“Mmm,” she breathed pressing closer and wiggling her hips.
His knees began to buckle, just like they used to when a much-younger version of her had moaned into his mouth.
“Ohh,” she sighed, sliding one hand to his shoulder, to his head threading her fingers through his hair.
It was her motion that found Ti’eron’s own hands roaming, gliding over the curve of her jean clad bottom, skimming from her waist to the elbows propped on his shoulders, capturing more and more of her breasts as he stroked her sides.
The remembered taste, smell and feel of her slammed into him, weakening some parts of his body while others flexed hard. Kissing her, holding her tight felt just as good as it ever did and Ti’eron joyously reveled in their homecoming.
Although things were at the point where they typically came to a stop. Not that he’d ever wanted to, but back in his pre-dragon days, he hadn’t nailed down exactly what came next. His younger self knew it had something to do with being naked and touching each other ‘down there’, but not how to get her willingly moving from point B to C. Until he figured out that next step and coaxed her to take it, Ti’eron always slowed things down, afraid of appearing ignorant or stupid in her eyes.
As a full grown Warrior Dragon though, there was no way in hell he was stopping this time. With that in mind, he grazed his hand upward in another trek between her waist and shoulder before finally permitting it to fully capture her breast.
Her whole body, up to and including her tongue, stilled although he wasn’t sure if it was because of his bold move or the sound of Leilani’s voice coming from the front door.
“I’m here. Yeah, I know I’m late but you’re effing lucky I showed up at all considering the morning I’ve had.”
Adri stared up at him as she adjusted her blouse, pulling her purse primly back up onto her shoulder. Her cheeks went bright red and her chin quivered in a way that swept through his fiery arousal. “Hey, Leilani. At least you made it, right?”
He blinked, unable to decipher her mood. Her voice sounded breezy, almost indifferent but her face, her stance told a much different story. He didn’t have long to figure it out before she leaned towards him.
“Enough with the snatch and grab tactics, buddy.” Her voice was nothing but a whisper and a harsh one at that. “Try that shit again and I’ll knee your balls so far up, you’ll taste them for a week.”
Turning on a heel, she stomped down the hall and out of sight.
What the fuck?
Had he misread her response, believing she was fully engaged in their mouth play when she’d only tolerated his amorous actions?
Our Annie is confused. Yes, she is drawn to us but I do not believe she connects the ‘you’ of now to the ‘you’ of before. Ti’eron paused, considering his dragon’s words and to give Adri time to greet Leilani alone.
Dragons had many uncanny abilities humans lacked, such as being able to read unspoken emotions and ascertain intent not easily discerned. A feat that scared the be-jaysus out of every military doctor who’d examined the dragon-warrior pairs. But dragons couldn’t read or speak to any other mind except another dragon or the human half of their pairing.
That is not exactly true, Ver’gren cut in, scattering Ti’eron’s disjointed thoughts with only five words. When you find the other half of your heart, I will be able to speak and hear her thoughts just as surely as I do yours.
He rocked back on his heels and he slid his hands into his pockets at Ver’gren’s confession. It wasn’t often his dragon could surprise him, but this new piece of info was a doozy.
Perhaps instead of standing around, contemplating your navel you should be seeing to our Annie in order to make amends for your caveman-like behavior.
Ti’eron gave a one-fingered salute in reply before he, like Adri had done previously, stomped down the hall.
*.*.*.*.*
I was still fuming as I reloaded the mixers while Leilani refilled the glass-ware, carefully checking each tumbler, stein or martini glass for spots and stains.
It wasn’t so much that I objected to Ti’eron’s kisses but at how they were given. He never stopped to ask…although, on second thought, I wouldn’t have liked it much if he had. That was just a little too cheesy even for me.
Maybe it was the way he caught me off-guard, zinging my senses before I was ready. But then, even it was kind of, sort of, maybe the good part. That he surprised me, almost forcing me to submit to him before I could form any kind of objection.
“…so then he says, babe. If you can’t deal with a man like me…” Leilani hadn’t stopped talking since the moment she came in and from the little I’d heard her morning was something straight from the script of a soap opera. But then, in the little time we’d spent together, I understood the little dark-haired temptress liked walking the drama aisle.
It wasn’t just the sound of the stool sliding out or the creak of his leather pants as he sat his fine ass down that announced his arrival at the long bar. No, it was the tingle I felt on the back of my neck, the goose-bumps that ran over my skin making me more than aware he was near.
Leilani stopped her diatribe mid-sentence, but I didn’t even turn to look at him.
“What can I get cha?” The slap of a coaster to bar-top gave competition to the gum pop that followed.
My hands stilled as I strained to hear his reply.
“Coffee. Black and strong if you’ve got some made.”
While Leilani fiddled with the single brew coffeemaker, I started chopping fruit to refill the garnish bins. Outside of the sound of my knife and the hiss of the machine working to fill the cup beneath, the bar remained quiet.
“So, you’re like the big man in that group of guys sporting the brown leathers, right?” Leilani started. Ti’eron must have made some sort nonverbal reply, giving her the go-ahead to continue. “Then I need you to do me a favor and keep that blonde guy away from me. Swear to god, every time I get within ten feet of him he gets all handsy, pulling me into his lap, trying to feel the goodies. That shit doesn’t fly, understand?”
I allowed myself a sidelong look at my employee who was yanking her already low-necked top down before she crossed her arms under her large breasts, pressing them even further into view. “A girl has to draw a line somewhere, you know?”
Tucking my lips inside my mouth and biting down hard was the only way I kept my laugh to myself. Was she serious?
The WarDrag cleared his throat. “Perhaps that’s Lor’gen’s way of showing his interest in you.”
“Interest, my ass,” the younger woman huffed. “Seems to me, that Lor’gen dude just wants an over-the-table quickie with his friends enjoying the view. And that is totally not my style.”
I peered through my lashes to take in Ti’eron’s reaction as I emptied the cutting board into the section of the covered tray marked ‘oranges’. His face was devoid of emotion but I did glimpse the tiniest of smiles behind the coffee cup he brought to his lips. Luckily, Leilani was stretching for a bottle of water and didn’t see it.
“Would you consider him if he didn’t grab at you?”
I turned away from him so fast I made myself dizzy and reached for the bowl of limes, replaying his question again and again. He’d gone there, taken my accusation and inserted it into his and Leilani’s conversation. The bastard!
He should’ve been asking me since I was the one who called him out about his technique.
“I don’t know. I mean, he is kinda cute with a build that would bring any woman to her knees.” Leilani sounded softer, less strident. “He’s quick witted, too. Always with a smart comeback whenever I take the snarky route.” Her voice wound down leaving the thuds of my knife against the cutting board as the only noise in the room.
“So is that a yes or a no?” Ti’eron’s voice held the edges of a purring growl, so sinfully sultry I wanted to roll myself in it.
Leilani did a two-note hum. “Yeah, I guess. If he didn’t try to force me, we might hit it off
.” She leaned against the back bar, a couple of feet from where I stood and I caught her shrug out of the corner of my eye. “Or not. I mean, who knows, right?”
Turning towards me, she announced she would go get fresh kegs and left me alone with Ti’eron.
I couldn’t help it; I just had to ask as soon as I knew she was out of earshot. But I was too much of a coward to look at him as I did so. “Was that really necessary?”
He didn’t play coy or try to pretend he didn’t understand what I meant. “How would you have answered, Adri? Would you consider me if I didn’t do a snatch and grab each time I’m near you?”
I was saved from answering by the interruption of both more warriors and more staff. But the truth was I wasn’t sure I could give him one.
Not one that made a lick of sense, anyway.
*.*.*.*.*
Ti’eron wearily dropped his clothes to the floor before stepping into the waiting shower, dipping his head and angling the water so it could pound against the tight muscles of his shoulders. Propping a hand on the cold tile to hold himself steady, he sighed.
Between battling the Berstats and fighting to make Annie remember him with only her senses, he was exhausted. He’d stuck around Toxic until mid-afternoon but had never gotten another minute with her alone. Although the time hadn’t been wasted since the dragons used the downtime to connect with the green and black squadrons who patrolled Earth’s southern hemisphere. All had agreed the attacks felt more like a test of dragon strength and determination as opposed to a full-scale invasion.
The heads of the different branches of the military hadn’t agreed and every dragonkind commander had received numerous calls asking for updates of both intel and proposed strategy of the Dragon Warriors. After the third such call, Ti’eron let the rest go to voicemail. If all those wearing shiny gold bars and stars wanted a report so badly, they could get it from his co-commanders and submit any questions by either leaving a message or sending an email.
He couldn’t be bothered.
Anymore than those same men had been after they’d deemed the warriors as ‘no official use to global security’.
Bullshit then and bullshit now, in Ti’eron’s opinion.
He shelved those thoughts and let in the ones he’d held at bay all fucking day. The ones of her, of Adri/Annie. Of the way she felt in his arms, the taste of her in his mouth…
His loose hand moved upward, sliding up and around his balls until he gripped his iron-like length tightly. Pictures of her as a young teen bled into images of the stunning woman she’d become, some so evocative it made him ache. Using his thumb, he swiped at a bead of pre-cum before he intentionally begin to stroke himself, taking the images and creating a fantasy of her nakedly stretched out on his bed. With her inky hair spread out over his pillow, he willed her to part her thighs.
Christ! How would she feel when he sank himself into her? Would her pussy be slick and warm, gripping him tight as he inched his way inside her?
Did she like it fast and hard or slow and sensuous? Because he was more than willing to do either or even both if that’s what she wanted. Would she tell him what she craved or was she one of the shy ones who didn’t talk while screwing? He hoped not because even though he didn’t have Lor’gen’s experience, he’d quickly learned he didn’t like quiet sex.
Though he wasn’t a fan of screamers either.
He threw back his head as his hand quickened on his aching, throbbing cock, his fantasy growing as he imagined Adri on top, her hips thrusting as she increased her pace, riding him as if her very life depended on the upcoming moments. He tried to imagine the bounce of her bare tits but could only groan when he couldn’t determine the color of her nipples.
He had to have her!
Wanted to fuck her deep, as deep as she could take him.
Jay-sus, he needed to fuck her full stop!
Needed her underneath him, gripping her ass as he pounded into her over and over…
His balls pulled up sharply and finally, goddamn finally he found his release, spilling over his hand and down the drain in multiple spurts.
He rested his cheek against the cooling tiles, panting as the showerhead washed his sweat away.
Though not his first choice in obtaining satisfaction, beating off won hands down over suffering blue balls any day of the week.
Chapter Four
I stared into my reflection, noting the purple bags under my eyes, my sallow complexion and placed the blame for my beleaguered appearance solely where it belonged. On a certain well-built, smooth-tongued dragon warrior of long, brown locks, broad muscled shoulders and swirling blue eyes.
The only place I’d seen Ti’eron in the last three days was in my dreams—long, fevered, sweaty dreams. Ones of hot mouths, searching fingers and sinful delights too fabulous to recall as they woke me time after time to an empty bed and emptier-feeling thighs.
Stroking on another layer of lip gloss, I made a decision. I’d just go out there and oh-so casually ask one of my new-found buddies where Ti’eron was now spending his time. That wouldn’t be hard at all, not since I’d made a point of getting to know the different warriors who frequented Toxic. While I couldn’t yet call them friends, they’d become much more than just customers or acquaintances.
Shoving the gloss’s wand back into the barrel, my mind did a quick swerve to the questions I’d asked myself eight-hundred and thirty-seven times over the last 72 hours.
What kind of goddamn ninny threatens to knee the nuts of the only man to make her body throb with desire, using nothing more than fantabulous kisses and a full body hug? And all because he didn’t goddamn ask her, prepare her for the onslaught of pleasure he wanted to provide?
I snorted, throwing the gloss stick into my makeup bag.
The dumbest broad on the planet, that’s who!
An apology was needed, that much I knew. But I couldn’t just send a sincere sorry out into the atmosphere and expect him to receive it.
I needed to see him.
Meet with him face-to-face so I could show him I really wasn’t some crazy brand of the Ms. Jekyll and Lady Hyde variety as I told him, in the plainest words I could use, how very, very sorry I was for my previous behavior.
Oh god.
What if he didn’t accept it though?
What if I’d gone too far, so far into the land of nut-jobs that he didn’t want anything to do with me?
Like ever.
I shook my head, hoping to dislodge my fear but only screwing up my carefully crafted hairstyle instead.
Knuckles banging on the door thankfully interrupted my freak-out. “I’ll be out in a sec.”
“You need to get your pretty arse out here now, girlfriend.”
Slamming my makeup bag into the depths of my purse and then slinging the whole of it into my locker and spinning the lock, I opened the restroom door. “Hey Vanessa, what’s doing?”
“Ti’eron’s out there,” she whispered, shoving a hand towards the bar, my eyes following its trajectory as if I could suddenly see through walls. “And he’s asking for you.”
Yikes! In all my fevered fantasies, I’d never once envisioned he might come looking for me. And since I’d told Vanessa the whole of what had gone down, up to and including my threat to make Ti’eron choke on his own testicles, I felt very comfortable asking, “What should I do?”
She reared back as if I’d lost my ever-loving mind, and maybe I had considering I’d been moping around for the last couple of days, so up in my head I couldn’t stand even my own company. “Get your ass out there and talk to the dude, honey.”
“But what if he wants to chew me out for, like, you know, leading him on and then…”
Her eye-roll told me her opinion even before it came out of her mouth. “What are you, seventeen? Geez, girl. Put on your big girl panties and talk with him. If he has a stick up his butt, deal with it. He uses phrases like ‘dick tease’ or throws ‘cock blocker’ around, you take it and then shake it off lat
er. But, Adri?”
“Yeah?”
She leaned in closer. “You’ll never know what Ti’eron has to say unless you go out there.”
The woman, one who was fast becoming my new best friend, had a point.
I looked down the hall and took a step forward. Then I took another as my stomach clenched.
This is what I wanted, right? I’d told myself I needed to see him and then only seconds later he showed up.
That was a good thing. Right?
Right?
My eyes started searching the room even before I left the confines of the hallway, bobbing and seeking until they landed on the rugged face that haunted my very dreams.
God, he looked good.
So damn good, I started to jog towards him.
*.*.*.*.*
Christ, but she looked terrible! As if she hadn’t slept in a week or longer.
Her hair was a mess and she was more than pale, the pretty pink of her cheeks just a dim memory.
But, damn! That smile, the full one that lit her face and shimmered in her eyes, the one she gave out so infrequently he’d considered it a gift each and every time she bestowed it was there for all to see.
And that she ran towards him? Only jumping at the last second, trusting he would catch her?
Goddamn heaven. That’s what it was. Heaven in his embrace.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, her long legs around his waist.
She’d come home.
Home to him.
Tucking his face into her neck, Ti’eron didn’t speak but breathed in her scent. Breathed it in so deep even Ver’gren purred in wanton wonder. The smell of our Annie’s arousal calls to me.
Bound By Heat - Dragon Shifter Page 17
