by Cynthia Sax
Oro rubbed his tongue over the roof of her mouth and she moaned -- a stimulating sound that pulled at his soul. She tilted her head back and thrust her breasts into his chest, her softness flattening against his hard muscle. He clutched her to him, kneading her muscles with his big hands, trying to reach skin, to reach her.
Too many clothes.
He extended his talons and raked them across her back, shredding both her snug-fitting blazer and the silk blouse underneath it. She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and tore at his cotton shirt, her ferocity exciting him.
Dragon. Mine.
He snapped her bra in two and tugged at fabric, stripping away layers of garments, revealing pale skin, generous curves, and breasts tipped with delicate pink nipples.
“Hailey,” he rumbled, dipping his head. Oro licked along the ivory column of her slender neck and nibbled on her collarbone. Needing to taste her, be closer to her, he bent her body farther and farther over the desk until she lay flat on her back, looking up at him with her startling green eyes.
Oro retracted his talons and rubbed along her flat stomach, nudging the letter opener with his fingertips, the metal warmed by their bodies. He curved his fingers around the handle and dragged the blade over her torso and between her breasts.
“Hmmm… gold.” She writhed beneath him, rubbing her lithe form against the precious metal.
“I’ll cover you with gold,” Oro promised, willing to give his mate the world if she wanted it. He blew flames over her dainty emerald scales, melting the letter opener into a puddle of liquid gold.
“Yes.” She arched, the musky scent of her arousal filling his nostrils.
“Yes.” He breathed his fire upon her, pushing the stream of gold over her curves, and she undulated, her nipples tightening to mouthwatering peaks, her talons leaving a stimulating trail of red across his chest.
“Beautiful.” Oro lowered his body upon hers, sharing her burn, large golden scales coating his body. “So hot.” He groaned, his cock as hard as a diamond, his balls aching.
He kissed her, needing the heat of her mouth, as he tugged up her knee-length skirt, exploring the softness of her thighs with his fingers. As their tongues entwined, he cupped her silk-covered mons and rubbed against her wetness. She was boiling hot, her body radiating heat, and he had been so cold for so long.
No other female touched him like she did. No other female could. She was a dragon and his mate, perfectly designed for him.
Oro slipped his fingers into her panties, and he rumbled into her mouth, aroused by her lack of hair, her bare body primed for his flames and his gold. Needing to experience her warmth, he tore the flimsy ribbons holding the fine silk in place, lifted his body higher and breathed between them, his fire directing the rivulets of melted metal downward.
“Yes, cover me, Oro.” Her voice rose to a female dragon’s arousing shriek, and she ripped at his dress pants, crisscrossing his ass with stinging scratches. “Fill me with your fire.”
He spread her thighs wider and dipped his fingertips into her pussy, her juices bubbling around his hand. Hailey lifted her hips, pushing him deeper inside her, animal noises coming from low in her throat, her form covered with scales and her talons extended. She clasped him tightly, digging into his tough dragon hide and reaching his flesh, the pain heightening his pleasure.
Oro pumped into her with first one finger, then two, then three, gazing down at her in wonder as she moved with him, panting, her mouth open, her breasts heaving. She was a creature of pure passion, and he had never seen anything so magnificent in all his centuries of living.
He had to be inside her. Oro yanked the remaining fabric away from his body, freeing his cock, and she reached for him, stroking him with the razor-sharp tips of her talons, teasing his rim and poking into the slit, drawing his fire.
“No.” He moved her hands to his ass, his restraint battered and bruised. More of her touching, and he’d spill his seed all over her belly.
She growled and pierced the scales on his ass, the scent of his blood mixing with the aroma of her womanly musk and the smoke of his fire. He prodded her entrance with his cockhead, teasing himself with her heat, before pushing into her.
God. She was tight and hot and wet, her body made for his. His eyes rolled back in his head as he slid into her, her inner walls clasping his shaft, squeezing his cockhead. She shrieked, squirming frantically, trying to escape him, but he wouldn’t tolerate any retreat, pushing and pushing and pushing, sinking into her up to his base, his balls pinched between their bodies.
Oro stilled, breathing hard, struggling to regain his control and allowing her to adjust to him, her mate. Their hearts beat in time, her breasts brushing against his chest, her scales sliding on his, small and green against his large and golden.
“Mine,” he declared as he moved, rocking into her tightness. She clutched his ass, her legs wrapped around his thighs, encouraging him, guiding him, holding him, and he thrust deeper and faster and harder, grunting with effort, striving to please her, to claim her. She was his. No other male would touch her.
And he was hers. After her, after this encounter, no other female would satisfy him. He breathed fire upon her slender shoulders. No one made him burn as she did, and no one held him with such heat.
She panted his name, flames licking around her lips, dancing over his chest, as they fucked like savage animals on his hard metal desk, the papers burning to ash around her head, the melted gold covering her mons pinching his scales.
Outside the office, business continued as usual, but for Oro, there was only the female underneath him. He drove into her again and again, his balls drawing up close to his body, his control stretching thinner, threatening to snap.
“Burn me, dragon,” Hailey begged, raking her talons over his back, her pussy tightening around him. “Cover me with flame.”
Oro bent his head, blasting her with fire. He seared her supple form with heat while he rammed his cock deep inside her. She released a window-rattling shriek and exploded, flames streaking from her mouth, boiling hot lava gushing from her pussy, soaking his shaft.
He roared, pushing his hips forward, spurting hard jets of scorching cum into her body, setting off another wave of tremors. His blood scented the air as she clung to him, her talons puncturing his scales.
Oro sagged upon her trembling body, his energy drained, and he licked her heated face, steam rising from his wet tongue.
Hailey had offered a token resistance to his charms, her fervent denials both adorable and arousing, but she had succumbed as he knew she would, for he was a golden dragon, his beauty beyond compare.
She was equally beautiful, her green scales complementing his. “You are mine.” He kissed her forehead. They would next fuck in dragon form, bonding them permanently, and then no one could ever take her away from him.
Her lashes fluttered, her emerald eyes soft with exhausted passion. “I am your assistant.”
Oro growled his discontentment, possessively covering more of her skin with his. “I am your mate.” She had to feel the connection between them.
“Hmmm…” Hailey didn’t deny it, yet she aggravatingly didn’t acknowledge it either. She reached for the phone and dialed casually, as though she wasn’t naked on top of his desk with his cock lodged deep inside her.
“What are you doing?” He frowned. Hadn’t she experienced the same mind-blowing passion he had? Hadn’t he pleased her?
“I’m phoning Ember.” She gave him a cheery smile. “I’ll need her to pick me up another set of clothes. Mine are ruined. Do you need anything?” He opened his mouth, a sarcastic reply dangling on the tip of his tongue. “Oh, hi, Ember.” She twisted her torso slightly, showing him her pale shoulder. “I have to ask you a favor.”
Disgruntled with her cavalier attitude, he pushed away from her. He regretted his movement immediately. As his cock slipped from the warmth of her pussy, the eternal coldness returned, a chill coating his dragon heart.
He’
d lived with that deep freeze for centuries. He wouldn’t live with it anymore.
Oro straightened, glaring down at his laughing mate. He didn’t understand her reluctance to bond with him. He was handsome. He knew that. He flexed his muscles. He was strong. He blew fire from his mouth. He was dragon.
What else could she want?
He paced the perimeter of his office, pausing at the dragon-proof windows, staring at the puny humans walking along the sidewalk. He had to win her. He had to. He folded his arms, spreading his feet wide apart, pondering possible courting tactics.
She was a dragon. She liked gold as all dragons did, and he had plenty of that. Oro suspected, though, that Hailey wouldn’t be bought. She’d take his impressive hoard, share it with that damn watchdog she had for a friend, and leave him.
She’d relocate somewhere hot, as dragons liked heat year round. Manhattan was hot in the summer but damn cold and snowy in the winter. He couldn’t compete weather-wise with other dragons.
Oro scowled as she chatted on the phone, acting like he wasn’t near her. In contrast, he was achingly aware of her presence, and the thought of any other dragon touching her made him want to commit murder.
Dragons were possessive.
She was a dragon also. Oro grinned as a plan slipped into place. Hailey had threatened to leave him, to go to another dragon’s territory, knowing he, a dragon, would never let her go.
Two could play at that game.
Chapter Three
Hailey glared at the closed door in front of her. “Excluded again.” Killer whined in sympathy, confined to his pet carrier underneath Ember’s desk. Both of them were nine-to-five prisoners.
She wasn’t a damn dog though. Hailey slammed her fist down on the space key, the impact causing the keyboard to jump. She didn’t have to stay and take this. Except it had been her idea to take this job. And it was her fault she wasn’t on the other side of that closed door.
Like everyone else was.
Vanna had waltzed into Oro’s office three hours ago. As she walked by, her skinny-ass body clad in an obscenely short black skirt and a tight-fitting blazer, there’d been color in her pale cheeks and an extra wiggle in her step. This wasn’t Vanna’s weekly sucking up to the boss appointment. This meeting with Oro was special.
Ember had picked up her tablet and joined them a half hour later, Oro having asked specifically for her help, as he had for the past four days, ignoring Hailey completely.
That wasn’t anything new. Everyone liked Ember. She was friendly and nice and she fit into every group. She was a joiner. She belonged.
Hailey didn’t fit in and she didn’t belong, her coworkers viewing her with suspicion and fear. She told herself that was okay, dragons being solitary animals, except it wasn’t okay, not this time and not with Oro. It hurt like nothing had ever hurt her before.
Hailey blinked back tears and jabbed the keyboard with her talons. Shirley, that old harpy, literally, hissed as she walked by. Oro had some stupid rule about appearing normal and human during work hours. Hailey didn’t care what her boss thought.
Because he didn’t care about her.
Oro hadn’t fucked her since that first time on his desk. He hadn’t fucked her. He hadn’t kissed her. He hadn’t touched her.
That wasn’t a new development for Hailey either. No male lasted more than one sexual round with her. She was too rough, too aggressive. She thought Oro would be different as he was a dragon, and according to her research, dragons supposedly liked violent sex, but he hadn’t been different. He preferred the cool, passionless Vanna, someone who wouldn’t burn his office to bits or shred his designer clothes.
Since his fascination with her had clearly evaporated to nothing, he hadn’t moved them into the penthouse with him. He’d found another apartment a couple floors down that had been free.
Hailey pressed send on the e-mail, not bothering to proofread the letter one of Oro’s other executives had requested.
Oro had fucked her once, and that had been enough. He was done with her.
The door opened and shut, Ember exiting, traipsing over to the seat beside her, a massive stack of papers in her hands. “He wants to see you.”
He wanted to see her. Hailey’s heart leaped. No. She squashed her blooming desire. He wanted to see her for work. “I’m done with him, Em.” She couldn’t stay here and be ignored. She couldn’t watch him with other females. “I’m putting in our resignation.”
“I don’t mind… for me.” Ember set the papers on the desk and bent over to pet her little dog’s head. “He scares Killer. But for you…”
“He scares me too,” she admitted. She didn’t want to care so much, to risk so much.
“I know.” Ember smiled sadly. “But take it from me, running away never solves anything. Sooner or later, you’ll have to face your fears.”
“Oh, I’ll face my fears all right.” Hailey stood, determined to give Oro a piece of her mind. She wasn’t running away. She was a dragon. She didn’t run away from anything. “I plan to tell my fears off before we quit.”
Hailey stomped to the door, rapped three times, and stormed inside. Vanna jumped, her eyes widening. The willowy, black-haired beauty was seated behind the desk on Oro’s lap, her arms around his neck, her blazer open.
Mine. A growl escaped Hailey’s lips before she could suppress it. She flexed her talons, fighting the urge to fly at Vanna and savagely rip the smug expression off her pale face.
“You wish to see me?” She layered ice over her words as she sat down.
“I do.” Oro inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring and his chest rising. His lips curved into a dreamy smile, his besotted gaze fixed upon the woman on his lap, and Hailey curled her fingers, digging her talons into her palms. “Though the reason why escapes me at the moment.”
“I won’t let you escape me,” Vanna purred as she leaned into him. Hailey watched with horror as the woman ran her long, vamp-red fingernails over Oro’s neck and followed those pink scratches with her tongue, licking him, licking her mate.
Vanna would die. Smoke wisped around Hailey’s lips. She would die for touching what was hers.
But Oro wasn’t hers. Hailey stared at her gold bangles, centering herself, controlling her anger. Oh, God. Hadn’t these last few days shown her that?
She didn’t need any more days. “We quit.” Hailey stood up, smoothing down her skirt, her hands moist.
“What the hell did you say?” Oro shoved Vanna away from him, and the woman’s pale cheeks flushed.
“Ember and I quit,” Hailey repeated, her dark mood lightening at his immediate reaction. “We’re taking the open waitress positions at The Lair.”
There were open waitress positions. Anxious to learn more about her own species, she’d contacted the Bronx dragon’s mate via e-mail. The very friendly Perla had excitedly shared all of The Lair gossip with her, including the recent firings of two drug-dealing waitresses.
“You wouldn’t,” Oro rumbled. Golden scales covered his handsome face. Smoke curled from his nostrils.
“Watch me.” She pivoted on her six-inch heels and stormed out the door. Ember glanced up as she exited. “We’re leaving.” Hailey snatched her purse out of her desk’s top drawer.
“You’re not leaving,” Oro boomed, waves of enticing heat rolling off his big body, heat he had been sharing with another woman.
“I’ll meet you at the apartment,” Hailey informed her wide-eyed friend. She slung the purse strap over her shoulder and stomped down the aisle.
“You’re not leaving me.” Oro grabbed her wrist, stopping her. “You can’t.”
“Can’t I?” She struggled and his grip tightened. “I’m not sticking around to watch you paw at another woman, Oro. I have my pride.”
“Dragons have pride. Shit,” the huge, handsome idiot mumbled. “I didn’t touch her. Why would I when you’re all I think about?”
Some of her anger melted, but not enough. “She touched you.” Hailey kicked hi
m in the shins. Oro winced, but he didn’t let her go.
“I didn’t like it, Hailey. Her touch was cold, so unbearably cold.” He shivered, his wide shoulders shaking. “Vanna or, hell, any other woman, is cold and fragile compared to you. I can’t touch them the way I touch you, and I don’t want to. No one heats my blood like you do, mate.”
“I’m your assistant,” Hailey insisted, her protest weaker than it had been four days ago. An assistant wouldn’t walk out on her boss for touching another woman. “Was your assistant.”
“You are my assistant, my mate, my life. Don’t go, Hailey, please,” Oro pleaded. “I’m begging you. I’ll do anything.”
Although he sounded reassuringly panicked, Hailey wasn’t ready to forgive him, not yet. She eyed his earnest face, debating her next move. “Begging is normally done on your knees.”
He fell to his knees. The floor shook with impact.
Hailey stared at the proud man humbled before her. He was begging. He wanted her. He truly wanted her. She still didn’t know how much of his passion was for her, Hailey, and how much was for her, the dragon. Would she ever? Did it matter? “Ember and I will need a salary increase.”
“I’ll double, triple your salary.” He kissed her hand, his mouth hot and possessive.
“You aren’t to touch another female.” She pursed her lips, remembering Vanna’s tongue on his skin.
“Never. I don’t want to touch or look at anyone else.” He pushed up her sleeve, sprinkling kisses up her arm. “You’re the only female for me, Hailey.”
Someone laughed. Hailey lifted her gaze and glared as heads disappeared behind cubicle walls. Someone dared to laugh at her mate. She growled. “We’ll discuss this in your office.”
“Yes.” Oro bounced to his feet, his smile triumphant. “In my office.” He swung her into his arms and Hailey squeaked, surprised by his enthusiasm. “I’ll show you how much I need you, Hailey.” He stalked back to the office. “You’ll never doubt me again.”
“Mr. Oro,” Ember called out. “Vanna asked me to remind you about your deal. She’s holding you to it.”
