“When I was a kid, I loved our fireplace,” she said quietly. “Of course back then I didn’t know that I’d nearly burned to death as an infant. For some reason I never feared fire; I’ve always been drawn to it.”
“I’m glad. Fire is a powerful force, and one that’s important to Dragon-kind. I wouldn’t want it to be a source of fear for you.”
She shook her head. “It's not. I nearly burned to death another time, actually,” she added, taking another delicate sip.
“You what?” Aegis’s jaw dropped. “All right, you must tell me about this. You’ve quickly become the most fascinating woman I’ve ever met. Or at least the most accident prone.”
“Ha ha. No, this isn’t so fascinating. Just unfortunate and a little mysterious. When I was ten I came down with some illness where my body broke into a severe fever—and I mean severe. The doctors all said that I shouldn’t have survived two days, but it went on for months—two years, actually. No one ever figured out what was wrong with me.”
“And then?"
“And then the fevers stopped. Just like that," she said, snapping her fingers.
“So you came out of it in one piece. Well, I’m very glad for it.”
Ashlyn nodded and tucked a blond curl behind her ear. “Me too. It took its toll, though. I had so many strange visions, hallucinations during those months…I thought I’d gone completely mad. To be honest, I thought tonight that maybe the illness had struck again. When I saw you in that pub, I…” She stopped talking suddenly, and looked at her fingers, which were tapping the glass nervously. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I’ve never told anyone about those visions. Not even my parents. I'm sorry.”
“It’s all right.” Aegis’s voice was so smooth, soft, comforting. “You can tell me anything.”
Ashlyn leaned forward and put the glass down on the table before sitting up again. She turned to her host. “Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“For bringing me here. For giving me shelter. For all of it. You didn’t have to.”
“I did, actually,” he said. “More than you can possibly know.”
Shelter
Ashlyn felt her cheeks sear under the Dragon shifter’s gaze. Her skin hadn’t felt this hot since the relentless fever had struck well over a decade earlier.
He was looking at her again, those eyes of his penetrating her flesh, relentless in their hunger. He made her feel so naked, and yet she never felt weak in his presence, or vulnerable. If anything, she felt strong. Sexy. Attractive. All without either of them saying a word.
“You didn’t need to take me in. You could have just walked away. But instead, you opened up and told me about the Forsaken. About who you are…”
“Yes, well, I don’t want you to think that I turn into a Dragon for all the girls,” he said. “In fact, we Dragon shifters do our best to remain concealed. But my inner beast told me that I could trust you.”
“You can, more than you know,” she replied, echoing his earlier words.
He edged towards her, leaning forward to set his glass next to hers on the table. Oh, God. Was he…was he going to kiss her? She wanted it. She’d been staring at those sexy lips of his all night, wanting to bite the lower one especially. Wanted to feel his mouth on hers, on her neck, on her breasts. Wanted to work her thighs around that sexy, taut waist of his, and…
“You’re staring at my mouth,” Aegis whispered, moving closer still. “Just as I’ve been staring at every bit of you all evening.”
“It’s just…you have a nice mouth,” she managed, her head spinning. Shit, what should she do? Give herself to him or run to some distant bedroom and slam the door shut behind her? What would be the harm in a night with such a man, after all? It would be a one-time thing, and then she’d leave. She’d continue her hunt. She’d…
“I have to…” She sprang to her feet, pulling herself away from the danger that was the Dragon shifter.
“What is it?” he asked, rising to his feet to tower over her. “What’s happened?”
“I just remembered that I have to go somewhere in the morning.”
“That’s fine, I’ll take you wherever you need to go when the time comes,” Aegis said, trying his best to calm her. Her hands had clenched into tight fists, hitting her hips in hard little beats. Aegis noticed that she still had her satchel strapped over her shoulder. She hadn’t even removed her jacket yet. “Why don’t you make yourself at home?” the shifter asked. “Relax. You’ve had quite an evening.”
“Yes,” she said. “I will relax, once I find a way to…could you show me where I’ll be sleeping?”
Aegis’s heart sank along with his neglected erection, which had been straining hard against his jeans, convinced that it was finally going to get some tender attention. He could still smell her desire on the air, but something had changed. Her body and mind were stressed; she was confused by what was happening. Confused by her own need.
“Yes, of course,” he said. “I’ll take you upstairs. Well, I won’t literally take you—I’ll show you where you’re—oh, fuck it. Just follow me.” Smooth, Aegis. So smooth.
With that, he led the way so that she wouldn’t feel pursued or threatened, and Ashlyn picked her boots up off the floor and followed. Together they hiked up the swirling marble staircase at the front of the house, and Aegis guided her down a long hallway illuminated by elegant silver light fixtures that hung from the ceiling. He stopped at the second door from the end, pushing it open and turning on a light.
“All yours,” he said, standing back to let her by.
Ashlyn stepped inside. The room was beautiful. A large, dark wood four-poster bed was its focal point, and a large double-window occupied the far wall, stretching from floor to ceiling. White cotton linens covered the bed.
“Amazing,” she said. “I have to thank you again for your generosity.”
Generosity. No. This is selfishness, he thought. I want you. I want you here. I want you to be with me.
She put her boots down, removed her satchel and put it on a chair by the window. Aegis thought he noticed her squeezing the bottom of the bag as though checking for something. Minach had been right; she was very attached to that satchel.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yes, fine,” she said. “I was just…” She looked as though she was on the cusp of an explanation, or even a revelation. But she stopped herself, freezing up again. “Never mind.”
“Where do you need to be in the morning?” Aegis asked, trying to fight off the disappointment that was beating at his heart.
“That’s just it. I’m not sure where.”
A look of puzzlement crept over Aegis’s features.
“Right, then. I’ll take you to I’m-not-sure-land first thing.”
“London,” she corrected, allowing herself a smile. “It’s in London.”
“What’s in London?”
Ashlyn shook her head violently, laughing at herself. “Never mind. It’s just something I wanted to look for. Nothing important. Anyhow, thank you…Aegis.” Her eyes met his again. So beautiful. She looked like an angel right now, and yet all he wanted to do was a series of unholy things to her body. But he was a gentleman, damn it. Etiquette, manners, decency and all that.
“You’re welcome…Ashlyn. So I’ll just leave you then, shall I?”
She nodded, her expression revealing a disappointment of her own. Or maybe it was relief. He was having too damned much trouble reading her at this point.
“Yes, leave me,” she said. But she took a long step towards him. With the words, she flattened a palm against his chest. For a moment it rested there, but then she slid it upwards, cradling her hand around his neck as her eyes followed. “Leave me.”
Jesus, she was sexy, looking up at him like that. A temptress, toying with his mind. Her hand was applying pressure to the back of his neck, drawing his face towards hers. Did she want a kiss, or was she teasing him?
As thou
gh to answer the question, her other hand was on his neck now, quietly urging his face towards hers. And so he gave in. An innocent kiss, that was all this would be. A peck.
The kiss was soft, innocent, as predicted. And yet the brief touch of their lips sent lightning surging into his blood. He may as well have licked an electric fence for the shock of it. It was agony and ecstasy wrapped up together in one exquisite sensation.
What the hell was that?
He pulled back, tearing himself away from those devastating hands of hers, and backed towards the door.
“Did you feel that?” she asked. Her expression mirrored his; utter surprise and shock combined with something far deeper. She looked down, probably to see if there was carpet beneath her feet. Nothing but solid hardwood.
He nodded. “I…yes. I felt it.”
“Aegis,” she said. “I have to leave this country soon. I have to go home…”
“I know.”
“But I want you so much. You have to know that. It’s just—things in my life are really complicated.”
“I know. I’m beginning to see that.”
“If we…make love…”
“Yes?”
“I’ll never be able to leave.”
“If we make love, I’ll never be able to let you go.”
Everything
Aegis turned his back towards her and wrapped his fingers around the doorknob, determined to do the right thing. It would be hard to leave her, but not nearly so hard as to claim her and then surrender her to a life across the sea.
“Don’t go.” Her voice was so quiet that for a moment he questioned whether he’d actually heard it.
He turned to look at her. “What did you just say?”
Ashlyn didn’t reply, at least not with words. Instead she slipped her jacket off and tossed it onto the bed. And then—oh, dear God—she began to unbutton her blouse. Her eyes, bright, pleading, beautiful, were locked on his. Telling him everything he needed to know without her lips uttering a word. I want you. I need you. I’m giving myself to you on this night. Don’t go, please.
“Ashlyn,” he murmured. “We can’t…” For some reason he couldn’t say the word bond. It was too much to speak it out loud; he wanted it too badly. If he bonded with her—if he found his way inside her, they’d both be in for some serious, long-lasting pain and torment when they were torn apart.
She peeled away the thin black blouse and set it on top of her jacket, turning her back to him as he’d done to her. Perhaps the only way to find the courage to speak her thoughts out loud was to avoid his eyes. “I need you,” she told him, her voice like raw, tortured silk. “I need this.”
“I need you, too.” That scent of hers was coming at him again. The beautiful musk that told him how much her body desired his. He knew what he had to do, what she wanted so badly for him to do. Even if he wasn’t at all convinced that it was a good idea.
“Turn around,” he commanded, taking a shallow step towards her. “Look at me, Ashlyn. Please.” She spun back to face him, hot tears rimming her eyes. So, she was lost. Just as he was. Lost in the notion of losing him. Lost in pure, intoxicating physical desire.
How could he deny her the pleasure that he could offer with his mouth, his hands? How could he deny himself?
Aegis didn’t wait for permission. With one enormous stride he stepped towards her and his lips crashed against hers, his arms engulfing her in the powerful, protective embrace he’d wanted to offer from the beginning.
When their tongues met she was velvet under his touch, and warmth, and everything in the world at once. She was his.
If only for one night.
* * *
Before Ashlyn knew it the Dragon shifter was carrying her, laying her gently on the bed as she strained to breathe normally, telling herself that this was real. He was real; those hands on her body were real. He was climbing over her now, giant arms showing off hard ropes of braided muscle on either side of her face as he looked down at her, his eyes flashing feral need.
“I want to taste you,” he breathed, leaning in to kiss her neck, those luscious lips of his working their way down to her breasts. His mouth was everything she’d imagined. Soft, experienced, sensual on her skin, turning every morsel of her into something erogenous. “I’ve wanted to taste you since I drew my first breath inside that pub tonight.” His words were hot against her skin, each one eliciting a shallow intake of breath on her part.
With his teeth, he gingerly pulled at her tank top, teasing her with soft bites as his mouth made its way down her breasts. Giving in to his own need, he yanked the soft fabric down with his fingers, slipping it under her breasts to create a sort of makeshift push-up bra that pressed them tightly together. Ashlyn gasped hard as he found a nipple with his lips and drew it in with such gentleness, but so much desire at once. With his fingers he pinched her other nipple, flicking his thumb over its tip until it turned crimson.
“You’re killing me,” she groaned as a desperate ache consumed the place between her legs. She needed him there, now. Needed that mouth, those hands.
His fingers slid down to fight with the button on her jeans and within seconds he had them undone. Good boy. He yanked them downwards, tearing her lace panties with them. She was naked from the waist down now, dishevelled from the waist up. Utterly exposed to this stunning man’s exquisite Dragon shifter eyes.
“I’m yours now,” she told him. “Yours til morning.” Or is it mourning?
The thought that Aegis could be nothing more than a one-night stand was so wrong. She should stay with him forever. He could be her new family, her new life. Or was it just that she was getting swept away in the passion of the moment?
She thought back for a moment to the second she first saw him in the pub, and wondered how she’d ended up in bed with the impossibly attractive man she’d seen a few hours earlier. That bastion of perfection was about to slip his tongue over her sex. He was going to do everything to her she’d fantasized about. But the reality was so much better than the daydream that she wanted to scream and laugh and cry, all at once. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, even though she hardly knew him. Wanted to declare that she’d have his babies.
What the hell was this night doing to her mind?
Aegis was on his knees now, his hands spreading her legs slowly. His gorgeous eyes focused on the small V of hair neatly trimmed between her legs. He pried her thighs apart and sniffed, the biggest smile settling on his features. Those teeth—perfect, white, as gorgeous as the rest of him. It was no wonder Ashlyn had become infatuated.
“Bliss,” he breathed. His right hand slipped up and he pressed the heel of his palm into her, cupping her sex, rubbing gently as he looked up into her eyes. She was leaning back on her elbows watching him now, enthralled at the vision.
“Bliss,” she repeated. “I don’t know how this happened. I don’t know how I’m here. I don’t know how you’re making me feel like this.”
“I wanted to do this to you so badly that I thought I’d explode,” he confessed, and he slipped a finger onto each side of her clit, stroking slowly, teasing her nerves with the gentleness of his touch. “Wanted to find out just how beautiful this pussy of yours might be, if I’m to be honest.”
“Well, I hope it lives up to your expectations,” Ashlyn said.
“It goes so far beyond my expectations that I’m wondering if I’ve found Heaven.” Aegis dipped his head down, pinched her bud between his fingers and gave her a quick lick. “Oh yes,” he said. “So, so far beyond Heaven, even.” He licked her again, and Ashlyn’s fingers fisted around the crumpled bedding, her legs folding up around her new lover’s head and shoulders. God, how was this happening? He dipped his tongue inside her once, then again, and damn, it was so good. Ashlyn ran a hand over her breasts, feeling how hard her nipples had gone under the tender care of his mouth.
“I’m on the pill,” she said softly. She wanted him inside her. Wanted him to take possession of her every nerve en
ding. “In case you want to…”
He pulled his head up for a moment and looked at her. “I meant what I said earlier. We can’t make love, not like that. I can’t be inside you, or our bond will strengthen beyond breaking.” he told her. “I’ll never be able to let you go. But I want that choice to be yours when the time is right.”
“Okay.” Maybe she understood what he meant, maybe she didn’t. In the moment it didn’t matter. They were together, as close as they could be. Tomorrow she’d leave and they’d never see one another again. This was a one night stand, nothing more.
So why was her mind telling her that he was so much more to her than that? Why was her heart beating so fast as he pleasured her? Why did she feel like she was floating when she looked at his face?
He was sucking on her clit now, two long, thick fingers slipping inside her, and she cried out with the perfection of it. He kneaded her, taking her deep with his hand and mouth. Aggressive, possessive and loving, all at once.
“You’re so wet for me, sexy girl,” he muttered when he’d pulled back for an instant.
“I’ve been wet for you for hours, Aegis the Dragon shifter,” she moaned. “Hours of agony. And now I don’t want it to stop. Please don’t stop.”
Aegis slipped a hand over her belly and she grabbed it, their fingers intertwining tight as he stroked her bud with his tongue, her hips bucking under his devastating touch. She wanted to come for him. If she couldn’t entirely give herself to him, if she couldn’t entirely claim him, she wanted this much. To feel herself tighten and pulse around his fingers. To imagine what it would be like to take him inside her. She needed to hold onto the sensation, if this was all that she was to have of this glorious beast of a man.
She gave in at last, the orgasm washing over her and taking all fears and worries with it. A wave of lava surging through her blood. Her belly tightened under his palm, her sex gripping him as though it never wanted to release him. Ashlyn heard her own cry of agonized perfection as she squeezed his hand so hard that he thought she might break his fingers. This moment is ours together, always. You’re mine for this night, and for this night I love you.
Dragon's Lover: Part One Page 7
