who were destined to live and die alone, or so the common wisdom went. In Frederica’s experience, it was only half true: all dragons had soul mates, period.

  When both her brother Grissom and her sister Ellis had gotten engaged to their soul mates a couple months earlier, Frederica had been happy for them, but she had been jealous too. Ellis and Grissom were daring and dynamic, and people were naturally drawn to them. They had always had their pick of potential friends. By contrast, Frederica had been careful and cautious, unless called to action by unfairness. Quick to argue, quick to forgive, and unwilling to bend on her principles, Frederica had always dreamed of finding her perfect soul mates.

  As a little girl and even a teenager, she had wasted countless hours imagining the pair of dragons that she would someday meet, men who would sweep through her life like a hurricane, uprooting the old and leaving room for the new to be erected in its place. Frederica had dreamed of perfect connections in which she understood all and was entirely understood in turn. It would be freeing. And she would never have to be lonely or at loggerheads with a lover ever again.

  But as the years and terrible dates had mounted, Frederica had gradually given up hope. In all that time, she had never even fallen in love, not really. Frederica had never met a man that she couldn’t do perfectly well without, and when push had come to shove, as it always inevitably had, she had proven it too.

  Eventually, Frederica had come to accept that she was as much a lone dragon as her brother Grissom and just as doomed to a long, lonely life as her brother. She had given up hope. Except Grissom hadn’t; he had eventually found his soul mate, after all.

  And apparently, so had she.

  Or rather, he found me, thought Frederica with a smile. Just thinking it – I have a soul mate! Me! – filled Frederica with a dazed, disbelieving joy.

  Dragonesses were supposed to have two soul mates, usually a pair of twins or at least a pair of brothers. It didn’t bother Frederica that she only had one and that he wasn’t a dragon. Frederica had meant what she had said when her sister Ellis had called about her soul mate – this was an opportunity for true happiness, one that many people spent their whole lives looking for, and Frederica intended to grab it with both hands.

  But Scott was human, and by human standards, they didn’t know each other very well yet. Frederica had gone on enough awkward dates with humans over the years to know that no human was going to throw in with a woman simple because she said that she was his soul mate, especially the morning after what in other circumstances might have been a one night stand or the beginning of a casual romantic relationship at best.

  There was the mating bond between them – new and fragile and so utterly, perfectly wonderful – but Frederica didn’t even know if humans could feel soul bonds. If he could, everything would be so much simpler. If he couldn’t, could he still come to love her?

  Would he even want to see her again after last night? If she told him the truth someday – about her being a dragon, and their soul bond – how would he handle it? Would he believe her? Would he even want to?

  Frederica didn’t know. She didn’t know anything, and she certainly hadn’t planned for this.

  Frederica wasn’t the sort who made things up as she went along. She was the kind that made a plan, checked it twice for flaws, and then executed it to the best of her abilities. Last night had been one of the only impetuous things that she had ever done. Frederica didn’t regret it – it had worked out really, really well for her – but she definitely wasn’t suited for winging it every day or even for the rest of this morning. This morning was too important to screw up with an unplanned conversation!

  What I need is a few minutes to think!

  She just needed to get a coffee, go somewhere quiet for awhile, and get her thoughts in order. Then – once she had a plan, hopefully a good one – she could come back and face Scott.

  It wasn’t super brave of her or even much of a plan, but for now, it was what she had.

  Careful not to disturb Scott’s sleep, Frederica finished her shower, dried off with the last of the clean towels, and quietly dressed; her shoes tucked under her arm, Frederica grabbed her purse and tiptoed out of the room. Last of all, she hung the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door to give her a little time to work with.

  Once she figured out what she was doing, Scott wasn’t going to know what hit him.

  What I need is a consult, Frederica decided sometime later over a piping hot cup of coffee.

  She was sitting on a black, wrought iron chair outside of a coffee shop. Since it was springtime in Florida, the sunshine was warm rather than scorching, and there was even a pleasant breeze. It was a great morning, perfect for eating breakfast outside with a newly discovered soul mate. Too bad she was currently hiding from hers.

  Frederica had been at the coffee shop for twenty minutes, including time spent in line and waiting for her coffee to be made, and she wasn’t any closer to sorting out her love life than she had been when she had snuck out of her hotel room with her shoes under her arm.

  Sipping pensively at her coffee, Frederica tried to think who she ought to call for help.

  Her first choice was her sister Ellis, but Ellis was still off on Keris Island studying her beloved firebirds. Ellis had a satellite phone with her, of course, and she had used to call Frederica a few weeks ago, but Frederica still felt uneasy about potentially
running down the batteries in her sister’s satellite phone. If there was an emergency, her sister would need a fully charged satellite phone to call for help quickly.

  Frederica’s love life was not an emergency. And it wasn’t worth risking Ellis’ life over, no matter how much she wanted to talk to her sister just then.

  Ellis was out, and so was the third member of their set of triplets, Grissom. Asking her brother for help about romancing a guy seemed awkward at best. Her three younger brothers were out for the same reason.

  Frederica had three older sisters, but upon reflection, she realized that she didn’t feel comfortable calling them either.

  Abigail’s marriage seemed happy enough, but Abigail’s marriage was incredibly traditional, right down to her pair of dragon husbands. Abbie had already pushed out an entire soccer team’s worth of kids, and she seemed to want more. What Frederica wanted was the exact opposite of that: one soul mate, no more than three kids, and her career.

  Her sister Beatrice had never been interested in a husband or marriage.

  Her sister Constance had met her soul mate once, and she had three children by him to prove it, but it hadn’t worked out. Constance had never volunteered the reason why not, and Frederica had never asked. It had seemed too private. But if there was a wound, she didn’t want to rub salt into it.

  Frederica had eight siblings, but she fund that she didn’t feel comfortable calling any of them about her problem.

  She considered her friends next, but none of them were married or even seeing anyone seriously. Most of them were work-related friendships that might get awkward if she crossed the professional and personal streams.

  Don’t I know anyone that I could talk to about this? Frederica wondered, despairing.

  Fishing out her cell phone, she began scrolling through her contacts list, hoping that something in there would jog her thoughts. She was scrolling so quickly that she nearly scrolled right past her cousin, Brittany Hale.

  Brittany was a cousin on her father’s side of the family. She was a few years younger than Frederica and a rain dragon rather than a storm dragon, but she was sweet and kind and generally easy to talk to.

  Frederica imagined telling Brittany about Scott and immediately felt a prickle of awkward discomfort. It was still better than when she had imagined talking to Grissom or anyone else about Scott though, so she bit the bullet and called Brittany before she could talk herself out of it.

  Ring!

  Unfortunately, Brittany didn’t pick up on the first ring.

  Ring!

  This is stupid, thought Frederica. I should just –

  Rin –

  “Hey, Cousin Freddie!” chirped Brittany. “How’s it hanging?”

  “Good, good,” said Frederica automatically, rather than pointing out that she had nothing that hung. A sudden concern hit her, and she asked, wishing that she had thought of it earlier, “It’s not too late or – er – early there for you, is it?”

  “Late. You got the first time,” said Brittany, cheerfully. “And no, it’s not. It’s only about six thirty at night here.”

  “Oh! Good!” said Frederica, feeling relieved. “How are you?”

  “Oh! Well, you know, Sri Lanka is wonderful! My students are really amazing, and I love them all so much!” gushed Brittany, before suddenly pausing. Slowly, and more suspiciously, she continued, saying, “But you didn’t call the other side of the world to hear me tell stories that I could tell you during the holidays. What’s up, Buttercup?”

  “Well, um, funny you should ask, but now that you mention it, I do have a quick question for you… What do you know about soul mates?”

  Frederica wrenched the phone away from her ear as Brittany began to squeal. It went on and on and on for a really, really long time. Frankly, Frederica found herself unwillingly impressed by Brittany’s lung capacity.

  The sudden silence, when it finally came, was deafening.

  Brittany broke it almost immediately.

  “Oh my gosh! Freddie! I’m so happy for you! What are they like? Where did you meet them? Are they brothers? Cousins? What kind of dragons are they? Do they have any brothers? Oh my gosh! I’m so happy for you, Freddie!”

  Brittany paused for a breath there, and in the brief silence, Frederica realized that she was smiling a broad, silly smile. Calling Brittany had been a good idea.

  “His name is Scott Behr, and he’s not a dragon at all,” said Frederica. “I met him last night. He’s human, although he does have a couple of brothers. And he’s a chef!”

  “Excellent! You’ll never have to feed yourself ever again!”

  Frederica laughed.

  “I hadn’t thought that far ahead,” she confessed, and Brittany laughed. She sounded delighted.

  “You? Didn’t think ahead?” teased Brittany. “It must be true love!”

  “He’s human,” said Frederica, returning to the cause of her concern. “And we just met last night. It’s too soon for him to be in love with me, isn’t it? And they don’t have soul mates, so if I tell him about our bond, he’ll just think that I’m nuts. He’s not going to make this easy on me and just… I don’t know, fall in line with fate. Which means that I’m going to have to woo him, aren’t I? Does that sound right?”

  “Probably, but what are you worried about? It’s true love! It’ll work out!”

  “It didn’t work out for Connie.”

  “Well, it’s gonna work out for you,” said Brittany firmly.

  “So… how do I make him fall in love with me?”

  “Get your crab friend to orchestrate a love song for you?”

  “Brittany!”

  Her cousin laughed. “I was just teasing you! It was a joke!”

  Frederica sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just… a little more tightly wound than usual, and I really need some good advice.”

  “Okay, give me a minute to think,” said Brittany, and Frederica nodded.

  She could be patient. Patience was a large part of practicing law.

  “Okay,” said Brittany again, some moments later. “Well, I mean, you are so great at so many things, Freddie, and I’m sure that he’ll love all those things about you, but one thing that you might want to work on – just a little bit – is, er, wardrobe.”

  “What’s wrong with my wardrobe?” demanded Frederica, feeling slightly insulted. “It’s appropriate.”

  “For arguing in court, maybe! Look, I can’t even see you, but I bet that you’re wearing a suit right now. You are, aren’t you?”

  Frederica looked down at herself in her tan suit pants and pale blue blouse.

  “I’m not wearing the jacket,” she said weakly, which made Brittany laugh.

  “It’s not super sexy,” said Brittany. “Or at least, it’s sexier if he sees you in other things some times. Then it’s, like, a reward to get to seduce you in your prim little suit. But I’m pretty sure you don’t even own a slinky dress or a pair of jeans or any sexy lingerie.”

  “I might own jeans! And sexy lingerie! You don’t know!”

  “I haven’t seen you in anything other than a suit since the day you got into law school. And you’re way too sensible for sexy lingerie.”

  “You have to dress for the job that you want.”

  “And now that you’ve got it, you can go wild! Buy some stuff that makes you look and feel hot!”

  She had a point. Frederica could maybe see the benefits of having jeans or a slinky dress, but sexy lingerie was the worst. She had tried it a couple of times, and it had uniformly been a disaster. Underwear with lace, rather than elastic, in the waist just wasn’t designed to stay up after the first wearing.

  But it might be nice to see Scott’s face when he sees me in it that first time, thought Frederica, feeling a tiny bit flustered at the mere thought of it. I’m going to have to go shopping.

  “Where would I wear them?” asked Frederica weakly.

  “Out on a date! With your Scott!” Then, more determinedly, Brittany said, “We
’re going to have to go shopping, Freddie.”

  Frederica nodded glumly. Then something that Brittany had said caught up to her.

  “Wait a minute. We? What we?”

  “What do you think the face-time feature is for? And what else was I going to do with my evening? Grade papers?” scoffed Brittany. “Pffft. This will be way more fun. Where are we going first?”

  “Well, first I’m going to go see Scott. He’ll be waking up soon if he hasn’t already. I’ll bring him coffee and donuts for disappearing on him. I think he has work in a couple of hours, so I’ll call you back then.”

  “Great! And while you’re doing that, I’ll make up a list of things you need!”

  “Things I need?”

  “Jeans, cute t-shirts, a sundress or two, at least one sexy dress, a cute swimsuit, sexy lingerie –”

  “Okay, okay, I’m getting the idea,” said Frederica, her heart sinking. Shopping for non-suit clothes was hard.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll get you all kitted out for your new romance! Scott’s not going to know what hit him!”

  Frederica smiled again. At least she and Brittany were on the same page.

  This probably isn’t going to be so bad, thought Frederica.

  And even if it was, it was going to be worth it. She was sure of it.

  Chapter 05 – Scott

  Scott woke alone, muted morning sunlight slanting across the bed… and directly into his eyes. Groaning, he rolled over, abruptly realizing that this wasn’t his bed. It was firmer, the sheets were rougher, and the bedding smelled like the wrong brand of soap. It also smelled like perfume and sex.

  A woman had been in that bed with him then.

  It took Scott a few moments to remember exactly how he had ended up naked and in a stranger’s bed, but when he did, Scott grinned.

  He had gotten the girl, after all. The set of her jaw had been stubborn, but last night, she had been so very sweet with him. In fact, just thinking about how sweet Frederica had been – first in the bed, then in the shower, and again in the bed – made Scott’s body stir for her again.