by Marcy Jacks
Adam shrugged, took another bite of his sandwich, and swallowed before answering. “I guess so. I knew he wasn’t ugly, though I don’t think there’s anything particularly amazing about him.”
“You don’t?” Jason was stunned. How could his best friend, the man who shared Jason’s interests and opinions so well, not see something like this?
Adam shrugged again, more focused on his food. As the days went on, he seemed to becoming hungrier and less ill. This was his third meal of the day. “I don’t know. I mean, I think I know what you’re saying. I’ve only ever seen Novik like that.”
“I’m not talking about Novik,” Jason said, shaking his head.
“No, but it’s still the same thing,” Adam replied. The fact that he was still hardly taking his eyes away from his food and speaking calmly, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world, startled Jason. “You’re attracted to Kraigan now that you’ve kissed him and spent some time with him, and the more you get to like him, the more his physical appearance seems to change. Get better.”
“But he’s not changing. He looks exactly the same as he always did.”
Meaning that he still looked mean and could scowl like the best of them.
“Yes, that’s true, but you still think he’s more handsome than when you met him, don’t you?” Adam barely glanced at him as he finished with his sandwich and started with his squash soup. The man was really too focused on his food lately, but he wasn’t losing any muscle or gaining any weight aside from what was obviously building in his stomach.
Jason just sat there, shocked and stupid as he allowed what his friend had said to wash over him.
He did think Kraigan was a lot more handsome, but it wasn’t just his looks. He was also starting to see the man’s gruff personality as endearing. Jason had hated the man in the beginning, hated it whenever Kraigan stepped too close, tried to intimidate him, or threatened him.
Now Jason looked forward to those times. He loved the feeling of Kraigan’s body being so close because then he could feel the man’s heat, see that sweltering lust in his eyes, and watch as his nostrils flared right before he would reach for Jason, grab him tight, and bring him forward for a rough kiss that left his body crackling like fire.
And he was so damned gentle. That was something Jason would have never suspected in a hundred thousand years if he’d ever lived to be so old. Kraigan, who had been so intimidating, who had even threatened to kill Jason once when he tried to leave the nest, treated Jason with more care than Kevan ever had.
And Kevan had just been faking it. The man had seemed aloof in public, and to some extent whenever they were alone, but any tender words the dragon had, any soft touches or interlaced fingers, had all just been a ploy to get Jason alone so that he and his friends could attack him.
Kraigan was still rougher around the edges, but now Jason was starting to see that there was a soft spot within him that he hadn’t noticed before.
Or maybe he had. When had he gone from hating Kraigan, to not wanting to be anywhere near the man because he feared for his life and personal safety, to loving it whenever the warrior was around so he could shout out some half-insult, a tease just to see his reaction?
That had been going on for at least a couple of weeks. Hell, Jason had danced and sang in front of Kraigan’s sick bed when he’d announced that the man had to be his slave in return for Jason saving his life.
That had been fun, even if Kraigan had never followed through with the actual slavery bit.
Of course, the man did treat Jason like a king in bed.
Fingers snapping in front of his face had him yanking himself back, blinking awake as though he’d been dreaming with his eyes open.
He turned to Adam. “What?”
The man stared at him, a curious and worried expression on his face, and just then Jason realized that Adam had finished the last of his lunch. His soup bowl was empty, and the slice of cake that had been in front of him was reduced to chocolate crumbs now as well. Even his goblet of hot water was drained.
Jason felt cold all over. He’d been sitting there in a daze, thinking about Kraigan, about how he enjoyed being around the dragon warrior so much, and he hadn’t even noticed the time flying by.
“Sorry,” he said, reaching for the last of his sandwich and deciding not to touch his soup since it was probably cold now. He would have to scarf down his cake while running back to get the last of his shift done.
A slow smile spread across Adam’s face. “You spent all that time thinking about Kraigan?”
Jason teased back. “You spent all that time focused on your food?”
Adam shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You didn’t notice I wasn’t speaking to you either. Do you…are you in love with him?” Adam asked the question as if this was the first time the thought was even occurring to him.
And just then, it was the first time it had also occurred to Jason as well.
The shocked gasp nearly had Jason sucking back the bite of sandwich in his mouth, launching it down the wrong tube.
He coughed and choked, and Adam was forced to pound his fist on Jason’s back until the thing lodged in his throat was no longer a threat.
Even then, Jason still felt as though he couldn’t breathe. It was too much. Too soon and too damned fast, but now that the word was out, it seemed to grow tentacles that latched onto Jason and refused to let go.
And like the evil, monstrous thing that it was, it also started to convince Jason that it wasn’t so bad, that it was actually kind of pretty and nice to be around.
Maybe it was.
“You are, aren’t you?” Adam asked, and at first he brightened, his wide smile showing off white teeth until that smile vanished. “Are you all right?”
Jason shook his head. “I honestly don’t know.”
Holy shit, if he was falling in love with Kraigan of all people, then what were the odds that Kraigan returned those feelings at all? Kraigan had admitted to liking Jason, but liking a man enough to want to fuck him and being in love with him were two completely separate things.
Also, what were the odds that Kraigan would ever want to love Jason? Jason had set about to make a pain in the ass of himself ever since he’d met Kraigan, mostly just because he’d wanted to irritate the man and get on his nerves.
Now…Now what? Did he even dare bring this up to the man? Kraigan had, by his own admission, stated that he had no feelings. Though that was complete horseshit, that didn’t mean he was capable of loving someone in just over a week. If anything, why would he choose Jason when he could’ve had Tatsu? Wouldn’t they have had more in common?
Jason had avoided asking more about the man to spare any feelings on Kraigan’s part but also because he hadn’t wanted to put his nose in where it didn’t belong. Just in case Tatsu found out about his curiosities and decided that he didn’t appreciate that the man sharing a bed with Kraigan was asking personal questions.
Adam touched Jason’s shoulder, his hand squeezing it and offering some sort of comfort that Jason could barely feel. He just felt so…numb. Numb, but also cold from the sudden fear that this thing he and Kraigan had been doing, the careful, barely-there relationship they had started, was going to wither and die before his eyes if he didn’t do something quickly.
Chapter Ten
Jason turned into a coward that night. When he knocked on Kraigan’s door, an hour earlier than he normally did, and risking being seen by Tatsu, he had every intention of using that extra time to speak with Kraigan, to learn what his feelings were on this matter, and to perhaps discover if there was anything they could use to make their relationship something deeper and more meaningful than just casual sex.
The second Kraigan opened the door, water dripping from his shoulders and chest, his short red hair darker than usual from the water of his bath, and staring right at Jason as though he wanted to tear his clothes off and make him moan right there in the hallway…well, all of Jason’s thoughts and planned words
flew right out of his head like little brainless birds, never to be seen or heard from again.
It wasn’t just the slick, wet look of a well-built man dripping in water. It was also the fact that Kraigan was very naked as he stood before Jason. For the first time, Jason had the pleasure of watching the man’s dick swell and stand up to its full potential, right in front of his eyes.
His mouth watered, and his cock and balls immediately pulsed at the thought of touching it, and then Kraigan did drag him inside.
More kissing, more touching when Jason knew there was something else he should be asking, something he should be doing, but all that existed in his mind in that exact moment was the feel of Kraigan’s lips and the taste of his tongue inside of Jason’s mouth. A tongue that had said many cruel and threatening things to Jason before, but he’d done the same, and yet here he was.
Kraigan seemed not to care that he was getting Jason’s clothes wet. Or perhaps that was something of the point so that he could have a proper excuse of tearing Jason out of them as quickly as possible.
Jason half expected Kraigan to take him to the bath. They’d had sex in that tub once already, and Jason had decided that to fuck in water slick with oils and calming scents was one of the best ways to have an orgasm.
Messy, though. Water had gotten everywhere, and Jason hated to think of the poor servant who’d had to clean it up.
No, instead of taking Jason back to his bath, Kraigan pushed him over to his bed. Jason liked it there, too, and his clothes were already half off. Kraigan was stretching and tearing them in some places, and Jason growled to think of needing to buy more when the man was finished with him.
“Don’t growl at me. You know you like it,” Kraigan said, his voice a deep rumble and that easy smile sliding onto his face.
It wasn’t a happy, just-heard-a-funny-story smile but the smile of a man who knew he was about to get what he wanted. That was perfectly fine with Jason since he had every intention of giving it to him.
So long as Kraigan continued to smile at him like that, then what was the purpose of complaining? Or of being unhappy? He would take what he could get and be content with it for as long as Kraigan touched him like this.
So far he was proving to be the only decent dragon in the clan who had ever shown an interest in Jason, and the fear of speaking out, of asking for more and destroying this thing they’d created was too powerful to take the risk.
Jason kicked his way out of his leggings, allowing Kraigan to push him down onto the bed, but it wasn’t until the man grabbed him by the hips and tried to position him onto his hands and knees in the center of the bed that Jason began to move and wiggle. Not to get away but to shift around and put himself on his back again.
Kraigan’s brows lifted. It made sense. They usually had sex with Jason’s back to Kraigan’s chest, and only now was Jason starting to see that as the method in which Kraigan kept his distance, and it made his heart ache too much.
“I want to be like this,” he said.
He didn’t elaborate any more than that. There was no way in hell that he could. To say more would give away what the hell was wrong with him, that he wanted to face Kraigan right now because, all of a sudden, all the other times they’d been together seemed too impersonal, too…something. Something that was not good.
Kraigan stared at him for a few seconds in which Jason was convinced that the man was thinking of all the ways he could tell Jason to get out of his bedchamber if he could no longer follow the rules, but he didn’t.
He nodded instead. “All right.”
Jason let out a sigh so heavy there was no way Kraigan didn’t notice it, especially since the man was looking right at him. The large warrior didn’t mention it, however. He let it slide. Maybe it had more to do with Kraigan’s inability to read people’s feelings and emotions, rather than giving Jason a free pass, because mentioning it would be too damned humiliating.
It would put a stop to what they were doing.
This time was different. This time, when Kraigan pushed his oiled fingers inside of Jason’s hole, stretching him open and making him slick for what was to come, Jason was able to watch the man’s face, to see the concentration going on in his eyes as he pushed forward and back, hooking his fingers to gently brush against that sweet spot inside.
Jason sighed, his pleasure rising at a slow and steady pace with the rhythm that Kraigan had set, and even though he could already tell that his orgasm would be a gentle one when it did finally arrive, he also knew that it would be, by far, the best.
Jason’s body didn’t fight that bulb at the head of Kraigan’s cock nearly as much as it had the first time they had done this. In fact, he begged and whimpered for Kraigan to hurry up, to just stick it in already, and he didn’t care if it hurt him or not.
“No, be patient,” Kraigan said, grumbling a response. It was obvious the man wanted nothing more than to just slam inside and do as Jason demanded, but he continued to hold back.
“No, no, just do it. I can handle it. It won’t hurt.” Not that much, anyway. Even though he was used to it, just shoving forward as though he was begging for it could not be a good thing.
“I said you will wait,” Kraigan commanded. He pushed his cock forward at a snail’s pace so that Jason could feel every little bit that he was stretched open, so that he could feel it explicitly when the head finally popped through and the muscle of Jason’s asshole clenched around his shaft.
He swore that a bead of sweat gathered at his forehead and trickled down the side of his face. “Oh God, finally.”
Kraigan growled at him, but the man was still in command, still refusing to plunge forward the rest of the way like Jason wanted him to.
Jason clenched his teeth around a growl and slammed his fist into a spot of the mattress beside him. “You’re going to be an asshole about this, aren’t you?”
Kraigan grinned at him. The man actually grinned. Jason couldn’t tell if it was a dangerous look or not, but he was definitely doing it, and it was a look on his face unlike anything Jason had ever seen before.
Kraigan was playing around with him, and he was clearly enjoying himself.
Jason moaned and reached up, grabbing the man’s ears and yanking him down so their lips were touching, meshing together and tongues meeting.
And then, fuck, finally Kraigan started to move! The swollen head of his cock pushed forward, pressing against Jason’s prostate and sliding teasingly against it as the man pushed forward. The fleshy spike that protruded from the tip licked against it, adding to the sizzling sensations making Jason’s toes curl. He moaned through that kiss and nearly came undone when the slick slide of Kraigan’s tongue pushed between his lips.
He didn’t have a strong enough grip on the man. He needed to hold his place because he was starting to feel as though he was going to slide out from beneath Kraigan if he didn’t hold on properly.
Jason was in such a hurry to make sure that didn’t happen that he moved and acted without any thoughts going through his head. Everything happened through the actions of his body. Thankfully, it seemed to be leading him down the right path as he tightened his thighs around Kraigan’s hips, curling his legs around Kraigan’s calves and locking his ankles in place.
The perfect position. It was supposedly one of the more boring positions, but there was nothing boring about the way Kraigan was able to easily slide forward and back, pushing himself deeper and deeper inside of him.
Jason was wrong. This wasn’t going to be a gentle orgasm. His prostate was being teased and tortured so damned much that there was nothing gentle about it when it finally released. Jason bit down on a hard groan, but only because he would have yelled his head off if he hadn’t. The sharp pain of biting through his lip was there, and it was hot, but that sensation was nothing compared to how it felt to finally come, to shoot onto his belly and onto Kraigan’s, making the space between them slick as Kraigan moved faster and harder.
Jason had once seen the heav
y gears of a train turn when he was still young and his parents were alive. Train rides were for the rich, and he hadn’t been there to ride the train, just to see it.
The way the metal parts pumped to move the wheels over the tracks, strong and fast, precise, reminded Jason of the way Kraigan was moving now. He felt as strong as a train as he moved over top of Jason. That was very certain.
Then Kraigan’s heavy weight collapsed on top of him, on his chest this time and not against his back, and it was perfect. Jason felt as though he was being hugged, and he really needed that in that moment, to keep the game of pretend going and imagine, for just a couple of moments, that Kraigan loved him and that this was the cuddling that supposedly came after sex.
Who would have thought? Jason was a sap. He liked to cuddle. Adam was going to laugh his head off at him when he told the man.
Jason couldn’t help himself. He smiled. His hands also moved up and down, back and forth against Kraigan’s warm skin. He loved the touch of it, the feel of it. Even the scars.
Something was wrong, though. Kraigan was awake. Jason could look up and see the man’s eyes were open. He wasn’t looking right at Jason, but it was still very obvious that he wouldn’t be fighting the man to get up and off of him like he usually did.
He felt as though he had to talk. It was what he did when he was happy, angry, nervous, and scared, and right now, those last two were high up on the list. He was kind of scared. “Kraigan?”
“Mmm?” Kraigan said, though that noise didn’t sound very tired to Jason.
“Why do you have a snowflake tattoo?”
There, an innocent enough question, one that would come with an answer he expected.
Because Kraigan’s last name was Snow and Kraigan’s line of work was made up of making other people, dragons and humans, bleed if they misbehaved. Blood on snow? Kraigan’s bloody hands? He hoped it wasn’t that gory.
But Kraigan didn’t give the answer that Jason was expecting. In fact, he didn’t answer at all for some seconds. Then he did, and Jason wished he hadn’t asked. “It’s for my family.”
