“Did I say kneel? I don’t remember telling you to do anything. Our agreement was that I got to tell you to do something. That’s what I’m doing now.” She lightly bit his throat. “Fuck me, Reece.”
Growl ripping from his lips, he rose and tore her panties down her thighs. He took ahold of himself and positioned the head of his cock at her entrance. She was already wet, already primed. She ran her nails down his arms. The sound he made in his throat pleased her.
She rose into him, hoping to take a little of him inside herself. He leaned back and pressed his eyes closed.
“While I have enough sense left in me to function, we should talk about birth control,” he said.
Unable to speak, Teagan nodded. She was tired of waiting and wanting, but he was right. They should be smart. She waited while he bent over her and reached under the couch. He produced a condom as if from nowhere. Had she not been ravaged by desire, she would have laughed.
Instead, she bit her lip as she watched him roll the latex over the head of his cock. Sheathed, he took her by her hips and pulled her into his groin. He ran his cock over her folds, finding all the sensitive parts of her that he could. She wanted to tell him that it would be better once he was inside, but his touch scrambled her thoughts.
Pleasure rippled through her core. It throbbed in time with her racing heart. She thought she wouldn’t be able to handle it, but he held her together. Reece held her as he slowly slid inside her. She didn’t break and shatter into a million pieces. Instead, she closed around him and felt whole for once.
He waited there, his weight braced above her body. Pain pinched her lower parts when he pulled back. A single hiss brought him to a complete halt. If it bothered him to slow down and wait for her, he didn’t show it.
When he lifted his head, he wore a true grin. His beast filled his eyes and brought hers to the surface.
“Owl eyes,” he said, low and sweet.
He lowered himself to kiss each of her eyelids in turn, then claimed her lips. Slowly, while her lips were busy, he began with slow and gentle thrusts. Every stroke conjured sensation like she’d never known before.
How could one man feel so different from the rest?
Reece rose and leaned back while still inside her. He ran his fingertips up and down her bare legs, sending shudders through her. From this angle, he could reach the most sensitive part inside her. She arched her back, lips forming a wide O as her pleasure turned into a whirlwind.
Reece growled through his grin. He pulled her legs over his shoulders. She could feel herself tightening around him. Every word they’d exchanged and every sly shared look came together to amplify the sensations swirling inside her. The intensity would have frightened her had she not given herself over to it.
She watched Reece’s grin soften into an expression of pleasure. His eyes still gleamed with the light of his beast. The dragon watched her intently. She arched her spine again, presenting her breasts. Reece or his beast, one of them reached under her tank top and pinched her taut nipple between two fingers.
Her owl crooned. The feeling of feathers under her skin somehow sharpened every other sensation. The pleasure trapped in her core beat against the dam holding it back. Reece’s cock stroked it, intensifying it with every thrust.
She was close. Oh, so close. She dug her nails into his forearms. His thrusts turned feral. Their eyes locked, and he slammed into her. Between one impact and the next, the dam broke. Her pleasure swept over her. She didn’t realize she had screamed his name until the last wave receded and the aftershocks began to pop and crackle along her limbs.
Reece gave one last buck and let out a snarl. His fingers pressed into her thigh, so tight she thought they would meld into one before long.
Breathless, she sank back into the couch. Reece fell forward and caught himself so that he hovered over her. His auburn hair hung like a veil around his face. She pushed it back and gazed into his eyes. Together they laughed, an afterglow radiating around them.
Little by little, Reece lowered himself so that he was atop her but not crushing her. She wrapped her arms around him and savored the feeling of him still inside her. This Montoya man was not the monster. He wasn’t the villain.
He just might be her mate.
10
Reece set out for work, gently closing the front door behind him so that it wouldn’t wake Teagan, who’d spent the night sleeping peacefully in his bed. Thoughts of her roused his beast again. The dragon shook itself and came to life, suffusing him with hunger for her once more. He shoved the feeling and the beast back because there was work to do.
Reece had a lot to do outside of work, too. He knew that he owed Bryce a thank you for what she did, even if Bryce had only helped to pay back her debt to him. He also needed to speak to his mother about what Quincy had been up to.
Everything was a mess. The dragons were all snapping at one another, and if Reece wasn’t careful, he would get his hand bitten in the process. There was a Barnes woman in his home. His heart thundered while he thought about her safety. If anyone in his family learned of her presence, then there would be hell for both of them to pay.
He couldn’t approach anyone without caution right now, which was more frustrating than Reece had anticipated. He was tired of navigating his family’s drama. He’d never really had a taste for it to begin with. Every day, his situation became more and more tangled, and he wasn’t sure how he would escape it.
Living on the edge of his family’s territory and dedicating himself to his work had been enough to keep him out of the spotlight up until now. His situation had changed, though. Teagan was…
She was what? He wasn’t really sure what she meant to him yet. He had trouble opening his heart and peering inside to see what was real. If he opened it and saw that this was nothing but a distraction, then his joy might fall apart. He wasn’t ready to lose this feeling, even if he knew it likely had an expiration date.
He couldn’t figure out if he was disappointed that he didn’t feel like he thought he would when he found a mate or if Teagan wasn’t his mate at all. There was no glowing sign to tell him what was real. Waking up beside Teagan had been nice, but now that she was out of sight, he couldn’t escape the doubt nagging at the edges of his mind.
What if this wasn’t what he’d been searching for? What if it ended just like all the other relationships? What if…what if he’d been the problem all along? With his head in the clouds, he couldn’t see what was right in front of him.
Reece set out for work with his mind spinning. His thoughts tumbled from one problem to another when he’d hoped for the peace of mind that came from a night spent beside a woman.
Perhaps this wasn’t what he’d thought after all.
Teagan savored the feel of Reece’s sheets against her bare skin. She wasn’t quite ready to get out of bed yet, even though the hour had passed from early morning into late morning and she still hadn’t had her first cup of coffee.
Though her body begged for a caffeine boost, she didn’t want to leave behind the lingering high of what she’d done the night before. She rolled over and hugged Reece’s pillow close. His scent was more than enough to put her back to sleep again. She dozed, happy and safe.
When was the last time she’d been this comfortable? This sated? Her life had always had too many boundaries. Just turning around threatened to run her into barriers put in place by someone else.
There were no such boundaries or barriers here. Teagan could do whatever she pleased without fear of reprimand here. It was freeing, and she wasn’t going to give up this taste of freedom without a fight now. She gripped the sheets as she woke once more.
Was it Reece? Or was it the house? Teagan knew the answer to that question, but it brought with it a bit of worry. Her sister and cousins had fallen in love with Montoya shifters. They’d formed mate bonds, a kind of love that fate had bestowed upon them. There were no others that would make them as happy as their mates.
Teagan liked to
think that Reece could be her mate, but she couldn’t be sure. She had no way of telling. It wasn’t like an achievement box blinked in the corner of her vision, praising her for securing a mate bond. Her feelings for Reece were real. She knew that much.
She just didn’t know if this was the magical kind of love, or if it was just mundane love that could fade and crumble in time. Something about that seemed unfair. If she could have some sort of sign, then she would know what to do next. If Reece wasn’t her fated mate, she could leave and try to get over him.
If he was her mate, then she could figure out what she was going to say to his mother when she met the intimidating dragon shifter for the first time. Reece had already gone to work, or else she would have asked him for advice.
Not that the two women would meet any time soon. Teagan was still just an interloper hiding in Reece’s home. She wasn’t his mate or his girlfriend.
Sighing, Teagan finally threw herself out of bed. She grabbed one of Reece’s shirts and went in search of her forgotten pants in the living room. After rummaging through the pile of clothes they’d abandoned, she settled on Reece’s sweatpants instead of her leggings.
In the kitchen, Teagan wondered what she might do with her day. She debated going back to bed, but another thought slipped to the front of her mind and brought a smile to her lips. She wanted to see what he did every day, what it was that put the light in his eyes when he came home in the evening.
Of course, she had to shower and get dressed. Her clothing options were slim, as she still needed to do laundry. She’d been putting it off, lying to herself that she would be going home soon. Home barely existed in her mind anymore. At least, it wasn’t what it used to be. She hadn’t shrugged off the concept of home, but changed it.
This cabin had become home. She didn’t know when that had happened, but she couldn’t deny it. Her heart would break if Reece finally asked her to leave. She didn’t think he would. If she’d learned anything from the night before, it was that they had a lot left to explore between them.
A creak caught her attention. Her head snapped up. She noticed that the front door was slightly ajar. Her blood chilled. It wasn’t the sweep of winter air that shoved through the room from the open door that froze her through and through.
Cautious, Teagan crept toward the door. She sniffed the air, but her senses were still dull. It seemed that she hadn’t yet fully recovered from using the silver bracelet. There was a smell on the air that she couldn’t quite discern. It left her uncomfortable. There was something that she had missed.
Reece had been gone for hours. She’d slept a few of those hours away. Anything could have happened while she dreamed. The fact that no one had woken her was a small comfort. Reece could have been careless with the door and not closed it all the way. She knew that men could be a little stupid after climax, but she didn’t think it would extend all the way to the next morning.
She closed the door and locked it. Now the thought of taking a shower left her uneasy. She didn’t want to be naked and alone if someone came back.
Instead, she tossed on new clothes and ducked outside. The trek to the aviary wasn’t far. Walking along the side of the road was better than sitting around the house, waiting for someone to find her. She knew that being out in the open where her father could find her would spell the end of her short-lived freedom, but taking that risk was better than waiting for doom at the cabin.
Thankfully, her father didn’t fall out of the sky. Not like he would have. The sun was still out. Dragons were too big to fly out in the open on sunny days like this. They thrived on cloudy, overcast days and clear evenings.
That did mean that every passing car filled her with tension until she knew it wasn’t her father. She struggled to love that man. He’d adopted her as his own and treated her the same as he did Ember.
No, that wasn’t right. He loved her the same but treated her differently. All Teagan ever wanted was to be considered Ember’s equal. Not even Ember treated her that way. Teagan knew that was because Ember had been forced to play mother from a young age. They were adults now. There was no excuse for that not to change.
Teagan shook herself. A domed building appeared ahead. It sat back from the road, glass roof reflecting the sunshine in an array of colors. The sight set her at ease. She grinned and half-jogged up to the front door. There was no one in the lobby to greet her, even though there was a desk where someone should have been.
The sight slowed her. She scanned her surroundings and found no one around. The room was strangely silent until she pushed past the swinging doors that led past the lobby. Then she heard the soft ambient sounds of birds, chirping and cooing happily. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling of something being off.
Continuing forward, she listened for any sounds of life other than birds. Teagan wondered if Reece had lied about his involvement with the aviary until she heard the low baritone of his voice ahead. A pair of doors opened into an enclosed sanctuary full of trees. The warm air pressed around her and told her that it was still summer even though she knew the season had long passed.
Reece’s red hair gave him away. Though it was dark and burnished like leaves in late autumn, he was still easy to spot. Maybe it was because there was now a part of Teagan that would always know where he was. Her chest warmed as she watched him gently handle a red-tailed hawk.
The bird nipped at his finger before taking flight. It disappeared into the trees above. Reece watched the bird go and shook his head, though a smile still clung to his lips.
Reece’s head lowered. His eyes widened at the sight of her. His expression swayed between wariness and joy. It caught her off guard and made her hesitate, the warmth in her chest turning into a knot. She’d expected a warm welcome, but this worried her. She carefully kept her concern from her voice when she offered a short greeting.
“I wasn’t expecting you,” Reece said.
When he opened his arms for her, the knot in her chest eased but didn’t go away completely.
“I thought I would surprise you,” she said, stepping closer.
Reece crossed the space between them and embraced her. The kiss he gave her seemed to ask a question, but she didn’t know how to answer it other than letting him delve deeper. She hoped that by letting him in, he would choose to stay.
Because that’s what she saw. She could tell that Reece wasn’t completely invested in them. They might have slept together, but that was no signifier of a relationship for a man like him. She would have opened her heart, if she could have. Wasn’t this a form of that?
Reece pulled back and smiled softly. She took that as satisfaction, though she wasn’t too sure. It was what she wanted to see, so that’s what she settled with.
“You didn’t bring lunch,” he said, clearly teasing. His hand spread wider on her lower back. “But you brought something else I’d like to eat.”
Her cheeks warmed. She bit the inside of her cheek. She knew she should be cautious because Reece’s flirtation was likely a mask hiding something else, but she didn’t want to give up just yet.
“Right here?” she asked. “In front of all these birds?”
“They’re the only ones around. They won’t mind. I’ve had to watch some of them get it on before.”
She made an expression of mock disgust. “You had to watch?”
He shrugged. “It was more like they fucked while I was doing my job. It was terribly awkward for me.”
Teagan laughed while trying to study the man holding her. She wanted to believe that his reaction to her arrival was simply an adjustment period. Reece had been a bachelor up until recently. Well, he’d lived alone.
They weren’t a couple. Neither of them had said anything to make this official. Teagan was simply holding onto the idea that a mate bond could form and do it for her. That way, she wouldn’t have to talk about anything. It would be innate.
Waiting for magic to intercede on her behalf wasn’t a smart way to start a relationship, but she
wasn’t sure if she should start one if there wasn’t going to be any magic. What was the point of a relationship with no mate bond? When the real thing came along and tore them apart, there would be wounds that would linger for one of them.
Teagan hated treading carefully. She’d walked the paths laid out for her, aware that any step of the path was like stepping into an electrical fence. There was always a price to pay for her.
This, too, came with a price.
She dropped her head onto his shoulder. He stiffened, likely surprised at the sudden fall of her shoulders. She wrapped her arms around him and hoped that this could last, because it was all she wanted right now.
“Alright,” he said while rubbing her back. “We don’t have to figure out lunch.”
Was he being patient for her? Or was he relieved to be able to back out of his offer? The fact that she kept questioning his every move bothered her more than she wanted to let on. Teagan craved the comfort of certainty, but lacked the ability to ensure it herself. She let the question sit on her tongue, caged behind her teeth out of fear of the answer.
She lifted her head. “Where is everyone else? I thought a place like this would be busier.”
Reece sighed deep. She felt his body turn to lead beneath her touch.
“The aviary can’t afford a large staff anymore. There’s about three of us on payroll now. Bradley is in his office. I think Kari has the day off.” He stroked the back of her head as he spoke. “The Montoya family was one of their biggest donors, but Mom withdrew her funds recently. Our inheritance is running out. Mom would rather hoard what she has left than help keep these birds alive.”
“That sounds like a tricky situation. The Montoya mines aren’t functional anymore, are they?”
Reece pulled back and led her to a spot beneath the green canopy where they could sit as if they were outside in the summer. She savored the feeling of his warmth beside her and the soft moss under her.
“Logan might have left the mines, but they’ve been closed for so long that our technology is out of date and the tunnels are all too dangerous to enter.” He shook his head. “Besides, I’m not a fan of the process. I wouldn’t want us to start it up again because it would be detrimental to the local ecology.”
Wings of Destiny (Great Plains Dragon Feud Book 5) Page 10
