Sassy Ever After: Dragon Sass (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Selena Kitt Page A

before pouring them both one. Jules settled into the chair she’d sat in the first night she’d been in his house.
    “I talked to Sheriff Kline after the service,” Kai told her, handing her the shot and sitting in the chair beside her. “Still no suspects.”
    “I can’t believe someone would do something like that.” Seeing all those marks on the headstones had infuriated her. “The funeral director said they thought it was probably just teens. Vandals. But why would they dig up bodies?”
    “Maybe some sick kids who think it’s cool to play with death.” Kai drank his second shot with a grimace, putting the glass on the table between them. Then he stood, walking over to one of his walls of books.
    “What are you doing?” Jules asked, glowering at the liquid in her glass.
    “I swear I’ve seen those symbols before.” Kai ran his finger along the spines, turning his head to the side to read them. “Damnit, I think I loaned it out…”
    “Stuart’s Aunt Ginny said she’d take care of the house.” Jules tipped the glass up and drank, letting the alcohol burn her throat and chest. It made her eyes water. “So I guess… that’s it.”
    “Are you okay with that?” Kai turned to look at her.
    “I’m not okay with anything right now.” She sighed, putting her glass down. Then she smiled at him. “Except you.”
    “Just okay, huh?”
    “More than okay.” Jules got up and slipped out of her heels—she didn’t wear them often and, after standing for just half an hour, her feet were killing her—going over to put her arms around his neck.
    “I just want to make you happy.” He slipped his arms around her waist.
    “You do.” She traced the line of his goatee. “You make me happier than anyone I’ve ever known.”
    He pressed his lips to hers, breathing her in, his hands moving to her lower back. Just his touch made her come alive. And it felt so good, to be alive. It seemed wrong somehow, to want him now, after coming back from the funeral of her best friend. But even if the rest of the world might think it was wrong, she didn’t care. They weren’t here. In that moment, it was only Kai, and there was no judgment.
    “I want to see your bedroom,” she whispered when they parted.
    “Are you asking me to take you to bed?”
    “Yes. Please.” She pressed her softness against him. “I want you. I need you.”
    Kai picked her up, making her gasp. She wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling and kissing it as he carried her down the hallway. She’d been on this level of the house—the sitting room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and several other rooms she wasn’t even sure of at the other end. But she’d never been downstairs.
    “You really do have a cave,” she remarked as Kai carried her into an elevator that took them swiftly down to the lower level.
    “I told you.”
    The elevator opened and Kai turned left. She strained to see in the dimness but they had entered a hallway. It was cooler down here and she shivered, clinging to him as he nudged open a door and carried her inside.
    “Lights.” Kai’s voice activated the lights and Jules gasped out loud. “Dim.”
    The lights dimmed, but that didn’t do anything to diminish the beauty of the room. It was utterly masculine, all dark wood, the linens forest green and black with a hint of red. The bed was the most magnificent thing, a giant canopy, hand carved. There were designs in the wood but she couldn’t make them out, and she was distracted by Kai as he put her down on the mattress.
    It was like sinking into a cloud.
    His gaze swept over her as she leaned back on her elbows.
    “You look stunning.”
    “You like my little black dress?”
    “More than I should.” He sighed, loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top button of his shirt. “Made me think things no one should be thinking at a funeral.”
    “Well I might be funeral on the outside, but I’m all Victoria’s Secret underneath.”
    His eyes lit up as he