Free Flight from Mayhem by Yasmine Galenorn Page A

reflected in his gaze—lovely and turbulent and slightly wanton. “I like being with you. I like being around you.”
    I paused. The tone in his voice felt almost poignant and set my stomach to quivering. But all I said was, “Practicality can be a good thing. I learned that the hard way in the Dragon Reaches.” I kissed him on the nose, and then—making sure everything looked neat and tidy—I unlocked the door. As we headed out to the waiting room, I saw Ralph sitting with Lydia in the conference room.
    He flashed us a look that told me he knew exactly what we’d been up to, but said nothing except, “I have all of the information we need from Lydia. I’m going to make certain she gets back to her car all right, and then we should start searching for this creature. From what she tells me, salamanders can be very dangerous.”
    The sex haze drained away posthaste. “Yeah, she’s right.”
    At that moment, the locksmith arrived and Bette took him in hand. Ralph walked Lydia out to her car, while Alex and I glanced over the info that he had taken from her.Wedgewood Park was near a cemetery. Which meant . . . fresh bodies, possibly, which might just be attractive to a big fiery lizard.
    â€œWe should check the Wedgewood Cemetery. Lizards can be scroungers. While you pull up the coordinates on that, I’m going to call Chai and see if he has any advice. If anybody knows anything about salamanders, it’s going to be him.” I headed into my office. Truth was, I needed to regroup. As much as I loved my time with Alex, if I didn’t get a handle on what our personal rules were, it was going to drive me crazy. This was the third time we’d had sex at the office, and I swore it would be the last. While I wasn’t shy or embarrassed, I didn’t want to make Bette, or Ralph, or any clients uncomfortable.
    Plus, there was another fact I couldn’t ignore.
    Alex was my boss, and essentially my parole officer. And now, my lover. Things had gotten convoluted very quickly. Hell, I barely knew how I felt about being Earthside, let alone suddenly in a relationship. I had never had a boyfriend in my life, though I had plenty of temporary lovers. No dragon worth his station would ever have considered me as relationship material given my lineage.
    I shut the door to my office and dropped into the chair behind my desk. As I swiveled around, staring out into the dark alley, it occurred to me that I had no clue what the hell I was doing. I had no long-term plans. I didn’t even know what I would do if they reinstated me to the Dragon Reaches when my time Earthside was over. Even though the Wing-Liege had promised me some sort of standing if I came through this all right, the fact was, I’d always be an orphan and outcaste to the people who mattered. Unless I found my parents—which seemed as far away as the moon. I had left the Lost and Foundling determined to seek out whatever information I could on them. Centuries later, I still had no clue. But then . . . what if I happened to make friends with a dragon who could look into things for me? I knew a coupleof dragons who lived in town. And at least one of them had a great deal of standing in the Dragon Reaches.
    The whirl of thoughts was cut short by the jangle of my phone. I glanced at it. Chai.
    â€œJust the person I wanted to talk to, my friend.” I put him on speaker so I wouldn’t have to pop in the earbud. I hated that thing.
    â€œI’m cleaning out your refrigerator. When I get done, you won’t have any food left—it’s all pretty rank. Don’t you ever get around to tossing out old stuff?” Chai let out a snort. “So you might want to go shopping unless you’re willing to let me fill the fridge after I’ve cleaned it.”
    â€œAll you ever want is spicy food and I don’t like it.” That was the truth, too. Spicy food stirred up