Free Hollywood Dragon: BBW Dragon Shifter Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant Page A

not touch or taste music, and yet it had the power to open the heart and mind, which was a magic of its own. In spite of the fact that so far her life had been pretty much that of the luckless sidekick, Jan had still hoped that one day she would step past a corner, or gaze into a fog bank, and there would be the veil between the everyday and the possible, ready for her to grasp and rip asunder.
    It seemed tonight she had.
     
    * * *
     
    She finally fell asleep, and woke to the yell of a little kid that sounded like it was directly outside her window. She blinked at the strips of early morning sunlight painting thin stripes on the bed through the slats in the blinds. It was going to be a very hot day—and there was that formal tea late in the afternoon.
    But this morning, she had JP’s music room.
    She took a fast shower, ran a comb through her damp hair, put on one of her floaty Art Nouveau tunic-dresses and her new sandals. She wouldn’t let herself hope to see him, when he had made such a big deal about her having the place to herself.
    But a girl can hope .
    She pulled her music out of her suitcase, grabbed her motel key, and slipped out the door. Looking around for any signs of mysterious dogs or bears—had that really been a bear? —she crossed the asphalt parking area into the barren vacant lot, and then to the meadow beyond.
    She saw no one out at all she headed toward the line of eucalyptus, their scent distinctive in the heavy morning air. A faint fog lingered in silvery wisps over the sloping lawn that two nights ago had been impenetrable darkness. When she passed the trees, she gazed beyond—and made out the grove of oaks surrounding the performance shell, and beyond that the back end of the LaFleurs’ house, just as JP had said.
    She hadn’t realized how very large the house was. Was that really the home of only two people? Or one and a half, as she remembered JP mentioning his house in Hollywood. No, wait. There had to be an army of servants.
    As she crossed under the sheltering branches of an oak, she spotted movement beyond the lacework of rose trellises off to the left, on the side of the house that she had never seen. She veered sideways so whoever it was wouldn’t see her. She had been invited to the music room, but she would rather avoid awkward meetings with people she didn’t know.
    Still, her path took her along the roses, through which she glimpsed a silhouette in black moving with stylized grace. The mist lingered more thickly here, drifting in a slow swirl that did not quite obscure someone performing martial arts kata with double sticks that whirled through the air.
    Somehow— somehow —she knew it was him .
    She remembered Shelley doing morning workouts in the dormitory common room before anyone else was awake. Shelley had been pretty good, but nothing like the leashed power JP’s silhouette revealed.
    She watched until his kata took him around three sides, but when he was about to face her way she quickly ducked back. She remembered that Shelley didn't like being broken out of her concentration, and besides, she hated the thought of JP looking up and finding her lurking like some kind of stalker.
    So she backed away and retreated to the Shakespeare herb garden—pausing to glance at That Spot—and up to the house.
    The door was open, the air beyond quiet and undisturbed.
    She quickly let herself into the music room and made sure the door was firmly shut. Trusting to the sound baffles, she sat down at the piano, looking down at the keys that JP’s fingers had touched. She spread her hands, wondering what his touch would feel like on her skin . . .
    He was so cool, so elegant, so beautifully put together. He was even cool and collected while doing kata. She was seized by an intense desire to see him utterly undone.
    Oof. Heat pooled deep in her, and she expelled her breath sharply. Talk about useless daydreams!
    She hit middle C, and began her vocal warm-ups.
    When she was finished