His broad chest tapered to trim hips and long, perfectly muscled legs, showed off to best effect in human jeans. His thin tee shirt barely skimmed his muscles, leaving little to the imagination and making the temptation almost unbearable.
Dammit, she’d never had this reaction before. Why did it have to be him? This insufferable, goody-two-shoes who was clearly going to reject her.
Probably for the good of both of them.
Landon cocked his head at her, his gorgeous, clear, light-blue eyes like a sky never touched by pollution or smog. His hard features, slim, straight nose, stubborn jaw, and gorgeous lips made her eyes never want to look away from him.
Yes, she was attracted to him, and that was all this was.
She moved to the stained-glass window to look out through the clear center portion. Below her, cobblestones covered in smog wound around derelict, abandoned, or burned-down buildings.
Real estate was cheap in the Blur.
“I should have known you were too pure to accept such an offer,” she said coolly, not particularly bothered by the fact that he might say no.
She was long ago too hardened to be hurt by such things.
She gasped as she felt arms wind around her from behind, gently grasping her by the shoulders and spinning her, then pushing her back against the window.
Strong fingers kept her in place as hot lips fell over hers, lighting her up with a sensation she’d never imagined, strong and pulsing and making her feel like she was going to melt to the ground in pure want.
She moaned, and Landon’s tongue pressed its advantage, slipping inside to stroke against hers in a heated dance that had her reaching up to grab his shoulders, making sure he couldn’t let go.
She was on fire. She was wet. She was aching for more. If only a kiss could feel like this, electric and hot, then what could he do with more?
Sensual images filled her mind as she opened more, inviting him to stroke ever deeper.
Every caress of his tongue and nip of her lips made the fire rise higher.
She’d die without him. She had to have him. Those strong hands holding her, that tongue so talented. Those gorgeous light-blue eyes meeting hers when she opened her eyes just to see his face for a moment.
Then, to maybe her greatest disappointment ever, he pulled back.
Vex fell against the windowsill, catching herself on her hands and perching her butt on the edge of it.
Dammit, that had been even better than she imagined.
“I have some conditions,” Landon said, putting a hand above her on the wall, making her shudder with his nearness.
“Conditions?” She hated the squeak in her voice. “What?”
“That’s right.” He reached the hand that wasn’t touching the wall up to grip her chin lightly. It was dominant and teasing, and the expectant look in his eyes was setting her on fire.
Just take me already, dragon.
His blue eyes grew slightly darker as his lashes lowered halfway, sultry and intense. As if he’d heard her.
“Don’t read my thoughts,” she muttered.
“Don’t tell me things you don’t want me to hear,” he retorted.
Damn, so he did have a backbone. She hadn’t really counted on that.
“Landon,” he said, releasing her chin to stroke her cheek. “I’m Landon. Not ‘dragon.’”
“L-Landon,” she said, hoping he didn’t notice her legs were still shaking from his kiss.
Though, from the glint in his eyes and the sense that he was barely holding back a smirk, she was sure he could tell exactly what his effect on her was.
“I’m not an easy catch, fairy,” he said, reaching up to brush hair off her forehead and behind her ear almost affectionately. “I don’t do this casually, and I don’t share.”
She frowned. “I’m not offering a romance. That stopped being an option for me a long time ago. I’m telling you that up front because I want to be fair with you.”
“Fine,” he said. “Then that won’t be part of our agreement.” His hand dropped to tickle the short hairs on the back of her neck, making her tingle and sending shots of pleasure straight to her core.
Why did he have this effect on her?
“But I need exclusivity,” he said. “As long as I’m with you, I won’t share you.”
She blinked. That was easy. Though she hated giving him any ground or control, there was no one else she wanted like she wanted him.
Not that he needed to know that, or he’d have even more leverage over her than he thought.
“I suppose I can do that. While we’re together anyway.”
His eyes darkened. “I’m going to make it so you can’t live without me.”
She shook her head. “This will end, Landon. There’s just no other way.”
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see who’s right,” he said, cupping her head.
Then he brought his mouth over hers, and as everything in her melted to pure want, she felt his arm come around her to catch her, strong and sure.
Dammit, she’d just made the devil’s bargain. She usually knew to never make a deal when the other party knew they had leverage.
But when it felt this good, how could she say no?
Landon couldn’t believe he was kissing Vex, holding Vex, wanted by Vex.
It felt like he’d somehow managed to catch a moonbeam.
It felt like at any moment, she might slip away from him, so he kissed her like his life depended on it and hoped that maybe, in the one way she allowed, he could show her his true feelings.
She said she couldn’t feel love, that she couldn’t do bonding, but how could that be when he’d loved her from the moment they met?
She was a difficult person, and surely, this wouldn’t be easy, but she was strong, and that was something he wouldn’t change about her.
So he’d just have to show her his strength as well.
Without waiting to be asked, he reached down and scooped her up in his arms, surprised at how light she was.
She struggled for a second, then scowled up at him. “I can walk. I’m not a child.”
He grinned at her rakishly. “So you want me to set you down? Or are you going to point me to the bedroom so we can finish what we started?”
Her cheeks flushed again, and she settled in against him. “I suppose, for that purpose…” She pointed down the hall. “But don’t let anyone see us. No one can know about this at all.”
He froze, tempted to almost set her down while he dealt with this new revelation.
It was one thing to do this on her terms, with stipulations and boundaries in place for both of them.
It was another thing altogether to be her dirty little secret.
“What about my friends?”
Her brows drew together. “That band of misfits that’s even more scrambled than my own? Who cares what they think? No, I mean my cohorts. I can’t have anyone undermining my command.”
He continued down the hallway. “And this is undermining it?”
“Fearless revolutionaries don’t get carried down hallways,” she muttered.
“I guess this one does.” He chuckled as she sent him another glare.
He’d never thought she would be this soft for him. He’d thought her eyes would shoot daggers when they met, not shards of lust.
But he wasn’t above winning his mate by whatever means possible.
“My door,” Vex said, reaching inside her tunic and pulling out a ring of old-fashioned keys. “Unlock it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said casually, holding her with one arm while he did so.
Though Vex had gained soft curves and no longer had the appearance of someone who had never had enough to eat, she still felt oddly delicate as he set her down in front of the bed.
Fae features, he supposed. Her bone structure was fine, her eyes wide and luminous, her nose pointed up at the end.
He frowned down at her, looking at her unblemished skin. “What did you do to your
scars?”
Her eyes narrowed in anger. “What do you mean?”
“I saw you that night in the dungeon,” he said. “Vex, are you using glamour right now? On yourself?”
She blanched. “Why is that your business? Human women wear makeup.”
He shook his head. “It’s not that. I just want you to know I wouldn’t care, and—”
“Who gives a crap what you care about?” Vex said viciously. “I am who I am. I’ve accepted that. It doesn’t mean I want to see the evidence in the mirror every day.”
He nodded. “Whatever you want, then.”
To be honest, he’d thought her scars made her look like a fierce warrior, a survivor. But he would respect her presenting however she liked.
Even if he longed to see her drop her guard, just for a moment, in a way that wasn’t sexual.
But then again, he needed to first earn that trust. What did she know about him except that he was a sexy dragon who showed up in her dreams? What could she know when there was so much he couldn’t tell her or anyone?
Vex sat down on the edge of the bed, staring at him defiantly. “So what, are you going to run now that you can’t tell me what to do? Because I have to inform you. You aren’t the first man who has tried to control me.”
Landon shook his head. “I’m not trying to control you. I’m trying to understand you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Sometimes that’s the same thing.”
He sighed. “Then I’ll just have to show you I’m not like that.”
Not like the scientists in the lab or anyone who had tried to use her.
He paced in front of her as she sat there nervously. “So we should probably lay some ground rules.”
“We don’t need protection because we’re not human,” Vex said, holding up her fingers to tick off her guidelines. “Either of us can back out at any step. And at the end, I don’t want you to hold me. I don’t want you to cuddle me. I just want you to go home and leave me be.”
That would be hard, and Landon seriously considered if he should not do this. After making love to his mate, a dragon would feel like the worst sort of loser leaving her.
Landon wasn’t someone who could ever treat sex as casual. Even though she could, his heart was already involved.
But he could sense that if he walked away now, that would be it for them. This had to be on her terms or nothing at all. For now.
And he was a patient dragon. A kind one. He could wait.
Apparently, Vex couldn’t.
She stood, grabbing his tee shirt and jerking him down to kiss her, taking his lips with a fiery passion that instantly heated him to his toes.
The dragon in him roared, and he knew immediately that he wouldn’t turn away from this.
Not as long as she wanted him.
3
Landon kissed Vex back, almost fighting her with his tongue as she sought dominance over him. But she moaned in pure want when his tongue clashed with hers, caressing and melding their mouths as he showed her how much he wanted them to be equals.
How he’d never be the lapdog she wanted everyone else in her life to be, nor would he try to control her.
He kissed her back, gently moving backward until her knees hit the bed and she fell back, her lips leaving his as she stared up at him in wonder.
“It’s some kind of dark magic when you make me feel like that,” she said, squirming slightly.
It’s our bond, he wanted to say. Instead, he moved forward, slipping an arm around her waist and moving his mouth to the shell of her ear, breathing against it and feeling her shudder.
She was sensitive, and he loved it. He kissed the rim of her ear gently, then slid his tongue down it to tenderly bite the lobe, sucking it into his mouth and watching her body posture as he did.
She went rigid, then pushed his face away. “Why are you…? That’s not what I…” Though, she was blushing and red and he could scent the warm floral notes of her arousal.
“So you just expected me to throw you on the bed and take you?” He put his hands on his hips, stepping back again.
Vex put a hand to her ear, stroking it lightly. “I didn’t know… things like that could feel like that.”
“You should see what it’s like on your neck.”
“Show me,” she said, crawling back on the bed and lying back, inviting him like a lazy, dangerous tiger at home in her lair.
Her eyes were a hazy purple gray like smoke at twilight. He could stare into them forever.
But first…
He crawled onto the bed, moving over her carefully, wanting to gauge every reaction and make sure she was still fine.
A part of him still couldn’t believe this was happening. He’d dreamed of seeing her, maybe working with her and gaining her trust.
He hadn’t pictured or prepared for this moment.
But his dragon knew what he wanted. To make her scream in his arms, to see her eyes roll back in pleasure, to see her bathed in happiness and know he had caused it.
Above all, to see her satisfied.
He straddled her, one strong thigh on either side of her waist, and put one hand at the side of her head while the other stroked lightly down her neck, testing her. She arched slightly, letting out a curse, and he smiled, lowering his mouth to gently lick along the trail he’d made.
When he bit down lightly, she jumped, cursed, and then her hands reached up and dug into his back, clutching his shirt.
The next moment, he felt her pulling at it desperately, and before he could do anything, it ripped in her hands, baring him to her.
He just grinned because she really was something else.
She tossed the shirt to the side. “It was in the way.” Her eyes scanned him, frankly appraising. “Why did you have to be so beautiful?”
“Because otherwise, I’d never be good enough for you,” he said. “Because you’re gorgeous.”
Her cheeks went pink again, and she looked to the side. “Stop just saying sweet things and make this happen.”
He leaned down to kiss at her neck again, wetting his lips first with his tongue as he made a slow path down from her ear to her shoulder. But instead of a curse, Vex sighed and leaned into his mouth, giving him better access.
And when he reached the loose fabric of her tunic, he pulled it gently lower with his teeth, revealing more of her skin to kiss.
While he did that, he used his free hand to caress along the back of her neck, measuring her response to even the light stimulation. As he reached as far down her shoulder as he could go, he came back up to kiss her neck again, then across her collar, nipping the skin lightly and making her squirm beneath him.
But each touch, each slight gasp from her lips was making him hungrier for her. More eager to please her than ever before, like waking to find your dream is a reality.
He undid the belt around Vex’s tunic, going slow and watching her response. But her purple gaze was both curious and a little defiant, hungry as it had been when he’d first kissed her back in the office.
The fabric fell to the sides, revealing more of her skin and a black bra over her shapely breasts. But even though his arousal jolted from just the sight of her half-naked, he lowered himself over her, intent on devouring every inch of her skin one kiss at a time.
Her hands held his shoulders as he licked along the sides of her hips, then over her belly and up between her breasts. And when he finally reached to cup the soft mounds, he could feel her nipples already hard and waiting for him.
Landon swirled his fingers over each one at the same time, the lacy fabric covering each little peak doing nothing to separate her from the sensation of his hands. And when he used his thumbs to press her nipples gently, then tweaked them with the slightest pressure, her hips bucked against his.
Vex stifled a moan by bringing one fist to her mouth and biting down on it lightly as he continued to torture her until both nipples were as hard as they could be. Beneath him, he could see her clenching her leg
s together, and Landon’s cock twitched to think of how wet she was already.
He’d know exactly how wet in a minute.
He pulled down the fabric of her bra, letting her breasts spill out. He hungrily kissed her, sucking one nipple into his mouth, wetting it with his tongue and flicking the tip over it before leaning over and repeating the action on the other side.
Seeing Vex’s eyes roll back as she arched her neck to the side in arousal took his breath away. But still, he focused on what he was doing, on giving her everything he could.
And right now, her bra and tunic were still in the way.
He reached behind her, carefully undoing the clasp and then helping her shrug out of both the tunic and bra at one time.
“So slow, dragon,” Vex said, sounding more bothered by the interruption than anything they were doing.
“Landon,” he reminded her as he set her back down on the bed, naked from the waist up.
“Landon.”
“I believe in being thorough.” He leaned down again, hovering over one wet breast, watching her as her eyes widened slightly. “Extremely thorough. So thorough you might one day want more than just this.”
She scoffed, cheeks flushed with arousal. “Ha, as if—ah…”
Vex moaned, head falling back against the bed as he squeezed both breasts, hands cupping them while he kissed harder this time. While he sucked, he used the base of his tongue now to maximize the contact, pulling more ragged moans from her as he took his time giving her everything she wanted.
Once he was certain she was thoroughly attended to there, he let both hands run down her sides. He could feel her skin shiver beneath his fingertips, could feel the way her muscles made light twitches and her body trembled as he hooked a finger on both sides of her leggings, slowly drawing them lower.
“Yes.” Vex’s eyes were closed now, her face tensed and relaxed at the same time as he felt up the inside of her thighs, coming near to her center but only teasing her as he continued to pull the black leggings slowly lower.
She wore purple underwear, and he couldn’t suppress a grin at the obvious choice there. Even more important to him, though, was the fact she was already soaked, and he bit on the inside of his cheek to try and hold back his arousal as he pulled the leggings off the rest of the way.
Dragon Reformed (Reclaimed Dragons Book 3) Page 2
