by Riley Storm
You’ve already hugged him though. Why is this such a big deal? You’re just sitting on a couch together. There are other people around you. It’s not like it’s going to matter that much. Your legs brushing against one another is no big deal.
Wasn’t it? Right now they were sitting together, but they weren’t together-together. Not like the other couples in the room. One of her friends would notice if they started sitting closer together, though, and that would bring up some questions that Gayle didn’t have the answers to yet.
He certainly does fit in well though.
She’d been surprised to hear that Rann already knew both Trent and Pietro—seemingly quite well, in fact—and was also familiar enough with Sache and Blede to chat easily amongst any of them.
He’d not limited himself to just those he knew, which was perhaps what had caught her eye the most. Several times since his arrival, he’d gotten into deep conversations with her other friends. In fact, before he’d left for the washroom, he’d just excused himself from chatting with Andrea and her boyfriend Patrick.
She wondered again at his familiarity with the other men. They all seemed to know one another, in a vague sort of way. They must have something in common.
Beside her, Rann shifted slightly, the movement pulling his shirt taut across his bicep, making it bulge deliciously. She eyed the rest of his firmly-muscled upper body for a moment, admiring ever stiff bulge and curve.
Maybe they all go to the same gym? That would certainly explain everything.
Gayle felt herself biting on her lip and made herself stop. She needed to stop analyzing Rann and simply enjoy the party. It was her birthday party, after all, and she wasn’t going to spend it focused on figuring out who Rann was and what was going on between them, if anything.
I just got dumped yesterday. Yesterday. I don’t need to replace him in my life. I need to figure out who I am and what I want. If it takes me a few weeks, or months, to figure out where I am and what I need, then so be it.
Still…what if this was fate sending her a message? If she turned it down, she might never get another chance again. Would it be something she regretted?
But what would happen if she opened herself up to it?
Gayle didn’t have an answer. To either question. Yet.
Chapter Thirteen
Rann
He was pushing it, he knew.
Most of the others had departed, and he was one of the few left at Gayle’s. The evening had been fantastic, and he was hoping to just grab a few moments alone with her before he left. He wasn’t going to make a move, but he wanted to have her full, undivided attention if he could.
All evening, she’d been distracted by other people, and perhaps by his presence as well. He couldn’t tell. Something had been eating away at her on the inside though, and he wanted to make sure it wasn’t something he’d caused by showing up. What he didn’t want to do, however, was be the last one there.
That would start tongues wagging, and Gayle really did not deserve that. Not after everything else she’d put up with. So when he saw Lilly and Trent get up and prepare to leave, he followed as well.
“Guess I should get going too,” he said after the couple had made their way to the front door.
Gayle looked at him, and he saw the decision process happening in her eyes. Rann held his breath. While he didn’t want to make life awkward for Gayle by staying, that wasn’t the same as saying he wanted to leave. If she—
“You aren’t done with your drink though,” Gayle said, pointing to the half-full beer next to him.
Rann was fully aware he could upend the beer and down it easily. If Gayle was simply giving him grief for wasting a beer though, she would have admonished him for wasting it. Instead, she was telling him he should finish his beer.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
Before he could reply, Lilly called out a goodbye from the front door.
“Bye!” Gayle said, brushing past him to give them a hug.
Rann walked over as well, giving Lilly a hug and bumping fists with Trent.
“Take care,” he said, making a show of going for his own boots as well, indicating he wasn’t staying.
The door closed behind them as he finished untying the laces.
“You’re just going to waste a beer like that, are you?” Gayle said, a bit of challenge in her voice.
He looked up, studying her face for a long moment. Rann had to be careful, to make sure this was what Gayle wanted and that he wasn’t misinterpreting it. She looked happy, though there was a bit of nervousness locked away in her warm brown eyes. He doubted he would have seen it if he’d not been looking for it though.
Still, it seemed like she genuinely wanted him to stay.
“I suppose that would be rude of me, now wouldn’t it?” he asked slowly, straightening at the same time, boots forgotten.
“You brought some nice flowers, but you didn’t bring your own booze,” she teased. “As the host of this little gathering, I’d take wasting of my own beer quite personally. Especially since I don’t drink it, and it would go to waste.”
Rann frowned. “There’s three more in your fridge still,” he pointed out. “Some could say those would be going to waste.”
Gayle shrugged, walked over to the fridge and grabbed one, along with a fresh vodka soda. “I guess you had better make sure they aren’t wasted then.”
His face broke out into a broad grin. “Are you forcing me to drink more beer?”
“Only if you’ll be okay to drive after.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said truthfully, plunking himself back down on the couch next to his half-finished beer. “Fast metabolism, and I had the first one like four hours ago. I’ll be safe, I promise.”
And I can always fly back if I need to. Though he didn’t mention that part. Not yet at least. Even though his kind were now public knowledge, Rann was still unsure how Gayle would react to learning he was a dragon. He didn’t want to scare her off. Once she knew him better, then he could tell her.
“Well then, yes, I am going to make you drink more beer,” she said with a giggle, sitting down next to him on the couch.
Right next to him.
Rann didn’t miss the fact that she could just as easily have sat somewhere else or even at the other end of the couch. There was no reason for her to sit so close to him at all. Not unless she wanted to make it clear that it was okay.
His pulse rose, and Rann worked to keep himself under control. He didn’t experience nerves with women, dammit! This one should be no different. What was with the tightening of his throat and the suddenly clammy hands? He gripped his bottle extra carefully. Just in case.
“How are you feeling?” he asked. “Nice birthday?”
Gayle smiled. “Yeah, it was. I guess.”
“You guess?”
She shrugged. “Honestly, earlier I was feeling a bit lost. I’m not exactly where I expected to be in my life.”
“Where did you expect to be?”
“Somewhere between engaged and married with kids and a dog,” she said, lifting her free hand palm up in a semi-shrug. “I thought I’d be farther along is all.”
“Ah.” Rann snorted. “Screw anyone who says that you’re behind. You’re moving at your own pace, and anyone who says otherwise can get lost, if you ask me.”
Gayle smiled. “Yeah. But the thing is Rann, I’m ready for more. I want to be a mom. I want to have a family. I’m ready for those things.”
“Good. There’s nothing wrong with wanting more. That means you’ll find someone right for you, someone who can fill all that. Not someone you just settle for.”
She looked up at him sharply, and Rann abruptly worried that he’d said too much, that he’d gotten too serious with her.
“You think I was just settling for my ex,” she said, making it into a half-question.
“I never said that,” he pointed out. “I don’t know him, and I never knew the two of you together. What I do know i
s that you deserve the world, and that you deserve someone who can give it to you, who will appreciate you for the amazing person you are every single day.”
“Someone like you?” Gayle asked, shocking both of them.
Rann stammered. How was he supposed to reply to that?
“Ah, never mind,” Gayle said before he could put together a coherent string of words. “I don’t know why I said that.”
She was turning a bright shade of red and started to shift away from him on the couch.
Rann didn’t want that. The idea of her being farther away did not sit well with him. He had no idea what was going on between them, nor did he understand the effect she was having on him, but he knew one thing for certain.
He wanted her nearby. Close.
“No,” he said, reaching out before she could more than start to move. “It’s okay. I just didn’t expect you to say it, that’s all.”
Gayle settled back down next to him. She didn’t move away, nor did she speak. More importantly though, she didn’t remove his hand from her shoulder. She was accepting the contact between them.
It would be up to him to forge on with this conversation though. Gayle had opened the door, but her nerves seemed to be getting the better of her now.
“I—” He stopped short, rethinking what he was going to say. “There’s something about you, Gayle. I don’t know what it is yet, but I do know that I like it.”
“Oh,” she said in a tiny voice.
It was clearly a struggle for her to even get that much out.
“Claire didn’t force me to come today,” he said, injecting some levity into the conversation. “I wanted to. You were right earlier. I didn’t want to wait until Monday to see you again.”
“I see,” Gayle said in a much different voice, turning her head to look at him now.
Rann smiled, trying to ignore the sudden tightening of his throat as he looked at her now, seeing the pools of desire welling up in her eyes. At least, that’s what he hoped they were. Could it be that he was just imagining it, that he was seeing what he wanted to see? Or was it actually happening?
He knew he should pull back. Hold himself at arm’s length until the moment passed and they could continue speaking, discussing the tension and feelings that lay coiled between them with rational minds. But he wasn’t feeling overly rational just then.
Inside him, his dragon was coming alive. It slithered back and forth, spreading its mental wings and urging him on. It wanted her more than it had ever wanted anything before, and he was so close to having her.
“Gayle,” he said breathlessly, leaning closer to her.
“Rann,” she replied, her drink forgotten and unopened, sliding off her lap onto the couch before falling between two cushions.
Neither of them paid it any mind. Their eyes were locked on each other. Nothing else in the room or the house existed.
Rann slid the hand that lay on her shoulder up to her neck. Gayle’s mouth dropped open ever slightly at the touch, forming the smallest of circles with her lips. Her tongue flicked out, licking them briefly, leaving a damp shine. So full and inviting. Rann just had to taste them.
Leaning in closer, his hand curled up to the back of her head and he gently pulled, using just enough pressure that Gayle would only come closer if she wanted to.
She did.
Taking one last gasp of air, Rann threw caution to the wind and went for what he wanted.
Gayle.
Chapter Fourteen
Gayle
She drew in a sharp breath through her nose as Rann leaned in to kiss her.
His lips were warm, and the stubble of his beard shadow scraped deliciously over her soft skin. Fingers tightened against the back of her head, and Gayle allowed herself to be pulled in closer to him. A pleased sound escaped her lips as Rann’s other hand closed around her back, holding her tight.
It was wild. Crazy. She knew that she shouldn’t be doing this. Her last relationship had ended only yesterday! She’d only met Rann yesterday as well!
Yet something was burning. She’d felt it in the locked gazes and brushed skin. It had been present in their voices, hidden just underneath the skin, out of sight but most certainly not out of mind.
Where had her courage come from, she wondered as Rann pulled her onto his lap with casual ease, maneuvering her thick curves as if she were a feather. Gayle gasped in delight as he relinquished his grip on her head and grabbed tightly around her waist, lifting her free until her knees settled on either side of his hips.
She leaned down into him, half pulling, half eagerly seeking out his mouth once more. Her body was on fire, and she needed to quench herself in him. There was no going back at this point. Caution had been thrown to the wind, and Gayle doubted she could exert self-control even if she wanted to. Which a large part of her didn’t.
Somewhere deep within her, a voice was crying out, saying that she should be taking her time, should be waiting until she’d gotten over the hurt and betrayal of Mikey and Karen.
But more of her was enamored with Rann and the hard lines of his body, a stark contrast to her softness. He was all muscle and edges, and she was all curves and thickness. Yet he didn’t seem to care. Their touches were equally frantic and intense. She hissed as his hands finally found her breasts, cupping and squeezing them, finding her nipples through the thick material of her bra.
Two can play that game, she decided, pushing her hand down between them, running the palm flat across the bulge that she’d been gently grinding her hips into. Fingers traced its length, and her eyebrows rose. Rann shrugged sheepishly at the unvoiced question.
“Oh my,” Gayle whispered softly, at once impressed by and a little nervous of what she was feeling.
And curious.
“You don’t have to…” Rann started to say.
“Hush,” she said, pressing a finger against his lips, working the fingers of her other hand up and down either side of the solid bulge in his pants.
Rann’s face tightened as she played with him, and Gayle’s smile turned wicked. He wasn’t the only one allowed to have fun. She watched him twitch and bite down on his lower lip for another handful of seconds before her desire to kiss him some more won out.
Hands slid under her shirt, and Gayle only barely hesitated as she lifted her arms for him, letting the shirt slide free.
“Everything okay?” Rann asked, as if he’d sensed the ever-so-slight twitch as he took her first piece of clothing off.
Maybe he had. He certainly was a perceptive one. Gayle wouldn’t put it past him. Or maybe her reaction had been more intense than she’d thought.
“Just some self-conscious mind games,” she said. “After all, you look like, well, you, and then I look…”
Rann growled, the sound running down her body, raising bumps across her bared flesh.
“I like the way you look,” he rumbled. “So lush and thick. Your skin…I love it.”
There was something about his voice, the unbridled desire of it, that washed over her like flames, burning away her reservations and raising her own core temperature to match the heat Rann was giving off.
“Good,” she hissed, grabbing both sides of his face and kissing him harder.
Fingers snapped free the clasp of her bra with practiced ease and she shrugged out of it. Rann grabbed both of her breasts and buried his face in them, kissing fervently. His tongue flicked out and around a nipple and she gasped.
“Those are sensitive,” she hissed, but Rann only repeated the action on the other one.
He sat forward abruptly, hands gripping deep into her back to ensure she didn’t fall off, while his mouth suckled her nipples gently. Gayle’s head fell back as she moaned, grabbing at his head, her hair, his back, anywhere she could find purchase as her body shivered and shook in tiny motions every time he did something different.
Gayle let herself fall into it. He could have her. Whatever he wanted, she was his for the taking already, and Rann knew it. She w
asn’t sure she’d ever been touched or treated like this. Certainly never by anyone who looked the way Rann did. The perfection of his body was just the wonderful icing on the proverbial cake of the way he was pleasuring her.
And my pants are still on.
She frowned, realizing that all of his clothes were still on.
“Hey,” she said, pushing him away from her chest with reluctance. “Time for you to take some clothes off too, mister.”
She tugged his shirt over his head.
“Oh damn,” she whispered, running her splayed hands across the firm chest, letting one drag across his stomach, feeling the ripples of his abdominals as she went.
Rann grinned and then he flexed, pushing the muscles into even starker contrast with the rest of him.
“Shit,” she muttered, biting her lip hard enough she felt the pain. “That’s hot.”
At that point, Rann decided he’d had enough of her in control. In several sharp motions he picked her up, simply ripped the rest of her clothes from her body in a dizzying display of strength and masculinity, and then pushed her down onto the couch so he could bury his face between her legs.
When his tongue flicked out and over her for the first time, Gayle lost her mind. It had been years since anyone had done this to her, and she was bucking and heaving in less than a minute.
“Oh my god,” she gasped as her first climax faded, a short, sharp burst of pleasure that seemed to only set the tone for what was to come.
After that, Rann settled down into a slower, smoother rhythm, and spent the next few minutes building her back up. His arms were wrapped firmly around her thighs, holding her legs open. Though she struggled, it felt like she was in restraints, because his arms never moved.
This is fun, she decided, enjoying the immobility his strength produced. She’d never thought of herself as the type to enjoying being tied up, but with the way Rann was manhandling her…
Her train of thought was distracted as Rann gently sucked on her core. She shuddered, and he began to increase his speed. The foundation of his work had been laid, and now she reaped the benefits. Her body was his playground. At one point he released a leg, sliding his hand around.
