by Willa Hart
His words wouldn’t even qualify as a whisper. They floated to me on a puff of lust powerful enough it almost knocked me over. “As you wish,” was all he said.
Releasing me, he laid down on the bed and tucked his hands behind his head, waiting. He was long and lean and perfect in every way. I’d never seen a human specimen as fit and beautiful in my life. Then I remembered he wasn’t exactly human, not that it mattered. The only thing that mattered was our need for each other.
I crawled onto the bed at his feet and touched him. I touched him wherever my fingers could reach — the soles of his feet, the hard angles of his ankles, the firm curve of his calves, the ropy length of his thighs. I wanted to know his body as if it were my own, because from this day forward, it would be.
Mine.
When I reached the apex of his thighs, I paused and simply took in the grandeur before me. No joke. His cock was a work of art. Long, but not outrageously so. Thick, but not painfully so. Ridges and veins ran the length, lending color and contour and texture, like a painting by a master. I licked my lips as I took it in my hand and felt its velvety heft.
Kellum groaned, but he never closed his eyes. I could tell he was fighting the instinct to — he didn’t want to miss a single moment — so I locked my gaze on his as I lowered my head and took him into my mouth.
My lips stretched around him, and my nipples tightened in response. His flesh felt smooth against my tongue as I took him in as far as I could. The sensation of him in my mouth, completely at my mercy, made me feel powerful and trusted all at the same time. I moaned against him, the vibrations of my vocal cords adding to his pleasure. Still, he wouldn’t allow his eyes to close.
I licked his length, from the base all the way to the tip, tracing the ridge of his head with my tongue, drawing more sighs of joy from him. It didn’t take long for me to become engrossed enough that I broke eye contact and focused solely on his big, beautiful cock. My pace quickened, my hand taking up the slack my mouth couldn’t take, and I felt him swelling with each stroke.
His response only added to my own desire, and it was all I could do to keep myself from climbing on top of him right then and there. I suspected he wouldn’t allow that. Kellum was a take-charge kind of guy, and since he’d done such an admirable job so far, I wanted to learn what other tricks he had up his sleeve.
His breath became ragged and his hips pumped to meet me. He was the one on the edge now, and I couldn’t wait to taste him — everything he had to give. But his self-control was stronger than I expected. Certainly stronger than mine. Reaching down, he grasped the wrist of my working hand tightly, pulling it away from the object of my affection. As much as I didn’t want to, I let him fall from my mouth, his slick dick glistening with my saliva and as hard as steel.
With a rough tug, he pulled me up to lie next to him, his breath hot on my forehead as he regained his control. “I’ve waited for this for too long,” he growled.
“Then take me, Kellum,” I said, pulling a moan from him at the sound of his name on my lips. “Take me now.”
Without a word, he rolled me onto my back and stared at me, long and hard. His gaze caressed my face as erotically as his hands ever could and tears sprang to my eyes from the affection I saw. He didn’t simply want to sleep with me. He cared for me in a way no guy ever had.
He must have seen it in my eyes, my desire and impatience, so he positioned himself over me, spreading my legs with his knee. His gaze locked onto mine like a guided missile as he rubbed the head of his cock against my slick opening, then easing in until only the tip was seated inside me.
The tears spilling from my eyes and running into my hair alarmed him. “Are you okay?”
I nodded and my breath hitched in my chest. “More than okay. I’m perfect.”
He waited for a moment, drinking me in, then inched in, pausing every time I tensed up until he could go no farther. A shudder racked my frame and my fingernails dug into his shoulders. I’d never experienced such fullness before, such total completeness. It was as if we’d been two halves and now we were whole.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Favor,” he said, his voice thick and raspy.
He was restraining himself, holding himself back, for my sake. I needed to show him how I felt, how deeply I wanted him. When I clenched my inner walls around him, he gasped, his eyes widening.
“You won’t,” I said just as hoarsely. “Make me yours, Kellum.”
His upper lip curled menacingly, though it didn’t frighten me. His eyes flashed that neon blue which foretold the presence of his dragon side. And though it seemed impossible, he grew even thicker inside me.
Wrapping an arm under my waist, he slid out and thrusted into me. Again. Again. Again. Our cries and gasps and groans went unheard by us as we rocked together, my hips lifting to meet his every thrust. We barely had time to fall into a rhythm when I felt every sinew, every synapse tightening inside me as he worked to coax yet another orgasm from me.
Inside me, his cock throbbed, and I knew he was close too. We just needed to leap off the edge together.
“Kellum, make me yours,” I whispered against his ear.
He shuddered and I knew that had done the trick. As he pounded into me, I let go of all control and rose higher and higher until I floated in the stratosphere, looking down on this crazy planet called Earth. Faintly, somewhere far away, I heard him call my name, repeating it over and over like a mantra. I called his in return until his soul found mine in outer space.
And we danced.
Our souls entwined and swirled together, cementing our connection, our bond. Supernovas pulsed around us, giving off bright purple and pink light. I thought I’d gone mad, but our spirits eventually sank back to earth, drifting gently as the light from the novas faded. I finally opened my eyes to find myself wrapped in his embrace.
Exactly where I belonged.
Chapter Three
Kellum’s heart thumped against the side of my face as we snuggled, and I felt my own thundering away, like a force that made my entire body pulse and glow. I’d only felt that happen a few times — the first time I’d been in the same room with all five of Max’s nephews, when I’d kissed Danic, while interrogating Enoch Trinkas, and now lying in Kellum’s arms. I felt more alive in those moments than in my entire life, as if I was more than just Favor Fiske, mere human. I was me. Fully, truly, wholly and completely me.
My clock said it wasn’t even noon yet, even though it felt as if we’d spent the whole night together. The world around us had ceased to exist the moment Kellum walked in the door, turning into a big blur. It hit me then, lying next to him in my tiny little bed, his thumb stroking gently in circles on my shoulder, that the last hour or so hadn’t been a lovely dream, but a beautiful reality.
“Is your clock right?” he asked, tensing against me as he craned his neck.
“Yup, I sprang forward on time this year, believe it or not.”
He groaned in protest, pulling me tighter for a brief moment before reluctantly disentangling our still-sweaty limbs. “Damn, I’m late for work. Lazlo’s going to wonder where I went after the elder council meeting.”
As much as I hated that he had to leave, I couldn’t deny enjoying the view of him walking around my small room totally naked as he picked up his stray pieces of clothing. His body tapered from broad shoulders in a perfect V down to his narrow hips. Oh god, and his ass had those divots in the sides that made me melt. He stood in the center of the room, scanning every surface, holding his clothes and running his fingers through his short dark hair.
“I lost a sock.”
I sat up against the headboard, not bothering to cover myself. That didn’t seem like something I’d do, yet it felt natural. I wasn’t the least bit self-conscious about my own nakedness, not after what we’d experienced.
“Guess you can’t go in if you can’t find all your clothes,” I said, trying to keep a sly smile off my face.
He turned to me then and narrowed his b
right blue eyes to slits. I knew my fantasy of having him in my bed all day to have my salacious way with him was just that — a fantasy — but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try.
“What do you know?” he asked, amping up the dramatic suspicion in his voice.
I played the innocent and looked around, as if he might be talking to someone else in the room. “Who me? I don’t know anything.”
I smiled sweetly at him and kept my hands behind my back. His eyes sparkled with amusement and desire for me as his gaze surveyed the scene before him. A ready and willing naked girl lying in a messy bed. His upper lip curled as he fought to control himself, which only made my smile turn wicked.
He lunged for me, and I did my very best to keep the stray sock away from him in hopes he’d touch my body some more, but he finally wrested it from my grip. Straddling me on the bed, we both breathed heavily — not from the exertion of our wrestling match, but the exertion of trying to hold ourselves in check.
“I-I—” he stuttered, an apology in his eyes.
I smiled and stroked his cheek. “I know. It’s okay. Unless you think you could get away with calling in sick.”
He chuckled as he pulled away, his cock standing at full attention in front of him and making my mouth water. He finally did me the favor of sitting on the edge of the bed so I wouldn’t be distracted.
“I wish,” he said, tugging on his socks. “But I don’t think Lazlo will buy it since he saw me a couple of hours ago.”
The more clothes he put on, the more the magic of the moment faded. Reality crept in on quiet cat’s feet, and it didn’t take long for my worry gene to kick in.
“Kellum?” I said as he shrugged into his black t-shirt, covering his impossibly gorgeous torso, much to my chagrin.
“Hmm?” He turned, a blissful smile on his lips.
“I-I—” It was my turn to stutter, apparently. In the end, I chickened out. “That was…great.”
He laughed easily, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. I, on the other hand, had four very specific cares — and they had names. But Kellum didn’t seem to be thinking about his brothers and cousins at all.
He sat on the bed again, fully dressed and ready to leave me, and stroked my arm all the way down until he could hold my hand in his. He raised it to his lips, his electric gaze refusing to release mine, as he kissed it.
“It was more than great for me, Favor.” His voice was thick with emotion. “It was life-changing. Don’t you feel that way too?”
I nodded mutely, pinpricks burning the back of my eyes. It had been totally soul-shaking, but I wasn’t sure I was ready for the repercussions. Kellum didn’t seem the least fazed by the possibility the people closest to him would be upset by the shift in our relationship.
“Are you worried about what Aunt Shirley will think?” he asked, clasping my hand in both of his. “You shouldn’t, you know. She’s been around a long time and witnessed much more shocking events in her life.”
Good grief, I hadn’t even thought about Shirley. “Yeah, that might be a little awkward, but…”
He stared at me as I tried to find the words. There was nothing to do except spit them out.
“What about the others?”
His brow crinkled in the cutest way. “Others?”
I blinked in surprise. “Yeah, you know, your brothers, your cousins. The others.”
“What about them?”
“Come on, you can’t tell me this won’t affect the group dynamic. We have that…connection or whatever, and I really don’t want to lose that. Do you?”
His face softened and he pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead before pulling back far enough to look into my face. I wanted his lips back on me, but not on my forehead. All the other places, yes. Forehead, not so much.
“Everything will be fine, Favor.”
“How do you know that?” I wanted to believe him.
He shrugged. “I don’t know, I just do. And I think if you’d stop worrying about it for a minute, you’d know too.”
This time he leaned in and kissed my lips but broke it off before things could get started again. He smiled as he walked backward toward the door.
“Trust me,” he said, pulling the door open and giving me an air-kiss before closing it softly.
The thing was, I did trust him. I closed my eyes and released my anxiety, if only for a second, and felt exactly what he described. I had no idea how such a crazy-complex situation could work out, but I felt in my bones it would.
Somehow.
My stomach growled louder than Danic’s dragon, so I dragged my happy ass out of bed and practically floated to where my sundress lay in a crumpled puddle. My joy swirled like an intense storm as I slipped back into it, my skin too sensitive for anything else at the moment. I danced down the hallway to the kitchen, exactly like a lovesick teenager, but I didn’t care. I’d never been so happy in my life and I wouldn’t let anything bring me down, not even the nagging at the back of my brain about the rest of my boys.
As I dribbled an obscene amount of hot sauce onto my cold eggs, humming the tune to one of my favorite ranchera songs — mostly because I didn’t know enough Spanish to sing the lyrics — a knock sounded on the back door. I nearly dropped the plate in surprise.
“Is it safe to come in?” Aunt Shirley asked, one hand covering her eyes. “It’s just me. The boys went to work a while ago.”
“It’s safe,” I squeaked, my face burning with embarrassment that my father’s aunt was fully aware of what I’d just done with a man who was, for all intents and purposes, her nephew. Not that I was ashamed of it, because I wasn’t, not even a little. It was simply awkward AF.
I sat at the table and scarfed down my eggs while Shirley puttered around the kitchen. She kept shooting me sideways glances but remained silent. And I wasn’t about to strike up a conversation about jumping her nephew’s bones, which left me to my own thoughts. Those, naturally, turned to the concern I couldn’t quite voice to Kellum.
“What’s wrong, dear?” she asked, sitting down in front of me with a hot cup of tea. “That’s not the expression I’d expect at this particular moment. Did he…”
She trailed off, not able to finish the question.
“No! No, he was…fine.”
Her lips pursed, and I could tell she was trying to hold back a smile. “Fine? Is that all?”
Oh god, could this get any more mortifying?
I dropped my forehead onto the table, not at all annoyed at her amused chuckle. When I lifted my head, I gave her a stern “don’t go there” look. But I really needed to talk this out.
“I’m feeling a lot of things right now, Aunt Shirley.”
“I’m sure you are, dear. But Kellum is a fine man.”
“I know, it’s just that…” It was hard to find the words. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret what happened, not in the slightest.”
Shirley waited, then prompted me. “But…”
I looked at my empty plate and poked at a tiny piece of egg with my fork. “But I also feel a little sad.”
“Sad? Why?”
“Because it means I’m not Kellum’s keeper. Right?”
She frowned slightly. “Oh.”
“Max told me years ago that keepers are the ones who select their dragon, and that those relationships, no matter how close, are never romantic. And trust me, there are deep romantic feelings there. We were like a couple of animals—”
Shirley’s eyes grew wide and she shoved her fingers in her ears. “LALALALALALA! I don’t want to hear this! LALALALALALA!”
I laughed, now more amused than embarrassed, but I didn’t want to make Shirley uncomfortable. “You were young once too, Aunt Shirley.”
She dropped her hands and gave me a stern look I know she didn’t mean. “True, but that doesn’t mean I want to hear what you do with my nephew behind closed doors.”
“Fair enough,” I conceded. “Let’s say that my emotional bond with Kellum is rock solid,
and it had crossed my mind that he might be my dragon. But that’s apparently off the table now.”
Aunt Shirley’s face softened into a warm, understanding smile, and she nodded. “I understand, Favor. It’s okay to feel a little confused at a time like this. Heaven knows this whole dragon thing is a lot to swallow—”
Her eyes grew wide and her pale skin turned an alarming shade of cooked lobster at her own words. I did my best not to laugh, but I didn’t do a very good job.
“Anyway,” she continued, jumping up to pour more hot water in her already full mug, “the important thing is to not rush things. I don’t mean in that way, I mean in finding your dragon. It could take you years to find the right match, didn’t Max tell you that?”
“He did. He also told me I should spend quality time with each of the guys to see if I could tell which, if any of them, was my dragon.”
Tea sprayed across the kitchen as Shirley choked out a laugh. “I don’t think what happened this morning is exactly what he had in mind, dear.”
I dropped my face in my hands, mortified. Shirley patted my shoulder but didn’t sit down again.
“Favor, the best advice I can give you is to listen to Max and be patient. Not only is he the casique, which means he probably knows more about dragons than anyone else alive, he’s also one smart cookie.” She sighed heavily. “I sure do miss him. I don’t suppose you’ve seen him again and happened to ask when he’d come home to me?”
Sadness for my aunt gripped my heart. I reached up and gave her hand on my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry, Aunt Shirley.”
Before she could tell me it was all right, that she’d grown used to Max having to leave her from time to time, that she was a big girl, Zoe swept in the front door, fresh from accounting class and in mid-conversation on her bedazzled cell phone.
“I told you, mom, I’m fine,” she said as she entered the kitchen. “I didn’t call and tell you this weekend because I was mostly asleep—”
She broke off when she laid eyes on me, her big green eyes growing twice their normal size. Her lips quirked into a wicked smirk.
