by Ophelia Bell
Simina was after a father for her child, not a lover, so she didn’t want her outfit to scream “fuck me” right off the bat. At least not until she decided whether she even liked her date.
After a quick touch-up to her makeup, she finished off the outfit with a single big bloom from the bouquet of daisies tucked behind one ear. Her heart racing, she headed out the door into the warm, golden evening.
Here, the scent of Earth’s mountains was every bit as refreshing as the mountains of Nova Aurora, but without the chilly bite of the wind that tended to blow down from the snow-covered peaks of her home. The area reminded her of the bear shifter territories more than anything, but she could see how the wilderness here would appeal to shifters of all kinds.
She hoped like hell that whoever her date was, he’d enjoy flying, because she’d be damned if she left this place without spending some time in the air, soaring above the rolling blue-green peaks in the distance.
Climbing up the wide wooden steps of the lodge, she shook her hands, hoping to dry the clammy sweat that coated her palms. She wasn’t prone to anxiety at her job, and was generally calm under pressure, but for some reason the prospect of a date had her tied up in knots as much as she’d been on the doorstep at the Hot Wings mansion.
She made it through the door and into the dining room without chickening out. The smiling host met her eyes and ushered her across the room.
The sun was setting in a blast of spectacular color through the window, still bright enough to dazzle her as she was led to her table. All she could see of her date at first was a silhouette that rose from his seat to an impressive height. The shape had broad shoulders and a massive, athletic build, which she liked … a lot … but reminded her a little too much of all the arena champions she used to work with.
Gerri wouldn’t have set her up with a champion, though. She’d been very clear about that particular preference. Besides, most alpha male shifters tended toward large, built physiques, so it wasn’t exactly unusual.
The host left her beside the table, and she blinked a few times to clear her vision.
“Hello there,” a rich, deep voice said, the timbre striking a chord within her. Her dragon perked up, uncoiling in interest. “My name’s Veryl. I take it you’re Simina?”
“That’s me,” she said, giving him a bright smile that felt a little forced, but turned genuine when the spots cleared from her eyes and she took in his clean-cut features. He had lovely mocha skin, a strong jaw, and a wide, inviting smile. His dimples were the most endearing part of him, and she found herself already envisioning those features on a child. The eyes that gazed back at her were a vivid shade of violet that made her heart skip a beat.
His gaze brightened at the same second she made that revelation.
“You’re a dragon,” he said.
Simina laughed. “I am. As are you. So far I am impressed with Gerri’s skills as a matchmaker.”
He chuckled, and some of the wariness in his eyes dissipated. He rounded the table and pulled out her chair. “I admit, I’m pleasantly surprised. But call me a skeptic … I think we need to get to know each other before we decide she’s the miracle-worker everyone seems to believe.”
“I completely agree,” Simina said as she sat and watched Veryl take his own seat. They ordered drinks and appetizers, making small-talk about the resort for a moment before falling silent.
After the third or fourth puzzled look from him, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Am I that much of a curiosity? What’s going through your mind, if you don’t mind me asking?”
His cheeks flushed and he took a long swallow of his drink. “I’m … just trying to process being here. On a date. With probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. But I feel like we know each other already. Where are you from?”
“Oh, around. But I’m pretty sure I’d remember you if we’d met before. You’re pretty hard to miss. In a good way.” She smiled warmly. His awkwardness was at odds with his confident bearing. He was comfortable in his own skin, that was obvious, which made her more curious about what made him tick. But she realized none of that was important if he didn’t meet one very basic criteria.
She took a deep breath, deciding she’d rather not waste time. If he didn’t want the same thing she did, they’d be better off enjoying their vacations separately.
“How much did Gerri tell you about me? About what I want?”
“Ah … almost nothing. I mean, I got your name, and she said we were a good match and to ‘keep an open mind,’ whatever that means. It was weird … My buddies got full-on, detailed profiles of their dates. All I got were cryptic riddles.”
“Your buddies?” she asked. “You came with friends?”
He darted his gaze to his meal that had just arrived, his brow crinkling. “Yeah, we’re kind of inseparable, I guess. Cato … he’s our ringleader … He decided we were due to settle down, so here we are. Paying out the ass for a matchmaker to, well, match us up.”
“You don’t sound convinced,” she said, her apprehension growing. Was this guy even ready for a mate if he put so much stock in what his friends thought or did?
“Oh, I want it. But I’ll be honest, what I want most is to be a dad. I just …” He set his fork down with a piece of meat still speared on the tines and sighed. “I’ll be completely honest with you. Going into this date, all I cared about was finding a mate willing to have a kid with me. That’s it. No emotional strings except whatever we would offer our child. My life is a little complicated.”
“I’m sensing a but,” she said.
He pressed his lips together and dipped his head. Then a slow smile spread across his face and he lifted his gaze to her so slowly it was as if he were about to let her in on a secret. “But I didn’t expect my damn dragon to like you as much as he does. No insta-love spark, but definitely more than indifference. Enough to think, ‘Hey, maybe if she wants the same thing, we can work toward something deeper’ … you know?”
She returned his smile and nodded, suddenly giddy with possibility. “I feel the same way. Exactly the same way. I think that woman may be onto something.”
“Same way … As in dragon-sense? Or …?”
“Everything. I want to have a baby too. Obviously I can’t just spontaneously generate, and I want my baby to have a dad—that’s a requirement, in fact. And I like you too … Or my dragon does, at any rate. She’s curious. Cautious, but interested enough that I’d like to get to know you. Ditto on the complicated life thing as well.”
Veryl seemed to visibly relax and ordered them both another round of drinks. They settled into more easy conversation, but she avoided talking about work, choosing to steer the conversation toward talk of their childhoods. They’d grown up on opposite sides of the dragon territories, belonged to two clans who had never intermingled, as far as Simina knew, due to the vast distance between them. But dragon culture was the same throughout the territory, so they’d had very similar experiences growing up, as well as interacting with other shifters, and even the human world, though it sounded like Veryl spent as little time on Earth as she did. Aside from the occasional visit to a relative or friend, this was his only long vacation here.
She was in high spirits, more hopeful than she’d been in a long time, when their date drew to an end and their dessert dishes were cleared.
“Can I walk you back to your cabin?” he asked.
“I would like that,” she said softly, her stomach fluttering at the eager gleam in his eye. Was it crazy of her to actually want to give this a try?
Questions continued to tumble through her mind as they headed out into the darkness and down the stone path through the woods to her cabin. Her eyes adjusted swiftly to the lack of light, and she warmed from the inside when he slipped his arm around her waist and fell into step beside her.
“Is this all right?” he asked.
“Mm
hmm,” she said. Part of her wanted to sink against his warm, masculine body. His sturdy shape and confident, protective embrace made her feel truly safe for the first time in ages. While he didn’t exactly light that “insta-spark” like he’d said, he definitely lit a warm, comfortable glow deep inside her. The kind she could be content with for the long-term.
“Simina …” he said in a low voice when her door came into view between the trees.
“Hmm?” she replied, drawing her thoughts back to the present and away from the visions of the son or daughter she’d been holding all her love in reserve for since Talon’s death.
“I think this could be good, but I don’t know if tonight’s the right time to start … you know.”
They stepped onto the lit porch of her cabin, and he slid his hand away from her hip as he stepped to the side and turned to face her. She missed his warmth, but nodded up at him.
“I’m here for two weeks. We can take our time.” She stepped close and rested a hand on his firm, thick chest, enjoying the way his muscles twitched beneath her touch. “I’d like to know more about you first.”
“Anything you want to know, just ask,” he said, his purple eyes meeting hers with complete, open honesty that reminded her so much of Talon in their most raw, emotional moments. She felt a pang of fierce longing to have that again. She could do without the mind-blowing sex, or the ongoing intellectual sparring matches, if she could just have that kind of soul-deep emotional connection with someone again. It was a compromise that would be more than worth it for the sake of getting what she truly wanted—a baby.
“Right now, I just want to know if I can see you tomorrow,” she said. “I’m itching to go flying so I can see this amazing place from the air. Will you join me?”
His face split into a dazzling smile, dimples blasting her with every ounce of charm to the point she couldn’t help but smile back. “I’d love to. See you back here in the morning? You’ve got a dragon’s nest on the roof to launch from, right? I think all the cabins do.”
“Yep. I watched the moonrise from up there last night.”
“Great. Then I’ll call ahead to have breakfast ready for us at a private waystation up at the peak of the mountain.”
“I like the sound of that. See you in the morning.”
Impulsively, she stretched up on tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Veryl squeezed her waist and he bent to return the kiss—another chaste, but sweet peck on her cheek that left her awash in his pleasant, musky scent. Then he was gone, strolling off into the shadows.
She stood on her stoop for a few moments longer, watching him go and admiring him from afar. He was physically perfect. A dragon, no less, and one her own dragon seemed pleased with, if not outright climbing out of her skin for. He was kind of perfect all over, really. She’d been terrified that she’d set eyes on another man and fall so hard for him she’d forget the deep love she’d had for Talon.
But with Veryl, she could ease into a relationship at her own pace, let their dragons acclimate, and she could mate him with a clear conscience that she was honoring Talon’s memory.
Chapter Seven
Veryl had barely stripped and climbed into bed when someone began pounding on his door. Multiple someones, and loudly. Grumbling, he shuffled back to the living room of his cabin and opened it to see Dez and Cato barely standing upright against each other.
“What the fuck? Are you two drunk?”
“As fucking skunks,” Dez said.
“We’re getting our damn money back,” Cato said. “I’m calling Wilder in the morning. Both our dates were a bust, and from the looks of things, you didn’t do so hot, either, seeing’s how you’re here alone. Sorry … I am sooo fuckin’ sorry, man.”
Cato pushed past him, big hand trailing drunkenly over Veryl’s bare stomach. Veryl’s skin came alive as his friend beelined to the well-stocked bar every cabin had. His cock instantly sprang to life and his gaze shot to Dez, who stood leaning in the open doorway, red gaze fixed right on the tent in Veryl’s shorts. The red dragon chuckled, his gaze raking up Veryl’s torso.
Veryl glared at him and Dez raised his hands in surrender. “Didn’t see a thing,” he whispered, following their teammate into the room.
“We aren’t fucking giving up,” Veryl said, snatching a bulky robe and shrugging into it in time to cover his erection before the cause of it turned back around from mixing a cold drink.
“You think she can find us new dates on short notice?” Cato asked. “I vote we just get our money back and live it up—spend the next two weeks flying around and meeting as many human chicks as we can find. We’re on vacation—we can take a break from our … break. There’s bound to be someone out there my fucking dragon likes enough to mate.”
Veryl scowled at his friend. “I don’t know, give Wilder a goddamn chance, at least. She has a perfect record; you said so yourself. I heard Hot Wings didn’t even officially hire her, but she hooked them up anyway.”
Cato propped his butt against one of the barstools and swirled his finger in his drink, then popped it in his mouth and sucked the liquid off. Veryl’s cock twitched under the thick terrycloth of his robe. He had the urge to take advantage of his friend’s drunken anger and convince him the three of them could make a go of it together. He knew that Dez would need little convincing, if he could just get Cato on board. The red always agreed with whatever their team leader suggested.
Yet the image of Simina’s beautiful face framed by her dark, pixyish curls was lodged in his mind. Cato’s speech the other day had driven home Veryl’s own aching need to start a family. After that day, the need had blazed in Veryl’s mind, and now he wanted it every bit as much as his partner did. Every bit as much as Simina did. And he’d be damned if he was going to disappoint her by not at least giving it a shot.
“Don’t tell me you fucking found your mate, dude,” Cato said. “No fucking fair.”
“I don’t know yet. I mean … there’s a chance …”
“The fuck there’s a chance. You either know or you don’t. There’s no halfway.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. You said yourself it’s like alchemy. I think she’s the one, but we just need to figure out how we fit.”
Dez snorted. “Man, I know it’s been a few years, but I really hope you haven’t forgotten how things fucking fit.”
“That’s not what I meant. Emotionally, she’s kind of perfect. She wants kids, I want kids. We both know there’s more to life than our desires. There is more to life than fucking.” He leveled a pointed stare at Dez.
The red dragon laughed, shaking his head. “In case you’ve forgotten, you kind of have to do the fucking to get the kids. Not to mention some marking has to happen first, and both your animals have to be on board for that.”
“My dragon’s on board, but I’m not marking her until she and I have talked about it and agree we’re ready. We haven’t trained as hard as we have to just let our dragons choose for us. We have a say in the matter too. And if I want her to be the mother of my children, I need to be sure. I don’t give a fuck what you two do. Go fuck each other, for all I care. Now if you don’t mind, will you get the hell out of my cabin? I’m meeting her to fly first thing in the morning and I’d like to get some rest.”
“Chill out, you made your fucking point,” Dez said. “Come on, Cato, I guess we’d better explore some alternatives before you get too shitfaced to use that brilliant brain of yours.”
He grabbed an objecting Cato by the arm and pushed him toward the door, freshly filled tumbler of liquor sloshing as he went. Cato chugged his drink and clumsily set the empty glass on a table by the door. Once he had the momentum, he lurched out into the darkness, swaying slightly until his huge blue wings ripped right through the back of his shirt to steady him.
Veryl and Dez watched in mute fascination as their teammate proceeded to strip right on
the path. Cato shifted and launched himself into the air, flying unsteadily up over the trees and bellowing his frustration into the night sky.
“Fucking hell,” Dez said. “And I thought I was the fuck-up who always overindulged. He wanted this so bad. Hell, I wanted it so bad I could taste it. I sure as fuck hope the female Wilder set you up with is really it for you. Seeing you pine for that jackass was wearing thin.”
Veryl shot a shocked look at his friend. “You knew? Did he …?”
Dez shook his head. “He’s in his own little world inside that brain of his. He wouldn’t know true love if it mauled him in the fucking nuts. For the record, I’m on your side. If this didn’t pan out, I was going to help you convince him that the three of us should at least give it a shot at mating each other. I have no clue if that’d even work, but we’re in sync enough to have the physical part down.”
“Males can mark each other,” Veryl said. “It happens.”
“I know, man. But we would pretty much end our chances at parenthood, if we did. So in that sense, I’m on his side. Which is why I really fucking hope this chick works for you. I want a kid so bad I can taste it, you know? A little Dez buzzing around, living life like there’s no tomorrow. But hell, I’d live vicariously through you, if I had to. Keep me posted, all right?”
“Sure,” Veryl said, a little stunned by Dez’s speech.
Above the cabin, Cato screeched at the moon and arced over them in an unsteady half-circle. Dez cursed and headed for the door. “I’d better fucking get him down and into bed before he completely terrorizes the countryside.” He paused once more before leaving and looked over his shoulder. “I love you, Ver. We both do. Don’t ever forget that, all right? Whatever happens with this, you’ll always have us.”
Veryl just nodded after him, dazed as he watched the other person he loved most in his life tear out of his clothes and dive off the porch, shifting fully in mid-air and soaring up into the heavens.
