But on New Years day, I woke up late and lay in bed, watching the ocean shine under the sun in the distance. My thoughts kept turning to Melanie, and then I heard the buzz of the elevator in the distance.
I strode into the living room, frowning, because no one was supposed to be here today.
Melanie stood in the doorway. She dropped her bags in the entryway, her long caramel-blond hair swinging around her shoulders. She wore jeans that clung to the curve of her hips and her narrow thighs, a tank top, what seemed like a hundred little bracelets that marched up her tanned arms. I didn’t know why the hell she wore all those bracelets.
My heart raced seeing her, and I didn’t know why the hell that happened, either.
She straightened and her eyes met mine.
“You’re back early,” I said.
“Yeah.” She tucked her hair behind her ears, offering me a smile but no explanation.
“Why?” I asked bluntly. Seeing her had been a constant ache, and now that she was here, I realized just how much I’d longed for her.
Instead of answering, she asked, “Do you want to know how my classes went?”
“Sure,” I said.
She fumbled in her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. She’d printed out her grades, and when I realized she took that step to show me, my heart lurched. It took me a second to even register the grades themselves.
Then I grinned at her. “All A’s.”
“Not bad for someone starting their freshman year so late.” She grinned back.
“Not bad at all.” I wanted to hug her, but it felt like too big a gulf to cross yet. “Let’s go out to lunch to celebrate.”
She looked at me as if she wanted to touch me too, something hungry in those eyes, but all she said was, “Okay.”
I took her to lunch at my favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and then we got ice cream cones and strolled along the beach.
When we were walking along one of the city streets, I pointed out, “There’s a great used bookstore up there.”
Then as I frowned at her backside, I announced, “Aaaand she’s gone.”
She turned back to grin at me, her hand already on the door, and my heart lurched. I’d buy her the damned bookstore if it made her smile like that.
I followed her into the bookstore, then followed her around. The look of delight on her face made me grin too as she ran her fingertips over the books. Before I knew it, she had an armful of novels.
“I’ll carry those for you.” I took them out of her hands.
“I can get them,” she protested.
“I know, but you don’t have to,” I reminded her.
I followed her through the bookstore. When she debated which of two books to buy, I said, “Get both,” before taking them out of her hands and adding them into the stack.
“You’re a bad influence,” she teased.
She had no idea all the ways I wanted to be her bad influence.
While she was distracted, I bought all the books. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she protested.
“I did it because I wanted to,” I told her, just like I’d said back in the restaurant when I forced her to come work for me. From the way her eyes widened slightly, I knew she remembered that too.
The truth was, though, I wanted to do a whole lot of other things with Melanie. But I managed without ever acting on any of those impulses, no matter how much I wanted.
Chapter Thirteen
Mel
A few days later, I was reading on the couch when Kingston came in from his workout, covered in sweat—and yet looking delicious—as usual.
“I thought you liked to read best at the beach,” he said, leaning against the wall as he watched me.
“I do,” I said, surprised that he remembered that I’d said that, our very first night together.
“You could come with me this afternoon. I’m surfing.”
The idea of watching him surf made something tighten between my thighs. I was sure he was sexy as hell when he was on the waves in a wetsuit.
“Sure.”
“Actually,” his lips curved into a wicked smile. “Better idea. I’m going to teach you to surf.”
“Oh? You sound awfully bossy about that.” I said.
“I am bossy,” he admitted, before that wicked smile widened into a full-on grin. “But you like it.”
“Do I?” I asked no one in particular, as he padded toward the back of the penthouse and his shower. The way my nipples pebbled in my bra, the sudden throb between my legs, all suggested that he was right. If he’d had shifter senses, he might very well have known exactly how much I liked his bossy, protective nature.
“Maybe you need it,” he called over his shoulder before he disappeared down the hall.
I scoffed.
Then I crossed my legs, trying to push down the rise of desire that I felt. I knew he wasn’t going to do anything about it, anyway. Sometimes he looked at me as if he wanted to kiss me, his eyes growing heavy-lidded, but he never did it.
The man seemed to take his no employees edict seriously.
Inconveniently so.
I tucked a receipt as a bookmark into my book as I heard the shower turn on, and went to change into my black bikini, throwing a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a striped t-shirt on over the swimsuit, even though what I really wanted was to join him in the shower.
When the two of us got outside, there was a bright red Jeep parked alongside his usual convertible sports car, and he began to load his surf board onto the Jeep.
“How many cars do you have?” I demanded. “I swear I never even saw this one before.”
“That’s because it’s not mine,” he said. He finished securing the surf board, then turned to me, throwing a key fob my way.
I might have shifter speed and senses, but I still managed to miss the damn keys because I was startled. He grinned as I leaned down and picked them up from the sidewalk. When I straightened, the breeze was ruffling his black hair, and his green eyes were even more gorgeous out in the bright sunshine than they were in the club.
“What are you doing, Kingston?” I demanded.
He shrugged. “You’re right, some asshole made you move out of walking-distance to campus.”
I shook my head. “You can’t. You can’t just give me my car.”
“I can do what I want,” he assured me.
“But I already owe you....”
“You owe me for stealing from me. I’d give you anything you ever wanted.” He crossed his arms. “If you told me you needed money for Carrie’s tuition, I would’ve helped you two figure something out.”
I stared at him, my lips parting. “You know why...”
“I figured it all out before I ever went to see you in that restaurant,” he told me. “But I have to admit, I can’t figure you out.”
“It’s mutual,” I said.
He nodded, then headed for the passenger seat of the Jeep. “Well? Are you going to drive us to the beach?”
I should make him take the Jeep back, but I didn’t feel like I could make Kingston Luck do a damn thing.
As I pulled open the driver’s side door, I said, “What happens in the summer, Kingston?”
He slipped his sunglasses on before he turned to look at me, so I couldn’t see his piercing eyes. Without them, it was even harder for me to read what he was thinking.
“Anything I give you is yours to keep, Melanie,” he said.
It wasn’t until I’d pulled out onto the Pacific Coast Highway and the wind was rushing around us, blowing my hair around, that he asked, almost to himself, “Or is there more to your question than that?”
There was so much more to my question, but I chickened out. I pretended I didn’t hear him.
He made it seem like I could ask him for anything and he would give it to me, but he couldn’t give me what I wanted most: a future with someone that wasn’t my own kind, a future I didn’t deserve and shouldn’t even wish for.
But oh
god, did I wish for it.
Chapter Fourteen
The days passed, and we spent more and more time together. He taught me how to surf. He cooked me dinner while I studied. He liked to sit with me and read the newspaper while I read my novels, and after a while, we developed a habit; I’d lie with my head on his lap, and his fingers would tease gently against my scalp as he played with my hair.
One Saturday night later in the spring, I was working in the club, trying to ignore Kingston but constantly aware of him, as usual.
Jealousy raced through me as girls tried to flirt with Kingston. Although he was always smiling and friendly, he shut down anyone who tried to touch him. He hadn’t brought anyone up to his penthouse while I was there.
That night, when I’d finished my shift, the two of us rode up in the elevator together.
“You’re quiet tonight,” he said as the doors opened.
I stepped out into his living room. My heart was beating too quickly. Suddenly, I couldn’t stand the question of what happened in the spring.
I had to know right now.
My lips parted, and then as fear about the answer tightened my chest, I turned and paced out onto the balcony. A cool breeze teased through my hair, but it did nothing to calm my nerves. In the distance, the ocean looked dark and fathomless under a clouded sky.
The truth was, I’d fallen hard for Kingston Luck over the past few months, no matter ow much I knew I shouldn’t.
He stripped off his jacket and his tie, threw them over the back of the couch, then followed me out onto the porch. He leaned against the balcony railing beside me.
“Something’s bothering you,” he said, his voice low and sexy and surprisingly tender. “What is it, Mel?”
I glanced at him in surprise. “You called me Mel.”
“Well, yeah.” His lips quirked. “I think we’re friends now, aren’t we?”
“I guess so.” I ran my hand through my hair, like I always did when I was nervous. “I have to tell you something.”
His brows arched, beckoning me to go on. The silence between us seemed to stretch, and suddenly I couldn’t take it anymore. My heart was breaking into two as I studied his face.
“There’s no future between us,” I said abruptly. “I could never marry a human. And I—I am losing my damn mind living with you, Luck.”
He pulled back, frowning, as if me calling him by his last name—like everyone else—angered him. Or maybe he thought it was ridiculous I was talking about marriage.
“I’m falling for you,” I blundered on. “No, that’s not right. I...already fell. And it just hurts too much when I know—”
I shook my head, turning away, looking back into the condo. The lights were on in the kitchen, and I could almost see our ghosts from that first night we met, when he got me a bag of ice and I was stretched across the couch with a swollen ankle. It felt like so long ago, and I felt like a different girl.
“I quit,” I said. “I’ll find a way to get you back your money. I’ll leave the car. I just can’t. I think...”
I stumbled, but he had to know the truth so he didn’t hate me for walking out on him. “I think I love you. And I can’t. I shouldn’t.”
“Mel,” he said, his voice calm, commanding.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You must think I’m the worst. First I steal from you, then I can’t even hold up my end of the deal, but it’s breaking me to—”
“Mel!” An edge of exasperation broke through his voice. “I don’t think you’re the worst. Now turn around.”
I wiped sudden tears from my eyes before I turned.
He stood on the balcony railing, his arms crossed over his chest, and panic spiked through my chest.
“What are you doing?” I demanded. “Kingston, get down!”
He looked completely relaxed for a man balanced on the edge of death.“Oh, that’s better. I like the way Kingston sounds on your lips.”
I closed the distance between us, my heart pounding. “Please get back down. What if you fall?”
“You said you can’t marry a human, and I think that’s ridiculous. Love finds a way. But whatever,” he said. “What about another shifter?”
I frowned. “You aren’t...”
“Aren’t a bear shifter,” he finished. “And I’m not a wolf.”
He suddenly let himself fall back. I ran for the railing, trying to catch him. My fingers reached out to snag the front of his dress shirt, and the fabric ripped through my fingers. My momentum carried me over the railing.
Suddenly I was falling with him. He wrapped his arms around me, yanking me tight to his chest as the two of us plummeted toward the ground. I couldn’t even breathe to scream.
His body was hard against mine, the shirt exploding off his body in shreds of white fabric, as he transformed in mid-air.
Enormous gray-purple wings spread out to either side of us, catching the draft, and the two of us flew over the beach and out over the ocean.
He was a dragon shifter.
I hadn’t even known they were real.
“Someone’s going to see us,” I cried, which was the last of my concerns, really. His arms still held me against his hard chest. I craned my neck, trying to get a better glimpse of him.
“Dragons are invisible when they fly, when they choose.” His voice was even deeper now, but still warm; I felt his voice as a rumble in that powerful chest. “Where do you want to go, Mel?”
“I’ll go wherever you take me,” I said, and even though it was the obvious truth right now—because I couldn’t escape him—I meant so much more than that.
He landed us in a quiet garden. The scent of green blooming things was heavy in the air, and so was the faint distant tang of salt water from the ocean. He put me down carefully, but my legs still wobbled with adrenaline as I backed away, studying him.
He was beautiful as a dragon too, his eyes still the same eyes, intensely green, in an expressive, horned face. His long sleek body was covered in silvery scales that turned into dark purple as they reached his tail.
“You hoard gold,” I said, finally putting the pieces together.
“I hoard treasure,” he corrected. “That’s why I had to have you near me, once I met you.”
He shifted back, and suddenly he was the man I loved again, all dark hair and broad, tanned shoulders and a tentative smile.
“I know you’ll probably need some time to make sense of all this,” he began.
“Oh yes,” I said, my mind still reeling.
He nodded. “I can take you back to the shifter house, or back to my condo, whatever—”
“I think I’ve had enough time,” I said suddenly, then closed the distance between us.
His eyes widened with surprise, but when I slipped my arms around his neck, he caught me around the waist, pulling me against his body.
He covered his mouth with mine, our bodies searing together as he kissed me deeply.
Kingston’s touch felt like fire racing through my veins.
He pulled back, regarding me with heavy-lidded eyes. “Are you sure you want to quit?”
I hesitated.
“Because if you aren’t my employee anymore,” a teasing smile flitted across his lips, “I can keep kissing you like I’ve been dreaming about for the past few months?”
“But then how will I pay you back?” I murmured.
“You don’t have to.” His gaze held mine. “Haven’t you realized yet that you’re my mate? Anything I own belongs to you.”
“How is that possible?” I asked softly. “We’re not the same...”
“But you feel it too,” he said, and it was half a statement, half a question.
“I feel it too,” I admitted.
“Then let’s trust fate,” he said, “and figure out the details later.”
It felt like the most reckless thing I’d ever done in my life, but when I looked into his face, I couldn’t truly imagine walking away from him, either.
Decision made,
I asked him, “Fly us home?”
Chapter Fifteen
THIS TIME, AFTER HE shifted, I climbed onto his back, between those powerful wings. His muscles moved beneath my thighs as he bounded across the garden, then launched himself into the air.
I’d been far more focused on him than on anything else on our first flight, but now I could see how beautiful the world looked as it spread below us. The city lights, the ocean, both seemed equally beautiful from above the world.
But no matter how gorgeous it was, when he landed on the balcony and I slipped off his back, there was only one beautiful sight that I cared about.
I pressed myself into his arms, and he smiled against my lips before the two of us traded a deep, fierce kiss.
When I pulled away, sliding my hands across his chest, he murmured, “You said you think you love me.”
I nodded, biting my lower lip. That hadn’t been the most romantic expression of love.
“I know I love you, Mel,” he said, his voice low and sure.
I ran my palms across the hard planes of his chest, down the ridges of his abs, down his thighs as I knelt at his feet.
“What are you doing?” he asked me.
“What I want,” I told him, repeating his words back to him.
Then I teased my tongue across his tip, and he inhaled, a sharp, quick breath, that made me want to smile. I wanted to show him how much I could please him.
I swirled my tongue across his tip, then took him deeply into my mouth. As I worked my mouth around his cock, his thighs tensed, and his fingers slid through my hair. I loved the control I had over him as he bit his lower lip, his jaw tilting up toward the sky.
He let out a moan, then abruptly pulled away from me. “I want to be inside you,” he murmured, catching my hands and pulling me to my feet.
He pressed me against the balcony, his hard-muscled body behind me as he dropped kisses along my shoulder and throat. I caught his jaw with one hand and turned my face up to his, and his lips met mine in a tender kiss.
As we kissed, his cock teased against the curve of my ass, and I pressed against him, wanting more.
Bound to Change: A Limited Edition Spring Shifter Romance Collection Page 9
