by Starla Night
Of course, since she was a female, a lowly male would only succeed if she allowed him to. She was so much faster, stronger, and more dangerous that an undesired male would never dare approach her.
But Darcy wasn't a dragon, and he would never master her in flight. He did something unprecedented to her human side. The tingles, forgetting to breathe, heat and damp pooling in her center, and hunger. She hungered to taste his lips, sup from his mouth, tease the apple that bobbed in his throat when he swallowed. She craved to nip his skin, listen for his rich laugh, arch her back against his abdomen.
What should she do? The same as she always did with unprecedented human feelings that surprised her. Repress, ignore.
"You don't know," she said, trying to suppress her reaction. "You haven't seen my teeth."
"Show your teeth?" New interest gleamed in his eyes. "Can you just show your teeth? Right now?"
Her incisors lengthened inside her mouth. Her heart thudded. Could she show him? Really show him?
Darcy waited expectantly. He had no fear.
How would he act once he feared her? Wouldn't his sparkling eyes go away? Wouldn't he stop teasing?
That would be horrible. As much as she disliked her human feelings, she'd miss them if he ran away.
She jerked back and shook her head. "I could but I refuse."
Frustration edged his normally charming smile. "Why?"
"You're making fun of me."
"Amber."
"Isn't it annoying when the other person just won't stop?"
"Amber," he repeated a half-step lower. His tone arrested her in a magnetic grip. "I'm not teasing."
She swallowed. "I don't want to scare you."
"Scare me?"
She nodded.
"I'm not afraid."
"Because you haven't seen me."
He nailed her with an irritated gaze. "There's a way to fix that."
Heat crackled over her skin.
Danger.
"I can't just 'be.' Not even on Earth. One slip and..." She sipped the beer. A bubble formed in her nose, and she coughed at the sour taste. "Mm. It's just as well I missed Pyro earlier. I can return to my quiet lair without knowing what I'm missing."
His brows curved into decisiveness. He took her hand and stood. "Dance with me."
"Dance?"
Beyond him, a few couples swayed near the guitar. They pressed their bodies together. Some locked eyes. Others smiled gently and kissed.
Her body flushed with heat.
Her awareness was dangerous. All of him was dangerous.
She remained seated, her hand hostage in his. "You're doing it again."
"What?"
"Teasing."
"Amber." His quirked brow reminded her of his request. Take me seriously.
She swallowed. "Why do you want to?"
"Because if tonight is your only night going out, you should experience everything." He moved behind her and cupped her elbow to help her rise. "It's human to dance."
"I'm not human."
"Aren't you?" His voice thrummed with soothing seduction. "You're trying so hard to suppress your dragon. Why not embrace the human? Maybe it will go easier."
His words were logical but full of sweet syrup.
Even knowing it was a trap, Amber followed his lead to the small clearing by the guitar.
Darcy drew her into his arms, fitting her hip to hip and chest to chest. His heartbeat reverberated through her body. Steady, warm thuds. Rich male musk teased her nose. She leaned in to catch the powerful, charismatic cologne.
His arm tightened around the small of her back.
A zip of sensual arousal clenched her femininity.
He swayed her. Like two satellites caught in an impossible gravity, every motion tugged them into closer synchronization.
"This is a simple dance," she noted, striving for a light tone. "Do you dance with Pyro?"
"No." His rich chuckle eased her nerves even as if filled her with hot longing. "Never."
"So why ask me?"
He tightened, pulling her against him. "Because I've wanted you in my arms for a long, long time."
In his arms, she felt so small. Small and cared for and desired. She must trick him, too, because she was a big dragon.
"You need to stop," she murmured. "Stop teasing."
His arms tightened, and he continued to move her slow and steady. "Why are you so certain I'm teasing? Can't I want to dance with a beautiful woman?"
Beautiful woman.
Her heart caught in her throat. Pounding between her legs throbbed hotter. "There you go again."
"Again?"
"I'm a beautiful dragon."
"And so humble," he murmured.
"You're inviting me on dates. Asking me to wear lingerie so you can pretend I have the correct body to model."
He pulled back to look down at her. "You have the perfect body to model."
"For humans?"
"For anything."
She shook her head.
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I've picked out lingerie for you."
The heat increased, stealing her breath. "Sure you have."
"Outfit after outfit. I've imagined you in them in my head."
"After laughing, like you always do."
That earlier seriousness washed his smile away. "Am I laughing right now?"
He wasn't.
Her insides dipped.
"My family's shop is five minutes from here." His lips nuzzled her sensitive ear as he drew her into his arms once more. "I'll show you the perfect lingerie. You'll look like your wildest dream."
She swallowed the sharp anticipation in her throat. "And you'll laugh."
He turned decisively and led her out of the lot, a male on a mission. But his final comment was a teasing offer with all the twinkle and charm of his irrepressible good nature.
"If I laugh, you can show me your scary dragon teeth."
Chapter Four
Darcy held Amber's hand.
His heart raced and he sweated like a teenager.
With his entire being, he wanted to make a joke to lighten the tension.
But that would be suicide.
He focused on the present. Amber's smooth fingers clasped in his. Her neat steps in the red leather shoes, the subtle swing of her hips in the pencil skirt, her classy look in the turtleneck.
Beneath her turtleneck, delicate, warm peach skin with dusky pink nibs that begged for him to pleasure...
His cock pulsed.
He cleared his throat. "I've seen the guys shift. Mal and Pyro. Kyan. Even Jasper."
"Not me."
He let it go. Someday, she would trust him.
They reached his family's heirloom lingerie boutique. He released her hand to fit the key through the bars and the second key into the lock.
She gazed through the windows with wistful longing at pearly satin chemise. "That one's pretty."
"Our newest wedding trousseau is out now. We stitched the overlays with dragons."
He shouldered the door open and keyed in the code to disarm the final lock. The boutique's smell of handcrafted cedar hope chests, wooden hangars tied with silk ribbons, and sachets of sweet lavender and pressed flowers filled him with familiar calm. His grandfather's antique chests opened throughout the small store, and the collection of silks and fine linens gleamed like sweet treasures.
Darcy kept the lights off, locking up the shop again, and led Amber behind the wall divider into the fitting stage in the back. He lifted the lights to a comfortable ambiance, retrieved the black satin box, and rested it on the Mission-style table.
"But I think this is the one you'll like."
She removed the fitted lid and lifted each piece: An orange satin chemise with vivid red lace insets, matching bra and panties, sheer hose with clips and garter, and a stunning red choker.
Amber stroked the delicate bra straps. "This differs from your usual trousseau sets."
"My sister designed a series based
on the sunrise. This was the only set ever made."
"And you want to give it to me?" A hot, hungry blush stained her cheeks. "Why?"
"Because you prefer bright colors."
She glanced down at her neutral ensemble. "I never wear them."
"You were born to wear them."
"Because my scales are an amber color?"
He rested his palm on the table and leaned in. "Are they?"
She held his gaze for a long, uncertain moment and then her eyes drifted back to the box.
He held the satiny thigh-cut chemise against her cheek. Her hair and eyes reflected the color well. "A perfect match."
Her eyes flashed. "You tease."
"Put these on and invite me over. I'll tease you until you can't stand upright."
Her gaze stoked him, but she quelled the challenge and looked away.
"You want it. Give in, Amber."
"Stop," she snapped. "You're not being your normal self. I don't like you like this. Be Darcy."
Gut-punch.
He lowered the fabric. "My apologies."
"I told you not to tease me and you didn't listen."
His heart thudded hard. He folded the lingerie back into the box. "When didn't I listen?"
"All of it. Wanting to see my dragon, saying you won't be scared, now trying to get me into human lingerie that matches my scales. When, in reality, the moment you see my true form you'll quit this...this...whatever this is."
"Date." He smoothed the set into the box. "When two humans go out for a drink and dancing, it's a date."
"That's the human name for interviewing before a relationship. And so, you're teasing."
"I told you I'm not."
"But you must be."
"Amber." He shut the lid with more force and the luxury boards made a satisfying clip. "I'm not."
She stopped him with a hand on the box, arresting it in the middle of the table.
The night stretched hard and hot between them.
"Why..." Her question, whatever it was, trailed off, and she squinted at him hard. "You aren't teasing? But you're smiling."
"So?"
"You're always smiling. Even when you're not smiling, your eyes twinkle."
"Because I'm happy."
"Why?"
"Excellent question." He let out his frustration in a sigh. "Yes, I was happy the woman I've invited all these months finally came to my shop to try on my lingerie."
The delicate space between her brows creased. "Bu then you smiled about seeing me shift."
"Because I want to know everything about you. How you look as a human, how you look as a dragon, and how you look naked after you become a human again."
Amber tilted her head. "You want to see how I look naked after I become a human again?"
"You're a beautiful woman, and I'm sure you're a phenomenal dragon, and I would love to see you naked because I want you."
"As a friend."
"Not as a friend. As a relationship."
She blinked.
His stomach dropped.
There. He'd admitted it outright. After months of dancing around his desires, he'd spilled his deepest wish in a ridiculous outburst. Always leading with his left foot for Amber.
And it was too late to take back his words.
He fumbled to salvage the situation before she slapped him, called him a grade-A creep, and stormed out.
"Don't think," he fumbled, "that wanting to see you naked means I don't respect you. I do. I only spend a small amount of time fantasizing about you with your clothes off, compared to the vast time I spend fantasizing about you in clothes. Mostly lingerie. Because that's what we have in this shop, which is where I spend my time. Which, uh, isn't to say I don't fantasize about dressing you in something else, like maid outfits, but is also, to say, uh..."
She held up her hand.
He shut up.
She flexed her fingers. Glossy amber scales rose out of her skin and sealed together, coating her knuckles in a shiny glove. Her knuckles elongated, stretching to fit the oblong shape of the scales. Her fingernails pointed into stubbed kitten claws.
His heart sped. Shifting? She trusted him! He lifted one finger. "May I?"
She nodded.
He stroked her scales. The dragon leather felt soft and impenetrable, like interlocking gemstones.
She focused on him. "Darcy, you're different tonight."
"A lot happened tonight." He traced each finger from knuckles to tips and then rested his palm on her hand. "If this planet goes under dragon martial law, will I ever see you again?"
"Likely not."
"That would make me very sad."
Her liquid eyes turned up to him. "You are a great friend to my brothers."
"Not just your brothers, I hope."
"You are very kind."
He threaded his fingers through hers. Human and dragon. "I'm not saying this out of kindness, Amber. I want you."
She blinked slowly, but her expression suggested she didn't understand. "I could come back to visit once. If Portland isn't a crater."
"I want you every day for the rest of my life."
"That ... would be..." She looked away, thinking. "Even if the treaty stands, seeing each other every day for the rest of our lives will become difficult. I don't experience the pressure of my brothers, but my mother still expects me to marry and produce a dragonlet. Finding a worthy husband is also my desire."
The literalness of the dragons always made him smile. He controlled his mouth. This was the one time he did not want her to accuse him of teasing.
"You're looking for a husband. Won't you consider me?"
Chapter Five
Darcy's question dug into Amber's belly. The tingling anxiety she always felt in his presence morphed into a full-fledged panic.
Her heart thrashed in her chest. Her breath caught. Heat poured into her core. Her breasts throbbed, her nipples twinged, her feminine center curled.
You're teasing.
The accusation stuck in her throat.
He gazed at her with total seriousness.
His hand caressed her exposed dragon skin and lit her up, so sensitive, like a fire. Crazy thoughts intruded into her normally reasonable head.
She wanted his hands on her body. Darcy's touch made her hot and hungry, and now his question made her quake.
Reason, which had always saved her, reasserted itself. "You're an important friend to my brothers. I couldn't destroy your friendship."
"This is between you and me."
"I've done everything for my brothers."
His fingers filled the hollows between hers and ate up her space. "You have. So this is just for you."
She wanted Darcy. She wanted this six-foot lean, clean-shaven, clever, kind, debonair human male for her own.
Amber fell into his mesmerizing gaze. She wanted craggy ridges and rock-hard lust, mating flights and blazing dawns, like the lingerie he picked for her because he knew her desires more intimately than even she did...
...and she had to stop before she made a big mistake.
Amber pulled her hand away. "No. I can't consider you for my husband."
Darcy froze.
His long lashes blinked rapidly. His mouth opened and closed, and then he curled his empty hand into a fist and rested it on the sealed lingerie box. "No. Okay."
The distant honk of a horn sounded loud in the large fitting room.
Dark hurt clouded his gaze and tugged his mouth into a bitter line. He swallowed and cleared his throat. "May I ask why?"
"This is the first time you've ever said this. If you're teasing again, I'll be...I'll be dangerously angry."
She didn't want to threaten him, but he needed to know that she was serious.
His return glare showed his total lack of fear at her threat. "I have tried to get your attention since the day we met in the American lingerie show floor. I'm not teasing and I never have been."
"You always—"
"Smile? Bec
ause seeing you is the happiest moment of every day, and I'm not sorry my smile or my 'twinkling eyes' show that honest emotion."
"You had no interest."
"I've been holding back. Out of respect to you, out of respect to your brothers, out of respect to the fact that you're a billionaire dragon alien with no reason to make a home and have dragonlets with an ordinary guy like me."
He sucked in a hard breath and stared at the ceiling, then scrubbed his face.
"Thank you for finally driving this dream out of my head. It will take me a few days to get over it, but I promise that the next time we meet, I will do my best not to act like a heartbroken jerk to your face."
His pain hurt her. But it was better this way. Safer for him.
"Female dragons are too dangerous." She parroted the phrases her brothers threw around to comfort him. "You'll be glad that I turned you down before you know it."
Anger hardened his gaze. "Don't minimize my feelings. I respect yours. Please respect mine."
Darcy had never been angry at her.
Not many dared to show anger. Mal did, and that was one reason she'd followed him across the galaxy. Now Darcy did.
The fearless, kind, charming man had a knack for calming Pyro, smoothing Mal's outbursts with a quip, and making her feel like she belonged. Cutting him out pricked her heart.
"If you were a male dragon, you'd know not to propose to me. You'd go to my mother. She'd order me to marry you."
"I don't want to order you. I want you because you want me." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Another dream dies."
"Marrying for love is a human custom."
He cut his eyes at her, sharp brown. "I'm human and we're on Earth. What's the problem?"
He was right.
Darcy wasn't a dragon. He was a human. How many cultural misunderstandings had Mal and Cheryl overcome? How many times had Pyro kidnapped Amy to make her his? Dragon males and human females united and miscommunicated all the time.
Wasn't that what was happening now?
Honesty. Darcy accused her of being dishonest. But dragons were honest.
Amber shifted her scaly hand back to human to reach for his hand. "I misspoke. I apologize."
He waved her away. "It's fine."
"No. It isn't." She stepped closer.
He obligingly moved aside to get out of her way.
