She pouted out her lips. “I don’t need financial advice from someone like you.”

Amusement tugged on his brows. “Someone who runs a multi-billion-dollar company?”

“No, someone whose idea of negotiation is to turn into a dragon to freak everyone out until they do what he says. And, when that doesn’t work, turns into a dragon and steps on them.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Ok, sometimes you just take off your shirt instead,” she said, grinning.

He glared at her.

“Women get too distracted to think,” she added.

He leaned forward, his muscles stretching against his skin-tight shirt. “Do you get too distracted to think, Sera?” His voice was soft, quiet, but saturated with enough power to electrocute an elephant.

Don’t look, don’t look, she told herself.

Amara was cracking up inside of her head. If she’d had a body, she would have been rolling on the floor.

“Nah, there’s nothing to distract,” Sera said quickly, quirking up her lip to still the inevitable drooling. “I don’t think much normally anyway.”

“You’re doing it again.” He moved forward.

The world suddenly grew very small. “Oh?”

“Pretending to be a dumb brute. But you’re not. You have a great mind. And a great heart.” He set his hand over her chest. “And that’s what makes you stronger than you know. You aren’t fighting for just yourself. You’re fighting for everyone. And I love you for it.”

“Not for my smart mouth,” she teased, her heart thumping against his hand.

He traced his finger across her lips, his touch feather-light. “Well, I do love this mouth too. When we’re back in San Francisco…”

He stopped, turning toward the door. Sera’s sister Alex was lingering in the open doorway, her arms braced against either side of the frame. The position accentuated the lean, fast muscle of her bare midriff exposed beneath her tight black top. Her jeans sat low on her hips, accented with a belt made from the same brown leather as her boots. Alex was wearing her dark hair down today. Straight and glossy, it flowed over her chest, covering more of her than that skimpy top. Though she and Sera were twins, two Dragon Born mages, Alex had proudly declared herself to be the wicked sister. Sera couldn’t argue with that. Just looking at that outfit made her blush.

“Hey, slow packers. Got a little distracted, did you?” Alex winked at Kai, then at Sera.

Sera grabbed her suitcase and bag. “We’re ready.”

They walked down the stairs. Past the wooden banister nailed to the wall, the late morning sun streamed through the stained glass windows, lighting up the supernatural scenes painted there.

They continued into the main hallway, a cavernous chamber with sky-high ceilings. The house where they’d all been staying had the makings of a small castle, old and Gothic, but still well-maintained.

Outside, Logan stood with Naomi and Makani. Past them, parked on the circle drive, were three cars: a silver roadster, a black sleek Maserati, and a big SUV. The roadster was Naomi’s, a loan from her family in Europe. The assassin-sleek sports car was Logan’s, who actually was an assassin. And the tank masquerading as an SUV was Kai’s.

Alex broke away from Sera and Kai, strutting up to Logan. The assassin watched her closely as she walked, drinking in every detail like she was made of pure gold. Alex stopped right in front of him, draped her arms over his shoulders, and gave him a long, deep kiss.

“Ready to go take down an evil supernatural-hating organization?” Alex asked him when she finally pulled away from the kiss.

A flip switched in Logan, the adoration in his eyes fading as the cold assassin took over. “If they’re still there by the time we get to Paris.”

Sera hugged Naomi. “Don’t go looking for trouble while we’re gone.”

Naomi gave her a glitter-lashed wink. “Nah, I never go looking for trouble.”

“Oh, really? You who went diving in hell?” Alex joined in the hug.

Naomi glanced at Makani, the Dragon Born mage she’d met while fighting demon armies in hell. It was a wonder either of them was still alive.

“You might have a point,” Naomi agreed with shameless delight. “Now, be gone with you.” She shooed them toward their cars.

“I think she wants some time alone with that sexy mage,” Alex whispered to Sera.

“You’re probably right about that,” agreed Sera.

“Do you two talk about anything besides men?” Logan asked them.

“Of course,” said Alex.

“Pizza, for one.”

“And chocolate.”

“Smoothies.”

Alex closed her eyes, inhaling. “God, I miss smoothies.”

“We’ll pay a visit to Magic Smoothies when you come back home for Riley’s graduation,” Sera promised her.

“It’s a date,” agreed Alex as she got into Logan’s car.

Sera went with Kai to the SUV, and they followed the Maserati closely out of the parting gates. As they left the house behind, Sera looked out of the window and waved at Naomi.

“We’ll see her again soon,” Kai said.

Sera finally turned away from the window. “I know. It’s just the world is all crazy right now. I always wonder when I’m saying goodbye to someone, if it’s the final goodbye, you know? Does that sounds morbid?”

“I know what you mean. We are living in dangerous times.”