He cupped a hand around her nape and pressed a kiss to her mouth. “I would love to stay, Josie.” He was thrilled and gave her a big smile.
“Good,” she said.
“About this syndrome…” Xephyr paused, a thoughtful look on his face. “It is from Sweden? Is it also infectious?”
She let out a laugh. “Not as far as I know. It comes from sympathizing with, even defending, your kidnappers.”
They reached the bus station and she stopped in front of the ticket booth. “You don’t have any money, do you?”
Xephyr pulled a crumpled, sodden greenish-gray mess out of his pocket. “Is this money?”
She gasped. “It used to be.” She separated out the bills carefully and laid them over her arm. There was a hundred dollars. Just enough for two tickets, which she bought from a clerk who took them gingerly, lip curled in distaste.
Then Josie pulled at the hem of her T-shirt, inspecting the sodden fabric. “I’ll see if there’s a dryer in the restroom,” she said.
When she returned a few minutes later, her T-shirt was mostly dry, and her pants had dry patches here and there. “You should try it, too. There should be a dryer in the men’s room,” she said.
He went to investigate. There was indeed a hot wind machine that was activated at the touch of a button. He stripped off his T-shirt and then his pants and held them beneath the air jet until they were dry.
“Good job,” Josie remarked when he returned. “Looks like you took them off to dry them.”
He frowned. “I did.”
“Wha—?” She clapped her hand over her mouth.
“What amuses you?”
“Oh, nothing. Guess I wish I had the guts to strip off in front of everyone.”
When the bus—a huge, metallic beast—pulled into the bay, he regarded it suspiciously. “We must travel in this?”
She grinned. “How did I know you wouldn’t be happy about it?”
“No, I didn’t say that—”
“You’d rather fly. I get it. It’s actually pretty comfortable, though. As long as the dude next to you doesn’t take his shoes off and poison you with his cheesy feet and the baby behind you doesn’t scream all the way.”
Xephyr shuddered, but kept his thoughts about that to himself.
They both dozed throughout the journey. The boat ride had taken it out of him. At one point, Josie laid her head against his shoulder, and he lifted his arm and wrapped it around her, allowing her to snuggle into his chest. He buried his nose in her fragrant hair and fell asleep again.
They arrived in Windpecking and walked to her house along roads that were already familiar to him from his earlier observations. They reached her front door, and she took out her keys and unlocked the door. “Welcome,” she said with a smile, and they walked inside.
He immediately sauntered around her small but neat house, fascinated by her living space.
“It’s not much,” she said with a shrug, stepping in front of him. He put his hand on her neck and whispered against her lips. “It’s very pleasant, Josie. Thank you for inviting me to stay here with you.”
When he kissed her, she gave a little sigh, and his desire sparked again. He moved off her mouth and planted little kisses along her neck, picking up the scent of her arousal. “You want me. I scent it,” he continued, nibbling his way along her jaw until he reached her ear. “I want you as well, Josie.” He murmured as his cock hardened, straining against the zipper of his pants.
“We should…” Her words died as he tongued the sensitive hollow between her ear and jaw.
“Yes, we should.” He lifted her in his arms, hugging her to his chest. “I am taking you to your bedroom.”
She didn’t object. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling at his throat as he shouldered open the door. It closed behind them with a solid thunk.
He couldn’t wait to strip off her damp clothes and reveal her luscious curves in all their glory. But as he released her, allowing her to slide gently down his body, his hands cupping her ass, he caught sight of something terrible lying on her pillow. Some kind of prey animal that leaped to its feet and hissed, spine arching, fur standing on end, and incisors bared.
Xephyr bared his own teeth, his canines lengthening. “Your cat sleeps in here with you?” he said, reining in his predatory instincts.
“She recognizes that you aren’t completely human.” Josie looked from him, to the cat, and back to him again with interest. “I’ll go put her in the kitchen.”
He pulled her close, claimed her mouth in another kiss, and behind her, the cat caterwauled and hissed. Josie drew back. “Don’t move. I’m going to feed her, then I’ll be right back.” She traced her hand down his firm abs as she stepped away from him.
Approaching the bed, she grabbed the cat’s rigid, quivering body. “It’s okay, girl. Except for his fire-breathing habit, he’s harmless. Once you get to know him, you two will be best friends.” she crooned.
The cat hissed again and Xephyr snorted as she swept by him.
Alone in the room, Xephyr whipped off his shirt and tossed it to the corner of her small bedroom. Carefully, he lowered the zipper of his jeans over his achingly hard cock. His dragon seethed beneath his skin, his need to be deep inside Josie’s sweet body intoxicating.
Kicking out of the jeans, he listened to the sounds she made in her kitchen. She was speaking to the feline as if it was human. Jealously, he imagined her stroking a gentle hand over the cat. He grasped his cock around the base, imagining Josie’s hand there instead. Soon enough, he’d be buried in her sweet heat.
Her footsteps sounded on the threadbare carpet of her hall. Xephyr turned to face her as Josie reentered the room. She paused just inside the door. “Oh!” She flattened her back against the wall and dropped her gaze. Her gaze was drawn to his groin. Color flashed into her cheeks. Indecision vied with desire on her face.
“Come here, my sweet.” He beckoned her over as he sat on the edge of the soft mattress.
Josie moved within two steps of him. Reaching out, he grasped her hips and tugged her between his thighs. “You are stunning, Josie. Every inch of you.”
“Noo… You are so out of my league.”
“I don’t know what league you’re talking about. You’re absolutely perfect.” He gave her hips a squeeze.
Josie shifted her weight from side to side and turned her head away from him. “The glorious, sexy male league.”
Did his mate not see how beautiful she was? Her voluptuous curves, rounded breasts and generous thighs drowned him in a sea of longing. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “Josie, you are beautiful. Desirable. The kind of woman men only dream of.”
Her shoulders lifted in a shrug, drawing his gaze to her magnificent bosom. “Xephyr, my body is one of my biggest insecurities. Men of this world prefer their women skinny. It makes them feel…I don’t know. More masculine.”
“Josie, real women have a healthy appetite and some meat on their bones. Only a man without taste can be blind to your stunning beauty.” He coasted his hand up her arm and then cupped her neck, drawing her head down for a gentle kiss. His dragon roared for release, but he ignored the beast in favor of easing her worries. “You must believe me when I tell you that you are my idea of perfection.”
He lifted the hem of her shirt and caressed the soft flesh of her hip before cupping her breast beneath her bra as he kissed a trail across her belly to the other hip.
She moaned. “Xephyr.”
His name on her lips made him feel drunk, as if he’d sipped too much of his favorite ale, Firesource. His head reeled with passion as he straightened away from her delectable breasts. “Take your clothes off, my sweet.” His voice was gentle, but there was no mistaking the command.
“Can we turn off the light?” she asked, her voice small.
“It matters not. I have excellent vision in the dark. I will see you and will love what I see.” He slipped the button free on her jeans and eased the zipper
down. He pressed another kiss to her abdomen, the heady fragrance of her arousal blending with her flowery essence. “Please, Josie. I love your curves. Every inch of them.”
Grasping the bottom of her shirt with trembling fingers, she then lifted it above her head, revealing her plump breasts in her functional black bra. Xephyr buried his face in her cleavage, pressing kisses to the soft mounds.
He lifted his face to her. “Take off your bra. I want to taste your nipples.”
Josie complied, arching her back to release the clasp. “They aren’t my best feature,” she whispered.
His chuckle was sardonic. “I’ll be the judge of that, my sweet. But from where I’m sitting they, like the rest of you, are beautiful.” He flicked his tongue against one hard pink nub then drew the tip into his mouth, biting and sucking on it softly in turns. Josie moaned in response, tilting her head back.
Cock harder than ever before, he pulled her jeans all the way down and slipped his hand between her legs. A sound escaped his lips at the heat he found there. He hooked her panties to the side and caressed her labia, his fingertips picking up her wetness, sliding back and forth before circling the place that he longed to explore. When he plunged a finger inside her, she gasped and clutched his head between her hands. She was wet and very tight, and as he moved his finger inside her rhythmically, her responsive moan pushed him to the edge. He needed to delve deep within her, feel her hugging his cock in the most intimate embrace.
“Josie, I need to be in you. Now.” Her gasp led him straight to heaven. “Get out of these jeans.”
“Oh, yes,” she breathed. While he steadied her waist, she stepped out of her jeans, bracing one hand on his shoulder. She stood before him, lovely, curvy and oh so ready.
With a fingertip, Xephyr traced a line from her collarbone, between her breasts, and down her belly, pausing to dip into her navel, all the while gazing at the beauty of her body. When he couldn’t hold back any longer, he wrapped his arms around her waist and spun her to the bed, laying her on her back. Then he covered her with his body, spreading her thighs.
He claimed her mouth with his lips and her breast with his hand, chafing her nipple as his tongue explored her mouth. The sensual rhythm caused Josie to rock against him, his cock hard between them.
“Josie, I don’t want to rush this. I can bring you to release without being in your body.”
“But I need you now, Xephyr,” she purred, passion slurring her words. “Please.”
He offered her one more chance to tell him no and fervently prayed she wouldn’t take it. “We will be mated.”
She tossed her head from side to side. “I don’t care. Please take me now.” She rocked her butt down, then tilted back up sharply, positioning his cock at her entrance.
His dragon roared as he thrust home, slowly burying himself in her hot body. He drove in to the hilt, taking her cries of pleasure into his mouth. He rocked back and slammed home again and again, calling her name, kissing her face.
Her pussy clenched around his cock in little ripples, and each delicious slide of his flesh against hers drew his balls closer to his body. She sighed and gasped and moaned as he took her, whispering his name, saying “more, more.”
Her cheeks flushed, her eyes darkened, and her fingers dug into his back.
“Oh…Xephyr,” she keened, and he tingled, knowing she was seconds away from her release. With her legs locked around his hips, he kept pumping into her, watching her face, the anticipation sweetly building.
Suddenly her nails bit into his flesh, her back arched off the mattress and she cried out, spasming hard around his cock.
It was incredible. The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He rode her through her orgasm until her head fell limp on the pillow, eyes sparkling with delight. And then he released his mating spirit, taking her hard and fast until his own climax overwhelmed him, the fire in his veins transforming to euphoria.
Heart racing, he chugged in a deep breath and collapsed, panting, on top of her. Once his heart stopped banging against his chest, he nuzzled her neck lazily.
Her fingers tangled in his hair, and her breath warmed his face. “Oh, that was wonderful.” Her delighted sigh brought a smile to his face. New steel surged into his cock. She wiggled in response to his thickening rod. “But not as wonderful as that.”
Sweeping his hand from her hip to her side, he shifted enough to cup her breast. “You are what’s wonderful, my sweet. You make me feel so light and powerful at the same time.” He claimed her mouth again, this time tenderly, reverently.
“I was thinking,” he said a while later as they lay in each other’s arms after he’d claimed her twice more, drawing a half dozen orgasms from her pliant body. “I can help your father on Monday. You said his workload was too big at the moment.”
She tilted her head back, tenderness floating in her eyes. “Oh, that would be wonderful, Xephyr! He will really appreciate it. And so will I.” She squeezed her arms tighter around him, kissing his neck.
“Then this is what I shall do.” He lifted away from her body and rolled to his side. Twisting her so her back was to his chest, he snugged her close, an arm around her middle, hand resting on her sternum. Her breath evened out, her heart slowing to a soft, steady beat.
Brushing her hair from his neck, he kissed the top of her shoulder. “Sweet dreams, my beautiful Josie.”
12
The next morning, Josie awoke in Xephyr’s arms. Her alarm was going off on her nightstand, but she ignored it, not wanting to pull away from him to turn it off. But then Xephr’s body gave a massive jolt, almost bouncing her right out of the bed.
“What the hell is that?” he exclaimed.
She sighed, dragged herself out of his embrace, and hit the off button. “Monday morning is what it is. Time to return to reality.”
He clung to her, mumbling sleepily into her neck. She sighed, very tempted to call in sick. But she needed to take Xephyr to his first day at work. “I’ve got to get up,” she said, as much to herself as to him, and she hauled herself out of bed.
Once they’d both showered, she slid a full cup of coffee in his direction and sat across from him at the breakfast table.
“What’s this?” He sniffed suspiciously at the rim.
“Elixir of life.” She laughed. “It’s coffee, a normal, human drink. Be careful, it’s hot.”
“It smells like burned water, not elixir.”
“You’ll get used to it, buster. Maybe even addicted to it. Humans drink it because of its magical property—caffeine. It helps us wake up.”
“So it is usually something you drink in your sleep?” Confusion chased disbelief across his face.
“Uh, no. Just drink it, Xephyr. I promise you’ll like it.” A bagel popped up from the toaster. She tweezed it between her thumb and forefinger and dropped it on the plate. “Hot!” She blew on her hand.
Xephyr grabbed her wrist and brought her fingers up for inspection. “Just a little sting.” He sucked her thumb into his mouth and circled his tongue around the tip before paying the same attention to her index finger.
The painful zings from the hot bread turned into pleasurable tingles down her spine and into that spot between her thighs. If every morning were like this, she’d die a happy, sated woman.
He kissed the tips before releasing her hand. “All better now?” he asked, a smirk on his face, as if he knew exactly what was happening to her body.
Curling her hand into a fist, she dropped it in her lap. She nodded. “You learn very quickly.”
“Of course. I’m a—”
“Yeah, I know. You’re a prince of the royal blood and yadda, yadda.” She buttered the bagel and pushed the plate across the table. “I’m not sure what you eat, but this is usually my breakfast. I have cereal if you prefer.”
“No meat?”
She shook her head.
Xephyr picked up the whole wheat bagel and bit into it. As he chewed he studied her kitchen. “Your house is small.�
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“It’s been adequate for me.” It had been cramped and uncomfortable whenever her ex, Lester, had stayed. Or maybe that was just because he’d been such a walking hemorrhoid.
Xephyr grazed one kitchen wall with the back of his hand. “There is not even enough space to stretch my wings.”
“About that…no shifting. And no fire breathing. You’ll burn the place to the ground and my homeowner’s insurance sucks. It’s not much, but it’s the only house I have. I have to get ready for work now. Are you looking forward to your first day at work?” She wondered if he’d changed his mind about helping her father since she imagined he’d never done something so menial in his life.
“I am, actually,” he said thoughtfully. “Is there more room to move around?”
“That’s wonderful. And yes, it’s a large garage. All kinds of room.” Eyeing his feet in a battered pair of sneakers, she stood upright. “Hopefully there’ll be a big enough pair of work boots somewhere. You’ll need those.”
He nodded. “And are you…looking forward…to your day at work?”
She gave a short laugh. “Looking forward is a dramatic overstatement. Especially as I’ve been wondering what the hell Cletus and Bruce are going to say to me about the huge beast that avenged me on Friday, before snatching me away into the sky.”
He stepped forward and stroked her jaw. “Worry not, my sweet. It is very unlikely that they will recall the incident.”
“But why?”
“I suspect it was too much for their tiny minds to process.”
Josie regarded him doubtfully.
“But if they show you any more aggression, I will grind them to smithereens with my teeth.”
She shrugged. “Okay, works for me.”
Thirty minutes later, she walked Xephyr into her dad’s auto body shop. “Dad?” she called as they came through the side door.
“Back here, in the office.”
She gripped Xephyr’s forearm. “You’re in for the ultimate human dating experience. Time to meet my father.” Their footsteps echoed in the quiet garage. Lester and Dad’s other employee, Brent, hadn’t arrived yet. Good thing since she wanted to be gone before they did. She called out as she approached Dad’s messy desk. “I want you to meet someone.”
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