by Roxie Ray
The water washed it away soon enough, but the image would stay with me forever.
I pulled her to her feet and slid my fingers where hers had been moments ago. She grabbed my face and plunged her tongue into my mouth. Spinning us, I pressed her against the wall. My fingers spun rapidly around her clit, eliciting whimpers from her as our tongues danced.
“Are you ready for me?” I whispered in her ear. I was already recovered, something I’d gathered over the years wasn’t a human capability. Perks of being a dragon.
Her lust-filled gaze met mine, pupils dilated, and she lifted one leg to my hip. “Please.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. She wanted me as badly as I did her. Grabbing her leg, I bent my knees and eased myself into her. The shower might’ve helped a bit, but she was so wet and warm and perfect. I pressed my forehead to hers as she gasped, but her expression was one of elation rather than pain as I’d expected.
Taking the opportunity to show off my strength, I grabbed her other leg and lifted her off of the shower floor. She wrapped her arms around my neck and grinned.
Leaning in, she whispered against my lips. “Give it to me hard and fast.”
If I hadn’t had so much self-control, I would’ve finished again just at those words. She liked it rough. I could give that to her. I took her mouth hungrily, letting myself go the way she wanted.
Slamming into her mercilessly, I held nothing back. Her legs were looped over my arms, back pressed against the slick wall, and the angle was utter perfection. Skye’s face lit up in sheer ecstasy as I repeatedly hit that sensitive spot deep inside. Her wild moans were louder in the relatively small space, and it only served to drive me on.
We were going to get a late start to our day, but I didn’t care. Everything I wanted was right there in front of me, riding me, driving me crazy with need. I’d be surprised if I ever saw her at work and didn’t jump her in the nearest utility closet. All I wanted to do now, all day, every day, was her.
She bit down on my bottom lip, the sharp sting of it zipping to my core, driving another orgasm closer to the surface. The feeling of her teeth in my flesh made me think of claiming her, but it was way too soon for that. Still, the urge drove me into her harder until she was breathless. I wanted to bite her so much it made my gums tingle, but I managed to hold myself back.
Her insides clamped down hard around me as she came and I kept up my rhythm, the friction pulling me along with her until I could barely stand. I grunted as I came hard, filling Skye, giving her everything I had. After a minute, I pulled out and gently set my mate down. Her legs were wobbly but held on, and I pressed her to the wall again and just kissed the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with.
The water was starting to lose some heat by then, so I shut it off.
“You,” she breathed, “are something else.”
We didn’t make it out of the house until much later in the morning than I’d intended to.
Not that I minded.
We held hands out to the car, and for some reason, we didn’t talk much on the drive to her house, but it was okay. It was comfortable. Like we were getting used to being with one another without the pressure of conversation.
“I won’t be five minutes,” Skye said when I parked in her driveway.
“Dress comfortably and wear running shoes,” I called out the window.
She turned and walked backward and saluted me.
Once she was back in the car, I stopped at a convenience store to grab a few snacks. I’d brought a couple of full water bottles from home. Skye’s face relaxed into more of a grin as I got closer to our destination. She knew where I was headed.
“I stopped coming after you left,” she whispered when I parked at the trailhead. “The memories were too painful.”
My heart fell. This had been a huge mistake. “I understand. It’s something else I took from you. Would you like to go somewhere else?”
“No,” she exclaimed. “I’m so happy to hike this with you again.”
I loaded up the backpack and wouldn’t let her carry anything. What was the point of being a dragon if I couldn’t handle a little extra weight?
The trail was narrow and most of the way she hiked in front of me. It wasn’t conducive for talking, so I let myself reconnect with nature as we moved.
The few times the trail widened, we talked about this and that. She seemed a little shy, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I’m curious about your dating life.” She had to walk in front of me for a bit, so I had time to gather my thoughts, but she continued her question. “I’m sure you weren’t a prude, but did you have any serious relationships?”
I was completely honest with her. “I’ve dated a few women.” Maybe not completely honest. I could’ve told her they were female dragons that were in the area. “I never settled down.”
“Why?”
“They weren’t you,” I said simply and honestly. “I would’ve been settling.”
She tried to hide her smile, but my chest puffed out, my dragon pleased that she was happy by my answer. Hell, it was true.
“Tell me more about Bret?” I partly didn’t want to know. Whatever it was would likely make me hate the bastard even more.
“Um, I’m not totally sure what you already know. We met in college. He seemed perfect, proposed, the whole nine yards. I fell for him hook, line, and sinker. Then, a few months out from the wedding, he gets someone else pregnant.” She shrugged and pulled ahead and finished telling me again when the trail widened. “He used our wedding date and plans to marry her. She’s due any day now. And I’m happy to be away from him. I hadn’t realized what a narcissist he was. I guess I was in too deep, but he and I together were the height of unhealthy.”
I thanked my lucky stars that he’d gotten someone else pregnant. Not that I would’ve ever in a million years wished that pain on Skye. But if Bret hadn’t cheated, or rather if he hadn’t gotten caught, she might’ve been with him when I moved home.
Talk about torture. “Well, I’m sorry you were hurt in the process, but I’m so glad you’re not with him anymore.”
She reached over and took my hand. “Me, too,” she whispered. “It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the pregnancy. Made me feel like such a fool. And I had no idea.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “That part sucks and makes me want to rip him limb from limb. But it’s his loss and my gain.”
We reached the falls, the highlight of the trail, and where we’d always turned back. After sitting in front of the tall, impressive waterfalls and eating our snacks, we headed back down. As soon as I had service again, near the end of the trail, I got on my phone and texted Jace. He’d agreed to do me a favor, I just had to tell him when.
“What now?” Skye asked as we got back in the car.
“Well, I’ve got one more thing up my sleeve. It doesn’t start until dark, could I interest you in a quick dinner?”
Our hike had taken most of the day and the snack hadn’t gone far for me, and Skye nodded her head vigorously. “Yes, please. I’m starving.”
“Excellent. Actually, I think I can incorporate our dinner into our evening plans. Is that okay?”
She shrugged. “Since I don’t know what it is, I’ll say yes.”
Chuckling, I told Skye about my first roommate in Boston, a disastrous guy who had a goldfish that had died. By the time I got to the chicken restaurant, I had her rolling with laughter. Before I’d gotten him out of my apartment, he’d accused me of killing his goldfish, and I’d woken up in the middle of the night to find him staring at me.
We parked at the town square, where a movie was being screened with a projector. Jace had sent someone to sit here and save us a spot on the grass. I burst out laughing as I walked up. Jace was here, and he’d brought a picnic.
“I thought you said to bring dinner,” he cried.
“Oh, no,” Skye said. “I’m starving, I
’m sure I can eat both.”
Jace gave me a dark look. “I cooked this myself.”
“Here.” I thrust the bag of chicken toward him. “You have this for dinner. We’ll have this delicious spread you’ve made for us.” Whatever it was.
“Did you get extra crispy?” Jace asked suspiciously.
Skye, with her head already in the picnic basket, snorted. “Is there any other kind?”
Jace grinned down at her. “I like her.” He snatched the bag of chicken from me and took off. “Have fun!” he called.
“You’re a sap,” Skye said as she pulled out containers and spread them out on the blanket. “I would’ve been fine with subs and a six-pack.”
Settling down beside her, I laughed and leaned in for a kiss in front of everyone at the town square. Several of the people here were definitely in my clan.
She held out her face and allowed me to press a slow, lingering kiss to her lips. “I’m glad you never let that side of you go. Sometimes subs and beer are just what the doctor ordered, but for tonight, we have…” I peered into one of the containers. “Whatever the hell this is.”
“I think it’s soup,” she said. “I’m cooled off enough now that it sounds pretty yummy, too.”
I pulled out an inflatable pool float thing from the bottom of the picnic basket. “Nice touch, Jace,” I murmured. After we finished eating, I spent several minutes blowing it up, then settled down on it and wrapped the blanket around my shoulders.
Skye snuggled in beside me, both of us barely fitting. As the movie came on, I inhaled her scent and closed my eyes, totally ignoring the movie as my tattoo tingled on my arm. It didn’t burn, it almost tickled. Surely that meant progress.
We snuggled through the movie, and when it was over packed everything up and walked back to the car.
As time drew nearer for me to tell her the truth, the more I wanted to back out. It was too soon. Telling her the truth now would’ve just made her run screaming. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to give it more time. Today had been idyllic and almost perfect. Did I really want to ruin that now? Did I want to risk the relationship we were building? I had to be sure, damn sure that she was just as in love with me as I already was with her. I wasn’t ready. She wasn’t ready. It wasn’t time. Just a little while longer. Just a little while.
15
Skylar
Sighing, I munched on my carrot stick and tried not to feel all melancholy. Anthony and I hadn’t had sex again since that first night and that was three weeks ago. Three! What in the hell? When a day had dragged to two and then more and more, and one week turned to two and then three, my doubts turned into full-blown paranoia. I had to have done something wrong. We’d had a great day the next day. He’d wined and dined me, and then Monday when we went to work, things went south.
Even though we’d had a few more dates since then, the fireworks hadn’t gone off again. Not like the night I showed up on his front porch. So, what? Was it not good for him? I brushed that thought away because he’d clearly enjoyed himself. But I still couldn’t figure out why we hadn’t had sex again.
It wasn’t for lack of me wanting to, because hot damn, I did. I reminded myself that we’d been working alternating schedules at the hospital. When he was off work, I was on. It had been his weekend to work, then mine the weekend after. Most of the reasons we’d been apart hadn’t been anyone’s fault. One of the days I’d asked if he could go out, he’d promised his parents he’d have dinner with them, and then another time that he’d asked me, I’d promised Dad and Cooter I’d come for dinner.
Even after the two dates, though, it had been Anthony who had shut down the prospect of sex. Both times. It was like he was scared of it.
What the hell? Not that sex was all I cared about, but I’d been going through a very dry spell since Bret had done what he did, and my time with Anthony was like a damn dam had broken loose. I felt like I should’ve been carrying a wet floor sign around with me. My libido needed to calm the hell down and let me enjoy the other perks of having a man court me.
As I sat in the cafe eating area, I looked around, trying to figure out what was off about the day. It was like something buzzing in the air. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but my skin was electrified. Whatever it was, it didn’t feel natural.
Was there such a thing as excess electricity in the air? I didn’t want to ask anyone else in case it was nothing more than me being totally nucking futs.
I’d never experienced anything like this before and it made me feel crazier and crazier as the day wore on. I carried on throughout the day, and it was one of those days that Anthony had off during the week because he’d picked up a weekend day. I missed seeing him, but the distraction of the strange buzzing electricity distracted me from it.
A little while after lunch, Anthony walked in as I traded out my dead tablet for one with a fresh battery at the nurses’ station. I raised my eyebrow and tried not to look overly pleased to see him. We’d agreed to keep any forms of PDA to a minimum at work.
It was hard to wipe the smile off my face though. As soon as he spotted me, he headed my way. He looked different somehow, and it wasn’t the new-boyfriend haze. I was sure I saw him through rose-colored glasses, but this wasn’t that.
Something in his walk made me pay attention to him, as if the way he moved forced me to acknowledge him, forced me to see him.
His lip curled as if he was pleased. “What do you have planned tonight?”
“Nothing, I thought about going to Dad’s, but I never told him that I was coming.”
He nodded and looked even more pleased with himself or maybe me. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ve got something I really need to talk to you about. Can you come to my place?”
My emotions went a little wild. First, I remembered the last time I went to his house, which had been a fun night. Then, I grew concerned, more like an instant moment of panic, about what he could want to talk about. After the absent three weeks we’d had, I couldn’t help but be apprehensive.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but just then, Cam walked up, and he clamped his lips shut.
He might not have thought I needed to worry, but I couldn’t fully trust it.
He greeted Cam warmly but waited for her to walk away to speak to me again. “I’m sorry I can’t pick you up, but do you think you could be there around eight?”
I nodded dumbly. That was so, so many hours from now. Hours for me to finish work and then go home and worry. Great.
Anthony looked around and when he saw nobody was in the vicinity, he leaned over and pecked a quick kiss to my forehead before turning to leave.
Confused, intrigued, and skeptical, I grabbed my fresh tablet and headed to my next appointment.
As I suspected, I spent the rest of the afternoon worrying. Then, I went home and did every bit of primping that I could think of, from painting my nails to plucking my eyebrows to neatening up down there.
I spent extra time in the shower shaving my legs, lotioned every inch of my body, and did my hair and makeup perfectly.
Dressing was harder. Was I going to get lucky? Ugh. Probably not. But just in case, I put on my favorite lingerie. As I pulled the lacy panties up, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of lingerie Anthony liked. Not knowing unnerved me a little. What if he was a sweet sort of guy? All pale pinks and flowers? Because I’d have to go shopping if that was the case. I didn’t own a damn thing that was sweet. Everything in my lingerie drawer was sexy and sensual. Bold colors, sheer fabrics.
Oh, well. If I found out he liked softer things, I guessed that was my excuse to hit up the lingerie store. For now, a black set would do the trick either way. Who didn’t like black lingerie? Nobody.
Arguing with myself over lingerie wasted an entire five minutes, but it was still an hour too early to leave. I wasted more time picking out an outfit, and then once I was as fixed up as it was possible to be, I sat on the couch and pla
yed on my phone and pretended I wasn’t checking the clock every thirty-five seconds. As I played a mindless game, I came up with a million scenarios as to what Anthony was up to and each scenario was crazier than the last. I finally got control of myself and got my brain to shut down from the crazy before I readied myself to head over to his place.
Everything is fine.
I repeated the phrase over and over as I drove toward Anthony’s place, but that strange energy I felt earlier pulsated around me. It made me feel nauseated and was so overwhelming.
I had to pull the car over for a moment at the end of Anthony’s long driveway, near his parents’ house, and catch my breath.
I rolled down the window and gulped in the still cool early spring air, and as a light breeze tickled past my ear, I could’ve sworn I heard Anthony whisper that everything was okay. In the back of my mind, the words flashed that I was safe, but that couldn’t have been right. The buzzing intensified. I was losing my damn mind!
Whatever it was, I had to get there and tell him about it. It had escalated to causing physical symptoms. I needed a diagnostician, but I knew what it had to be. It was a brain tumor. That was the only explanation.
I got to Anthony's place in one piece, and when I got out of the car, it felt like I was going to be blown over, but there was no wind to speak of. The breeze was light and cooled my cheeks, yet it didn’t seem like I was imagining things as I reacted to the pulsing energy in the air.
It became like a trail, drawing me forward. I didn’t know what compelled me to follow it, but my instinct told me to let it guide me.
Fear blossomed and my hands shook. What was happening? I followed the pull and it led me around Anthony’s house. There was a small path in the trees and short candles lit the track. I followed them with my stomach nearly heaving as the buzzing reached critical levels. Eventually, I stumbled into a clearing.
