His Fiery Kiss: Real Men of Wildridge

by Kyle, Celia

  “Okay, okay, I get it,” he said, giving her a smile that made her heart race. “It wasn’t all your fault, you know. I should have just asked what the hell was going on when I sensed you were hiding something. I guess denial really isn’t just some river in Egypt.”

  She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him fully. “I would have told you the truth if you’d asked, you know. I know that’s easy to say after the fact, but it’s true. I’ve never lied to you, Ragan, and I never will, if you can stomach the thought of giving me another chance.”

  Ragan smiled at her again, and that same rush of warmth flooded her body. “That wouldn’t be such a hardship.”

  Taking her empty paper plate from her, he tossed both plates in a nearby trash can and then interlaced his fingers with hers. Thunder pounded so loudly in her ears as they continued their walk, she could barely hear his words as he talked about his work as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It felt natural, that much she knew.

  The weirdest and most wonderful part of it was that it appeared to be mutual. As they walked, they moved closer and closer together until finally they found themselves tangled in each other’s arms under the sweeping, broad branches of a willow tree down by the duck pond.

  “I don’t know what it is about you,” Ragan said softly as he peered into her eyes. “But something just draws me in.”

  “I feel exactly the same way.”

  His hands slid down to cup her face, his eyes studying her as though she were some mystical object he wanted desperately to understand.

  “When I kissed you this morning…” he trailed off.

  “I felt it too,” she whispered.

  “Maybe we should test it.” When his gaze flicked down to her soft lips, her pulse sped up.

  “That’s a brilliant idea.”

  Ragan’s fingers gently combed through her hair as he leaned down to kiss her, their lips pressing hotly against one another’s in the warm glow of the sunset. Elissa’s spirit soared, her beast within mewling and longing for more. It felt like fireworks were exploding inside her heart, and by the time they broke apart, they were rosy-cheeked and gasping for breath. Elissa let out an exhilarated laugh and Ragan grinned, resting his forehead against hers.

  Elissa could tell from their kiss that he’d forgiven her. She could sense it. And she could hardly wait to show him just how apologetic she really was.

  “So you’re a panther,” he said out of nowhere.

  She giggled and nodded. “Yep. And you’re a dragon.”

  “Kind of an odd pairing, but…I’m willing to work with it if you are.”

  “Sounds hot to me,” she said playfully. “Maybe you can give me a ride sometime.”

  “Dragons don’t often give rides,” he said sternly and then broke into an electric grin. “But I’ll bend the rules for you.”

  He kissed her again, this time more deeply than ever before. They wrapped around each other, bending and swaying in one another’s embrace as the last of the sun disappeared and the park cleared around them. Before long, night would be on them, and the light all but disappeared from the sky.

  “Do you…want to go back to my place?” Elissa suggested, her cheeks flaming hot at her boldness. “Or better yet, we could go to yours. Don’t want to risk my dad walking in.”

  Ragan sighed and pulled away. “I really want to, Elissa. I mean, I really want to. But I have to get back to the office so I can track down this aleistercrowley guy, which will be difficult considering he seems to operate on the dark web. I’ll get it done. I always do, but it might take me some time. The longer I wait, the more chance there is of Stark Bradford’s dirty secrets coming out.”

  Elissa’s mood quickly shifted. “You’re right. Protecting his family is the most important thing right now. Besides, we’ll have plenty of time after you solve the case. Do you mind if I use the restroom before I go home?”

  Ragan laughed and pulled her toward the crosswalk leading to Wildridge. The place was dark and locked up tightly when they arrived, but Ragan had a key.

  “Last door on the left,” he said as he busied himself with flicking on lights and preparing for a long night of work

  “Cool. Be right back.”

  Elissa dropped her purse on the receptionist’s desk, the strap jostling the mouse and lighting up the screen to reveal a funky screensaver. From what she remembered about the girl who sat at the desk, funky was a kind descriptor.

  With an amused shake of her head, she hurried down the hallway, thinking of nothing but finding the right room and fast. A thought hit her so hard and so fast, she stopped dead in her tracks, her insistent bladder completely forgotten. Rushing back to the computer screen, Elissa’s blood ran cold in her veins.

  “Oh. My. God.”

  Chapter Nine

  “She’s on her way up,” squawked the handheld radio in Charlie’s hand, and without so much as an acknowledgment, he clicked it off and set it down on the conference room table.

  The entire team had assembled early the next morning for a debrief and to set up everything. Dyrk had, of course, arrived early and managed to get in an hour of work on Bradford’s financial accounts before they all moved to the conference room. Wyntir wore a bold, dusty pink pantsuit with a mellow lavender sweater beneath the blazer, and since she was the only one whose presence meant being relieved from her duties, she looked relaxed. Elektra sat next to Charlie, looking about as grim as he did, but that was her normal state of being. Thrett was already on his third doughnut and second cup of coffee, thanks to the spread he’d brought in. Allon would be late to the meeting, but they wouldn’t need to wait for him.

  The only sound in the room was Thrett’s munching, which ratcheted up Ragan’s heart rate. Elissa squeezed his hand under the table, already sensing his moods. Of course no one needed to be emotionally connected to Charlie to see he was pissed. Not many people experienced the wrath of an elder dragon, but it was not an experience one tended to forget. It was certainly something Ragan wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy.

  Despite everything, Ragan was excited, and he couldn’t help himself. This had started with him almost getting shunted to the side on yet another job, and now, he was close enough to the end of the road he could taste victory.

  He’d said as much to Elissa and she had unhelpfully pointed out that victory didn’t have a flavor. Oh, and she was the one who’d made the discovery that brought them all to the conference room so early. Ragan couldn’t argue that, but he liked to think he would’ve found his way to the solution too. Eventually. Regardless, knowing she was on his side made all the difference. They’d go down in history as an unstoppable crime-fighting duo. Or something.

  First things first.

  The sound of the outer door whooshing open reached them and everyone at the table tensed. For the first time that morning, Elektra smiled, but it wasn’t the kind of smile that would warm the recipient’s heart. Quite the opposite, in fact. Hell, it sent a shiver of dread down Ragan’s back. He couldn’t wait to see the effect it would have on…

  “Hey, did I miss a memo or something?” Bellicent stood in the doorway looking perplexed and vaguely disgruntled, as usual. “Was there a meeting scheduled?”

  Charlie’s lips pulled back in a reasonable facsimile of a smile. “Perfect timing, Ms. Bleek. We’re making headway on the Bradford case and need you to take notes. I took the liberty of setting up your laptop for you.”

  She looked at the open seat next to Charlie and sighed dramatically. Grabbing a doughnut on her way past Thrett, she plopped into her seat and glared at her screen, fingers at the ready.

  “Ragan,” Charlie said, shifting his attention, “have you made any progress on the case?”

  Ragan cleared his throat and released Elissa’s hand so he could fold his in front of him. “I have. The bad news is that I met with Stark Bradford late yesterday and, unfortunately, he had no clue who might have a vendetta against him. We left with no more information than we’d a
rrived with.”

  “What’s the good news?” Wyntir asked, her voice quivering with anticipation.

  Ragan couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “We now have concrete evidence of who’s behind the burglary.”

  Everyone in the room watched him with genuine interest, including Bellicent. When her pencil-thin eyebrows shot up, he knew she was finally paying attention, possibly for the first time since she’d started working there three months earlier.

  “Where’d you come across the information?” Elektra asked.

  “To be fair, I didn’t. Elissa’s the one who cracked the case wide open. How’s that for cooperating with the press?”

  Thrett chuckled through the last of his breakfast, a glint of lewdness in his hazel eyes. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

  Ragan ignored him and turned a bright smile on Bellicent, who’d just taken a bite. “What I really want to know, though, is exactly how you did it.”

  The receptionist’s skin couldn’t blanch any whiter than it already was, but her black eyes darted up to meet his. “What?” she asked, spraying bits of doughnut on her laptop.

  “I’m not a conceited man, but I’m good at what I do. Outstanding, in fact. Yet you were somehow able to bypass my encryption to access Stark Bradford’s files,” Ragan explained, twirling a pencil in his fingers. “If a receptionist could hack her way in, I might need to hire a few white hats to help me shore up security. We can talk about that later, Charlie.”

  “Hold up,” Bellicent croaked, shaking her head, her eyebrows knit. “What the fuck are you talking about? I haven’t done anything.”

  “Oh, that’s unfortunate because someone with access to your computer quietly collected all of Stark Bradford’s home information, which we happen to have on file here, given he’s a client. Are you suggesting someone here is trying to frame you?”

  Bellicent’s gaze darted around the table, looking a little like she’d just been dropped into the lion’s den, but she kept her mouth shut.

  “Best I can figure,” Ragan continued, “you used a program to worm through my security measures to get what you needed, but even then you’d need pretty solid knowledge of cyber security to do that, which is more than I gave you credit for. Naturally, I’m curious how you pulled it off.”

  And he was. He wasn’t even mad about it—well, maybe a little—but mostly he was curious.

  “Dude, I only graduated high school last year, and I was no geek,” she said, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms. “Try harder if you want to throw me under the bus, asshole.”

  “Turns out,” Elektra said just as calmly and amicably as Ragan had, “Stark Bradford was very secretive about his home security, including floor plans. He even had the architects sign a dozen nondisclosure agreements. The only people with access, other than Bradford himself, are Wildridge Security employees.”

  Bellicent licked her lips, her gaze moving fast around the room, as if looking for a way out. “Have you searched Allon’s computer? He’s not even here! Seems pretty fuckin’ suspicious to me.”

  Ragan clucked his tongue, like he was disappointed she took that tack. “You see, I have access to the registry that shows who accessed which files and from which terminal.”

  Her face turned hot pink, a stark contrast to her normal pallor. “So? I never shut down when I go to the bathroom or anything. Anyone here could have done it.”

  “Hey,” Thrett said, resting his elbows on the table to stare at her, “all I really want to know is how the hell you knew the sex tape was in the safe in the first place when only Bradford and his dead wife knew it even existed.”

  “Fuck off,” Bellicent snapped, not even trying to feign ignorance of the drive’s existence. A few small black feathers popped out from her sleeves and around the neck of her shirt as her breathing grew fast and panicked. “This is a witch hunt!”

  “Oh,” Ragan said, pulling a thumb drive of his own from his pocket and sliding it across the table to her, “did I forget to mention we have you on camera accessing Bradford’s files? Oops.”

  Bellicent’s eyes grew wide and wild as the understanding she was well and truly caught sank in. A noise from the outer office drew their attention and Alice rushed into the conference room, worry written all over her face.

  “Have you seen it? I don’t know why they always come over here. Did any of you happen to see my—”

  Bellicent saw her chance and took it. Launching vertically out of her chair, she morphed into a huge crow mid-air. Alice squeaked and jumped aside as the black blur shot past her like a bullet…and smack into Allon’s massive chest. With a dull thud, the unconscious crow fell to the floor, her wings splayed and her beak hanging open. Allon winced and rubbed the spot she’d hit.

  “Ow,” he said mildly, as if he’d just gotten a paper cut. Stooping down, he collected the limp bird in one big hand and grinned at everyone sitting at the table. “Suspect in custody.”

  The tension in the conference room melted, and Ragan breathed a sigh of relief as his colleagues broke into smiles and congratulatory pats on the shoulder for both him and Elissa.

  “Very well done, Ragan,” Dyrk said, leaning forward on his forearms.

  “Not bad for under forty-eight hours, newbie,” Elektra admitted with an impressed smile.

  “Honestly,” Ragan said, looking to Elissa’s smiling face. “I don’t think I would have even made it past square one without Elissa, so let’s split the credit at an even fifty-fifty for this one.”

  “I can live with that,” Elissa said, crossing her legs smugly and folding her hands over a knee. “I’ll get full credit next time.”

  “Considering you worked all night to find all the evidence we need to put Ms. Bleek away for a very long time,” Charlie said with a smile and a wink, “you should take the rest of the day off to…celebrate.”

  Ragan looked to Elissa, who did a terrible job hiding the pink blush in her cheeks. “I can live with that.”

  * * *

  Elissa could not have wiped the broad, exhilarated smile off her face even if she wanted to. Which she did not. Her eyes were wide open and watered slightly from wind whipping around her body as she clung to the scaly, glittering back of the dragon beneath her. Her fingernails dug under his scales, her legs squeezing him on either side of his broad body, literally holding on for her life. To her surprise, riding a dragon’s back was far less terrifying than she’d expected. Especially since it was Ragan.

  When he’d suggested it shortly after walking out of the Wildridge offices, she’d quickly agreed. But she’d just as quickly worried that she’d fall off somewhere over Encino. Foolishness. Any time she shifted her weight, Ragan corrected his own form to keep her safe.

  The way his gigantic, leathery wings slowly beat against the wind, rising and falling like a steady heartbeat, filled her with awe. The rhythm of his flight was perfect, unencumbered by the fits of angry wind or the streaks of thick, humid clouds they soared straight through again and again. Elissa was torn between closing her eyes to avoid the scary bits—and the sting of the wind—and keeping them open so she wouldn’t miss a single moment.

  No surprise, she’d never ridden a dragon before; never even imagined doing so. Being a panther herself, the idea of flight being an option was still quite exciting and foreign to her. She did know, however, that it was rare for a dragon to allow a passenger during flight. It was kind of an annoyance for them generally, though she smiled to herself when she realized this was a privilege usually only reserved for romantic interests or mates.

  And she had a pretty powerful feeling she might be both.

  Underneath her chest, pressed securely between her body and Ragan’s back, was a small knapsack of clothing for him to change into once they reached their destination. Although, Elissa thought, it would be kind of a shame to give him back his clothes. She was very nearly desperate to see him without them in his human form. She’d caught glimpses of the glorious body beneath his clothi
ng, but she wanted the full picture. Every detail, small or large. She wanted to learn his body like a new language, taste it and turn it over on her tongue. She wanted to explore his every sharp line and curve, his every bulging muscle and smooth hardness.

  With the wind howling around her ears and her body tingling with excitement, it was almost a letdown when Elissa noticed they were making their descent, heading toward a roof. As Ragan’s body tilted downward, Elissa held on tighter, gritting her teeth while they nosedived toward the building. She clenched her legs tightly around him and held fast to the bag of clothes, forcing herself not to close her eyes in worry. But all her fear was in vain because Ragan was clearly very skilled at descension. With a soft fluttering beat of his wings, he landed squarely on the flat surface. As soon as they were on solid ground, Elissa heaved a sigh and the tension rushed out of her body. Ragan glanced back at her with those wild, electric green eyes and tiny curls of smoke issuing from his scaly nostrils, checking on her.

  She smiled and carefully slid down off of his back to the rooftop, rushing over to hug him around his thick dragon’s neck. “Thank you, Ragan! That was incredible!”

  Looking as smug as a dragon could manage, he shifted back into his human shape, shrinking down from a huge dragon to a tall, beautiful man. Elissa inhaled sharply at how fantastic his body looked unfettered by clothing. She bit her lip, watching him with intense attraction. Before she could even hand him the bag of clothes, he strode up to her and took her face in both hands, leaning down to claim her mouth.

  “You think that was incredible?” he murmured devilishly against her lips. “Wait and see what else this body can do for you.”

  “Oh really? Hmm, I think that’s one claim you’re going to have to prove to me.”

  “Gladly,” he whispered back, brushing her velvety black hair away from her face. “But not here.”

  He hastily threw on his clothes, grabbed Elissa by the hand, and led her down a flight of stairs into the building. They hurried down a long hallway to his apartment. Ragan quickly unlocked the door and the two of them spilled inside, already kissing and groping one another before the door had even shut. Ragan pushed it closed with his foot before promptly hoisting Elissa up into his arms, her legs locking around his waist as he pinned her against the door. They kissed and moaned, rocking against one another with unbridled lust. They both knew exactly why they were here and what they’d come for. They weren’t holding back anymore.