“Ouch.” She turned in his arms. “I’m worn out, but too revved up to sleep.”
“I have something for that,” he vowed.
*Bear Infinities
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Daniel~
Angie was swaying with fatigue. He picked her up. “You need your sleep, my love.”
“Did I tell you how much I like our bedroom?” she asked as he carried her into it.
He set her gently on her feet. “Not yet. I wasn’t very adventurous,” he apologized.
“It’s soothing. Calm and pretty. And it looks a lot like our bedroom in Stockholm.”
“I tried. Heaven knows I’m no interior decorator.” He had stuck with the same pale neutral throughout the house. In the dim light from the bedside lamps, the misty walls receded, making the big room seem even larger. Spacious. With room to breathe. The king-sized bed was a simple platform with the most minimal of padded headboards.
“Did you pick out those orchids?”
“No,” he admitted. “Robin ordered them.” A huge urn of white orchids filled one corner of the long low double dresser. The drooping sprays were reflected in the wall mirror.
Angie looped her arms around his neck and stretched up to kiss him. “They are perfect, whoever chose them. I love them. And I love my surprise. Thank you.”
“You don’t mind that I selected all the furnishings?” Robin and Moira had been against that part of his plan. But moving Angie into an empty house had seemed like handing her an exhausting project instead of a gift.
“Not a bit. I would have chosen things that were much the same if not identical.”
“Would you?”
“You read my mind,” she informed him gravely.
“Well, you are my fated mate!” If he didn’t know her tastes after thirty years, he was never going to. Still it was a relief to have his judgment confirmed.
“Are you going to show me your sleeping aid?”
“When you’re in your pajamas.”
“I don’t wear pajamas.”
“So you don’t.” He peeled her blouse off and found her breasts straining at the seams of her lacy black bra. “I think they’re growing,” he murmured.
“You could be right.” Her voice was dreamy.
He kissed the slopes before he undid the back clasp and tossed the scrap of fabric away. Her nipples were already puckered and darkening. He took each one into his mouth in turn, sucking and nibbling playfully while she squirmed.
“I’m still broad awake,” she teased. “Maybe you have too many clothes on, Lindorm?”
He removed her hands from his shirt buttons. “This works better if you’re not in a hurry.”
For a moment she looked mutinous, but then she shrugged and stood demurely while he unfastened her white pants and tugged them down her legs to reveal a neat, pale triangle winking through black lace panties. “Very pretty,” he remarked as he steadied her while she stepped neatly out of her pants. He kissed her thatch through her panties.
“Don’t I get to undress you?” Desire hummed in her husky voice.
“Maybe later. I want to play first.”
She pouted.
“Is it more exciting if I do you while I’m clothed or when I’m naked?” he asked against those pursed lips.
She blushed like the dawn sky. As if they had not been lovers for years. He laughed at her frozen expression and nudged her backwards so that she sat on the edge of the bed. He knelt before her, spreading her thighs. Another kiss on that treasure glinting through her panties and then he feasted on her tender inner thighs.
Angie was panting now. Her chest heaving and her pretty breasts jiggling enticingly. But he could be strong. He ignored their straining tips and nipped the inside of her knee, soothing the little love bite with sweeps of his tongue.
“What are you up to, Daniel?” Her hands crushed the comforter cover as she writhed under the gentle torment.
“I intend to find out whether it is true that pregnancy changes a woman’s erotic zones,” he growled against her skin.
“What?” she yelped.
He chuckled against the sweet skin of her rounded calf and stroked the outsides of her legs from hip to ankle, before continuing his leisurely exploration of her legs. Angie’s head was back. Even in the dim light he could see the crimson flush of arousal mantling her breasts, neck and face. She keened like a lost soul.
Her toes tempted him. She had painted them her trademark iridescent leaf-green. He pulled each one into his mouth and suckled it in turn. Angie’s panting got faster. Her cries of delight shriller. She had always enjoyed foot play, but she had never been this sensitive. He bit first one instep and then the other. She spasmed right there, while his hands were still clasping her ankles.
Shift and dang. Kneeling before her, he was in no position to join their bodies. Instead he soothed her until her climax settled into gentle aftershocks and lifted her beneath the covers. He stripped to his skin and joined her on the bed, reaching for her damp panties.
“Now?” he asked.
“Now,” she panted.
He turned her onto her front and lifted her rear in the air. Entered her from behind while he caressed her still distended nipples. She pressed back against his thrusts. He wanted to pound into her until he reached satisfaction. His slow love play had made him rampant. But he had to remember that she was in a delicate condition. He slowed his pace.
“Faster,” she urged him.
He stroked her pussy, feeling the slick folds and the taut clitoris. He pinched gently and was rewarded when the pulses of her passage morphed into intense contractions that gripped and released his cock in strong waves that bordered on painful. If this was pain, then he wanted it more than pleasure.
And suddenly his vision blurred into an Aurora Borealis of misty swirling lights, their love made visible. He no longer knew where his body began and Angie’s ended. His pleasure blended with hers. His aura and hers united and their life force became one living organism, meeting and exchanging energies, enveloping their growing baby in their love. Never in a long lifetime had he known so overwhelming an orgasm.
He collapsed against her out-thrust buttocks, exhausted with pleasure. Only a faint call to duty made him roll sideways on the huge bed to clasp his mate in his arms before he fell asleep with her name a song on his lips.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Angie~
The sun had been up for hours. She was going to be late opening the art supply. She stretched and looked at her sleeping dragon. Daniel’s face was buried in his pillow and his back moved rhythmically with his even breathing. Fast asleep and at this hour. Unheard of for Admiral Lindorm.
But even as she was musing on his unusually long and deep sleep, those bright blue eyes opened and crinkled at her. “Good morning, my love.” He pulled her against him for a good morning kiss. His cock was hard between their bodies.
“I’m already late,” she murmured regretfully. “I have to shower and get ready for work.”
His jaw bulged, but he let her go. “How do you feel this morning?”
Her face heated. “Fantastic. I think you may be right. I am more sensitive now that I am pregnant.” She sat up and noticed a book on the bedside table. “What is this?” She read the title aloud. “What to Expect when your Partner is Expecting: A Pictorial Guide to Lovemaking. Where did you get this?”
“Bookstore.” It was his turn to redden. “I wanted to know more.”
“Oh.” She flipped through it and closed it rapidly on a sketch of a woman on all fours with her partner straddling her. “Is that why you wanted to be behind me last night?”
“I thought you were in a hurry to get to work?” he said slyly.
They had long ago decided that the increased pleasure of making love was not enough compensation for not being able to see each other’s faces. She ignored his attempt to evade her question. “Well, it wasn’t our usual style.”
“It’s better for the baby,�
�� he said. “And it was good too. At least for me. And I thought for you as well.” Sudden doubt rattled her dragon’s bass tones.
“The best,” she assured her prudish dragon. “The very best.”
She imagined him going into the bookstore and buying this. Looking at the shelves. Placing it on the counter to be smirked over by both Rupert Tams, the owner, and his assistant Tammy Merryman. Only true love could have dragged him into such an embarrassing position, when he could have ordered online and skipped the gossip. Because in Mystic Bay, news of his purchase would be common knowledge in a heartbeat, and folks would have started snickering over their coffees before he cracked the spine.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“For the great sex?”
“That too. For the book. We’ll have to read it together.”
“I’d like that.”
“Will you drive me into town? Or do you want me to take the car myself?”
“I should go too. Alister was going to see if the person who donated the broken model ships had more pieces. I should check in before I start the reconstruction.”
“Eleazar Jackman,” she informed him.
“First Robin, and now you. Does everyone in Mystic Bay know everything?” Daniel sprang to his feet.
“No secrets on West Haven. Or not for long.”
“Hmm.”
They showered separately. She was relieved to discover the fridge was full of food. She made breakfast for them. Just toast with sliced cheese on top. Daniel came into the kitchen. “Is that coffee I smell?”
“Decaf, unfortunately.”
“I’ll get some of the good stuff at the Bean,” he said easily.
They ate in companionable silence. She was going to be about a half hour late opening the art supply. She sent an apologetic text to Moira, but couldn’t bring herself to really care.
“I’ll drop you at the store.” Daniel tucked the last spoon into the dishwasher. He pulled something shiny out of his pocket. “Will you wear your rings again?”
Reality returned with a vengeance. She was tempted, but she held firm. “Not unless you wear yours too.”
It had sat untouched in his traveling hoard since their wedding day.
Like most dragons, Daniel was uncomfortable without some valuables at hand. His chamois bag was smaller than the traveling hoards of most of his family, but unless he was actually in the field, he kept it nearby. Often on his person. But near counted only in horseshoes. She wanted to see that ring on his hand as a symbol of equality in their marriage.
“It’s dangerous for me to wear rings. You know that,” his face was hard.
“Then I will pass.” She blinked back tears.
He sighed and stuffed her rings back into his pocket.
The silence on the road into town was not companionable.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Two weeks later,
Daniel~
One step forward and two steps backward. He couldn’t seem to strike the right balance with Angelina. She was agreeable around him, but she had refused to wear her rings. He had now asked three times. And each time she had demanded that he put his on. But to do so was the same as surrendering to her demand that he retire from the Navy. He wasn’t ready. Not yet. Maybe never.
The Bean and Bran was full even at this early hour. He collected his black coffee from Lloyd and joined Quinn and Sullivan at their table. They were arguing about whether the waves left over from old storms impacted the formation of strong seas when a fresh one blew up.
“What do you think?” Quinn demanded.
“That the science of wave formation is tricky,” Daniel replied with the wisdom of an old sailor. “And that arguing with a weather worker about his predictions is a fool’s game.”
Sullivan laughed. “It’s as much art as science,” he conceded. “And I never stop learning. But you’ve been sailing almost as long as I have, Dan. You must have opinions as to whether it’s wind strength or speed, or its duration that is the most important factor in creating dangerous seas.”
“The trouble with that is you never get strength separate from speed and duration. Besides,” Daniel continued, “None of the theories apply anywhere there are islands, sandbars, reefs or other disruptions. If you want to know how high the waves will be when a storm blows into the Gulf of Bothnia, I’ll tell you. Stake my life on it.” He had. Often.
“But, the Strait of San Juan is virgin territory to me.” Daniel shook his head. “I wouldn’t bet against Sullivan. Or even you, Quinn.” Quinn had been sailing in the waters around West Haven since he learned to walk. “If I want to know the forecast, I’ll check the meteorologists’ forecast – and then ask Sullivan.”
Both men laughed and continued their fierce and friendly argument until it was time to go back to work. He parted with them at the door. Quinn was going to do a stint at the Art Show. Sullivan had a whale-watching tour to run. Daniel was going to report to Alister on his progress. He returned to his SUV and retrieved his completed model.
“The black pieces are not original,” he explained as he laid the clipper ship on the boardroom table. Alister had spread out a clean lint-free cloth. They had both put on gloves.
The work had gone well and Daniel was reasonably pleased. He had made replacement pieces to complete the square-rigged, narrow-waisted sailboat. Every piece of new wood had been stained black. The originals had been left with as much of their period finish as he could manage. In places he had been obliged to use a little clear varnish to protect exposed wood, but he had done his best to show their age.
“I like that you used matte black paint,” Alister approved. “Those new pieces somehow recede against the varnished wood. The ship looks complete, but the eye goes to the original bits. Great job. All they need now is sails.”
“That’s what I wanted to discuss with you. I know we wanted to use a lightweight canvas.” And they were off, debating the relative merits of synthetics over cotton and arguing back and forth as to whether they should choose a color that made it obvious they were reproductions, or stick with unbleached white.
That issue settled in favor of unbleached canvas, Alister stopped Daniel from packing up his materials. “I’ve been wondering if you would be willing to do a workshop for the museum, Dan?”
“What kind of a workshop?”
“A mix of lecture and model building. Take that clipper ship. That’s a genuine American ship, invented by American shipwrights for the China tea trade. I’m not the only one who would be interested in what you know about them.”
Daniel hesitated. “You don’t think people would be bored?”
“This is a seafaring community. Even without the tourists we’re going to be busy year-round,” Alister assured him. “Part of our mandate is education. Which means doing things for the school crowd too.”
“I’ll think about it.” He couldn’t make promises he might not be able to keep. But aside from his lectures at the Naval Academy, where he had a captive audience of midshipmen, he had never had many opportunities to share his passion for ships.
“And not just China clippers. I was thinking more of a series of lectures.” Enthusiasm lit Alister’s voice. “We’re not allowed to charge the locals for education, so your lectures would permit us to offer top-notch material – I’m assuming you wouldn’t expect to be paid.”
“Of course not.”
“You think about it.” Alister laid a hand on his shoulder. “One more thing, Dan. Quinn and I have talked it over with Lloyd. We think you should join us for our weekly fly-over the Old Forest. Tomorrow.”
“You can fly?” Daniel blurted.
Alister squinted fiercely at him. “My legs are gone, not my wings.”
“Sorry. I just assumed.”
“You and that bear,” Alister said cheerfully. “Even though he’s only got one foot, Anton didn’t put me down for his Search and Rescue Squad until I stole his wife.”
“Huh?”
“Snatche
d Serena off the dock, clean as a whistle. Took her clear over the island. By the time I brought her back, Benoit had a new perspective on double amputees.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t eat you,” returned Daniel. “Snatching a guy’s fated mate is a risky business.”
Alister laughed. “I live for danger.” He paused. “So, are you coming?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” He had already assumed that the Old Ones had given their approval at the cleansing ceremonies. But flying in company would be great.
At 2000 hours he gathered with the other two shifters on the top of the cliff at one edge of the Drake property. Alister lived in his parents’ cottage on the estate.
“I can’t launch from the sea without legs,” Alister confessed cheerfully. “But I arranged with one of the Peterson boys to pick me up out of the ocean at 2200 hours.”
“We’ll circle the entire island,” Lloyd directed. “Check out the reef too. Take a look at the spring head on Ghost Hill and finish up with a few turns over the Old Forest.”
“That shouldn’t take two hours,” objected Daniel.
“Nope. The rest of the time is free flying,” Lloyd said happily. He was as animated as he ever got. “Shift.”
What? But Lloyd wasn’t swearing. He was instructing. The baker peeled off his jeans and tie-dyed T-shirt and found a clear spot. In a few moments he was a mid-sized copper-colored dragon with deep crimson horns, talons and tail dart. His leathery wings were also rimmed with red. He dove straight off the cliff whistling a marching song.
Quinn also shifted. He was as exceptionally large in dragon, as he was as a man. Probably over twenty-six feet long with a matching wingspan. His scales were black edged with gold. His tail dart, curved horns and talons were deep red. And the spikes running down his back glinted bronze, as did his leathery wings. His underparts shaded to pale cream.
Although Alister was far smaller than Quinn, he looked enough like him for the Drake family resemblance to be obvious. He had to crawl on his belly, using his upper limbs to help. When he reached the lip of the cliff he somersaulted off. For a heart-stopping moment he went head over heels and plummeted downward. Then with a loud snap his bronze wings unfurled. The wind lifted him, and he was flying out over the sea between Quinn and Lloyd.
Adored by A Dragon: A Shifters in Love Fun & Flirty Romance (Mystic Bay Book 4) Page 13
