“Don’t. I’m still too hot.”
She jerked away, but a secret smile pulled at her lips.
He narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“You were worried about me.”
His grin matched hers. “I know. Who would have guessed?”
* * * *
Not her.
With her soul leaping and whooping at Ishi’s statement, Sandra struggled to keep from grinning like a grade school girl. He cared about her. She had traveled halfway around the world, ready to battle a dragon if need be, and instead, he’d swept her off her feet.
Her heart throbbed with a dull ache. She’d almost forgotten what happy felt like.
“Urgle.” He called down the hallway after the goblin who had just saved her life. “Before you go, I need a hand with this.” He plunked his tail onto the ground next to where she stood. A dead, half-charred person was impaled on the tip.
Her tender heart took a nosedive into her stomach, sending a back splash up her throat. She pivoted, falling to her knees, and gagged on her last meal. Oh God, when did she cross over to the Twilight Zone? Dragon lover? Goblin savior? Roasted dwarf? Finally, nothing was left in her stomach and only dry heaves remained.
She listened to Urgle’s grunt as if he struggled with something heavy, but she refused to glance over her shoulder. Could someone theoretically vomit their stomach out? It sure seemed like she was close.
Something wet plopped on the ground and she squeezed her eyes shut.
“Pull the axe out of my shoulder now,” Ishi instructed his pet. More grunting, followed by the ping of metal hitting stone. He sighed. “That’s better. Take away the body. I don’t care what you do with it, but keep it out of her sight.” She sensed Ishi kneeling next to her before he brushed her hair away from her face. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’m as bad as the goblins. Isolation tends to make manners unnecessary.” He gathered her into his human arms, the skin of his bare chest still heated from the lava.
“I’m okay. I’m just not used to–to…” She glanced around the gateroom with the cooling lava on the floor already turning into stone. “This.” Plopping her head on his shoulder, she sighed. “Don’t you ever get tired of fighting?”
“No.” He stared at her as if she’d grown an extra eye in her forehead.
“Afraid?”
He grunted. “Of what?” He scooped her in his arms and carried her toward his bedroom.
“Nothing frightens you?”
His step faltered. “It scared me when you almost fell.” The intensity of his stare weighed heavy upon her. “You need to stay away from this room. The need to protect you makes me sloppy.” He gestured with his chin at his shoulder.
With her hand, she explored the spot and found it slick with something wet. She glared at the blood on her fingertips. “You’re hurt.” She wiggled in his arms. “Put me down.”
“I’m trying. Stop squirming.”
She half fell, half landed on her feet, but none of that mattered. Skirting around him, she saw the wound on his back, close to his shoulder blade. “Oh dear, you need stitches.”
He twisted his back so he could get a better view. “It’s just a flesh wound. I’ll be fine. Little bugger almost clipped my wing, though. That would have pissed me off.” Rubbing his stomach, he turned to face her. “Nothing like a good fight to make a dragon hungry.”
She made a face. “There’s charred dwarf.”
“Too chewy.” He took her hands in his. “I promised you sushi.”
She made a worse face. Raw fish was for cats. “That’s a promise I could bear to be broken.”
His grin grew wider and his eyelids heavier as he drew closer. “What if I promise to feed you by hand?”
“As long as you wash them.”
He burst into laughter. “Done. First, a shower.” He eyed her I Dream of Jeannie outfit and gave a sad sigh. “You should change.”
She nodded and strode into his bedroom. Her jeans were still wet, so she returned to his trunk of clothes. What would she find next?
Strong hands snaked around her waist, spinning her to face him. “Before you change, make them chime for me again.” He stared at the metal disks hanging from her breasts, and ran his hands along her sides. The carnal hunger in his gaze placed her nipples on the hard setting. If his smolder grew any hotter, she’d melt in his arms.
She was pathetic.
But happy.
She chimed her boobs with a good shake and couldn’t help but laugh as a smug grin spread across his face. “They’re not toys.”
He snorted with an accent of a dragon. “Says you.” He cupped them with a firm grip. “I could play all day. On second thought, maybe we should get take-out.”
“That sounds nice.” She leaned into his touch. “Before we devolve into grunting animals, I need to use the phone.”
“I like grunting.” He pinched her nipple, sending a hot streak of desire straight to her core.
She liked him grunting too.
He leaned away so he could meet her gaze. “Why do you need a phone?”
“I have to call the airline and book a flight home.”
Dropping his hands, he retreated as if slapped. “Home? You just got here.”
The puzzlement in his eyes tore at the thin fabric of her happiness. She hadn’t planned on any of this to happen, but she had to return. “You don’t understand–”
“I understand perfectly well. You got what you wanted from me and now it’s time to leave. Just like a human.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the cave walls, his gaze as hard as the stone around them. “I brought you into my den.” He pointed toward the tunnel with a sharp jab of his finger. “I showed you my treasure.” The muscles along his temple ticked. “I shared my bed.”
“I know–”
“You should be nesting by now, preparing to have my babies. Not running away.” She could count his teeth as he yelled in her face.
She swallowed, remembering the roasted body that had decorated his tail not long ago. “But I’m not a dragon.” She managed the words in a whisper.
“No shit?” He rolled his eyes at the ceiling. “You’re just a distraction.” Storming past her, he headed to the bathroom and stopped by the doorway. “The phone’s in there.” He pointed to small alcove carved off the bedroom, then slammed the door behind him.
Chapter 12
Sandra had found a lovely button-down pink dress in the trunk of misfit clothes. It came down above her knees with a flare that danced in the wind, but she may as well have worn her wet clothes for all the notice Ishi showed as he strode onto the ledge.
His suit jacket flapped in the gentle wind, and the open collar of his white dress shirt hinted at the solid muscles of his chest. Water dripped from the ends of his freshly washed hair. “I can’t fly us down. The wound is deeper than I thought. I have to let the muscles knit together, or risk worse damage. It should only take a few hours.”
“Oh.” She stared down the side of the volcano at the ocean and the far away docks where she’d have to catch the ferry back to the main island of Japan.
“This isn’t a ploy to trap you here.” He scowled at the ocean and possibly the same docks. “We’ll drive.”
“I thought you said there wasn’t any way to get up here but by flying.”
“I lied.” He jumped off the ledge by the entrance.
She raced to the side, expecting to see his body squished on the side of the volcano. “Ishi!” Freezing in her tracks, she met his gaze.
He stood on a narrow shelf. “What?” he bit out the question.
She choked on her relief, almost sinking to her knees. Even if he’d jumped off, he’d probably survive. He was a dragon, after all. “How do I get down?”
Holding out his hands, he gestured her closer until he grasped her hips and lowered her to the shelf. Pressing against his body stirred a mix of desire and sorrow.
She wanted to take the saji from her pocket, toss it off the mountai
n, and declare she’d never leave him. Duty and love could really suck lemons. Her sister needed her more than Ishi did. Life and death trumped love and happiness.
He led the way, holding her hand. She didn’t doubt that if she fell he would shift shape and catch her, no matter how injured he was. Her faith in him had grown fast over the last few days. How could she have reservations about a creature who’d spent such a long time defending a world not his own?
Honor, strength and power were fused to him in such a way that she doubted he was even aware of it. Afraid of what? he had asked, as if bravery was a given, fear nonexistent for him.
It was very real for her. Hovering over her for the last twelve months, the fear of losing her family had consumed her to the point of–of making deals with dragons.
She glanced at his broad back. But he had admitted to experiencing fear when she almost fell into the lava. She squeezed his hand.
He didn’t respond and released his hold when they reached a dirt path with his parked, well-used 4x4 truck. After opening the passenger side door, he helped her inside.
The ride consisted of bumpy trails, rocking the truck to the point where she thought they were going to roll over. Not exactly a time to clear the air between them. She clung to the chicken bar and prayed for asphalt.
By the time they hit the city road, she was too car sick to give a shit about making amends. She stared out the window and tried to calm her nausea, not wanting to toss her cookies. She’d already puked in front of Ishi once today, so why would a second time matter?
They parked in front of the restaurant, where he jumped out and opened her door. “You look a little green.”
“I prefer your flying over your driving.” She oozed out of the vehicle and rested her head against his chest. He was so solid and warm. She could stay there forever.
“I’ll remember that.” He ran his fingertips over her spine. “When do you leave?”
“In two days.” It was the soonest opening on any flights to America, unless she went stand-by.
He buried his face in her hair. “We’ll make the best of that time.”
She chewed on the inside of her cheeks, anger boiling in her belly. Male miscommunication apparently crossed species as well as worlds. She punched his injured shoulder, glaring at his pig-headed handsome face. Men!
“Ouch.” He winced. “What was that for?”
“I can’t come back to see you?”
He blinked and worked his jaw like a pelican with a full maw.
“You didn’t think of that, did you? You storm around your den like–like…”
“A dragon?”
“A stupid dragon.”
“I never claimed to be smart.” He grinned and eyed her fists. “I thought you were leaving for good.”
“See, that’s the problem, you were thinking. Leave that part to me. Stick to the fighting.”
He swooped in, molding her to the truck, and pinned her hands to her sides before smothering her with a kiss. Hard and hot, he entered her mouth, plundering her senses as if he owned the rights to her body. Heat washed over her as the press of his flesh ignited her passion anew.
She jerked away and gasped for breath. Hot damn. “Let’s take dinner to go.”
His dark gaze traveled along her curves before returning to her face. “Patience.”
Gaping, she kept from stomping her foot like a three-year-old. “Two days.”
“But you said you’d come back. I think maybe we should wait until you return. It would make the meeting so much sweeter.”
She gave her best impression of a dragon snort. It came out more piggish. “You won’t make it.”
“I’m a dragon. Patience is in my blood.”
She ran her fingertip over the fly of his pants.
He jolted as if she’d used a cattle prod.
“So is sex.” She slipped around him, making sure to rub her breasts against his arm as she passed, and moseyed to the restaurant. She held in a laugh at the sound of him taking a deep breath before he followed her with a hurried step.
Inside the restaurant he exchanged words with the hostess, who knew him by name and acted as if they were old friends. When the hostess touched his arm with her delicate fingers, Sandra wanted to bite them off.
She ground her teeth and stared at the mutant goldfish, called Koi, swimming in a tank by the doorway instead. All the while, images of dumping that tank over the hostess’s head kept her occupied.
Ishi took her hand and led her to a private table in the back. “I already ordered our meal.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You must come here often to know the menu by heart.”
“I hate to cook, and they do it so well.”
“Hmm…” She watched the pretty Asian woman who knew him by name cross the room. “Sample anything else here besides food?”
The waitress set a warm bottle of sake between them.
Pouring it into small ceramic cups, he grinned. “I remembered you like this.” So did she. Except, she had chugged the sake straight out of the bottle the last time she drank it.
* * * *
What was so urgent in America that it couldn’t wait a few more weeks? Ishi liked his new toy very much. She made him laugh and was fun to play with. She was strong, with just enough muscle to punch like a man. He rubbed his shoulder. Nothing like the delicate flowers he’d plucked from the island from time to time.
How could he not admire a female brave enough to approach him to make a deal? Most humans cowered or cried, or worse, pissed themselves when he was in dragon form. She’d cared for his hide and treated both his forms as equals.
The air seemed too thin to breathe all of a sudden as his gaze met hers. Sweat trickled down his back. By his grandfather’s hairy balls, she cared for him. He tossed his sake back like a shot. Worse, he cared for her.
She made him happy.
“You look a little pale.” She placed a hand over his. “Maybe you should take it easy on the sake. I don’t think I can carry you home.”
The image made him chuckle. “It would take more than a bottle to get me that drunk, sweetie.” He did sip his next cup, though. These feelings swirling in his chest worried him. Normally he’d stomp them out or deny their existence, but they wouldn’t let him ignore them. They’d been there all along, ever since she asked him for directions to a brothel instead of a hotel. He had thought his attraction was only carnal.
“Should I ask what I’m going to eat, or is it better I don’t know?” She finished her drink and made a face. “I won’t eat tentacles.”
Warmth that had nothing to do with the sake spread from his belly. She had such a lovely way of expressing herself. “Nothing bad. I promise.” She opened a new world for him. All he had to do was step in and conquer her heart.
“This, coming from someone who has eaten goblin.”
“Dragon taste buds are different from human ones. I won’t eat dog in this form.”
“Dog?” She leaned away from the table.
The serving wench returned with a tray. Samples of their culinary art were displayed for Sandra.
She regarded dinner with a strategic expression.
He plucked a piece with the chopsticks provided. “It won’t bite. It’s dinner, not a battle.” Lifting it to her mouth, he waited. First, she needed to learn to trust him. He’d never harm her.
With a huge sigh, she opened her mouth and closed her eyes.
He wasn’t feeding her entrails, but she acted like it. The sushi roll he’d chosen didn’t even contain meat. He popped one in his mouth as well, with a generous piece of wasabi and ginger.
Nodding, she chewed with more vigor. “Not bad. So if your tastes are different depending on your form, why don’t you hunt in Outremer as a dragon? Or are you not allowed to pass through the gate?”
“I can pass, yet it calls me when it’s breeched. Like here, I might be able to fly in any direction, but I always get called back.”
“What about just outsi
de the gate? Like here?” She struggled with the chopsticks. Pieces of sushi kept slipping from her grasp, and then with the bravery of a warrior, she used her fingers, tucking one in her mouth.
“Not exactly a place I want to stay. Shadowburn is populated by the darker brethren of supernaturals.”
She paused in taking a sip of her sake. “In English now?”
“It’s where the bad monsters live.” He offered her a roll with tuna hidden inside. “The goblins have a huge nest outside my gate. Well, had a nest. A colony of dwarves have driven them out of their cave system. They even herded a few groups through the gate so I’d do the killing for them, lazy metal grinders.” He shook his head at their audacity. “That’s how I got Urgle.”
She gave a crooked, gentle smile. “You have a soft spot for him.”
“Of course I don’t. He’s just a pet.”
“Most people love their pets.”
“I’m not sleeping with Urgle. No matter how much you beg. I’m not into that kind of thing.” He understood what she meant, but he loved how she threw her head back when she laughed and how her eyes sparkled.
“Okay, so no menage with the goblin, and no vacations in Shadowburn.” She blinked. “Where do your people live?”
“Oh, we can’t bear to live together.” Just the thought sent a shiver down his spine. “But most of us live in Upper Firth. There’s a high concentration of humans in that realm. You’d like it there.”
“You’re isolated from everyone.” Her eyes turned sad.
That was the last thing he wanted to see on her face. “They visit and I can’t wait until they leave. This island provides enough entertainment.” Until recently…
“Oh, well, that’s good.” Her gaze traveled to the waitress serving another couple.
He offered her another piece of sushi.
“You know I can feed myself.” She took the morsel, the delight in her eyes tempering her words.
“I believe you can, but why should you when I’m here?”
“Very smooth.” She dabbed the corner of her mouth. “Don’t you miss your home?” The wistful words caught at his heart and sizzled on its surface. She obviously missed hers.
“The gate is my home. I’ve been here so long, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t guard it.”
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