“What are you up to?”
I jumped about a foot in the air and gasped. Chyna stood in front of me, wearing a smug smirk simply because of the fact that she’d been able to sneak up and startle me. I quickly shut the book and put it under the desk. “N-nothing. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be out rescuing plants?”
She appraised me with a curious eye. “Something’s different about you.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Nothing. Nothing is different.”
“Yeah, there is something. I can’t put my finger on it. It’s there, though. It’s not a haircut… Did you change something?”
“Why aren’t you on a scavenger hunt for a lost species of pteridophytes, Chyna?”
“Do you even know what I do?”
I grinned. “Sure. I know the title you hold.”
She rolled her eyes then continued to look me up and down. “I’ll figure out what’s different about you. For now, though, I have more research to do.”
I watched her walk off and did a quick scan of the room. There were plenty of people in the library for a Saturday morning. Things were going well; no one seemed to need any help. The only person who seemed uneasy was me.
I went back over everything I knew about and every interaction I’d had with Cezar. My conclusion was that guys that looked like they should play the leading man in big screen blockbuster romances didn’t just show up out of the blue and fall for nerdy, disheveled librarians. Nor did they shower said librarians with expensive gifts, beg said librarian to date them, or proceed to bestow multiple orgasms upon said librarian. I knew all this to be fact. I mean, I hadn’t stayed a virgin until the age of twenty-nine for moral reasons.
I pulled the book back out and stared down at it again. Maybe I was losing my grip on reality. I rolled my shoulders. I’d been stressed lately, hadn’t I? Life had been a little more intense than normal, with the promotion and everything. Was it possible that I was experiencing stress-induced psychosis? I’d read about such a thing occurring. It made more sense than the idea of shifters being real. Although, the idea of Cezar not being real was more than a little depressing.
As though my thoughts had conjured him out of thin air, Cezar suddenly appeared at the circulation desk. I jumped and threw the book behind me. “Hey.”
He smiled and raised a brow. “What did that poor book ever do to you?”
“Nothing!” I forced a smile and took a couple steps back, away from him. What if he wasn’t really standing there? What if he was just a figment of my overstressed, overworked mind? “Stay here. I’ve got to do something.”
Before he could protest, I rounded the desk and was hurrying into the back room Chyna liked to use for her research. Here goes nothin’. I stood in front of her with my hands on my hips trying to appear calm, rational and, most of all, sane. “I need help.”
She nodded. “I’ve known that for years.”
“Hardy-har-har. I need your help with something right now.” I pulled her arm. “Right now.”
She sighed and stood up. “What do you want?”
I pulled her to the doorway and pointed at the desk where Cezar stood waiting. “Do you see anyone at the circulation desk?”
She scrunched her face into a look that confirmed to me that I’d lost my mind. “What are you getting at?”
I pointed harder. “The desk. Do you see anyone? I’m serious, Chyna.”
“Yes. I see that hottie that was here a while back. The one who sent you the gazillion gifts. What’s up, Cherry?”
I slumped against the door. “You see him?”
“Jesus, Cherry. Yes, I see him. He’s not invisible. Are you okay?” She put her hand to my forehead, but I batted it away.
“I’m fine. I just…” I pulled her back into the room this time, plopped onto one of the chairs and blew out a slow breath. “I slept with him.”
She squealed. “No way!”
I nodded. “Exactly! That’s exactly what I mean! It doesn’t make sense. There’s no way that he’d want to sleep with me. Look at him. Look at me. I—”
“Hey, what the hell? What do you mean look at you? You’re beautiful. Any man in his right mind would want you.”
I slid my glasses down my nose and looked over the rims at her. “Chyna, I’m not blind. You’re the pretty twin. I’m the plain, nerdy twin. It’s fine. I accept that. But I, nerdy librarian, slept with a man who looks like Mr. Hollywood blockbuster. I mean, what’s his agenda?!”
I might’ve yelled that last part. Loud enough that the normal low hum of the library faded to nothing. Nothing but footsteps coming our way. I knew whose they were before I even looked up.
He stepped into the room, grinning from ear to ear. “Mr. Hollywood, at your service.”
Chyna giggled and I wanted to smack her. “I’m Cherry’s sister, Chyna.”
Cezar shook her hand and then stepped beside me. He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me to my feet lowering his mouth to my ear. “As much as I love hearing you proclaim to the world that we are sleeping together, I do not like hearing you say such things about yourself.”
“What—”
“Also, I am the one who is grateful that you have honored me by sharing a bed with me. The only agenda I have is to try to be the male you deserve.”
“She tends to over dramatize things from time to time.” Chyna laughed and winked at me. I glared back at her. “Well, I’m going to get back to my work, if you two don’t mind.”
I was living someone else’s life—a fictional character from a shifter romance novel. I couldn’t exactly tell Chyna that I thought the hot guy who I’d let into my pants was some kind of shifter, and certainly not in front of him. Or maybe an alien. I hadn’t thought of that. What if he was an alien?
I hadn’t even made him wear a condom. Why hadn’t I thought of safe sex? Sweet baby Jesus, what if he implanted me with his alien offspring? “I think I need some air.”
Chyna nodded to Cezar. “I’m assuming you’ve got it covered? Considering the fact that you haven’t let my sister go since the moment you set eyes on her?”
“I’ve got her.”
The next thing I knew, I was being led outside through the back door of the library by someone I was convinced was of an alien race. I was dizzy, breathing heavily—hyperventilating. I was probably already impregnated by his alien seed and it was mere hours before I started to show.
The parking lot. We were in the parking lot and it was spinning. I remembered the movie Alien with Sigourney Weaver. How long did I have before an alien baby popped out of my chest cavity like some sort of bloody, razor-fanged jack in the box?
We’d barely made it outside the building when I felt the world shift beneath my feet. That was it. It’s already happening, I thought as the world went black.
14
Cherry
I awoke to muffled sounds, strange scents and white circles. Circular shapes. It was a ceiling. I was staring at a ceiling that had a white circular patterning. My head felt heavy as I lifted it off the pillow and looked around. I was in what looked like a chic, contemporary showroom. The walls were floor to ceiling glass panels. The floor was white and beige marble and the chic furniture was off-white with accents of navy and burgundy. A large, white marble spiral staircase led to an upper floor. Light poured into the space through the massive windows, so I knew it was still daytime, and outside was the most incredible view of the swampy wetlands of the Louisiana bayou country.
I stood up. The kitchen was open to the rest of the house, well, it was somewhat walled off but the walls were a thick, clear glass. Cezar was on the other side of the glass, standing at a kitchen island with a knife and a tomato in his hand.
He glanced up at me just as I began moving in his direction. His lips started to curve into a smile, then fell. His eyes widened as his gaze dropped to something in front of me. Puzzled, I looked down just in time to keep myself from stepping into a swimming pool. I gasped and took a step back. Jeez, a swimming
pool right in the room! Maybe it was supposed to be an indoor pond or something, but no wonder I’d missed it. It looked like clear, blue glass. I had thought it was part of the solid flooring. The place was too much.
When I looked back, Cezar was no longer holding the knife, but his finger was covered in dripping blood. I quickly rounded the pool, or pond, whatever, and rushed over to him.
“Cezar, are you okay?” I gently took his hand and pulled him over to the sink. “That looks painful.”
He stood behind me, letting me hold his finger under a stream of water, but he didn’t seem to feel any pain at all. In fact, he wasn’t paying a bit of attention to his injured finger. He ran his nose up my neck and lightly moaned. “You smell so delicious.”
I glanced back at him and froze. His gaze was intense. His eyes were glowing and he was completely aroused. I knew this because his rock-hard erection was pressing into my lower back.
“I apologize. I should not be acting like an animal when you are recovering from a fainting spell. You frightened me.”
I dropped my head to focus on his injured finger, feeling a little embarrassed and self-conscious, but then I saw that the cut was gone. I turned his hand over in mine, back and forth. No cut anywhere. “What… Where did it go?”
Cezar frowned. “There is something we must discuss.”
The whole alien thing popped back into my head along with the fear and panic. How had I forgotten the alien impregnation? Pushing him away, I raced to the other side of the room, flattened myself against the wall and shook my head. “You just healed yourself. You’re an alien whose mission is to abduct me, enslave me and transport me to your planet as a breeder to propagate your alien race, aren’t you? Aren’t you?! I knew it! Why me? Why pick me? It’s because of the child bearing hips, isn’t it?”
Cezar wrinkled his brow in confusion and took a step closer to me. “What are you talking about, Cherry? I would not abduct or enslave you.”
“Which is exactly what an alien who wanted to abduct me would say! I can’t believe I gave up my virginity to a human-abducting alien. I’ll never live this down.”
“Dragon, Cherry. I am a dragon.”
I stopped rambling and looked at him. “Huh?”
He took another step closer. “I am a dragon.”
Without thinking, I snapped, “Prove it.”
He ran his palms down his face, then shrugged and threw his hands in the air. “Okay. Outside.”
I followed him out to a large marble courtyard that overlooked the swamp. The nature surrounding the place was beautiful—wild and untouched, raw. I found myself wishing I could stay for a while, even if he did turn out to be a human-abducting alien.
Cezar methodically undressed and turned to face me. “Are you prepared? I do not wish to watch you faint again.”
“I think so. I’ve never been about to see a dragon before, though, so I’m not quite sure how to ready myself for it.”
I’d barely gotten the words out when he ran to the edge of the courtyard and leapt into the air. Like magic, Cezar disappeared and in his place was a massive green creature—a dragon covered with golden-tipped emerald green scales. His massive wings unfurled and the undersides of them glittered with gold. He soared higher into the air, and then, he tipped his head back and released a spray of fire so hot it burned blue.
I stood staring up, mouth agape. Dragon. He really was a fucking dragon. What was equally astonishing was that I found my body reacting to the sight of the dragon by becoming aroused. I gasped and backed away, like my outrage would somehow make the situation normal.
Cezar, the dragon, swooped down and hovered over the swamp next to me. He lowered his head and then turned to looked at me.
“What?”
He puffed out a little burst of fire and then made a sound that reminded me of laughter. He waved his head up and down and then nodded it towards his back. When I still didn’t get it, he sunk down and slightly immersed himself in the water, then nudged me with his massive head and waited, still staring unblinkingly.
“What is it? What are you trying to say? When I figured it out, I shook my head emphatically and held my hands up. “I’m not riding you. I’m human and you’re a dragon. This girl’s feet belong right here on terra firma.”
He sent another little burst of fire at me and huffed.
“Hey, mister, if you burn me, I won’t magically heal.”
I could’ve sworn he rolled his eyes before he nodded towards me and then his back again.
I still shook my head, but slower. “Come on, … I can’t ride you.”
He flapped his wing and with a skilled precision sent a wave of water at me. I didn’t dodge it in time and the water splashed my legs. Another laughing sound and I was stomping towards him. I wagged my finger in his face and was about to tell him off when he bumped me with his head. Nudging me again and again until, somehow, I was on his back and he was taking off into the air with me holding on for dear life.
Terrifying at first, I found myself relaxing and enjoying it more and more. The longer he flew us over the wetland around his home, the more thrilled I was at the adventure I was experiencing. I was settled firmly at the base of his neck with my thighs were wrapped around him. I had loosened up pretty quickly after getting settled and I could feel the beat of his heart pulsing out a rhythm between my thighs. Between the steady throbbing against my core and the thrill of being so high up in the air—and on a dragon’s back, no less—I was having an amazing time.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had such a blast. When he dipped and soared higher, I threw back my head in a fit of giggles. I felt like I was on a roller coaster. I never wanted it to end. “Faster!”
Another one of those dragon chuffing laughs and Cezar did as I’d demanded. He flew faster and even low enough to dip his wings into the swamp and splash us with water droplets.
I held onto his neck tighter and laughed out loud at the craziness of it all. By the time he landed and shifted back, I was so energized and exhilarated and stimulated that I could barely walk. I was horny as hell.
The very second he morphed back into a hot hunky naked man, I jumped into his arms wrapping my legs around his hips. He must’ve felt that I was all hot and bothered because my clothes became tatters of cloth strewn across the courtyard floor before I could blink. His shaft penetrated me just as fast and we coupled like that, with him holding me in the air and filling me hard and fast. We both came in minutes.
Later, after were both sated and lying side by side on the couch in the gorgeous mansion that he referred to as his castle, his fingers gently stroking my shoulder, I looked over at him and sighed. “A dragon, huh?”
He trailed his finger down my stomach and dipped into my bellybutton before trailing back up. “You are not displeased?”
I laughed. “Well. I thought you were an alien before so, I suppose a dragon is much better.”
“Damn right.”
I rolled toward him and dug my face into his chest inhaling his dark, heady, masculine scent. Displeased? Who could be displeased with him. He was amazing. Even more amazing than my own histrionic imagination could concoct. Handsome, wealthy, a god in bed, and a supernatural creature that no one in their right mind would fuck with.
Now more than ever, I was sure we didn’t belong together and it was time I ended this farce before my heart turned up shattered into a million pieces.
15
Cherry
“You should’ve let him in.” Chyna admonished from her spot in the chair across from my bed. “He sounded worried.”
I winced as I dabbed at my sore, red nose with a tissue. “Looking like this?” I waved a hand down the length of my body which was clad in an old T-shirt and faded yoga pants. Oh, and two pairs of thick fluffy socks. “It’s already crazy to pretend that Mr. Hollywood actually wants to be with someone like me. No way am I letting him see me like this.”
I was sick and using it as an excuse to put distance between
us. After spending the most amazing day ever together, Cezar had wanted me to stay over at his...ahem…castle, but I figured why prolong the inevitable and instead asked him to fly me home. Once we arrived, I’d told him that I needed some space. The truth was that I was hoping he’d get the hint and go on his merry hot way so I could continue on with my mundane existence.
“Cherry, what is up with you? I’ve never heard you be so down on yourself.”
“You’ve also never seen a man as hot as Cezar showing interest in me. Or any man for that matter. It doesn’t make any sense. Not even an average Joe pays any attention to women like me, much less a guy who’s so hot he could have any woman he wants eating out of his hand. And he’s sweet. He’s funny, too. He’s so… amazing, and I’m just…me, a weird introverted bookworm. I don’t trust it. There must be some underlying motive. Why else would he be paying so much attention to me? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“What?! Cherry, you’re beautiful. You’re smart, sweet, and funny, too. And what you call weird, some call unique. Uniqueness is a wonderful trait. I think he’d be crazy to not want you.”
“Come on, Chyna.” I shook my head. “You only say stuff like that because you’re my sister.”
“I don’t lie. You know that. I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.”
“Uh huh. You’d tell your only sister that she was dumb, dull and ugly? Right.”
Chyna hesitated. “Well…if she was I might. BUT SHE’S NOT!”
I tried to laugh but it turned into a hacking cough. “It’s just…I can’t make sense of it and I don’t like that. I feel like it’s got to be a joke or something.”
Chyna’s face fell. “Do you really think he has no feelings for you? That he’s trying to get you to fall for him so once you do he can pull the rug out from under you and say, ‘Surprise, just kidding. It was all just a hoax.’? Do you really think that?”
I blew my nose and pouted. “No, I guess not. Not unless he’s really good at pretending.”
Fire Breathing Cezar (Dragons of the Bayou Book 2) Page 7
