by Jory Strong
“Do it,” she ordered, wondering how she’d come to be playing strip poker.
He laughed, kicking off his shoes instead, and she thought even his feet were gorgeous. She was acutely aware of the bedroom behind her, and very afraid she’d be the one to break down and suggest they enter it.
Tielo sat, pulling the cards to him. The muscles beneath the dragon tattoo and pierced nipple rippled and shifted as he shuffled, held her attention so the stacks of gold coins no longer had the power to rivet or awe.
It was a testament to how compelling he was that she didn’t fold at seeing the two and eight he’d dealt her. She played, meeting his raises. Only confronting the truth when he revealed the pair of tens she’d suspected him of having—part of her wanted to lose.
“Take the dress off, Lyra.”
Her belly quivered, heat pooling there at the dark menace in his voice, the fierce command in his eyes. This much she’d always known she had in common with her sister, though she’d never played games of dominance and submission.
Lyra stood. She toyed with the buttons of her dress, mimicking what he’d done at the front of his pants, teasing him with the possibility she might kick off her heels instead.
“Disobey me and punishment will accrue.”
The depth of her longing for it shocked her as much as the image of lying naked across his thighs, receiving an open-handed spanking. Slowly she freed the buttons of her dress, unable to stop the subtle arch of her chest to call attention to breasts capped with hard, hard nipples.
He made a low, rumbly purr of satisfaction. It was easy to imagine him as the silver-and-gold dragon, eyes shining like polished onyx as they fixed on prey. Human prey.
“I’m not a virgin,” she said. “I thought that’s what did it for dragons.”
“Virgins survived in greater numbers in the old days. But as far as you’re concerned, I’ll wipe all other men from your memory. Being with me is all you will know once we’ve coupled.”
It was dark, hot promise rather than outrageous boast. “Virginity restored?” she managed, delaying the moment when she’d stand before him in scraps of material and heels that had always enhanced her feeling of attractiveness.
“Virginity restored and taken.”
By me, and though he didn’t say the last, it hovered between them with absolute certainty.
She pushed the dress off her shoulders, letting gravity carry it downward to pool at her feet.
His hunger scorched her. His hand dropped to his lap as if to keep from coming at what she’d revealed.
It was nearly enough to have her whisper take me. She’d never had a man look at her the way he did or make her crave even the smallest caress, the briefest touch of skin to skin.
By the Great Shared Ancestor, she was about to unman him!
The moment Lyra sat, he was out of his chair and around to hers. He’d show her there was a price to pay for tormenting her mate.
He’d resisted the heady lure of her scent for what seemed like an eternity. He’d even managed to withstand the invitation issued by her whimpers.
But not this. Not the display of luscious curves and smooth skin.
She was like one of his prized onyx goddesses come to life, warm woman instead of cool stone. His.
He repositioned the chair with a jerk so she faced him. Captured her wrists and carried them backward to hold behind her chair.
The thrust of her breasts was his reward, the freedom to take and taste and hear the music of her whimpers.
He claimed her mouth first. No gentle exploration but the thrust of his tongue, the plundering of a male dragon pushed too far.
Mine! Mine! Mine!
Her answering hunger confirmed it, her scent growing lusher as she fought to get closer. Perhaps this very day they’d get started on the two children she saw in her future.
A growl followed that thought, accompanying the realization he was nowhere close to being ready to share her, even with his own offspring.
It’d be hard enough allowing her to return to the classroom and be out of his sight. Luckily for him, he had the wealth necessary to keep her guarded, and with the Dragon’s Cup in male possession, available to any without cost, the chances of her being stolen by another of his kind were reduced.
“We’re done with poker,” he said against her lips.
She stiffened immediately. “No.”
“No?” He kissed across the slopes of her breasts. Nibbled at the edges of her bra.
“No.” Panted response denied by the sweet moan and arch of her back when he took a cloth-covered nipple, sucking the hard nub deep into this mouth.
Fire built in his cock, threatening to burn away the human shell constructed by magic. Desire pooled in his testicles, expanding them until they were tight and hard with impending release.
He wouldn’t be able to wait much longer. He’d be lucky if he managed to join his body to hers even once before the hollow spurs sheathed and hidden on the insides of his wrists descended, filling with the serum that would make her biologically compatible to carry their future children. He shivered at experiencing the phantom rake of them across the dark buttocks he’d yet to see or worship with hands and lips.
On a growl he released her nipple and leaned back. Her body might be willing to forego any game other than those played in bed, but her expression said her mind wasn’t yet ready to give up the chance to win the riches on the table.
Aggravation battled pride. She was a true dragon’s mate, though he refused to return to his seat without seeing at least one of the nipples that had telegraphed her desire all evening.
He leaned in, grabbing a thin strap between his teeth and pulling it off her shoulder, making it possible to nuzzle and kiss and chase lacy material away from the prize he sought.
“Beautiful,” he murmured in appreciation as the bra cup surrendered. Her nipple was a large dark coin, treasure that far outshone the gold on the table.
Another time he might be able to laugh at the foolish boasts he’d made to Pierce in this very office, but at the moment he could only rejoice in his luck at meeting Lyra.
“No more,” Lyra pleaded as Tielo latched on to her areola, her hips lifting from the chair with each suck. “You’re cheating.”
He laughed at that, a rich sound of masculine satisfaction. “There is no such thing as cheating when it comes to claiming a mate.”
It was crazy talk. Role-playing taken to the extreme.
This wasn’t reality. At least not hers.
“We’ve got to finish the game.” Enough sanity remained to insist on it.
He rubbed his tongue against her nipple, gave her the threat of teeth and a final, hard suck before freeing her hands and standing. His eyes glittered with possessiveness as he looked down at her.
It was all she could do not to touch him.
“Spread your legs.”
The command drew her attention to the way her swollen clit pressed against panties that were soaked in arousal.
She complied, even knowing she’d be helpless to resist if he pressed his mouth against her pussy, bare or covered by material. His nostrils flared, she saw struggle on his face and was torn between relief and disappointment when he returned to his seat without giving her the touch she craved.
A glance at the chips cleared some of the lust from her mind. If she could hang on, just play smart and have some luck, this part of the evening could be done.
She didn’t lie to herself by pretending her stay at Drake’s Lair would end without having Tielo inside her.
Rather than tugging her bra cup up, she left breast and nipple exposed, willing to use it to her advantage.
He couldn’t accuse her of cheating, not when he was responsible for the distraction. And it was one, for both of them.
Each of his glances sent fire streaking through her nipple. Deepened the ache to feel his mouth on it, sucking.
She shuffled the cards and dealt. The round passed in a blur of cautious p
lay and ended with his loss.
The pants came off, leaving him standing naked in front of her, hard thick cock pulled away from his abdomen and every bit as wet as her pussy. She licked her lips and he growled, so in dragon character that he shimmered silver and gold in her imagination, as if he were, in fact, the beast he wore on his chest.
She laughed at her flight of fantasy, and his cock responded to the husky sound, bobbing and pulling away farther from his belly as if focused on her lips and wanting to come to them—or more accurately, wanting to come with her mouth wrapped around it.
“Fair is fair,” she said. “Sit. Hands behind your back.”
It would be pointless to attempt to restrain him as he’d done her, and besides, she had no intention of denying herself the pleasure of touching him, exploring him.
He obeyed, putting his own spin on it by sitting on the poker table, leaning back and bracing his hands against green felt.
Rising from her chair, she went to him. “Spread your legs.”
Masculine eyes lowered in a sultry reminder of what he’d found when he ordered her to do the same, not that she needed it. Her cunt lips were swollen and parted, her clit an anxious knot. A few stokes and she’d come.
She stepped between his thighs, palms finding their home on his chest, going unerringly to pebbled nipples.
His back arched like a cat demanding to be petted.
“How come you’re not married?” she asked.
“How could I be when I hadn’t met you yet?”
She shook her head, clinging to sanity by a thread when all she wanted to do was lose herself completely in this fantasy. “You don’t even know me.”
“Dragon males sense their true mates.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
And she wanted to believe, could well remember her reaction to the card from Aislinn’s deck.
His head went back when she played with the onyx-studded barbell. She lost the battle with temptation, leaned forward to replace her fingers with lips and tongue, because when it came to fantasy, this was the one she wanted to indulge in.
His hips lifted on a moan as she flicked the nipple with her tongue, laving then sucking, and finally grasping it between her teeth. The shimmer of gold and silver returned, a lust-induced haze seen through eyes that could barely remain open.
He was hot to the touch, his scent and taste different than that of any other man she’d ever been with. It made her think of sun on baking rocks, of open skies and lush valleys full of exotic grasses.
Forcing her eyes open, she left the nipple to trace the dragon tattoo with her tongue. He shuddered, breath hitching and growing harsher, inciting her to torment him further by closing the distance between their bodies.
It was wickedly erotic to rub her belly against his cock, to mark herself with the wet evidence of his desire. He was so hard, so ready.
“Take me in your mouth,” Tielo ordered, knowing it was madness. He was barely able to keep his mating spurs from descending.
It was a constant struggle to hold himself in a human shape, and his cock… With each rub against his mate’s skin, he risked the magic falling away to reveal the twin rings of thick cartilage circling his shaft beneath the head.
Yet still he said, “Do it. Take me into your mouth.”
His mate’s tormenting lips moved, but not the straight shot down he craved. He feared abandoning his position to spear his fingers through her hair and guide her to his throbbing cock. Suspected she’d cease her ministrations and insist on returning to the poker game if he did.
So he endured. He forced himself to behave despite the feel of her mouth against what she no doubt viewed as a tattoo. He somehow managed to keep from reaching for her when the touch of lips and tongue to the nipple bar sent wicked shards of ecstasy downward, compounding the pleasure even as her touch filled him with barely restrained need.
He growled in protest, panted when she left the dragon image to kiss across his chest. Delaying, denying him instant obedience by taking the other nipple between her lips, tormenting it the same as she’d done its twin.
Searing heat whipped through him with each lick, with each suck, with the capture of it between her teeth, lust joined to the sharp edge of erotic pain. His cock spasmed against her belly, wetting it further, and that only heightened his desire, his feelings of possessiveness. He wanted to rub his cock against her cunt and breasts and buttocks, to mark her with his scent.
His hips jerked violently when feminine fingers clamped down on the barbell-studded nipple, the dual assault almost shredding the last of his control and undoing him. He nearly came. He wanted desperately to.
Another time he wouldn’t care if it was on his mate’s skin or inside her tight sheath, but here, now, he wanted her mouth and wasn’t beyond begging for it.
“Lyra.” Not command but panted plea, and feminine satisfaction filled her at the sound of her name, at the power she had over this man who’d overwhelmed her senses from the moment she saw him.
She couldn’t deny him, not when she hungered for the same thing. She wanted to go down on him, wanted to taste his cock, to slide it between her lips and suck.
But still she took her time. Kissing smooth flesh. Hands settling on muscled masculine thighs, feeling the strain as he kept his position.
She paused at his navel. Circled it with her tongue, dipping into it as his cock caressed her cheek, wet with ready eagerness, pulsing and bobbing as if to get her attention.
“Mmmm,” she said, turning her head. “Is this what you want?”
She rubbed her lips along the hot, velvety shaft, tongue darting out in quick greeting and initial taste.
Spicy. Potent. And she thought being with him could, in fact, make her forget she’d ever known another man.
She parted her lips. Ran her tongue down the length of him, tracing thick, heavy veins that were a bold testament to fierce masculinity.
Addictive, she thought as she returned to the tip and sipped at the head, explored the leaking slit before taking him into her mouth, her hands leaving his thighs, one to fist around his length while the other palmed the smooth, swollen globes of his testicles.
His moan was a shout of triumph in her ears. His ragged breathing and the sharp jerks of his hips all the encouragement she needed.
She sucked, and felt a thickening against her lips where they were locked beneath his cock head. His hands fisted in her hair, his manner going from compliant to dominant.
“Suck me.” And there was no disobeying him.
His fierce command had her abandoning his balls in favor of burrowing her hand in her panties. She took him deeper. Sucked him as she fucked her fingers into her slit, seeking, finding the spot she was looking for.
White heat filled her mind. Her moans joined his on the edge of ecstasy.
“Swallow on me,” he urged, and she did. Wanting to take him all the way down but settling for the hot splash of intoxicating semen, a jetted release on a shout that sounded almost like a trumpeting.
It was enough to make her climax. And even then, she couldn’t separate herself from him until she’d licked him clean, nuzzled and kissed the cock she needed inside her almost as desperately as breath.
The towering stacks of gold and scattered playing cards came into focus. She shivered at how easily he made her forget her reason for coming here.
“The game isn’t over yet,” she said against his rapidly filling penis, pulling away and taking her seat, though the ravenous hunger in his eyes as he looked at her partially clad body made it impossible to calculate odds.
She lost the next hand.
“Panties,” he said as she stood.
Obedience would have been easy. She wanted him to see her pussy, waxed smooth because she loved the feel of it, loved the way it invited oral sex. It was all too easy to imagine Tielo’s hands on her thighs, holding her open as he fucked his tongue into her hole and sucked her clit.
The bra landed on lu
sh carpeting instead of her panties. Narrowed eyes and the pinch of nostrils signaled his displeasure.
He stood, already fully erect again, heavy testicles hanging beneath a thick, mouth-watering cock, primal man on display.
He stalked around the table, every bit the dragon he called himself.
“I can smell your desire. I can read your need. Your body vibrates with it. Hands on the edge of the table.”
She trembled, belly quivering as she complied. Not even bothering to tell herself she did it because facing the chips and the cards would serve as a reminder that more was at stake than pleasure.
Hot lips pressed to her neck, making her moan. Firm hands cupped her breasts, toying with rigid nipples as his thick cock rubbed against the seam of her ass. Her panties were no protection against the searing heat of his shaft as the tip licked across her lower back, wetting her skin.
“Lean forward.”
She did, making a sound of protest when his penis left her, only to whimper when it returned, angled now to slide between her thighs.
“Since you deny us both the pleasure, I will attend to you this way.”
She cried out when he rubbed his cock over her swollen folds and erect clit. Then cried out again when Tielo cupped her hips, preventing her from rocking backward. Taking control and denying her the release she would have grabbed.
Perfect. She was perfect for him. So responsive, so uninhibited in her pleasure.
Tielo dared to let some of the magic holding his penis to a human size and shape and texture fall away. Masculine satisfaction surged through him at being able to pleasure her with thickened length and dragon advantage.
She whimpered and panted as he used the firm rings beneath his cock head to stroke her delicate clit, small movement to the underside followed by a quick foray over the tiny head.
He wanted to see her. Taste her. To confirm what the scraps of material masquerading as panties revealed—that she was bare, ready for her mate’s mouth and tongue as most dragon males preferred.
His mouth returned to her neck. He added sucking, biting kisses to his sensual assault, not that the other dragons present needed her skin marked to know she belonged to him. They’d smell him on her; see by her well-loved body and adoring eyes that she had a male who pleased her in all ways.
