Fire Dragon's Bride

by Riley Storm

  Aaric just nodded, sparing her further awkwardness by not using any words.

  “Um. Wow.”

  They were saved by the server returning to top off their waters—which they’d barely touched—and ask about their food, also barely touched.

  Reminded of the fact that they’d come here to eat, Olivia lost herself in the act of shoveling food in her mouth, grateful for the interruption.

  Things were spiraling out of control. She’d gone from trying to seduce Aaric, to acting like a sex-crazed fool who wanted to be spread open on the table right now like she was part of the buffet.

  The image in her mind, of Aaric ordering her to do just that, so that he could take her then and there, wasn’t helping her brain focus on the present.

  As if he could read her mind, Aaric looked up from his own food, his eyes watching her with an intensity that she’d never seen in another human before. It was startling just how much he could do with those twin golden orbs. Almost inhuman.

  “How’s your food?” he asked, interrupting her train of thought.

  “Delicious,” she admitted, for once not having to put on an act. “It’s actually really, really good.”

  He nodded. “Mine too,” he echoed before returning to his meal.

  Was she imagining it, or was he grateful for the interruption to their heated conversation?

  “I should probably get going back to the office shortly though,” she said, spooning the last bite of her eggs Benedict into her mouth, savoring the deliciousness.

  Aaric nodded. “I too, um, have business I must attend to.”

  “Thank you for lunch though,” she said, feeling awkward about not paying.

  Aaric just smiled and got up, leaving several large bills on the table that would more than cover their food. He’d made it clear on the drive over that he was treating her.

  “I can pay for my own,” she said, gesturing at the table in one last attempt to split the bill.

  “Next time is on you,” he said, gesturing with his hand for her to go first toward the exit.

  Olivia gladly took the opportunity, hoping he couldn’t see her face as she reacted to his insinuation that there would be a next time.

  Will there be a next time?

  She wasn’t sure she had an answer to that question. It hadn’t even entered her mind until he’d brought it up. After all, Olivia had only agreed to going to brunch today because she’d had it in her mind to try and seduce Aaric, so that he would sell the property to her instead.

  Now she was leaving without a property, and also without any sort of satisfaction. Everything was worse now than it was before, aside from the fact that she’d gotten to spend more time with him.

  And even that was up in the air as to whether it was a good thing or not. When she was near him, she was either ready to strangle him, or jump on his face. There was no in-between, it seemed, and until Olivia could control her emotions and her hormones, maybe it would be best if she didn’t see him for a bit.

  “We’ll see,” she said, trying to give a light giggle that would keep her seeming mysterious and alluring.

  It came out as a sort of cough-honk, and several other patrons turned her way. Olivia covered her mouth and rushed for the exit, thoroughly embarrassed. Had she just done that? What was wrong with her today?

  “Please, just take me back to the office,” she said as they got to his car, pre-empting anything he might have been about to say. “I…I have a lot I need to do.”

  She got in and stared straight ahead, not talking or glancing to her left as Aaric drove them back to her office. The ride should have been enjoyable, the sports car was unlike anything she’d been in before. But she couldn’t focus on it. Couldn’t focus on anything that related to Aaric.

  Every time she did that, her body lit up and told her to jump him right then and there. Unzip his pants while he was driving and take his cock into her mouth. Expose herself, playing with her clit while he watched, forced to keep his hands on the wheel while she pleasured herself. So many raw, debased things that she wanted to do to him, or for him, and yet none of them were things she would ever actually act upon.

  How was it that he could elicit such reactions from her with nothing but a kiss and some extremely good looks? It was appalling how she turned to putty around him. Olivia Lawton was composed, a shark that others avoided. She was the one in control, always.

  Except around him.

  Her gaze strayed ever so slightly, taking in his chiseled features, perfectly swept back black hair, and the broadness of his shoulders.

  Always in control, but with Aaric, she wanted to surrender it all completely.

  How am I supposed to get this property away from him when I can’t even control my own body around him? This is a disaster waiting to happen.

  11

  The next morning came and went, and it was well into the afternoon. All that time, and Aaric still couldn’t figure out quite what had happened at lunch with Olivia the day before. There was the obvious, but something else had happened. She had been…different.

  “That was her, wasn’t it?” he muttered to himself several times, trying to reconcile the woman he’d met at the property sale, and then at the restaurant Leblanc, with the one he’d taken to lunch.

  They looked the same. Had the same name, same career. That was about where the similarities ended.

  Olivia, the day he’d met her, had been calm, collected, driven, smart, and beyond gorgeous. She’d also been slightly reserved, yet open enough that he hadn’t felt like kissing her in the parking lot was a bad idea.

  The woman he’d taken to lunch yesterday was some sort of sex-crazed goddess that wasn’t able to take no for an answer until he called her out on it publicly. Even then, his nose had picked up her arousal. He’d seen the flush of her skin, the dilation of her pupils.

  Aaric could have told her to crawl up on the table and strip for him, and there was a decent chance she would have done it. At first, he was certain her attitude had been an act, and he’d called her on it. It had been faked, over-the-top sexualized in a way that he could not miss.

  “But why?” he muttered, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, looking out on one of the other properties he wanted to buy. He hadn’t gone inside yet, too busy trying to understand what was going on with Olivia, and also with him.

  It all came back to that damned property, the one that she seemed intent on getting him to sell to her. That had to be it, he decided. She’d basically thrown herself at him yesterday, in hopes…in hopes of what? That he would accept? What then? So they slept together. Why would he sell anything to her after having his way with her?

  No, that’s not it. That’s not how she views it. This would have been a transaction. She was thinking you would fall for it, let yourself be caught up in her hyper-sexuality, distracted by the gorgeous curves of her body, and then when you were hot to trot, she would stop. Tease you. Make you ready to do anything just to have her.

  Anything, like selling his newest property of course. Yes, he was certain now that was the game he’d spoiled by not playing, by calling her out on it, and not caving like he was only capable of thinking with one of his heads.

  Two centuries of life, of adapting to changing cultural norms and being blessed with genetics that made most women attracted to him had taught Aaric a few things, one of them being how to resist sexual temptation.

  That’s why what had happened next, however, was even more confusing. He’d watched Olivia throughout lunch far more intently than she suspected. That was what had allowed him to see the way her pulse began to race harder. He’d seen the skin of her neck and upper chest ripple and tighten, tiny bumps rushing outward, followed by a slight flow of blood.

  Her fake arousal and overt sexual nature had transformed itself as they’d sat there, eating, talking. It had taken on a life of its own, and he suspected that not even Olivia had expected that to happen. He certainly hadn’t.

  By the end of it, he
felt bad for leaving her so unsatisfied. It was obvious she was ready to explode. The slightest graze of his pinky finger would likely have set her afire, and it wouldn’t have taken much more than that to push her over the edge.

  It was then that he’d had to fight himself, waging a war inside his mind, trying not to give in to temptation. To keep his body under control. The second the doors had closed around them in his car, he’d seen her tongue flick out and over her lips, probably without Olivia truly knowing it, and Aaric had nearly lost it.

  Her fake sex act in the office and at the start of lunch had left him uneasy and uncomfortable. But as it morphed into true arousal, he’d found his own hormones rising to meet it, feeding off her, amplifying his need to have her. To take her.

  Maybe he still would, at some point, but not now, he thought, gazing in his rear-view mirror as if he could see her office building in the distance behind him, wondering if she was thinking of him at this very second the way he was of her.

  Inhaling deep, he blew out the air slowly, trying to send some of his tension with it. He wouldn’t be able to go home just yet. There were several more properties he wished to view and potentially acquire, including the one he’d been sitting outside of for an hour.

  For a long time, the dragons had been silent, and the other two great Houses had bought up much of the prime real estate of Plymouth Falls, establishing their control over the area. It was time the dragons began to challenge that. To show the young ones just how a city was truly built.

  The wolves and the bears still had a thing or two to learn about real power.

  Suddenly feeling like he needed more time to think, Aaric did up his seatbelt. Pushing the ignition button, he smiled as the engine came to life, the throaty rumble filling the inside of the cabin. A lot of changes had occurred in the century he’d been asleep, not all of them good—but some of them, he thought, putting the car into gear.

  Some of them were good.

  The dash lit up abruptly with the icon for an incoming phone call. Pushing a button on the steering wheel, he answered it.

  “Hello, Francis,” he said, greeting his steward. There was only one person besides Parre who had his number, and the old dragon and his mate spent most of their days sleeping now.

  It wouldn’t be long before—

  Aaric shook his head, focusing on what his aide and friend was saying.

  “You need to get over to the new property. Now.”

  “I was just there last night.” Aaric froze, something about Francis’ tone getting through to his distracted mind. “Did you find out something on the person that was there?”

  “No,” Francis said tersely. “But it’s on fire.”

  Aaric blinked. “Did you say on fire?”

  “Yes. I’m here now. It’s on fire.”

  “What the fuck!” he growled, accelerating out of the parking lot, weaving his way through traffic, going from a near stop to sailing past traffic in a few car lengths. “The place is mostly concrete and metal. How is it on fire?” he wanted to know.

  “I don’t know,” Francis replied. “But it’s burning real hot. It must have just started though, because the smoke is just starting to rise.”

  “Francis,” Aaric said, drawing out his name. “Did you start a fire?”

  There was an audible sigh. “Yes. I started a fire for no reason, now I’m calling you here to expose my arsonist inner self so you can just toss me into the fire and get rid of the evidence. That’s how much I hate working for you.”

  Aaric chuckled, despite the news. “Alright, alright. Sorry, my friend. I’m just trying to find out who would set fire to—” He fell quiet as he had an unsettling thought.

  “Aaric? What is it? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Francis,” he assured his aide. “Just…I’ll see you shortly, I’m a few minutes out.”

  The old factory had been on the far side of town, usually ten minutes or more, even in Plymouth Falls. But Aaric wasn’t obeying the speed limits, his car dodging around vehicles as if they were parked.

  Less than three minutes later, he screeched to a halt besides Francis’ thickly-built luxury sedan, a House Draconis-owned vehicle. Stepping out, he viewed the factory.

  True to his word, the place was on fire. The blaze was licking up out of windows now, black smoke curling into the air.

  “The fire department?” he asked.

  “Another fifteen minutes,” Francis said. “Apparently, there was a house fire they were already attending to. On the exact opposite side of town.”

  Aaric frowned thoughtfully. “Well that’s awfully convenient timing, now, isn’t it? A house catches fire just shortly before a big abandoned factory with nothing else close by goes up in flames. I wonder which one the fire department puts a priority on.”

  His thoughts darkened as it became clear this was no accident. Whoever had done this, had done it on purpose.

  Whoever. You know who it was.

  “Are you just going to stand around there brooding?” Francis asked dryly. “Either tell me what it is you’re thinking, or, you know…”

  Aaric turned an eye toward the other man as Francis waggled his fingers in the direction of the fire.

  “Fine,” he muttered, walking forward. “You’re sure we’re clear?”

  “Go inside just in case,” Francis suggested. “But be careful. Don’t ruin your suit.”

  Grumbling about his over-protective nanny, Aaric walked toward the main factory building where the fire was strongest. The closer he got, the stronger the heat became. To most, it would drive them away, forcing them to seek shelter.

  Not Aaric. For him, the fire was an old friend reaching out for an embrace. He welcomed it with open arms, basking in the wonderful glow of the blaze.

  Then he reached out and took hold of the fire, feeling it pulse through his veins, burning. It was a living thing in its own way. Not sentient, no soul, but yet alive in a way most things on earth were not. Not many could feel that connection, but Aaric was one of them.

  He was a fire dragon, and this was his element. The doors opened under a casual kick and he entered the building.

  Flame shot out toward him, and he greeted it with an upraised palm. The inferno came at him with a shriek, but as it grew closer, it shrank in size, increasing in intensity to compensate.

  It hit his hand, and then was absorbed into his skin. Scales appeared, outlined in fire as the energy of the flames filled him, starting at his fingertips and working its way back up his arm, and then out across his chest and entire body. His eyes grew yellow-orange as he called the fire to him, taking its essence.

  A reflection in a nearby mirror caught his attention and Aaric turned to face it, seeing himself. The face that looked back at him was so bright it nearly blinded. The lines of his scales under his skin threatened to burn through to the surface, so bright was his body.

  Then, just like that, the last of the fire disappeared into his palm, and the moment was over. Aaric inhaled, and then a small puff of smoke exited his nostrils as he exhaled, the energy raging with him, though it was calming by the second.

  His skin slowly dulled as the scales faded, the light leaving them. The ovals of his eyes dimmed, and his pupils became visible once more, instead of one giant golden shape.

  Tugging on his jacket, brushing it clear of some ash, Aaric turned and strode out of the building.

  “There, are you happy?” he asked. “Old decrepit building saved.”

  Behind him, the structure creaked, and then parts of it began to crumble as it collapsed in on itself.

  “Sort of saved,” he corrected with a wince.

  Francis shrugged. “Oh well, you tried your best.”

  Nearby sirens signaled the imminent arrival of the fire department.

  “Yes,” Aaric said slowly. “I tried my best. Just like someone else tried their best to burn it down.”

  His fury grew, causing Francis to direct a stern warning look his direction. “With all t
he energy you just consumed, even the slightest emotion is going to have you dancing with flames. Maybe you should put those away for a bit, hmm? Stay calm. Collected. That sort of thing?”

  “Maybe,” Aaric replied, shoving a hand into his pants pocket, withdrawing his phone, preparing to text the culprit of the fire.

  Maybe not.

  12

  “Stop it,” she hissed after catching herself staring at the office phone again.

  She’d been waiting for it to ring, knowing it was coming, dreading it—yet unable to do anything at all about it. Some things were…inevitable.

  Yet so far, it hadn’t rung. Her anticipation, her nerves, they were all on edge, and it only grew worse. To the point Olivia began wanting it to ring, just so that she could get it over with.

  Telling Mr. Martinez that she wasn’t making any progress on acquiring the property would be one of the more nerve-wracking things she’d ever done. He wasn’t the type to take failure well, she knew now. Hopefully, he would simply cancel their contract and ignore her.

  But what if he follows through to destroy my business? To leave me with nothing? What then?

  She swallowed hard. Angela didn’t deserve to be out of a job, but she suspected both of them would soon be looking for employment in another field. All because Olivia had been far too eager to sign a document, her own arrogance her downfall.

  A phone went off.

  Not her work phone, however, but her cell. Was Martinez calling her on that instead? He had the number, but he’d never used it before.

  Then she realized it was a text message, not a phone call. From a private number.

  Aaric.

  He was the last person Olivia had expected to hear from. After he’d brought her back to the office the day before, it had been radio silence on his end, absolutely no contact. She’d assumed she’d blown it.

  Blown what? There was nothing there to begin with. You just made a fool of yourself in front of him and anyone else that happened to be looking over.