“My pen. My rules.”
“Fine, I’ll just take a nap.” Leaning his head back against the couch, Brogan closed his eyes and feigned sleep. Ayden felt his mouth quirk up into a half-smile at his mate’s antics.
“Pro: we already have the same last name.”
“Lame. We are in the same dragon court, of course we have the same last name,” Brogan said as he lifted his head off the couch.
“I wasn’t given much time to think,” Ayden protested and watched his mate grin at him.
“Anyway, my turn. Con: Ayden likes to set people on fire.”
“Pro: Brogan is a shifter that can heal quickly.”
“Little shit. Okay pro-”
It was finally Ayden’s turn to do the interrupting, “You are already switching to your pro list?”
“I like to mix it up. Pro: Ayden is a good kisser.”
“Con-”
“No, you are supposed to say, ‘Pro: Brogan is a good kisser,’” his mate informed him seriously.
“I’m afraid I cannot say that. I don’t have enough evidence to make that determination,” Ayden said primly. He was surprised at himself, he really wanted Brogan to accept the gauntlet he had just thrown down and kiss him.
“I believe I can help you with your data collection.”
“By all means.” Brogan leaned towards him and used the side of his index finger to lift Ayden’s chin upwards. He looked deep into his eyes before bringing his mouth down onto Ayden’s. Licking his mate’s top lip for entry, Ayden obliged by opening his mouth slightly, and the kiss quickly deepened into a full out mating of mouth, tongues, and even teeth. For several breathless minutes, it continued until Brogan gently pressed their lips together one last time and pulled slightly away from him on the couch.
It took two solid minutes before Ayden could even process a single thought. His mate could really fucking kiss. “Pro: Brogan is an excellent kisser,” Ayden stated after clearing his throat.
“Change mine to Ayden is a fucking fantastic kisser,” his dragon demanded.
To keep his mate from grabbing his pen, Ayden smacked his hand with it, “No way, there are no edits.”
“Ow. You put excellent, and I only put good.”
“It’s not a competition.”
“The hell it’s not. Fix it.”
“Not happening. Your turn.”
“Fine,” Brogan gave in with a sigh.
“Pro or con?”
“I’m thinking, you scattered all my brain cells.” Ayden was flattered to know he could have that kind of impact on his big dragon mate.
Brogan was having one of the best evenings of his long life; his little mate’s idea of creating a pros and cons list was a near perfect solution to the mess their relationship had become. He could not be happier that they seemed to finally be on the same page. It was hard to imagine any reason Ayden could come up with to object to their mating. Making their list was fun, they were getting along great, and Ayden had even teased him into a kiss. Nothing could have pleased Brogan more, that pouty mouth of Ayden’s had haunted his erotic dreams and kissing his mate always surpassed any wet, sticky fantasy.
“Still waiting,” Ayden’s complaint pulled Brogan away from his errant thoughts and back to their task.
“Okay. Got one. Pro: Ayden has a fiery temper.” Brogan watched as his mate began to write and then suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Ayden looked adorably perplexed, “Wait, you said pro, but you gave me a con.”
“No, I didn’t. I consider your temper a pro.”
“Why?”
“It shows you have a passionate nature,” Brogan explained with a wink.
“Oh.”
“Did I actually make you speechless?”
“Technically no, I said ‘Oh,’” Ayden refuted and Brogan could not hold back his bark of laughter. He really enjoyed his mate’s quick wit.
“All right mate, time for you to list a pro.”
“Forget it, I did a pro last time. Con: Ayden is not Brogan’s type.”
Brogan was sure it was not something they had ever discussed, “How do you know what my type is?”
“You referred to me as small and I believe I recall the words ‘factory reject’. That leads me to believe you were not impressed with my stature.”
“I believe I was referring to your size as a familiar. Mage familiars are freaking huge, and I thought that was the point; they are like status symbols.”
“Latarian had me convinced it was somehow my fault I was not big enough to represent her, but according to the prism wizard witches can pick the size of their familiars when they summon them, so I really don’t know why I am the way I am,” Ayden explained with a frown.
Brogan watched as his mate’s countenance, which had been smiling and animated, went gloomy. “It bothers you?” he asked gently.
“I have spent centuries listening to Latarian complain. It is more important to her than it ever was to me. What bothers me is that my mate would prefer me to be taller.”
“I wouldn’t say that at all. I have only ever been with dragons before and you know we tend to be on the tall side. Just because I have never been with a man of your height doesn’t mean I do not find you attractive. I find you very attractive,” Brogan assured him.
“The con is still accurate, I am not your type.”
“It doesn’t matter what my type is, you are my mate, and I am very, very attracted to you. That makes you my type. How about you? How do I know that I’m your type? What was your type before me?” While he had no complaints about his mate’s looks, his type had always been for blonds with blue eyes, but as far as Brogan was concerned that didn’t matter anymore. It was Ayden who intrigued and aroused him now.
“I didn’t have one,” Ayden confessed.
They were trying to have an honest discussion; there was no need for Ayden to be coy or evasive, Brogan thought grumpily. “Oh come on, what kind of men did you find attractive? What kind of men were you with?”
“None.”
“What do you mean ‘none’?”
“What the hell do you think I mean? As a familiar I was asexual before I met my mate. I had a feeling my mate would be male although I kept that to myself, but I never experienced any sexual urges until you. Not to mention the fact that if I had gotten horny I was stuck in a tiny fucking cottage and the only person there was Latarian and I sure as hell would never go to bed with her!” Ayden’s voice had grown louder and louder until it was a near shout at the end of his little speech and his eyes had very little green left in them.
“I had no idea about the asexual thing and I didn’t think about the fact that you were in hiding and how that would affect your sex life. I’m sorry, baby, I didn’t realize you would be a virgin.” Brogan was actually flabbergasted that someone who kissed the way Ayden did would be inexperienced. The kisses they shared had been the most passionate and exciting of his life. No doubt about it, his mate was a natural. The whole virginity thing scared the crap out of him; if it wasn’t perfect Ayden might not enjoy the experience. He still wasn’t sure he could ever get Ayden to bed, but his inexperience was terrifying. Brogan couldn’t live with himself if he ruined sex for his mate.
“Well, now you know why I embarrassed myself in the den that night,” Ayden threw out, his tone still dangerous.
Unfortunately, Brogan was clueless about what Ayden was talking about; the only embarrassing part of that night was the stupid phone ringing. “I’m at a loss here; I have no clue what you are talking about.”
“Seriously? Did you forget about the fact that I came in my pants after you barely touched me?” Ayden was shouting again, but he was dead wrong about that night.
“Baby, you don’t have a damn thing to be embarrassed about. Do you have any idea how incredible it made me feel to make you come so easily? I have the most amazing man on the planet; I love knowing that my kisses and my touch drove you that crazy. One less ringing phone in that room that night and
I would have been filling my own jeans not that long after you did. No one has ever kissed me the way you do. You make love with just that sexy mouth alone.” Ayden was staring at him with flushed cheeks and eyes widened in shock, and they were still that erotic dark blue.
“Pro: Brogan could not give a shit less about types.” His mate just continued to stare at him. Brogan bumped shoulders with him to rouse him from his stupor, “Write it down Ayden.”
Chapter 12
Ayden blinked and gathered his scattered brain cells to do as he was told. He had been convinced that he had made a fool of himself that night of their movie date, yet his mate had nothing but praise for his performance. Apparently he had no reason to be embarrassed about his lack of experience and he was running out of reasons to dislike his mate.
“I think I am out of cons,” Ayden admitted.
“Me too. Ayden, every con on this list has a pro next to it. I think it’s time to put all that has happened before behind us and give our mating a shot.” Everything that Brogan said was true, but Ayden was still scared. There were so many things that could still go wrong. If they got close, and it all imploded it could really hurt, but there was a large part of him that wanted to see if this could actually work. He wasn’t sure he could live with himself if he passed up the opportunity to be happily mated.
“It’s true that the biggest issues that I had were resolved tonight, but honestly I am scared to jump in with both feet.” It wasn’t an easy thing to confess, but Ayden was not going to be anything less than truthful.
“There is no reason we can’t take this slow. We have all the time in the world to get to know one another. I just want you to give us a fair shot. I want us both to approach this with an open mind and let things happen naturally. Fate brought us together, but it is up to us to figure out how to make it work.”
It was time to find out if Fate had made a mistake when pairing him with this dragon. “Okay, let’s take it slow and see where it goes.” Ayden was willing to take the risk and apparently so was Brogan. His mate was looking at him with a smile that lit up his entire handsome face. Those dimples of his were even showing.
“Thanks, from now on total honesty and no more secrets lurking about. I will tell you if something is bothering me and I hope you will do the same.”
“Agreed, and I still get to set you on fire if you piss me off.”
“Note to self: in order to avoid being scorched, do not piss off my mate.”
“Now that that is settled, I believe I will be heading to my room for the night.” Ayden had a lot to mull over, after all the evening’s revelations, and he was getting tired. Overall it been a pretty great evening and he was amazingly happy about being so wrong about Brogan. He was still petrified of being mated, but he had cast his lot into Brogan’s big hands.
“Same for me, I’m exhausted.”
“I’m sure you are; that’s what you get for stalking me.”
“Worked, didn’t it?”
“It was more the boredom of sitting alone in my room.”
“Shit, do you know how many achy body parts I have?” Brogan flexed his spine as he complained.
“Give me your hand.” After Brogan did as he was asked Ayden cast a quick spell that would take care of all of his mate’s aches and pains and ensure that he had a restful night’s sleep.
His efforts had earned him another of Brogan’s gorgeous smiles, “Thanks, baby, that’s amazing. I feel like a million bucks.”
“You’re welcome. Personally, I’m just glad you no longer stink,” he said after releasing Brogan’s hand.
“I am going to have to burn the clothes I was wearing.”
“I can take care of that for you,” Ayden offered with a smirk.
“Of that I have no doubt. Now give me a hug so we can both go get some sleep.”
“You want a hug?”
“Yep, you haven’t given me one yet.”
Ayden had been expecting, and secretly hoping, Brogan would request a good night kiss, he had no clue what was up with this hugging crap. “Fine.” They stood at the same time, and Brogan hastily enfolded Ayden into his arms. The red waves on the top of Ayden’s head barely reached Brogan’s collarbone.
“We fit perfectly, baby,” his mate whispered to him and the endearment Brogan had begun using had not gone unnoticed. Ayden liked it; he wasn’t willing yet to explore the reasons behind the warm feeling it gave him each time Brogan used it. He also enjoyed being held by Brogan even more, and they did fit despite the fact that Brogan was nearly a foot taller than he was, but he still wanted his kiss.
“We do. Do I get my goodnight kiss now?” Brogan dropped a light kiss on Ayden’s forehead and, taking a step back, let go of his mate.
“Good night.”
“What the fuck? That wasn’t a kiss.”
“Yes, it was.”
“Not the kind of kiss we had before.”
“That is because it happened before we agreed to take it slow. We need to work up to that kind of kiss. See you in the morning, baby.” Ayden watched open-mouthed as Brogan left the room. This going slow business might seriously drive him insane and it occurred to Ayden that that might just be Brogan’s intention. This mating might just be his downfall one way or another.
After what certainly had to be the best night of sleep he had ever had, Brogan was feeling fantastic. Last night with his mate had been an eye opening experience, and he felt very excited about the future. Their disputes were behind them, and Brogan was content at this point to take as long as Ayden needed to seal their mate bond. Although Ayden had shown signs of being reluctant to agree to move forward, Brogan felt confident that time would alleviate his mate of his caution. Brogan’s only concern at this point was Ayden’s virginity.
On one hand, he and his dragon were happy about the fact that no one had put their dirty paws on his mate, but Brogan had never before been with someone inexperienced. He decided that the best approach moving forward was to let Ayden set the pace. There was nothing shy about him, even last night he had demanded a kiss and that had been after initiating one earlier in the evening.
Brogan had loved the look of dismay on Ayden’s face when he had kissed his forehead instead of that pretty mouth. It had definitely been worth depriving them both from what they really wanted. Besides, Brogan wasn’t sure that if they started kissing at that point that he would be able to stop until they were both gasping for breath and satisfied. Ayden’s kisses brought out the beast in him. Literally.
His dragon wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into their mate and keep him forever. Brogan hoped his dragon would behave himself until Ayden was ready to be his mate, otherwise things might get dangerous. The only solution was to do everything he could to prove to Ayden that Fate had put together another perfect match.
Feeling positive about the future, Brogan headed to the kitchen to fill his empty stomach. He found Ayden sitting on a kitchen stool at the counter, shoving waffles into his face like they were about to go extinct.
“Good morning, mate,” Brogan greeted Ayden and took a seat on the stool next to him. He grabbed a plate from the stack Noirin had left out for the household.
“Morning,” Ayden mumbled between bites.
Reaching out his fork to grab some waffles from the giant stack on the serving plate, he was stopped by a hand on his arm. “Those are all mine,” his mate informed him.
“Fuck off, I’m starving.”
“Too bad. Mine,” Ayden growled at him.
“Your name is not on them,” Brogan retorted and helped himself to the waffles.
“It is now,” Ayden enlightened him and sure enough all three waffles on his plate now had Ayden’s name emblazoned across them.
Laughing at his crazy mate, Brogan smothered them with syrup, “Did you honestly think that would stop me from eating them?”
“It was worth a shot,” he said with a shrug.
“Why do you eat so much anyway? You got a tapeworm or something
?”
“No, I did tell you I was asexual before meeting you. Familiars can produce asexually and a few weeks before you arrived I decided I wanted a baby. I’m eating for two.”
“You are full of shit. You are just a pig.”
“So true,” Ayden agreed cheerfully.
“Got any plans for the day?”
“Yeah, I promised Blodwen my morning.”
“Can you promise me your afternoon?”
“Well, that would depend on what your plans are for this afternoon.”
All Brogan was concerned with was spending time with Ayden, he was game for anything his mate wanted to do. “Not sure yet, you got any ideas?”
“Hey guys,” Blodwen greeted them as she entered the kitchen and took a seat on the other side of Ayden.
“You gonna write your name on her waffles too?” Brogan teased.
“Ayden, you really need to learn to share. I thought Noirin got you to agree to no more food writing,” Blodwen said with mock seriousness.
“Snitch.”
“You really are a brat, aren’t you?” It could not please Brogan more to know that Ayden was so mischievous.
“Yes he is,” their necromancer confirmed.
“Anywho Blodwen, Brogan and I were talking so just eat and zip it.”
“Have you noticed how often you tell people to shut up?” Blodwen questioned.
“Yes, what I don’t understand is why no one ever listens.”
“So Brogan, what were you and Ayden talking about?”
“Don’t mind me,” Ayden interjected.
Brogan gave his mate a little pat on the head and earned a glare before stating, “Don’t worry, we won’t.” He turned to Blodwen before speaking again, “Ayden and I were talking about what to do this afternoon.”
“Oh cool, what did you decide?”
“Nothing yet.”
“What are you doing this afternoon?” Ayden asked her.
“I’m going shopping with the girls. We are going to buy fabric and go clothes shopping.” Their trips usually included all the women in the house, with the exception of Latarian who refused to join them.
Grand Redemption (D'Vaire Book 1) Page 13
