Free Haunted By Her Dragon (The Dragon Guard Series) by Julia Mills

of all that had
happened since she’d left the previous evening, was connected to Sydney’s room.
The little voice that said “Hello?” warmed her heart.
    “Hey,
Sydney, it’s Dr. Sam. I heard you were asking for me. How’re you feeling
today?”
    “Oh,
Dr. Sam, I feel so much better. The medicines you gave me fixed everything. I
told them nurses you would make me better,” her little patient answered with
such excitement that she found herself smiling until her cheeks ached.
    “I’m
so glad you’re better. Nurse Susie said they’ll be bringing you some mashed
potatoes and chicken strips for dinner to see how your tummy feels with real food
in it. Okay?”
    “Sure,
Dr. Sam, but I really like the red Jell-O and animal crackers.”
    “I’m
sure you do, Honey, but we need to make sure your tummy is ready for some real
food. You don’t want to get sick again.”
    “If
you say so,” Sydney answered with the enthusiasm only a child could muster.
“When will you be back, Dr. Sam?”
    “I’ll
see you first thing in the morning. Be good and listen to what the nurses tell
you.”
    “Yes,
ma’am, I will.”
    “See
you tomorrow, Sweetheart. Bye, bye.”
    “Bye,
Dr. Sam.”
    Sam
could hear Sydney chattering away about her phone call as she hung up. That
little girl was really something special, and she hoped she was adopted or at
least placed with a good family very quickly. Thankfully, the beep of the
coffeemaker derailed the maudlin thoughts of her horrible experiences in foster
care. There was no time to take a trip down memory lane. She had too many
things to be happy about and too many things to accomplish for a pity party.
Filling her favorite mug and then adding cream and sugar, she looked around for
the Pop Tarts she knew were somewhere. Starvation was setting in, and if she
didn’t want chicken and stars soup for breakfast, she had to locate those yummy
toaster pastries. Finally, in the last cabinet, she found them, a brand new,
unopened box of cinnamon and brown sugar Pop Tarts, her favorite. With coffee in one hand and breakfast in the other, she headed to the
living room to cuddle in her big recliner while she ate.
    The
day flew by as she did load after load of laundry and cleaned everything that
had been left untouched for months while she had worked day and night. She was
mopping floors and listening to Lady Antebellum on her iPod when thoughts of
Lance flooded her mind for about the hundredth time. Wondering why he was the
one man that she had not been able to forget, even though their first meeting
had been anything but normal and very brief, she sighed.
    Her
smile grew as she thought about how she always felt protected, even special,
when he was near, watching out for her. The kiss they had shared became like a
film clip on a loop, playing over and over in her mind, causing her pulse to
race, her breathing to quicken, and her nipples to peak until they brushed the
inside of her T-shirt as she mopped the same spot over and over. That man had
the ability to mess with her mind even when he was nowhere around, and she knew
with a certainty that should have scared her. In the next breath, she got the
feeling that she was missing something. It had to be the weirdest thing she had
ever felt, and for some reason, she knew it had something to do with Lance.
    Shaking
her head and deciding maybe she just needed more sleep, she finished her mopping and headed out to her recliner. Her cell phone was
setting on the table, the red light flashing, indicating she had missed a call.
When she ran her finger across the screen, she laughed out loud. Right there,
as sexy as ever, was the object of her infatuation, smiling the shit-eating
grin she would forever associate with him. She shook her head and could only
imagine when he’d found the time to take his picture and program his number
into her phone.
    Pressing
the key for her voicemail, she barely held back the sigh that came from hearing
the baritone rumble of