Huh.
Katie wiggled against him. “You know, there’s a lovely seat right there. An empty seat.”
Joey shrugged. “You shouldn’t touch something so dirty. Besides, I like holding you, feeling your curves.” He leaned close, his lips skimming her ear, and she fought the shiver that threatened. Oh, shit, then he licked the shell of her ear and that shiver burst free, racing down her spine. “Having you so close makes my cock hard, sweetness. Makes me want you even more. The question is, when will you give in and let me take you? Hmm?”
Another shudder, this one zinging from her hardened nipples and right to her pussy. She ached, body yearning for him, but she pushed away the desire. She had a plan. One that included the farmhouse on that bumpy dirt road and did not include the twelve’s headquarters in Miami. At all. Ever.
“Never say never, especially to a dragon.”
She adopted her best prim and proper librarian tone. She hadn’t ever been a librarian or actually spent a whole lotta time in a library, but she had an imagination. “I don’t anticipate acquiescing to your desires in the immediate or long-term future.”
There. That wasn’t never.
“Mmm hmm…”
That was it? A hum?
That had Katie glaring at him and ignoring the warmth of his hands. One cupped her hip, holding her steady while the other toyed with the hem of her dress. The very high, very much exposing a lot of fishnet clad skin, dress.
Maybe The Black Dress hadn’t been the best choice. Then again, she hadn’t intended on getting this close to her mate.
Her hedgie purred. Her mate… It wanted to claim him, uncaring of the wrench his presence threw into her plans. Katie-the-human said, “Stupid mate,” while Katie-the-hedgie said, “You’re stupid for not fucking me now.”
Horny hedgehog.
The animal didn’t hesitate to agree.
The waitress finally appeared, her jeans hanging low and her top even lower. Katie kept Joey in her periphery, watching him watching the waitress. If his gaze dropped to the chick’s cleavage… it would be on… like something really bad that involved gnawed Achilles tendons and itty bitty bites.
Her mate didn’t show even a hint of interest in the woman. Instead, he nuzzled her, his sharp teeth scraping her skin.
“What would you like, sweetness?” He repeated the caress. “Katie?”
She finally realized he was speaking and the waitress was glaring. “Um, sorry, just a salad, please.”
The woman gave her a blank look. “In this place? You think we serve that kinda shit?”
A rolling growl vibrated through her and she realized the sound didn’t come from her but Joey.
That shouldn’t have made her pussy wet, but it did.
The waitress paled. “Right. Salad. And you?”
“Steak. Rare. Barely seared.”
“Uh huh. Right.” She quickly flipped her notepad closed and practically ran for the kitchen.
Katie leaned toward him and she couldn’t resist resting her head on his shoulder. His scent called to her inner beastie, the animal wiggling her little quills and doing her best to tempt the male.
“That was mean.”
Joey stroked her thigh, his other hand easing around her body and cupping her ass.
“I want my mate to have what she desires,” he purred, her clit twitched and panic struck her chest.
Danger, Katie Carmichael, danger.
Without another word, she bolted from her seat. “I have to go to the bathroom.” Before she sat her happy ass on the table, spread her thighs, and said, “Come to mama.”
Which, if he kept touching her, kept saying things like mate and desire and happy, would happen in all of a second. No, running was a good thing, and she didn’t feel the slightest bit ashamed about the move.
Katie once again wove between tables and unwashed bodies as she made her way to the bathroom. With the heel of her hands, she nudged the swinging door open and stepped into the small space.
Then she made the mistake of breathing through her nose. Blech! Bile rushed forward, snaking up her throat and she gagged.
A heavy, thumping knock slammed against the door. “If you’re puking, do it in the fucking garbage. I’m not washing that fucking toilet again tonight!”
Of course, that had her looking at said toilet and the urge to puke doubled. The bathroom was definitely not the best hiding place. Fleeing for her life—oh, god, the germs!—she rushed into the hallway and slammed into a massive, disgustingly dirty body.
“Hey, baby.” Rough, soiled hands gripped her hips and pulled her tightly against him. “Let’s go get acquainted.”
Katie’s chittering hedgie rushed forward, ready to defend herself as best she could. It wouldn’t be much, but maybe she could defeat him with a few well-placed claws. “I’m—”
“Here with someone else. A very possessive, very aggressive male.” Joey’s voice boomed in the small space and her animal reacted to his presence. It melted, ready to hide behind him, cling to him as he protected her. He slowly thumped toward them, his boots echoing against the grimy concrete floor.
That’s when she noticed his new clothing. The trim, distinguished suit had become a worn leather jacket, ratty jeans and scuffed biker boots. He blended in, his attire now telling others he meant business, he was dangerous. She fought the wave of arousal that thrummed through her.
He was hers.
“Let her go.” Joey tilted his head to the side and rolled his shoulders. “And I won’t kill you.”
The human man snorted. “You and what army, asshole.”
The man ground against her and she struggled, tugging on his hold. The hardness against her hip disgusted her, the nausea from before surging forward once again.
Her mate grinned, but there wasn’t a hint of mirth. “I warned you.”
Then suddenly the man holding her captive was gone, his grip released as he was torn from her body. She swung her gaze to the end of the hall, to the darkness that lived there, and found herself looking at her mate’s back. His growls were audible, rumbling and rolling through the small space.
The human whimpered and a new wave of urine stench bowled over her. He’d pissed himself and still Joey remained poised above her attacker. Her mate’s jacket stretched across his shoulders, pulling and straining more and more with every breath.
Crap, he was about to shift in this dingy hallway.
“Stop it,” she called to her mate, but he seemed not to hear her. She stepped closer, easing forward until he was within reach. “Joey, mate, leave him.” He snarled at her, his head turning and glowing midnight eyes met hers. “He’s not worth it. This was a mistake. Take me out of here.” Indecision and rage warred across his features. “Please.”
The light slid from his eyes, returning to their normal color and he pushed away from the wall. He came forward, wrapping his arms around her body in a tight hug.
“Are you okay?”
She clung to him. “I’m fine.” Her voice shook, tendrils of fear and worry still filling her. “I want to leave.”
“Where do you want to go?” he murmured into her ear, his face pressed against the side of her neck.
Coming to Jasmine to give him a hard time had been a mistake. She’d wanted to discomfit him, show him this was her kind of place and she wasn’t the female for him. All it’d done was show her that Joey was the type of male for her. Strong. Fierce. Deadly. Hers.
“Anywhere. Anywhere but here.”
*
“You got it, sweetness. Anywhere but here.”
Joey didn’t take her out through the main restaurant. There was no way he could. Not with her trembling and shivering in his arms, the sound of tears and fear in her voice hitting all the right buttons to take him from Joey, the easy-going, laid-back guy who liked to chat up the women and enjoy a few beers, to Joseph the Black, one of the feared warriors of the twelve. The mere mention of his name was used to scare dragon kids into behaving and sent rogu
es fleeing for their lives.
Now, all it would take to turn him into that ruthless defender was just one more asshole to look at Katie with lust in his eyes and rolling off his skin. Skin the dragon would happily roast. He’d torch the lot of them if they looked at his mate again. And it wasn’t as if there would even be bodies left for evidence. He’d skipped dinner, so he was a little peckish.
He urged her along the corridor toward the back door, his male ego fed by the way she leaned against him. Seeking comfort and support from him. As she should, that was the way it should be between mates.
She tripped on a curled bit of linoleum, catching at his arm for balance but he was already there. Easily he swung her up into his arms and carried on walking without a break in his stride.
“No! Joey, put me down,” she complained, pushing at his shoulders. Real worry shadowed her eyes. “I’m too heavy, put me down before you hurt yourself.”
“Heavy? You?” He chuckled and settled her closer against his chest. “In what reality am I supposed to believe that? You’re as light as a feather, sweetness. I could carry you all the time. Be happy to as well…”
Her curves pressed against him sent shivers of lust through his veins, their greedy fingers trailing down his spine before curling around and grabbing hold of his already hard cock. Thank the heavens for leather and its constraining properties.
The door at the end of the corridor was locked and barred, despite the big signs that proclaimed its status as a fire exit. He eyed the heavy bolts and the chain. Serious stuff. The customers were shit out of luck if there was a fire.
He kicked it, his heavy boot slamming into the wood violently. It cracked, the scream of metal as the chains broke loud over the music coming from the bar behind them. He ignored it, striding into the darkness behind the restaurant.
His chest heaved, but not from the exertion. Instead, his dragon fought to break free again, to get on the wing and take their mate away from here and to safety. He looked down at his little mate curled up so trustingly in his arms and his heart ached. He’d gone back into the corridor on a hunch, but when he’d seen her cornered, the scent of her terror in the air, he’d nearly lost it.
Only the fact that a dragon the size of a couple of city buses wouldn’t fit into the enclosed space without squashing his itty-bitty mate had stopped him turning then and there. On his own, it wouldn’t have bothered him. He’d have shifted, torn the building apart along with the bastard who had dared put hands on his mate. His mate. Who did that fucking human think he was, anyway?
He fought the urge for all of three seconds, then let it flow over his body. He held his little mate close through the whole thing, cradled against his chest as he launched himself into the air. Two wingbeats had them airborne and he caught a thermal to wheel them around toward Ferrer’s Hill.
The flight was less than a minute long and then his back claws touched down on the grass atop the hill. He let his beast go, relaxing back into his human body and looked down. Wide brown eyes looked back up at him and he smiled. He hadn’t missed her silence on the short flight or the way her hands curled trustingly into the lapels of the leather jacket.
“How’s this for anywhere?”
She looked around. Her lips compressed but he caught the flash of amusement in her eyes. “The Hill. You know what they say about this place?”
He gave her an innocent smile. “That the view is awesome?” His gaze didn’t leave hers. “I have to agree with them. The view I have is beautiful.”
She opened her mouth but paused, a look of confusion on her face as she obviously tried to work out some sort of comeback but was stumped by the compliment. Smiling, he dropped a fond kiss on the end of her nose, then upped the ante.
Letting go of her knees, he slid her down the front of his body. Slowly. Making sure she felt every hard plane of muscle against the delicious softness that was her body. He could already smell her interest, the arousal she tried to convince him she didn't feel with her sharp-fire comments and sarcastic remarks. Trying to keep him away. Trying to convince herself this wasn’t happening. That they weren’t mates.
Too late, sweetness. It had been too late for her as soon as he’d scented her in his grandpa’s house. She just didn’t know that yet.
She would soon. She was his mate and he intended to claim her.
Tonight.
*
He looked like he wanted to eat her and not for dinner. Maybe an after supper snack. Dessert.
Katie locked her knees, forcing herself to remain upright. Melting into a puddle at the man’s feet wouldn’t show him anything other than the fact that she was easy. Which, for him, she totally could be.
She forced her body into motion, putting distance between them. Being surrounded by him, his scent filling her lungs, screwed with her head. The hedgie wanted to hump his leg while her human half wanted… to see if he tasted as good as he looked.
No. Mating is bad. Getting the house in my name is good.
She coughed, throat suddenly dry, and her next inhale brought in a wave of his arousal. Joey was pure heat and sex appeal. His scent was smoky and sweet and her inner beast was sitting up like Oliver Twist with a great big, drooling, “Please, sir, I want some more.”
She was a whore. She should go back to whore island where women like her belonged. But if she only turned ass up for her mate, did that count?
Katie decided it didn’t, so she tucked the whore moniker back in her metaphorical bag.
“Thank you for getting me out of there.”
“Anytime. Anything,” he reached for her and she spun away, avoiding his touch as she focused on the view, “for my mate.”
“We should, uh, talk about that.”
“Hmm…” His heat reached her first and she realized she hadn’t heard him move. “About the fact you’re mine?” He slid his arms around her waist, tugging her snuggly against him. “Or that you want me?”
His hardness pulsed against her ass, telling her without words that he craved her. Katie’s body responded, pussy aching, clit twitching, and a wave of sensual need slid through her. Her nipples, snug in the tight dress, hardened and pressed against the material.
Joey breathed deeply, his chest expanding and sliding over her back. He released the breath with a deep rumble and warm smoke filled the air. It wasn’t the nose-stinging scent of burnt wood or fire. No, this was sweet warmth that called to her hedgie.
“You do smell delicious when you want me, sweetness.”
“I don’t… No… You…” she sputtered. What else could she do? Admit he was right?
No. Not so much.
“Yes, me. And you.”
“Joey…” There. She said his name. With a warning tone and everything. One that said, “I want you, but don’t want to want you, so maybe make me come and we can talk.”
“Stop thinking. Stop worrying.”
“I’m not,” she gulped. “I’m not ready for mating, Joey.”
At all. She wasn’t ready to lose her life to someone as high profile as a member of the twelve. His entire world would overshadow her in an instant and she’d be left adrift.
“Hmm…”
Joey tightened his hold for a bare moment before he went into motion. Those warm hands stroked her, palms sliding over the thin material of The Black Dress, burning her with his touch. One gripped her hip and then traveled to the swell of her stomach. He rested the heel of his hand on the small bump while his fingers pressed against the flesh just above her mound.
Thank god for the tight dress and fishnets. Otherwise, she’d be ready to scream, “Fuck me now!” His touch, so close to where she ached for him, sent her need soaring.
His other hand—hell, she almost forgot he had two—slid along her abdomen and cupped her breast. She overflowed the cup of his hand as he kneaded the mound.
“So beautiful, so lush.” Another one of those smoke-tinged rumbles came from him. “So mine.”
“Joey, we said…”
&
nbsp; “Shh, sweetness. I know what you said.” A wet tongue slid along the line of her neck and the forked appendage flicked her earlobe before it vanished. “No mating bites, right now.”
Joey scraped a fang along her shoulder and she almost begged him to bite her, to take her and they’d figure out the rest. But she didn’t. Not yet. Not ever.
He repeated the scraping caress and she shuddered, whimpering when he pulled his mouth away. “Shall I give you sample of what’s to come, Katie? Shall I prove to you that I can sate my mate’s desires?”
He wanted to talk? Now?
He was smoking crack. There was no way she could think beyond his teeth on her skin, his hand toying with her breast—holy crap he pinched her nipple—and the fingers teasing the top of her cloth-covered slit.
“Hmm?”
Yeah, he’d been smoking a lot of crack.
“Let me love you, Katie. Say yes.”
A sharp sting at her breast had her jerking in his arms and she stared at the claw-tipped thumb toying with her cleavage. He scraped her again, the deadly nail drawing a bright red line over her pale skin.
“Joey,” she gasped and her pussy clenched, tightening and begging to be filled.
“Like that, sweetness?” He breathed deeply once again. “Yes, you did.” He lowered his voice to a bare whisper, the sexy rumble not helping her state of mind one bit. “You’re wet for me, aren’t you?”
“No.” She shook her head to punctuate the lie.
“No, the answer is yes. Or are you looking for a spanking because of the lie?” Another one of those tremor-inducing rumbles. “I’ll only warm your bottom if you ask nicely.”
“Joey… I don’t…” She didn’t know what to ask for anymore. Her animal screeched for him, her body craved his touch, and yet her mind shied from the idea of tying them together for eternity.
“Let me love you. No teeth tonight,” he cajoled.
He caught the neck of her dress, sliding that nail along the line. Easing beneath the edge, he toyed with her hidden flesh. She held her breath. He wouldn’t push further, she somehow knew, but he did tease with the touch.
She reveled in the caress as she rested on the precipice. She wavered from yes to no and back again. Her body screamed at her, the animal screaming, and finally she simply… let go.
Dragon Her Feet Page 5
