A Mate to Embrace

by Riley Storm

  Would that be a bad thing? A good thing? What would it be?

  There was no way for her to know without trying.

  “So Grace,” Braz whispered, their bodies practically touching as he swayed closer. “What do you want?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Grace

  “You,” she whispered.

  One simple word, it conveyed far more than its three letters.

  She felt the tremor in Braz’s hands as her words freed him from the restraint he’d been holding back.

  “You’re sure you want this?” he asked, cupping her chin and tilting it up.

  “I definitely don’t not want it,” she said, wrapping her hand around his forearm, holding it tight to her. She was liking the contact, the feeling of his hands on her body.

  “You’re afraid,” he said quietly.

  “Yes.”

  “Of what?”

  “A lot of things,” she answered.

  “Of me?”

  “Not in this instance,” she told him, and she meant it. Grace was afraid of what she would do if she fell for Braz. But of Braz himself? No, no fear. “I feel safe around you. Comfortable. Protected.”

  “I will protect you,” he said fiercely.

  “Right now I’d prefer it if you kissed me,” she said, a sudden burst of boldness striking her.

  Braz grinned that smooth, cocksure grin that she liked. “I can definitely do that.”

  And he went about proving it to her. His lips burned like fire, the heat stealing her breath. But she didn’t care. The heat spread across her body like a rippling wave, making her nipples stand on end against her bra. The wave spread farther south, blasting its way between her legs and continuing onward, filling her with an undeniable longing for more.

  They began to shed clothes swiftly, both of them stripping themselves. The fire burned too hot for anything more sensual and slow. Grace wasn’t interested in that. For too long now she’d fought against this and, now that she’d freed it, the desire, the longing was like an avalanche that she couldn’t stop even if she tried.

  So she didn’t. Instead Grace did her best to ride it, going with it.

  Braz’s grip was rough, but not painful. He grabbed and caressed, with that brute, straightforward manner of men that made her feel almost like a possession, but never quite did. It was in his eyes that the difference lay.

  Grace gazed into them every time they broke apart from kissing, seeing in him a longing to please her. He simply wasn’t gentle like a woman, and that was okay. Grace didn’t want that. She wanted to be taken.

  “Over here,” he growled into her ear, easily picking her up and carrying her to the bed. Holding her aloft with one hand he ripped the covers free before climbing into the bed and laying her down on it.

  She stared up at him, clad in little more than frilly white underwear and a plain black bra. Her body wasn’t anything special, yet she was fairly certain Braz’s eyes burned with real flames as he gazed over it.

  Grace didn’t work out, and she’d long been self-conscious about how she looked. But Braz didn’t seem to care. He devoured every inch of her that he could get his eyes on, and his boxers tightened appreciably as he did. Whatever she thought about herself, it was clear he liked what he saw.

  “This needs to go,” he rumbled, leaning down to kiss her even as he rolled her to one side, undoing her bra with an easy flick of his fingers.

  Her breasts were free from the material, but just as soon Braz clamped his mouth over them, one after another, using his fingers as well. Grace hissed and writhed. It had been a long time since someone other than herself had touched her body, and she was realizing now as it awakened, that she had missed it.

  This was their first time ever doing more than hugging, but it seemed that Braz knew where to go and what she liked. He listened to her intently, changing up his style or keeping with whatever was working based on her reactions.

  “That feels great,” she moaned, eager to let him know she appreciated his efforts, even as his hand slid south, gently pushing her legs apart, spreading her wide open.

  Only a flimsy layer of cloth covered her now, and Braz casually pulled it to the side as he positioned himself in front of her opening, licking his lips eagerly. Her head lolled back at the simple caress of his breath, the heated warmth a promise of what was to come.

  Grace shuddered as he planted a kiss on the very inside of her leg, just to the side. She whimpered when he switched sides, purposefully jumping over her clit and where she longed for him to be.

  “Stop teasing me,” she moaned, wishing he would stop teasing her.

  Braz grinned. He was loving it. “Say the magic word.”

  She wanted to glare at him, but the byplay was fun. She liked that he was vocal, and wanted to engage her. “Please?” she asked, injecting as much pleading into it as possible.

  Grace was rewarded with the wet warmth of his tongue running from bottom to top, sending a blistering pulse of pleasure through her body as it reached the clit and her peak. Then he repeated the action.

  Her back arched slightly, putting pressure on her elbows as she struggled to adjust to the sudden ecstatic sensations. Braz grabbed her hips and held her still as he used his tongue, keeping his eyes firmly focused on her, watching and learning as she writhed and moved around.

  “Oh shit!” she cried out, the precipice approaching swiftly, like a runaway truck. There was nothing she could do to stop it even if she’d wanted to. Braz had her firmly pinned and his tongue flicked across her clit with just a slight increase in speed and pressure.

  That was all it took. Grace cried out wordlessly, holding one hand to her face as she screwed her eyes tight, hips thrashing helplessly in Braz’s grip as she climaxed. It was an abrupt, brutal torture of her body in the best of ways. It had been too long since someone had pleased her, and nobody had ever made her orgasm that fast, or that hard.

  It left her gasping for air, needing time to recover.

  Braz didn’t give her that. He lifted the pressure but increased the speed and his tongue and its heat flicked against her with unexpected rapidity. Grace struggled to free herself but he had her pinned, held in his grip.

  She cried out and thrashed, wanting to be free—and then abruptly her body switched gears and she gasped, abs contracting as she reached down with both hands and grabbed at his head, feeling his short, fine hair slip between her fingers.

  “Don’t stop. Don’t you fucking stop. Oh my god. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh my god, I—”

  Her words became a long wordless cry as her muscles all contracted, stealing air from her lungs and pounding her brain into submission. For a long moment, absolutely nothing moved, she was frozen.

  Then all at once the dam broke, her orgasm slammed into her and she writhed like a panicked animal in Braz’s grip as the pleasure overwhelmed her, driven home by the unceasing actions of his tongue on her clit.

  Braz just growled in delight, only easing up when she sank back into the bed, a limp mess.

  “No more,” she whimpered, pushing his head away. “I need a moment from that.”

  He grinned and slid off the bed. Her eyes tracked him, watching the way his abs tightened as he used them, his arms thick and powerful while he stripped off his boxers to reveal his—

  “Oh my,” she gasped at the sight of him. He was easily a solid seven and a half inches, likely more, with the girth to go with it. It was a sight.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll go slow,” Braz said as he climbed back onto the bed, and onto her.

  “Yeah, you’d better,” she laughed weakly, her legs parting easily for him as he positioned himself against her.

  Grace hissed and moaned as he played the tip against her opening, working her wetness over him, while also teasing her with what was to come. By the time he finally slipped inside her, she was more than ready for him.

  Or so she’d thought.

  “That’s tight,” Braz grunted, leaning over her, his hands on e
ither side of her head as he supported his weight that way. “Damn.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” he said, settling down on top of her, using his hips to work himself a little deeper.

  Now it was her turn to gasp. She reached up and around his broad back, feeling his every muscle while she held him tight to her.

  They lay like that, rocking gently against one another as Braz took his sweet time entering her, letting Grace adjust fully with every inch.

  “More,” she heard herself saying when he took too long, wanting to feel him entirely inside her.

  Nor had anybody ever filled her quite like this. It was like the perfect fit.

  “Wow,” she gasped when she felt his skin against hers, indicating he was all the way in. “Just wow.”

  “Agreed,” Braz said tightly.

  She bit a lip and squeezed around him as best she could. The muscles weren’t very strong, but the grunt from Braz accompanied by the sudden tightening of almost every muscle in his body told her he’d still felt it.

  “Come on,” she whimpered. “Please Braz?”

  He couldn’t resist that word, she was learning, and Braz hoisted himself back up onto his haunches, rolling her hips upward. Then he began to move back and forth with a fluid rhythm that Grace very much enjoyed.

  “Oh yeah,” she gasped, laying on the bed, looking up at him, letting him fuck her at his own pace. It was too good to complain.

  Besides, Braz understood what he was doing. He started off slow, working her up to it, but before long he was going harder. She grabbed her breasts to keep them from bouncing everywhere as he started to slam into her.

  With a sudden growl he pulled back, flipped Grace over onto her stomach, pushed her legs closed and then mounted her from behind. She started to lift her ass into the air, thinking he wanted her doggy style, but Braz was already entering her again.

  She lay on the bed as he thrust into her from behind.

  “Oh wow,” she moaned. This was a new one to her, but it was quickly rising up the list of her favorite positions. He was hitting all the right places, and the weight of his body on top of her just added to the hotness level of it all.

  Braz kissed the back of her neck and the side as well. He was breathing harder now, the hot air causing her skin to tingle and tighten as it rushed over her with every gasp.

  It wouldn’t be long now, and that was fine with her. She couldn’t take much more at that moment anyway.

  He started to slow, taking his time, but Grace shook her head.

  “No, don’t stop,” she told him.

  “If I don’t, I’m going to be done,” he groaned in her ear.

  “I know,” she whispered. “But that’s what I want. I’m close too, and that’ll be my last one.”

  “Oh.” Braz seemed surprised, but he didn’t fight it. His hips resumed their pace, then increased it.

  Grace’s eyes closed as her third orgasm of the night neared.

  Braz adjusted his hips to a different angle.

  “Oh god,” she gasped, eyes flying open, hands grabbing fistfuls of sheet as he began to hit her insides from a new direction.

  Her body shuddered and tightened, and she felt herself clamping down around Braz as well. Grace’s cries filled the room for a moment before she buried her face in the bed, crying out, practically screaming into it as her body was assaulted with yet another brutally ecstatic climax. It stole her voice.

  Braz groaned loudly and withdrew a moment before warmth splashed across her bum. Glancing over her shoulder Grace watched his face, basking in the pleasure she saw there. His mouth was opened wide, eyes screwed shut as he came all over her skin.

  A shiver raced through him and then his eyes opened. He fell forward, using one hand to hold himself over her while he gasped for breath, drunk with pleasure.

  “I’ll get something to clean that up,” he muttered, leaving Grace to herself for a moment.

  It gave her mind time to compose itself, to come to terms with the fact of what had just happened between them.

  Braz returned from the washroom and cleaned her up, which was extremely cute on its own.

  Then they lay there, side by side, staring at the ceiling.

  “That was good,” he said after an unknown amount of time had passed.

  “Yeah. No argument from me,” she agreed.

  There was more silence.

  “You don’t want me to stay the night, do you?” Braz asked, suddenly jumping topic.

  Grace rolled up onto her side to look at him. She hadn’t given voice to that thought yet. How could he know?

  “You’ve been keeping a space between us since we finished,” he said, glancing at the six inches between their bodies.

  “Are you reading my mind?” she asked. “I haven’t said a word yet and you can somehow read my thoughts. Is this a dragon power I don’t know about?”

  Braz chuckled. “No. I’m just being observant. Once I came back with the towel you were…different. Like you’d returned to reality.”

  “It’s not that I regret what happened,” she said, knowing what he meant. She’d felt it too. “I don’t. That was great, and I fully chose to let it happen. But that was…much more physical, than anything else.”

  “Hey, it’s okay,” Braz said when her voice faltered as she tried to continue. “You don’t have to justify it, though I think I get it. You’re not ready for that level of emotional intimacy.”

  Grace winced. “If it makes you feel better, it’s not you specifically? I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head, realizing how ridiculous that sounded.

  “It’s fine,” Braz told her, sliding out of bed. “Honestly. It’s completely and totally fine. Sleeping in the same bed is…it’s another level. You’re not crazy, I’m not insulted by it. Besides, this way I get to sprawl out on the whole bed.”

  Grace laughed. “Thank you for being so understanding Braz.”

  “We’re all people here,” he said. “It’s been a long time since we saw each other, and only a couple of days since you’ve been back. I’m not going to pretend that I’m not interested in you, but neither am I going to push you.”

  “I appreciate that. Possibly more than you know,” she said, watching as he got dressed. “And I appreciate everything you just did for me as well. That was, good. Like, really good.”

  “Well, we certainly agree on that,” he said, pulling on his shirt.

  She was now naked while he was fully clothed. Feeling the unevenness of that, Grace pulled the covers over her body.

  “I’ll see you in the morning?” he asked, hand on the door handle.

  “Yes,” she said, wanting him to know that she wasn’t going to take off in the middle of the night. Grace wasn’t running away—she just wasn’t running into his arms either. This would have to happen at her pace.

  “Okay. Goodnight.” Braz gave her a happy smile.

  She returned it. “Goodnight.”

  Then he was gone, leaving Grace alone with her thoughts, and the memory of what had occurred between them.

  What have I done?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Braz

  Carla had just taken a cup to go, while Clarice and Logan headed out to one of the numerous balconies to enjoy their morning coffee when Grace came into the kitchen.

  There were three kitchens on the premise, so that the several dozen people living there were never fighting amongst each other for space. All the permanent residents were used to the song and dance and had a routine, so it really wasn’t an issue.

  And one thing they all agreed upon, was the need for coffee in the morning. It was practically non-negotiable, even to the dragons.

  “Good morning,” he said, perking up at the sight of her.

  “Hey,” Grace said.

  “Um, coffee is over there.” Braz pointed. “I, um, I didn’t make you a cup, cause I didn’t know when you’d be awake. So I just, anyway. The milk and cream are in the fridge, on the door.�
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  “Thanks.”

  He frowned as she turned her back to him and began pouring a cup. Was Grace just not a morning person, or had he missed something? Hadn’t they ended the night on a good note? He’d thought so. Maybe he’d misjudged. Had the time alone given Grace the opportunity to rethink her decisions? Did she now regret them being intimate?

  Damnit. Braz knew he should have resisted, that she wasn’t ready for that step. But when she’d been so close he could taste her, the heat of her body right there, the soft, smooth curves, everything had just been too much for him to resist. Now he might have ruined things by pushing forward.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked, trying to break the ice.

  Her back was to him as she poured milk into her coffee but he saw her shake her head. So Braz decided to just shut up and hope that Grace simply needed coffee before she could be cheery.

  He’d expected her to come sit at the large table, but instead she just leaned over the counter and stared out the glass windows at the landscape that played out below them, into the valley far below.

  “I think I’m going to hit the road early,” Grace said out of nowhere. “Get a head start on my way back to Kennewick Falls.”

  Braz was at such a loss for words all he could do was lift his own mug to his mouth and take a long sip. “Oh.”

  “Yeah,” she said, nodding, eyes still distantly focused. “That would probably be best.”

  She was spooked, he realized. The strength of everything must have scared her, had her wanting to run away from it. That was the curse of a dragon mating. Humans couldn’t always comprehend how fast and how strong the connection came on.

  It wasn’t a slow merger, but rather like plugging a connection into a socket. Swift, abrupt and then filled with energy. It was very easy for it to scare humans, who thought that things always had to take time and forge themselves through longevity.

  There wasn’t a lot Braz could do to change her mind. This was a choice that Grace would have to make on her own. She would have to choose not to be afraid, to stay with him and explore what this meant.