Chadwick still stood by the door, his thunderous expression making him look dangerous even in a dressing robe. “Forget yourself or not, act like that again in my house, and there will be one less fairy for me to worry about.”
Boreas stood, surprisingly intervening on Flint’s behalf. “Fae women are strong. They are known for kidnapping fae princes, and—
Isabella sat up slightly. “Wait, what?”
Tynan was blushing bright red. “I told you our courtships aren’t anything like yours.”
Isabella sighed, glaring at Flint. “What does that have to do with grabbing me?”
Flint bit his lower lip, looking ashamed. “I was just trying to remind myself that all humans aren’t horrible. That at least some are like you. Then I found myself pulling you in close, and I—” He looked to the side. “Again, I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”
Isabella felt like she wasn’t understanding something that all the rest of the fae did, but she decided to let it rest. “It’s okay, Flint.”
“Thank you,” he said, standing with a heavy sigh. “Chadwick, I promise I won’t touch her.” He gestured for Boreas to join him. “We should head home. Taylor will be waiting for us.”
Then Flint strode out of the study, leaving shocked silence behind.
Boreas was about to follow him and then paused, eyeing Isabella for a moment. “My lady, I owe you a debt.”
She blinked. “What?”
“For rescuing me, I swear to repay you.” He glanced in the direction in which Flint had left. “Should you ever need protection, you have the ice prince at your discretion.” He shot a look at Flint. “So just in case he ever does get any ideas…”
“I’m not a monster! I was just getting a hug!” Flint yelled from the other room. “Can we go now?”
Isabella looked at Boreas, who appeared to be waiting for her answer. “Oh. Um. Okay. Thanks, Boreas.”
Boreas looked satisfied with that and nodded at her before he followed Flint out of the mansion.
The door slammed, and Ivar looked at Tynan.
“I should have punched him,” Tynan said. “He still knew better.”
“Does anyone know just what the fuck is going on?” Chadwick asked, finally asserting himself farther into the room. “Why was Bella on Flint’s lap?”
Ivar looked at Chadwick. “There are still a lot of things you don’t understand about fairies. Some things I can’t tell you about yet.” He nodded to Tynan, and they both got up to follow the others. “We will go with Flint and Boreas to Taylor’s place. We can talk about next moves and decompress a little.” He bit his lower lip. “All I can say is that touch is very sacred to a fae, especially a fae prince. It can hurt or heal or help or damage. Flint just wanted to be decontaminated.”
“Decontaminated?” Chadwick asked. “What on earth—”
“It won’t happen again.” Tynan assured him, following Ivar out. “Flint forgot where he was.” His black eyes focused in on Bella for a moment. “I’m sorry, Bella. Thanks for taking us out.”
All she could manage was a weak nod as they left. Then she sank down in her chair, wanting to finish the rest of her scotch.
Chadwick walked in and sat in a nearby chair, looking stylish in his robe and black pajamas, plus loafers.
He looked confident and handsome, and she just wanted to throw herself into his arms.
“Dragons can read minds, you know,” he said quietly, taking a sip of his scotch and eyeing her over the rim of his glass.
She gulped, wondering if he’d just heard her perving on him.
“I try not to because it seems like an invasion of privacy, and also, it isn’t really fair since you can’t read mine back. But some thoughts are really loud.”
She bit her lower lip. “Yeah?”
He nodded.
Well, if he thought she was going to admit to anything right now, he was wrong.
“Are you sure you’re okay? I know you find contact with the fae somewhat disturbing.” Chadwick lifted his glass, studying the way the honey-colored liquid played with the crystal in the dim light of the study. “Again, I wish I could ask why, but I doubt you’ll tell me.”
She swallowed, hating the pain that came with the memories he sought. “You’d be right there.”
Chadwick set aside his glass and leaned back, his long body relaxed and one muscular leg propped over the other. “Is it only the past? Or is someone still after you?”
“I told you I can’t tell you. Why can’t you accept what I can give and nothing more?”
“Because I’m worried about you,” he said flatly. “Because I want to help.”
She stood and walked to the scotch decanter, pouring herself another glass. She tossed it back maybe a little too quick and felt it burn all the way down. “Strong.”
She turned to face him and felt the room swim. Apparently, she’d gone from slightly buzzed to fairly drunk with just that much extra.
Which was fine with her. She didn’t really want to feel right now.
She waited for the world to stop spinning and, when it didn’t, tried to make her way back to her chair with a minimum amount of wobbling.
She gasped when she felt hands catch her under her arms, holding her up when she would have tripped.
She was quickly pulled against a warm chest, and Chad’s arm wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly.
But for some reason, she felt absolutely zero fear. Why was it only with him?
She turned around in his arms, resting her hands on his strong chest as she looked up into his reassuring purple eyes. She reached up to brush back a lock of his hair. It was so soft.
He was such a contradiction, with his soft edges, pretty eyes, full lips. And yet his strength, leadership, and strong spine in any situation leant him hardness.
All she wanted was to drag him down to the pool.
All she wanted was not to think.
His head tilted down slightly, and his expression was oddly tender. “Tell me what you want, Bella. I’ll give you anything.”
She didn’t care if he merely pitied her. She didn’t care if he was just trying to help her out. She just wanted the feelings she hated to go away, and she knew they would in his arms.
Her hand curved up around his neck, and she pulled him down for a kiss, sealing her lips over his and cutting off a small gasp.
Then his arms wound around her, pulling her in as he deepened the kiss, and they were both lost to anything but the warmth between them.
Then he broke the kiss and lifted her into his arms, gently cradling her against his chest as he walked toward the stairs that led up to his bedroom.
Yes, Isabella thought. This is exactly what I want.
Chapter 11
Chadwick tried to ignore the way his heart was racing as he carried Isabella up the stairs to his room.
He was just glad the fae were out of the house for now, because he planned to make a certain human make some very loud noises.
So much had happened since they’d last been together in the pool, yet now that she was safely in his arms, looking up at him with those elusive emerald eyes as her fingers teased the hair at the back of his neck, it felt like no time had passed at all.
Her blond waves looked soft, and he wanted to see them splayed on his pillow.
He’d done his best. He’d tried to hold back. He knew she was going to forget this when he never would.
But he also knew that after she’d kissed him with that desperate, pleading desire for him to distract her, he couldn’t ignore the pleading of his own body, his own heart, any longer.
He wanted her. He’d wanted her from the moment he met her, and no amount of teasing or trouble she caused could change that, however much he wanted it to.
He didn’t know what was hurting her, and he desperately wanted to pull the secrets she was hiding behind those verdant eyes from her.
But if she couldn’t tell him why she was feeling that way, find any way to al
leviate her fears, then he was at least glad that when she kissed him, it seemed like nothing dark was hiding in the corners of her mind.
He booted his door open lightly and kicked it shut behind him as he walked in.
“Purple,” she said, blinking in shock as she looked around them, her arms still around his neck, her fingers still teasing his nape in a way that made him want to shiver.
He glanced at the deep-purple curtains, drawn so the room was lit only by dim, warm yellow light. The carpet was gray, the walls white, and the accents of purple stood out just the way Chadwick wanted them to.
He set her down on the bed, right in the middle of his silky purple covers, and crawled over her, pinning her as she scrambled back in the bed.
Despite her flushed cheeks, she looked rather pleased to be caught by him, her hands pinned on either side of her head by his fingers intertwined with hers.
“Do you have a problem with purple?” He was straddling her, and the small wriggles of her soft hips beneath him were almost his undoing.
“No,” she said with a giggle, testing his strength against her hands.
“Good.”
God, she was beautiful with that pert little nose, that soft hair.
He released one of her hands to stroke through her waves, and she closed her eyes for a moment as if it soothed her.
He kept going, stroking along her scalp, along her ear, loving the way she moved to give him even better access.
Easy, Chadwick. She isn’t your mate.
With a laser flash of realization that had his hand freezing in her hair, he knew those words were wrong.
Knew even as he looked down at her face, lit with concern as to why he was no longer moving.
He was meant to look into those eyes, maybe forever. He could feel himself pulled toward her as if they were part of something that never should have been pulled in two. Something warm was igniting in him, and it was so wonderful he couldn’t think.
She blinked, putting her hand over his in her hair. “You okay up there? You froze.”
He stared at her, lost, unsure where to even begin. He was supposed to mate a dragon heart. She was supposed to forget this world.
Perhaps it was karma for thinking he could resist, unlike Trevor. That he wouldn’t let himself get distracted.
“Sorry,” he said softly, stroking back her hair again, smiling as he watched her relax. “Sometimes certain thoughts or visions come to me. It interrupts everything.”
Though, he didn’t really know what to call the feelings surging through him as he looked down into her eyes.
If they kept going, if he kept touching her like this, it was dangerous.
But with the languorous pull of a slowly moving whirlpool, Chadwick couldn’t help getting sucked in.
He leaned down over her to bite her neck gently, savoring her light gasp. His hand played in her hair as he moved up to nip at the corner of her lips, teasing her, before moving back down to her other ear, running his tongue along the shell of it just to see how she jumped.
She jerked and then shivered as he pulled her lobe into his ear, gently sucking it.
This was so different from the last time when he’d been on the verge of losing control.
This time he wanted to savor every minute.
“Isabella, tell me what you want,” he said, teasing her earlobe with his lips.
She bit her lip. “Um… What you did before.” Her voice was shaky. “Then more.” She blinked up at him, eyes shining with lust, and almost looked ashamed of what she’d asked.
Chad felt fire light inside him, purple and hot, and the dragon let out a roar. All he could picture was them entwined, him deep inside her, her waves spread over his pillow.
He got off her to pull off his robe and pajamas until he was only in black boxer briefs, which his mate seemed to approve of as she watched him with hungry eyes.
She pulled off her own clothing, tossing it all over his floor in a way that would have horrified him if anyone else had done it.
But the way she did, eyes sparkling, smooth skin revealed minute by minute, the air filling with heated lust… Oh, yes. Chad would be stripping her down himself next time.
He didn’t allow himself to think about the fact that words like “mate” and “next time” should give him pause.
Right now, it was just him and Bella. And she was waiting on him in a lacy light-pink bra that highlighted her creamy skin. The swells of her breasts rose above the satiny cups, heaving slightly from exertion.
Her only other piece of clothing, a tiny matching thong, made it hard for him to think straight.
“Come here,” she said breathlessly, patting the bed. “You sexy dragon.”
It was so playful and totally her that Chadwick couldn’t resist obeying the order.
He crawled back on the bed and pinned her again, this time putting both of her hands in one of his. He raised them above her head and was looking for something to tie them with when she shook her head quickly.
He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? It sometimes makes the pleasure more intense when you can’t get away from it.”
She shook her head. “I’ll stay in place. No ties.”
He nodded, trying to ignore the part of him that wanted to know more about why she wouldn’t let him tie her.
But there was fear in her eyes now, behind the lust, and he wanted to chase it away.
“Of course,” he said, releasing her hands as he leaned forward to kiss her. He focused on being gentle, on just caressing her with his lips first before he pressed his tongue to the seam of her mouth and gently opened it.
As they entwined, her hands came up to tangle in his hair, and he was glad he hadn’t tied her. He wanted her to touch him, be close to him. Take whatever comfort she could in him.
Meanwhile, he needed to figure out how to deal with the fact that she might be his mate.
He broke the kiss, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. He moved his hand slowly down between her legs, watching for her small nod of assent before going farther.
He closed his eyes as he stroked her over her panties, which were slick and wet and barely there. “Isabella, so gorgeous.”
She moaned and arched back, and he placed kisses over her sensitive neck and shoulder as his finger played gently over her satin-covered clit.
“So good,” she said, arching back, so hot and wet he wondered how long she’d been thinking of this.
His finger dipped under the waistband of her panties, and he groaned when he touched soft, velvet wet skin. As he explored her folds and her floral scent filled the air, setting his body on fire, he felt lost in the heady sensation.
“You’re kind of a pleaser, aren’t you?” she gasped out, wriggling beneath him.
He put a hand on her soft stomach, holding her there. “Yes. You said you would keep your hands up.” His tone was playful but firm, and she nodded, putting her hands above her head and leaving them there, relaxed. “Now don’t move,” he said in a low voice.
She stared, eyes wider, as he slowly pulled off her panties, keeping eye contact with her as he moved between her legs and slowly lowered, lowered…
When his lips closed over her clit, she gasped and, to his shock, jerked and went into an immediate orgasm, her feet kicking the bed as her hands twisted in the sheets frantically.
He grabbed her thighs, holding them, forcing her to look at him as another wave of pleasure broke over her and she couldn’t squirm to get away from it.
Her eyes were desperate as her back arched with another wave.
“Mine,” he said, flicking his tongue out to tease her clit just as another wave hit her. “Say it.”
“Yours,” she said, her voice almost a sob as she fell back against the mattress, wracked by another wave. “God, it’s so intense when I can’t move.”
“That’s the idea,” he said, flicking his tongue over her again and making her jolt. But just as she was relaxing back into the mattress, wrung by her
orgasm, his tongue moved down to her slit and thrust inside.
“Oh!” She jerked up slightly and then lay back again, and one of his hands moved from her thigh to her stomach, forcing her to stay in place. If he saw any hint that she was nervous, he’d stop.
But as long as this brought her mind-blowing pleasure, he’d continue.
“So sweet,” he said, thrusting his tongue again and again into the hot, wet tightness of her core. God, he wanted to be doing that with another part of him. But he needed her to be ready. Prepared.
Though, maybe that was an excuse to just be able to taste her longer.
He couldn’t get enough of her, thrusting in with his tongue while one hand moved so he could finger her clit at the same time. He loved watching her move, trying to thrash while pinned, trying to keep her hands up as her body fought the oncoming tension.
It looked like it would be a good orgasm as her body hit peak tightness, trembling as it poised on the edge of arousal.
Chadwick didn’t think he’d ever seen anything more beautiful.
“Come, sweetheart,” he commanded, and as she broke apart with a low moan, he came up to kiss her clit.
She screamed this time, reaching up to put her hands in his hair as she arched through the orgasm, her sex pulsing as he kissed it, enjoying every fold, every clench.
She was his. She’d said so.
As Chadwick watched her finish orgasming, her emerald eyes flashing, her body wrung by pleasure, he didn’t want to ever let her go.
When she relaxed back to the bed, letting go of his hair as her hands fell above her head, she stared up at him, still panting.
The little minx wasn’t even close to done as her eyes darted downward, lower and lower until they rested on the last piece of clothing he wore.
She swallowed, looking up at him almost as if for permission. Didn’t she know by now there was almost no request of hers he would turn down?
“You said you’d give me everything I wanted,” she said huskily, and her small tongue running along her lower lip was almost enough to make him break.
His heart had never pounded harder. He felt lost in a swirl, not only of passion, but of something stronger. Something he wanted so very much.
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