Nathaniel (Dragon Hearts 1)

by Carole Mortimer

  “Shit…” Nathaniel groaned. “You mean Chloe could become pregnant from us being together just the once?”

  “Only if you complete the mating and probably only if she’s ovulating at the time.”

  “That’s a lot of probables.”

  “Hm.” Dylan nodded.

  “What about contraception?”

  His brother gave a grimace. “I’m not sure if human contraception is going to be effective against dragon sperm.”

  “Fucking hell!” Nathaniel ran an agitated hand through his hair.

  “If anything goes wrong, and you need me…”

  Nathaniel sincerely hoped, prayed, that wouldn’t be necessary.

  Chapter 11

  Chloe loved being held in Nathanial’s dragon arms as he used his amazing wingspan to fly them both to his volcanic cave in Iceland.

  She had been terrified at first, felt totally unsafe knowing it was only Nathaniel’s dragon that stopped her from plummeting to the ground. But he held her so gently and so closely, she soon felt totally safe. Instead of a parachute, she held her backpack and his own. Being this close to him also meant she was warmed by his dragon body.

  Besides, there was far too much to see to worry about falling. The view of land and sea was magnificent as they moved swiftly through the sky. Nathaniel had assured her before they left Wales they were well away from any flight paths and low enough not to show up on an airport radar. Only the graceful sweep of Nathaniel’s wings—wings!—broke the silence.

  It was amazing. Unlike anything Chloe had ever experienced before.

  She was sure she didn’t breathe at all when Nathaniel flew them through the wonder of the Northern lights. Greens and purples, and every spectrum of color in between.

  The flight was over way too soon as Nathaniel swooped down to land on a rocky outcrop among a lot of other mountains. He placed her gently and carefully on the ice-covered ground before shifting back to human form and relieving her of the weight of the two backpacks.

  “Well?” He tilted his head, looking much like his dragon did when it was curious.

  Chloe straightened her clothing. “Well, no one came round with peanuts and a drink, but otherwise… It was awesome!” she enthused, grinning widely. “Indescribably amazing.”

  Nathaniel chuckled. “So will you be flying with this airline again?”

  She gave a light and exuberant laugh. “Is there any other way to travel?”

  “Let’s go inside and you can see my cave.” He took a firm grasp of her arm and took her with him as he bent down beneath where an overhang of ice hid the entrance to a cave. “You’re going to need a flashlight now.”

  “You don’t?” Chloe took the flashlight he handed her from his backpack.

  “After fifteen hundred years, I’m pretty familiar with the route. Besides, my dragon can see in the dark,” he dismissed before taking hold of her hand and striding forward along the ice path.

  Chloe was totally enthralled by the beauty surrounding her as they walked through a tunnel made completely of blue-tinged ice. Every now and then, it would widen out to a small lava cave, and she would pause to gaze in awe at the stalactites and stalagmites as they formed intricate sculptures.

  Still Nathaniel kept walking steadily forward, until they reached a much bigger cave almost half a mile deep into the mountain. It was a huge open area, maybe forty feet high and twice as wide.

  Nathaniel had obviously been here often in the past.

  There were concealed lights high up on the walls and in the bubbling hot spring in the center of the cave which was perhaps also the generator for those lights. There was a comfortable armchair, and books locked away in a glass cabinet next to a bed made up completely of animal furs.

  “I can see where we get the fresh water from.” There was a fall of water in one corner of the cave, no doubt the meltdown from the glacier overhead. “But what do we do about food?”

  “I’ll go out and get some in the morning.”

  “I didn’t notice a supermarket nearby,” she teased.

  “But there are plenty of fish in the waters around here.”

  She pulled a face. “I hope you don’t intend for me to gut and clean them for you, because I can assure you that isn’t happening.”

  “My dragon usually eats them whole and raw. I’m happy to gut and cook your share,” he added as she continued to grimace.

  “Fine.” The hot spring was providing enough heat that Chloe now felt warm enough to take off her coat, hat, and gloves. Unfortunately, she could also feel the return of sexual fever now that she and Nathaniel were no longer touching.

  She hoped to God that wasn’t going to be a permanent state of affairs, because she had no intention of being joined to Nathaniel at the hip—or anywhere else—for the rest of her life. Maybe—

  “And the rest,” Nathaniel instructed, his eyes having taken on a predatory gleam.

  She brightened. “Are we going for a swim?”

  “No.”

  She looked confused for a moment, and then her eyes widened as his intent became clear, her tongue sweeping nervously over her bottom lip. “No foreplay?”

  “Oh, there’ll be foreplay,” he drawled. “But maybe not the kind you were expecting,” he added dryly.

  Chloe eyed him uncertainly. “What does that mean?”

  “You know that saying about elephants never forgetting?” He waited for her wary nod. “Well, the same applies to dragons.”

  “I don’t— You’re going to keep your promise and spank me!” She gasped in realization.

  Nathaniel almost laughed at Chloe’s incredulous expression. Almost, because there was nothing in the least funny about this obsession she had that he was going to kill her or allow one of his brothers to do it.

  Nathaniel had meant it earlier when he said Chloe was now his greatest treasure. But that didn’t mean he was going to let her walk all over him. Especially when it was a question of her safety.

  Chloe needed to learn that when he told her to do something, he was doing it for her own protection. She also needed to know that when he said he was going to do something, he meant that too.

  He had promised her a spanking earlier today, and she was going to get exactly that before they did anything else.

  Chloe felt extremely self-conscious as Nathaniel put his backpack down next to hers before sitting on a raised and well-worn lava rock to watch her every move as she untied and slipped off her boots before slowly removing her sweater. “You do know spanking someone is barbaric?” And painful, as she remembered only too well from the last time Nathaniel had spanked her. And she had been wearing jeans that time.

  He bared his teeth in that predatory smile. “Dragon, remember?”

  She scowled at him. “How can I forget?”

  His gaze swept over her as she stood in front of him wearing only her black lace bra, jeans, and socks. “I think ten should do it.”

  “Ten what? No,” she protested as she realized what he meant. “Five.”

  “We aren’t negotiating, Chloe,” he said mildly. “I said ten, and I meant ten.” His eyes narrowed to green slits. “Being dragon can be dangerous, and sometime in the future, your safety might depend on you listening and instantly obeying when I tell you to do something.”

  “You can forget thinking I’m going to blindly obey you,” she informed him rebelliously. A rebellion that was completely nullified by the fact she had already unzipped and removed her jeans and now wore only bra, panties, and socks. “Most brides nowadays even have the ‘obey’ part removed from the marriage service.” Her cheeks blazed with heat as she realized what she’d said. “Not that we’re getting married—”

  “Oh, we’re getting married, Chloe,” he assured her. “I have every intention of tying you to me in the human world as well as the dragon one.”

  Chloe glared at him. “Maybe you should try asking rather than assuming?”

  He nodded. “When the time is right, I’ll ask. You seem t
o have stopped undressing…?”

  Her face flushed. “We’re having a conversation.”

  “I’m sure you’re capable of doing two things at the same time.”

  She was more than capable of smacking him round the head if he didn’t stop talking to her in that reasoning voice she found so irritating.

  He stood up. “Would you like me to remove the rest of your clothes for you, or are you going to do it?”

  First he shocked the hell out of her by announcing he intended marrying her, and now he was as good as telling her to strip.

  Not so that he could make wild and passionate love to her—not yet, anyway—but so he could spank her bare bottom.

  “I can do it,” she bit out, her chin rising as she met Nathaniel’s gaze unflinchingly before she reached back to unfasten her bra. She slid the straps down her arms before dropping the lace garment on top of her other clothes.

  Nathaniel’s breath caught in his throat as he gazed at Chloe’s bared breasts. Not too small and not too big, they sloped upward and would fit perfectly in the palms of his hands. Her nipples were plump, a deep rose in color, and surrounded by a darker areola. His mouth watered in anticipation of suckling and pleasuring them. Pleasuring Chloe.

  He could see her deep red curls covering her mound beneath black lace panties—

  “I think it would be fairer if you were naked too,” Chloe challenged.

  He quirked a dark brow. “You do?”

  “Yes,” she maintained stubbornly.

  “Sure about that?”

  Chloe wasn’t sure about anything right now, least of all seeing and being with a completely naked Nathaniel. Although she had to admit her curiosity to do just that, and the sexual fever, was increasing by the minute.

  She’d never been particularly self-conscious about her own body or shy about going to bed with a man. Although, to be honest, she’d had only three lovers, two when she was at university, and most recently, Keith. None of those relationships had excited her as much as Nathaniel did merely by existing.

  But Nathaniel was fifteen hundred years old, and he must have had hundreds of lovers during all those years he could compare her to. Chloe had always thought her breasts were a bit on the large side, and her hips a little too curvaceous. She didn’t have long, sexy legs either. In fact, she wasn’t completely sure what he or his dragon was so excited about.

  Whereas he…

  Chloe’s mouth went dry as she realized, while she had been angsting about whether or not she would compare favorably with Nathaniel’s previous lovers, he had already removed his T-shirt and bared a chest that Adonis would have been envious of.

  Ripped muscles in his shoulders and arms, washboard abs, with a fine dusting of dark hair across his copper-colored nipples and veeing down to where he was now unfastening his jeans before pushing them and his boxers down to his knees.

  Oh. My. God.

  His cock was… Well, as she had hoped, it was completely in proportion to the rest of his body.

  At least nine inches long, a thick vein throbbed along its length, and it was so thick around, Chloe was sure she would never get the fingers of one hand around it, let alone fit it into her mouth.

  But its engorged state, the purple head slicked with pre-cum, did at least confirm she had nothing to worry about in regard to whether or not Nathaniel would desire her when he saw her without her clothes on.

  Nathaniel slipped the rest of his clothes off completely before moving to sit on the raised platform of rock where the collection of furs acted as a bed. He didn’t say a word as he met her gaze and patted the tops of his thighs.

  Chloe gave a derisive snort. “You’re seriously expecting me to meekly drape myself over there so you can spank me?”

  “I doubt you’ve ever been meek in your life,” he drawled. “But yes, I seriously am expecting that.”

  He was speaking in that mild and reasoning voice again, but Chloe could also hear an undercurrent of warning and knew there was a danger he would just throw her across his thighs if she didn’t do it willingly. “I think you’re being completely unfair.” She slipped off her panties before stomping to his side, very self-conscious of her nakedness. Of Nathaniel’s nakedness too. That engorged cock could be classified as a dangerous weapon. “I also think my concern for my life was warranted after Deryk’s threats,” she defended.

  His eyes narrowed. “I told you I wouldn’t let anything hurt you, and that includes Deryk. In return, you have shown time and time again you don’t trust me to protect you.”

  “I didn’t know you then.”

  One brow quirked. “Do you know me now?”

  “I know more about you now than I believed was possible,” she stated with feeling.

  He grinned. “Admit it, you find the whole dragon thing exciting.”

  She did. She found everything about Nathaniel exciting.

  Except this penchant he had for spanking her.

  Although even that had aroused her last time, so maybe she found that exciting too?

  “Oh, very well.” She threw herself ungraciously across the heat of his thighs, instantly able to feel the lessening of her fever, if not the sexual arousal.

  Nathaniel’s large hands instantly cupped the twin swell of her bottom. “This is delicious.”

  Her sexual arousal instantly deepened. “Will you just get on with it, already!” she snapped to cover her embarrassment. Although why she was bothering when Nathaniel only had to breathe in to inhale the scent of her arousal, she had no idea. No doubt his heightened dragon senses added to the scent her arousal.

  Nathaniel chuckled softly as he continued to cup and squeeze the twin globes of Chloe’s firm ass. “Patience is a virtue.” And he was enjoying himself far too much to want to stop just yet. Chloe’s skin was as soft as silk, and just as touchable.

  “Not when you’re waiting to be spanked it isn’t.”

  Maybe he was being a little unfair, making Chloe wait for her punishment. Although the increase in the perfume of the juices slicking between her thighs indicated she was distressed but also aroused.

  He dipped his fingers between her thighs to caress along the puffy lips of her pussy, his fingers instantly becoming wet with her fragrant juice.

  “What the hell— Ouch!” Chloe cried out as Nathaniel used his other hand to land a smack on the left side of her bottom. “A bit of warning would have been nice. I don’t— Are you licking your fingers?” she prompted incredulously as she turned her head to watch him doing exactly that.

  He carried on licking. “I’m multitasking.”

  Chloe couldn’t stop her snort of laughter. “Did you seriously just say that?”

  He grinned unabashedly. “You taste delicious.”

  “That—that’s—”

  “Ambrosial,” Nathaniel assured, holding her gaze with his as he continued to meticulously lick her juice from his fingers before returning them between her thighs for more.

  Chloe’s cheeks burned as she turned away. She kept her gaze firmly fixed on the rocky floor beneath her, as Nathaniel proceeded to spank her and caress between her thighs before licking the slick release gushing from her pussy lips.

  Until he reached the count of ten.

  By which time, Chloe’s bottom was stinging and she was so wet, Nathaniel couldn’t lick those juices up fast enough to prevent them from dampening her trimmed pubic hair and dribbling down her thighs. To make matters worse, her clit was so swollen, Nathaniel had no trouble at all in bringing her to a quick and explosive release with just a couple of strokes across that pulsing nubbin.

  How mortifying was that?

  Very, came the shamed reply.

  Before she knew what was happening, Nathaniel had tipped her back up until she was sitting straddled across the width of his thighs, his cock jutting up toward his navel, with her swollen and red pussy lips and clit completely on display.

  Chloe leaned forward and buried her face against his shoulder. “I shouldn’t have enjo
yed that.”

  “Why the hell not?” Nathaniel grasped her shoulders to pull her back enough so that he could look at her blushing face. “I’ve said I won’t bite you, but I do intend to possess you totally and in every way possible before the night is through. If you deny me your response, even once or by a little bit, I’m not going to be happy,” he warned.

  “No biting tonight,” she reminded.

  He nodded abruptly. “I’ve said I’ll try not to.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’ll tell me when you’re ready for the bite?”

  “I will,” she promised.

  “That’s all I ask,” he murmured before kissing her.

  Chloe felt an increased surge of desire as she hungrily returned those kisses. Her body was on fire, her pussy so desperate to be filled, she began to ride those swollen lips along the length of Nathaniel’s cock.

  It wasn’t enough. She needed to be filled. Ached to have that huge cock inside her.

  She bucked restlessly against that steely length as her climax remained just out of reach, like an oasis to a thirsty man in a desert.

  Her body didn’t care if that desperation was caused by more of the aphrodisiac in Nathaniel’s saliva entering her system. It wanted what it wanted. And right now, it wanted Nathaniel’s cock.

  Nathaniel was obviously as aroused as she was as he broke the kiss. His face was flushed, eyes glittering. “If you lift up, you can take my cock inside you while I suckle your nipples.”

  Chloe decided to ignore the command in his voice this time. Her fingers encircled the hardness of his cock and she lifted up onto the tips of her toes in readiness for taking him inside her.

  Nathaniel had had no idea what sexual hunger was until Chloe. But now he knew. Oh God did he know. So much so, he was on the brink of ejaculating without so much as a touch or caress from her.

  Because he was greedy for the touch and taste of her. Wanted to kiss every inch of her. Every inch. To touch her too, discover all her secret places and claim them as his own.

  But first he needed to take the edge off his own desire. To be inside her as he came, to feel the glide of her heat as his cock thrust inside her and claimed her.