“This is about pleasuring you,” he murmured softly in her ear.
Before she could respond his fingers slipped under her panties, moving over her buttocks between her legs. She groaned in anticipation, wanting them to find her sweet spot quickly. She moved up on her toes, giving him full access to dip his fingers in her. His fingers slipped between her moist folds confidently. He knew just where to touch her and how hard to give her the most teasing pleasure.
She rested her head on his chest as the desire flooded through her, pushing her towards an orgasmic peak. Her hips tilted backwards, his fingers moving closer to her G-spot, but he pushed them away, making her wait just a little longer. Soft sounds of pleasure echoed in the room, and it wasn’t just her making the noises. She could feel herself winding up with him, both of them drawing to maximum desire where it would all burst and engulf them in bliss.
He kept the pressure firm on his fingers, circling them closer to her slit. She kissed his chest softly, stopping herself from begging him to hurry. His touch was delightful, and she groaned long and hard, as his fingers finally found her sweet spot. She grabbed his waist to stop herself from falling away from him. Her hips moved naturally in time with the movement of his fingers. She didn’t care that he was in control right now. She enjoyed the pleasure he willingly coaxed from her body, and her head spun with bliss. For so long she’d been wound up with tension it was heavenly to give herself over to something more enjoyable. She could feel herself moving towards an orgasm, and she held her breath trying to keep it from coming just yet. She groaned into his chest.
He pulled his fingers away. She was about to protest, when he pulled down her panties.
The next level. She wriggled her hips, letting the material fall down her legs. She looked at him. His eyes were a golden brown, so different from before, mysterious-like, which added to her desire of wanting to know him more. She reached down and unbuckled his belt. Her hands brushed against his groin, and he was hard like she was ready for him. He picked her up as she undid his zipper, pushing away the material of his trousers, to reveal his hardened cock.
Gracefully, he placed her on the counter. Mia spread her legs in readiness, while massaging the long, hard length of his cock. He felt hot in her hand. A drop of liquid from his tip eased out. She glanced down. He was as big as he felt in her hand. Her muscles contracted between her legs. She wanted him in her now.
He fumbled with the foil, as she kept her grip on him, teasing him and making it hard for him to concentrate. He gently brushed her hands away, and he slipped the rubber over his tip, then rolled it down his length. He looked at her, and his eyes were golden now. She smiled, understanding the desire that was reflected back at her. She didn’t want to wait any longer.
He closed the small gap between them, pushing his cock to her entrance. She could feel his heat and power there, and she wanted more. She tilted her hips forward, groaning as he slipped inside of her, pushing apart her tight muscles. She grabbed onto his arms as he moved back, her muscles trying to grip his cock to stop it from leaving, but then he pushed back into her with a force that caused sharp sounds to escape from her mouth. She couldn’t help it.
The pace changed. Hard and fast. And she loved it. Her body kept up with his movement, drawing out the pleasure with each thrust, pushing her closer to losing control. She held on, wanting this to last longer as he moved in and out of her with confidence, squeezing more pleasure out of her than she’d felt for so long.
She moved her arms down his, then put them either side of her on the counter so she could keep her balance as he quickened the speed, allowing herself to keep the rhythm and enjoy the building pleasure that was beginning to take over between them.
She pushed hard down into the cold counter, enjoying the coolness against the heat coursing through her body. She was sure she was holding back, but then the orgasm burst through her. She tilted her head back, keeping time with him as he continued to move in and out of her, the motion drawing out the orgasmic pleasure. He kept her there in a state of bliss, and she enjoyed every second until the final burst as she felt him come with her. His cock pulsed inside of her, and every nerve in her body was alive and feeling such a subtle movement.
Mia fell forward, exhausted. He caught her. She gasped as he pulled out of her, her muscles stretched and now pleasantly tired. She nibbled gratefully on his chest as she tried to catch her breath. Her mind a muddled mess of bliss, she was also the most relaxed she’d been for a long time. She snuggled into him, enjoying the last of the pleasure that enveloped them both. There was part of his skin that was perhaps dry, scaly even, but then the thought melted into the afterglow.
He brushed her hair down before kissing the top of her head. “I said you would be satisfied.”
Mia laughed softly. She moved her head upwards, and their lips met slowly and gently one more time. Her mouth slid from his, reluctantly.
“I’m a man of my word. You won’t see me again. This is a once off, though I enjoyed it a lot, so this is hard for me to say.” He bent down to pull his pants up.
Mia was about to tell him to stay, but her mind wasn’t yet working. It seemed an effort to sit upright on the counter and not flop over and rest on the floor.
He quickly tidied himself up, tutting at the missing buttons. “This isn’t going to be a good look.”
“You mean to say you’re really going to work?”
“Yeah, Kallin is a tough boss, but he’ll look after me, so it’s worth it, even for a Friday night. Plus, there’s plenty of room for promotions if I show I’m loyal and work hard.” He buckled his belt and winked at her. “You didn’t believe me?”
Mia shook her head.
He cupped his hands around her face. “This has been the best dare I’ve done in a long time.”
“Me, too.” She let him kiss her one more time. His lips were hot on hers, his saltiness lingering in her mouth. He was going to be hard to forget.
Then he turned and left.
Mia wanted to reach out and stop him, but it was as if her body weighed a ton and she couldn’t move. An odd lump in her throat stopped any sound. And in a blink, she was left sitting on her counter, the metal bell clanking as the door closed.
Chapter Two
“What the hell happened to you?” Kallin glared up from the computer at his desk.
Argo Masters nearly faltered as he stepped into his boss’s office. He’d spent a good fifteen minutes in the men’s room trying to clean up and make himself look as presentable as possible. Fortunately, he had a small locker with deodorant and a few other things needed when working long hours. The last thing he wanted to do was to walk in smelling like sex. He’d also spent most of that time trying to arrange his shirt so that the tie he’d found covered the fact that there were no buttons to do up. It was a bit of a waste of time. But he had to try.
“Nothing.” Argo surprised himself at how calm he sounded. “What do you want me to do?”
Kallin narrowed his eyes. “Nothing?”
It was one thing to try to cover up the hanky-panky he’d just had, but it was near impossible to hide something like that from a fellow dragon shifter.
“Nothing bad. And nothing that is going to happen again.” Disappointment welled inside of him and wrapped tightly around his heart. No. He’d promised. And he wasn’t about to go out and see a human woman. Or any woman. He was going to have a bachelor’s life and live it up. No way was he going to imprint on another dragon, or human. Imprinting was like the equivalent to finding your soul mate, or twin flame, which humans were obsessed with, and it was very different for dragons. Imprinting was an agreement between two, on a soul level, a binding contract to be together for life. And you couldn’t control it. The soul mate thing with humans was nothing binding, just some misplaced romance. He didn’t do romance. And he’d had enough of women and commitment in his short twenty-five years, so he was going to take a different approach. It had been working just fine until now. Something about
that café owner, though, left a lingering impression he couldn’t shake.
“Hmm.” Kallin rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Argo didn’t like it. Kallin was only a few years older than he was, but there seemed to be a wisdom about him that helped him see through what was really going on in situations. After all, he did overthrow Ezra and bring the Dragons Downunder together. Plus, the bastard managed to score himself a woman in the process, a lifetime mating type of relationship, an imprinting relationship, which brought the jealousy within Argo to the surface. He respected his boss, but since his commitment to being a bachelor any loved-up situation made him sick. He didn’t want to see the success in relationships with anyone else, especially another dragon shifter.
“Well, I think there’s something going on, but hey, if you say there’s not, then let’s go with that.” Kallin looked directly at Argo.
Argo shifted uneasily on his feet. There was nothing wrong with what he’d just done. Nothing. Yet why was his boss looking at him like that? Argo, still flushed from mind-blowing sex, couldn’t figure it out.
“Good.”
“I need you to go over the accounts again.”
Argo took a deep breath. Numbers was his thing, and he was the accountant of the Dragons Downunder, one of the most important jobs since they ran things in a community. There had to be enough money for all the dragons, and there was a high expectation that the business ventures had to do well. Dragons, after all, had very expensive tastes. But to go through the numbers again was stretching his patience, even after the session with the café owner. This was a Friday night after all.
“I want to see if we can start a new business venture.”
“Don’t you think we’re stretched enough? If things turned we could be tight for money, and well, we’re not going to be liked for that.”
Kallin nodded. “No gain. No risk. It’s the dragon way. We need more money. Our numbers are stable, but if they increase we need to have the funds available. It’s our future we’re thinking about.”
“Ara is expecting?” Argo bit his lip. The words were out before he’d thought about it. This was not the thing to be saying to his boss. Though he and Kallin went way back, even had an alliance of sorts, now that he was the leader things had changed. Argo didn’t want to be pushing it.
“Not yet.”
Argo suppressed a smile. So Kallin was hopeful. Not a bad thing. It was something that could realistically happen since his relationship with Ara was born from the process of imprinting. It meant that offspring was more likely. This wasn’t something his bachelor lifestyle really could relate to. But he got that they needed to look to the future.
“I’ll throw in a bonus if you can find me at least a hundred thousand.” Kallin pushed back on his chair and stood up.
“I’ll find you double that.” Confidence surged through his body. I can do this. Numbers were his thing, and a bonus could come very handy in his penthouse apartment that he shared with his sister. A new hot tub, perhaps, or better a new kitchen, one designed for the home cook, a pastime he didn’t always find time for.
Kallin laughed. “That’s why you’re my man.”
“Or dragon.” Argo smiled. This wasn’t going to be easy. But one thing he liked was a challenge or a dare. He’d already delivered on one dare tonight, and he was ready to meet another.
****
“What’s put a smile on your dial?” asked Jen, Mia’s roommate. They shared a two-bedroom apartment in inner Sydney’s CBD, despite the exorbitant rent. Most of the money Mia made at the café went here. But it was worth it to be close to where she worked, and for the nightlife, which she hoped to return to once her business was fully successful. Based on the last two weeks, that could happen sooner rather than later, but then by then she figured she’d need to sleep for a month first, she was so tired.
“Just happy it’s the end of the week.” Mia kicked off her black boots by the door. Before she faced any more questions, she rushed to the bathroom. “Going to have a shower, so you better not have used all the hot water.” Not wanting to hear a response, she quickly closed and locked the bathroom door.
Mia wasn’t sure how she managed to shut up the café and make it home. The journey was a blur. Like her mind. How could sex have such an effect on me? She was certainly more relaxed, less stressed. But there was something more. During the brisk walk back to her apartment she couldn’t get him out of her mind. I don’t even know his name?
She giggled. This was so unlike her to act like this. She liked it. She stripped off her black work clothes, letting the tight skirt and t-shirt top fall to the tiled floor.
She figured she’d shower then go to bed. It was about as much energy as she had left to do. The session with the mysterious man had dissolved her stress, but now she was in need of a decent long sleep, something else she hadn’t had the last two weeks. There had been way too much to do with her work, and the stress of whether or not this venture would be successful had kept her awake many nights. It was her Gran’s money she’d borrowed, and she didn’t want to let her down by not being able to pay back the loan.
Mia reached past the shower curtain and turned the water on so it would heat up, then peeled off her bra and panties. Steam came from the hot water, which was just the way she liked her showers. She stepped into the shower, the water pleasantly hitting her skin.
“Ouch.” She jumped out of the shower, putting her hand to the side of her neck.
“You all right?” Jen knocked at the bathroom door.
“Yeah. All good.” She hoped Jen would go away. She didn’t want to answer questions. She couldn’t.
Mia rushed over to the mirror to see what would cause the pain. She didn’t remember anything bad happening in the session with the man. In the reflection she could see a red mark on the base of her neck. It wasn’t a love bite. She leant in closer to the mirror. Her skin was hot to touch where it was red. It looked like a bad sunburn. How the hell did that happen? She’d been inside so much lately, plus it had been cloudy for days. There was no way she’d been in the sun long enough to get burned.
Then she remembered.
He did it. It was his breath. It didn’t make sense. But the red mark was there on her skin, saying otherwise. She wasn’t scared. It made her all the more determined to work out to how see this mysterious man again. He was different, and she wanted more of that. She ran her finger over the red mark. Something that should scare her made her excited and curious. I could get used to feeling like this. And she was up for another dare. I dare to find you.
Chapter Three
Mia’s stomach clenched with the memory of Friday night every time she stood at the counter and served a customer. She’d somehow gotten through Monday, and Tuesday, but now Wednesday was proving the most difficult day so far. She wanted him again. Daring herself to find him wasn’t helping either. She was in conflict with herself over the matter, which was driving her nuts.
This wasn’t the agreement. It wasn’t the first time she’d had that thought. Stupid agreement. Why couldn’t I have called out? At least said to him to come in another day. How fucking hard would’ve that been? She berated herself between customers.
There was half an hour to knock off. She wasn’t sure what she’d do, or how she’d find the man she’d sex with, but this afternoon she was sure as hell going to try. He has to work around here. If she left the shop with Mandy, just for, say, fifteen minutes then maybe she could hang around outside, walk the street and perhaps bump into this mysterious man? She shook her head. I’m losing it over a man. The one thing she’d promised herself was never worth doing again.
“I said I’d like a cappuccino.”
“Sorry.” Mia snapped her attention back to reality. That had been the other problem the last few days. She wasn’t helping her business by allowing her mind to daydream about finding this man. The burn mark was healing quickly, now hidden under a strategically arranged cotton scarf, so she’d managed to keep Jen or t
he people she worked with from seeing it. She didn’t need questions. She had enough of those herself.
Mia quickly served the customer. “Free upgrade.” She smiled at the woman as she punched through the order on the computer screen. She tried to think if she’d been in here before. This is why I need to concentrate. Mia knew damn well that she had to be on her game, and that learning customer names would help them to return. “What’s your name for the order?”
“Saphir.”
“What a beautiful name.” Mia made a note to remember it. The woman looked somehow familiar. Something about her features.
“Thanks. I like the perfume you’re wearing. It’s rather strong, in a good way. What is it?”
With horror Mia remembered she actually had rushed out her apartment this morning without putting anything on. “Can’t remember, I like the natural scent of it.” She nearly choked on her words. How her life had changed running her own business. Her parents hadn’t thought she’d enough life experience at twenty-five, but she was going to prove them wrong.
“Hmm. It suits you.” Saphir smiled and moved to the other end of the counter to wait for her coffee.
Mia felt her stomach muscles tighten. She was glad she didn’t smell of sweat, or coffee, which seemed to be the new smell she had these days, according to Jen and other friends. But there was something strange about that encounter. Something familiar as well. Those gold eyes, dark hair…
“Two cappuccinos, extra-large.” The next customer ordered, breaking Mia’s thoughts. She dealt with the order.
Then she realized. Saphir looked like her mysterious man, sort of. A relation perhaps? She looked up from the ordering screen, forgetting about the customer, but it was too late. Saphir was nowhere in sight.
****
“I know what you’ve done.” Saphir sat down next to her brother on the couch.
“I’ve done nothing except work hard this last week.” Argo figured throwing himself into the accounts would be a good distraction from thinking about the café woman. It hadn’t really been working. Though he was relaxing now that he’d found just over two hundred thousand dollars and Kallin was looking into starting a new business in the spring in a few months, which, like usual, was going to put everyone under enormous stress. Argo had to admit, he did enjoy the adrenaline rush that came with it all. He could get a new kitchen with his bonus, maybe even go overseas for a five-star holiday for a month, too.
Dragon Dare Page 2
