by Zoe Chant
“It is beautiful out here,” Stefan said softly. “And yes, I think that qualifies as a hard time – and definitely something that deserves a foot rub.”
Holly laughed, settling back on the couch. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
Glancing up at her quickly, Stefan seemed surprised by her words. “I’m sorry?”
“Oh – it was just a joke,” she said quickly, smiling down at him. “I mean, I’m sure there can’t be that many girls wandering around the forest who need rescuing.”
Okay, back off on the pop culture references, she told herself. Clearly, Stefan had a bit of a gap as far as they were concerned – but if he lived out here, then perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised. She had a sudden vision of him roaming about the forest, hunting for his own food, chopping his own firewood – a true mountain man, strong, self-sufficient, and utterly masculine. She could cut a guy like that a bit of slack for not having seen The Exorcist.
“How did you find me out there?” Holly asked, beginning to feel relaxed again. “It really did seem like you just came out of nowhere.”
Stefan paused before answering. “I guess I… well, I heard you talking to the bear,” he said after a long moment. “I like to get out and hike myself.”
Holly nodded, but she still felt a little confused. “It’s a pretty big coincidence, though. These forests are huge.”
As he looked up at her, Holly could see unease on Stefan’s handsome face. “Holly,” he said, placing her foot carefully back down on the ground. Vaguely, Holly realized that it didn’t hurt at all anymore. “There’s something I – something I think I need to –”
As he rose, he placed a hand on the bare skin of her knee, below the material of the shorts she was wearing.
A spark of pure electricity raced through her, seeming to travel from her to him. Holly stared down at where their bodies connected, her heart thumping, her breath suddenly seeming very short.
She swallowed heavily, feeling heat building between her legs. She had never felt this way before – not with any man, and certainly not ever with George. Despite the fact he hadn’t done much around the house while she was at work, he’d often told her he was too tired for sex. While she’d tried to believe him, it had still made her feel undesirable. But the way Stefan was looking at her now, an almost unearthly fire in his eyes, was enough to wash the memory of George and everything he’d ever said and done straight out of her head.
Her mouth had gone dry. She wanted to say something, but no words would come to her. “Stefan – I – oh, God…”
In the next second, his lips were on hers, kissing her as she’d never been kissed before in her life.
It was like being kissed by pure fire – like she was being burned up from the inside out. His scent filled her: he smelled like the fresh green leaves on the trees outside, of wood smoke and clean earth. Dizzy, Holly felt herself being held up by his strong, well-muscled arms as they rose together, still locked at the lips, melting against each other’s bodies.
Holly felt helpless against her desire – the promises she had made to herself about not being swept up in a rebound fling were forgotten. The only thing she knew was that she wanted him, more than she could ever remember having wanted anyone before in her life.
She had felt it from the very first moment she had seen him. There was something between them, something she couldn’t explain or understand, and which she’d never felt before. All she knew was that it felt like wildfire racing through her, claiming her, and wiping out everything else.
Holly gasped against his lips, filling her hands with the muscle of his shoulders, pulling herself even closer against him. Pressing her hips against his, she could feel a bulge in his jeans pressing against her belly, hot and hard.
“Holly,” Stefan said, his eyes blazing as they looked down into hers. “We shouldn’t –”
His words pierced through the haze of her lust. She bit her lip, her good sense warring against her overwhelming desire. But she already knew which side of her would win.
“Please,” she eventually whispered, standing on tiptoes to bring her lips closer to his. “Please, I want you so much –”
After everything that’s happened, please… just let me have this…
That was apparently all it took, though. His lips crushed against hers, and she was engulfed once more in pure sensation, wrapped in his arms.
His embrace made her feel safe and protected in a way she’d never felt before – he was so much bigger than her, but it wasn’t only that. She had only just met him, but somehow, she felt safe with him. It was almost as if she had known him much longer.
Almost as if I’ve known him all my life, she thought hazily as she leaned against him, weak-kneed.
His tongue swept into her mouth, claiming it, leaving her breathless. His huge, strong hand cradled the back of her head tenderly, his other hand holding the small of her back, pulling her against him. Her own hands roamed over the broad plane of his chest, before her right hand slid up to cup his cheek, feeling the prickle of his stubble against her palm.
“Come on,” she whispered when they broke apart again, taking him by the hand and leading him toward the bedroom.
He followed her, his hand completely engulfing hers, before he caught her in his arms again. Laughing, Holly pressed a kiss to his throat, smelling the heady, masculine scent of his sweat. Feeling bold, she nipped a little at the soft skin beneath his Adam’s apple, and felt him draw a quick, hissed breath in response.
“Hmm,” he murmured, lifting his hand and tilting her chin up so he could press a warm kiss against her lips. “Like that, is it?”
Holly smiled against his mouth as he kissed her again, deeply this time, his hands wandering over her back and into the valley of her waist.
She wanted him so badly she just wanted to tear off all her clothes – and his, too – and throw herself down on the bed, ready for the taking. She pulled at him, though she knew she wouldn’t have a hope of shifting him unless he wanted to come. Together, though, they moved toward the bed before she felt it against the backs of her calves, and together they tumbled down onto it.
Holly yanked at the bottom of her tank top as they kissed, frantic to feel his skin against hers. Pulling her top up over her head before flinging it across the room, Holly’s fingers then went to the buttons on his jacket, only to find his fingers there too, strong and calloused. She bit her lip as his chest was revealed, hard and flat, the ridges of his abs covered in dark hair that led down into his jeans – which Holly could see were straining to contain him.
Running her hands over his chest, she found the pebbled circles of his nipples, hearing him gasp as she traced them with the tips of her fingers. Holly looked up into his face, surprised that her touch could arouse such a response in him, only to find his green eyes blazing down at her.
“I want you so badly,” he breathed, raising one hand to stroke her face. “You’re so beautiful.”
Heat surged through her, and Holly reached up to catch his lips with hers again. No one had ever said anything like that to her before – and definitely not with such warmth and sincerity. She began tugging at her shorts, wanting to be completely bare before him, open and ready.
His hands joined hers, sliding her shorts down over the ample curve of her hips, leaving her wearing nothing but her bra and panties. Stefan paused, pulling back, looking down at her.
Holly’s instinct was to cover herself – for all her confidence in the way she looked, she knew she was bigger and curvier than fashion dictated women should be, but the way Stefan looked at her stilled her hands. He looked at her like a parched man in the desert seeing a lush, green oasis; like he desired her more than he’d ever desired anything in his entire life. His eyes seemed to devour the sight of her, running from the top of her head, over her breasts, belly and thighs, to the tips of her toes.
“Beautiful,” he said again, his fingers tracing a light circle over the soft skin of her stomach.
“Perfect.”
Holly could feel a blush creeping up over her throat. She was so pale she knew it’d be clearly visible, but Stefan didn’t seem to care. He leaned over her, dropping kisses along her collarbone, slowly moving down to her breasts. She arched her back as he expertly unclipped her bra, leaving her exposed to his mouth.
Holly gasped, writhing up off the bed as he took the sensitive bud of her nipple between his lips, caressing it with his tongue.
“Oh,” she sighed as pleasure rippled through her, his mouth playing over her right breast, while he cupped the other with his large hand.
It felt so good, and Holly could feel herself growing wetter and wetter between her thighs. Stefan moved his body over hers, his kisses leaving her breasts and drifting lower, down over her belly, before sinking lower still.
Holly raised her head in surprise, looking down to where he was resting between her thighs, his fingers tracing over the waistband of her panties.
“Lie back,” he said, his voice a low growl.
Feeling lightheaded, Holly let herself fall back on the bed as Stefan slid her panties down over her ankles, leaving her open and waiting for him.
At the first touch of his lips against her, Holly let out an involuntary cry, squirming up off the bed. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done this to her, and even the lightest touch had her crying out in ecstasy. But it wasn’t only that – it was that Stefan seemed to somehow intuit what she would respond to, moving his lips and tongue expertly to drive her higher and higher into utter bliss.
Holly parted her thighs, inviting him deeper, and again he seemed to read her mind as well as her body, his tongue finding her opening and delving inside.
Again she cried out, her hands clenched in the comforter, her hips rising off the bed. Nothing in her life had ever felt so good. Stefan’s mouth guided her further and further toward her climax, until finally she came, her back arched, thighs clenched, her mouth open in a full-throated cry. Stefan stayed with her the whole way, riding out her orgasm with her, his mouth buried between her legs, his hands curled around her thighs.
“Oh. Oh wow,” Holly breathed as she began to drift down from the heights of her pleasure, back to planet Earth. “That was amazing.”
That’s an understatement, she thought as she blinked up at the ceiling, which was slowly beginning to resolve itself back into wooden rafters rather than the white-hot spots of light that had swum across her vision as she came. She had never had an orgasm like that before.
Feeling out of breath, Holly looked down to where Stefan was resting his chin against her thigh, a lazy smile on his face.
“The pleasure is all mine,” he said, drawing his lower lip into his mouth for a moment, as if savoring her taste.
Holly could feel herself blushing again as Stefan crawled back up the bed to lie beside her, pulling her against his chest. She could still feel the rock-hard bulge of his erection against her, and she shivered.
“You still – I mean, I can, if you want to –”
He cut off the rush of her words by kissing her. “What do you want?”
It was true that she’d just come harder than she’d ever come before in her entire life, but Holly knew that her desire for him was far from sated. She wriggled against him, her hand drifting down his taut stomach and between his legs, giving him a firm squeeze through his jeans.
Stefan groaned, his bright green eyes half-lidded.
“I want you,” she whispered in his ear, her fingers fumbling at the button of his pants.
He said nothing – he just kissed her, long and hard and deep, his hands joining hers in shoving his jeans down over his narrow hips.
Holly broke the kiss to look down at him, wanting to see him. She gasped as she saw his erection, jutting up from his dark public hair, huge and hard and flushed. Holly couldn’t help but bite her lip as she imagined him inside her, and need surged through her belly, making her even wetter.
Stefan moved his body over hers, kissing her, parting her legs with his own. She closed her eyes, gasping in pleasure as he slid inside her, filling her to the brink. He was huge within her, stretching her perfectly. She clung to his shoulders, barely daring to breathe in case the sensation of utter bliss turned out to be an illusion.
In the next second, however, with his first thrust into her, Holly knew it was real. Ecstasy spiraled through her, her inner muscles clenching as he worked his length in and out of her body.
She could feel her climax building within her once more, wave after wave of pleasure rolling through her with every stroke of his body. Holly could feel his breath hot on her face, the movement of his hips growing faster and stronger as his own pleasure grew within him.
“Holly,” he groaned, his voice a low rumble in his chest. She responded by squeezing herself around him, drawing him even deeper within her, and bringing a hoarse cry to his lips.
He plunged into her one final, glorious time, and she cried out as she came, her back arching up off the bed, her head thrown back in complete abandon. She felt the movement of his hips stutter, and then he too was coming, his cock twitching inside her.
Holly had no idea how long she lay beneath him, her hands playing dreamily over his back as she descended from the peak of her pleasure. Every muscle felt utterly, deliciously relaxed, the aftershocks of her orgasm still sending splinters of light through her body.
Oh. Oh my God.
Her legs were splayed around him, and he rested inside her, his cock still twitching.
She was in no hurry for him to move. Although he was heavy, she honestly didn’t care if she never moved again as long as she lived.
Holly groaned in mild protest when he finally did roll away from her, his softening cock slipping from her body. But as soon as he was gone he pulled her close, molding her to his side, his arms around her.
“That was… that was amazing,” he whispered against her forehead, as his hand played through her hair.
“You can say that again,” she said, her hand resting on his shoulder.
It was still early, but Holly could already feel her eyelids drooping. She’d walked a long way today, and now, after everything that had happened…
“Stefan, should we – ” she began to say, before he shook his head.
“Just rest for now,” he said. “We can talk later.”
Holly just nodded, yawning widely. That sounded perfect. She didn’t want to think about anything right now – not about where this might lead, or what might come after. All she wanted to do was lie warm and content by Stefan’s side, listening to his slow, steady heartbeat, and drift slowly into an untroubled sleep.
Chapter Six
Stefan
The first thing that Stefan was aware of was darkness.
It seemed to engulf him completely: no matter which way he looked there was nothing but the deepest black. He could hear things, though – the sound of breathing not too far away, and the sound of a large dragon’s body moving quickly through the night. Sniffing the air, he detected a scent he hadn’t smelled since… since…
Stefan.
Stefan’s breath caught in his throat. It was a woman’s voice, deep and calming. A voice he’d know anywhere. She was communicating with him telepathically, the way only dragons could.
Mother? On hearing his own voice, Stefan realized he was only a child – still only a young dragon, thirteen at the most. What’s happening? Where are –
There’s no time right now. Only know that you must stay here. No matter what.
Fear flared up in Stefan’s belly. What’s happening?
I don’t have time to explain. Just do as you’re told.
Defiance rose in him. His mother had always been strict, but fair. She expected her word to be taken as law, but she had always explained her decisions to him and his friends and cousins.
What’s happening? he asked again, before he suddenly became aware of another presence in the darkness.
Mother? Where are w
e?
Again, it was a voice he’d know anywhere: his younger sister, Darklis. A voice he hadn’t heard since… not since…
Confusion swirled in his mind. Where was he? And how were his mother and younger sister here? It was impossible: they were dead.
They were all dead.
Everyone in his family, every last one of them, had been killed by Erik Lukich and his clan.
And he’d been powerless to do anything about it.
How are you here? he asked, surprised again at the youthful sound of his own voice.
Hush now, his mother said, her voice strict. I have to go now, and take your sister with me. Remember what I said: stay here. No matter what. No matter what you may see or hear outside, stay right here. Stay.
Stefan had wanted to argue. He tried desperately to find the words to tell his mother that no, wherever she went, he’d come too – that he’d help her, protect her, do whatever needed to be done. But somehow, his body wouldn’t respond to his commands, his muscles feeling weak, his movements sluggish.
It was at that moment he realized she’d used the Voice on him – the ancient dragon power by which elder members of the clan could constrain the movements of a dragon under their leadership. Every dragon could do it to a greater or lesser extent – there were even legends of dragons who could use it on others not under their power – and parents could certainly use it on their children.
Until the effects of the Voice wore off, there was nothing he could do – he’d have no choice but to obey her orders. His parents were powerful dragons, and their understanding of the old ways was second to none. He was stuck, bound by her words.
Mother, why? What’s happening? he called out to her again, but he could sense her turning away from him. The last thing he saw was her green eyes glittering in the darkness.
