by Lisa Daniels
“Did I forget to mention that I’m charming, too?” Luan smiled one of her rare smiles, before casually strolling in the direction of Haut’s suspicious refugee.
“You might want to keep an eye on her,” Perran advised. “Meanwhile… I’m getting drinks. Got something special planned.”
“Oh?” Haut smiled in a rather knowing way. “Celebrating with Kelsey, are we?”
“Something like that,” Perran said, trying not to think about the passionate kiss Kelsey had given him.
Or the ones she’d planted on his lips not long after he’d carried her back into the cabin, insisting that she needed to learn.
She was… developing quite rapidly in that area. Eagerly, too, and he wasn’t about to discourage her of the notion. Though a part of him was nervous that he was pushing Kelsey harder than she had the will to tolerate. She certainly showed more confidence than before, but he didn’t want her to feel any pressure to please him. A bigger part of him was absolutely adamant against behaving like his sister’s abuser, or Kelsey’s.
Carrying a bottle of wine and two glasses, he rapped smartly on Kelsey’s door, and she let him in with a smile, surprised at the offering. “Is this a date I didn’t know about?”
“It sure is,” he replied, screwing off the top of the wine bottle and liberally pouring her some. “To celebrate your progress, and the fact that you did a fantastic job with the saving part.” He poured his own glass, raising it to her in a toast. “By the way, in return for providing Lissa future accommodation, I believe she’s quite willing to keep helping you with your powers—though I think you’re getting on just fine with them.”
“There’s always more to learn,” she said, smiling modestly. “Though I definitely never pictured myself being able to absorb an entire storm when this all started.”
“Me neither,” Perran admitted, enjoying the warmth of the wine, and her smile. He liked the way her hair rolled down in delicate waves, just past her shoulders. Her scent had a gritty, rain-like feel to it, along with something else he couldn’t identify, and it appealed to him immensely. He wasn’t quite ready to wax poetic about her soulful eyes and heart-shaped faced, but give him a piece of paper and a quill, and he’d certainly try.
“If you keep staring at me like that, I might think you intend to do more than just talk to me,” Kelsey said, allowing a mischievous smirk to touch her lips. The unexpected expression took his breath away, and heated up the attraction within.
“Maybe that’s the intention. Courting a powerful storm witch. Having myself at her mercy…”
“Powerful…” she smiled ruefully. “I still don’t feel powerful.”
“You absorbed an entire storm.”
“That’s just power-power. Not…” she tapped her head. “I still feel like I’m stumbling my way through.”
He thought he understood that, at least. “You’re only as powerful as you believe,” he said, edging his chair closer to hers. Their knees bumped together. She examined him, licking her lips, before reaching to kiss him softly. She captured his bottom lip, and he hastily put his glass aside to move himself into a better position, so they could kiss freely. She started slow, enticing, like they’d practiced, snatching breaths between each extended kiss. “You’re getting… very good at this,” he hissed, before dabbing his tongue lightly at her mouth, demanding entrance.
She obliged, and desire shot to his groin, making it hard for his mind to focus, to do much else than drag Kelsey onto his lap and wrap his arms around her as they deepened the kiss.
Chapter Eleven – Kelsey
Perran’s kisses ignited her insides in such a delicious manner, that she wanted nothing more than to scrap his planned date and take things to the final step. When she wasn’t being distracted with the mystery of the king’s island, or her own dark, negative thoughts, she kept wondering about Master Rus. If he cared for her. He said he did, but it was one thing to say something, another to mean it.
Even with the affection, and the kisses he gave her.
Lord Feylen had once told her he cared for her. He said it often, even though his actions contradicted his words to the point where she just didn’t believe that caring meant anything. Her parents cared, but they were distant, not a part of her everyday life.
Now, Master Rus treated her with kindness. He threw people at her, and those people became friends. Supportive friends who wanted to boot Kelsey out of her own mind and into a better place. She understood that more than ever, how annoying she was to them.
How annoying she was to herself.
No one could ever grow if they acted like she did. They’d just slip into shadows, becoming nothing. Worth nothing. She’d managed to screw herself up without realizing it, happily planting herself into the role of victim.
I’m no victim. She thought that with fury in her heart. Fury at herself, fury for wasted opportunities. Anger that she never tried to speak out, never tried to stop Feylen from creeping into her soul and ripping all the emotions apart.
And with that, she knew she needed to be honest with Perran. She didn’t want practice kisses, for him to compliment each one. Or for him to be delicate and gentle around her. She wanted him, pressed against her, heat burning through her skin as they melded together.
He got up from the chair, lifting her up with him by the rear. Her legs clamped around him as she continued the kiss, shaking in excitement, and he half-ran, half-stumbled with her to the bed. Her back hit the mattress, and he clambered on top of her, eagerly tucking one of her legs against his hips.
“Don’t stop,” she said, breathless, when they broke apart.
He placed his forehead against hers, before she could lunge to kiss him again. “Are you sure you want this?”
“Yes,” she said, taking fast, unsteady gasps of air. “Please,” she whispered.
She felt him shiver. “Well, I suppose if you say please...” he grinned, before capturing her lips in his own. Between kisses, he managed to get out the words, “I was finding it hard to make up excuses not to take it further.”
She let out a high, giddy laugh, feeling strangely drunk. All her body flooded with warmth, craving contact with his. Just the way he pressed against her, so everything was flush with one another, the way his movements acted as a powerful stimuli, along with the zap of pleasure when his hips and growing erection brushed the fabric just over her bundle of nerves…
She never thought she could feel such a powerful, intense attraction for someone. Not like this. Not to the point where every part of her body screamed for it, and her brain caught fire with arousal. In a way, she became even more aroused by the fact that she realized how turned on she was. That she was bold enough to demand this. It injected a sense of power, of certainty in her. Her hands groped at his shirt, determined to rip it off, so she could feast her eyes on the body hiding beneath. Her eagerness seemed to be having some kind of trigger effect on him, because the kisses grew deeper, more intense, and his body pressed harder into her, as if he intended to merge them both together.
Not that Kelsey minded the idea of that happening. She felt pretty certain that he could do almost anything with her, and she wouldn’t resist. Him stripping her of her clothes upon the bed helped fire up the mood further, as his hands danced over her skin, revealing more and more of it. Soon both were completely naked, their clothes piled in ungainly lumps upon the carpet. One of her hands was pressed into the back of his neck, the other on his right shoulder blade. She loved the way he kept drawing back in the kisses, only to cut straight into the next. She’d heard things about kissing, but never quite expected it to be this enjoyable.
This beautiful. Her eyes, when they had the chance, wandered over his muscular frame, how his muscles tensed as he braced himself above her. His stomach was so flat, his body so well defined—she never thought she could exactly ignite over the visual feast of his skin, either.
She was learning a lot of things today, it seemed.
“What would you lik
e me to do now?” he said, wearing a wicked grin upon his face. Testing her boldness, her determination.
“Inside,” she managed to whimper, her body arching upwards. His erection could be felt just by her thigh. “Want you inside.”
The pupils in his eyes went completely black. He lowered his body, positioning himself perfectly against her entrance. Teasing her, though he full well knew what she wanted. Was he expecting her to make the next move, too? Her courage faltered slightly, but just before it disappeared completely, he slowly penetrated her, whispering, “Tell me if it hurts. I know first times can do so.”
She’d heard about first times hurting, too, and it caused her to tense slightly. However, he was able to slide completely inside her, and although the sensation felt weird, it didn’t hurt.
“So...” he said, when he didn’t get the expected shout of pain. “That’s good. I don’t want to hurt you.” He moved slowly out, then back in, still watching her the whole time. She relaxed, and he sped up, and the mounting desire bloomed again, increasing in strength until she became a litany of gasps and moans, clinging onto that stunning body of his, listening to his rough, turned-on voice. She didn’t fully understand all the things he was doing to her body, or how simple contact and breathless words could elicit such a reaction out of her, but they did, and they intensified. Just when she thought she couldn’t possibly feel any more than she already did, a tight knot in her stomach, lower, seemed to pound at her, demanding release. When it did, a blizzard of pleasure tore through her limbs, and shut off her ability to think or breathe properly.
By the time she recovered from the orgasm, Perran seemed overcome by a similar sensation of his own, though she didn’t know for certain what he might be feeling. His motions became gentler, winding to a natural stop. He was panting above her, wearing a big, beatific smile, staring at her as if she was the most important thing in the world.
Which was rather a nice feeling to have, if she was honest with herself. She couldn’t help but keep stroking his face, his arms, his chest, even as they eventually separated from the hips, but remained close enough to embrace.
Neither of them said anything for a moment, and it was Perran who first broke the silence. “Not bad for a first time of yours,” he said, grinning as he kissed her forehead, then just behind her ear. A part of her wished he didn’t do that, because it felt entirely too nice, to the point where she might want to have her second time right here and now, and she didn’t think she was emotionally prepared for another beating of pleasure.
“I had some help,” she replied ruefully, again thinking about how painfully shy she’d been.
“Yes, but the help can only do so much. Hey. Are you okay?”
She nodded, matching his grin. “Yes, I, uh, enjoyed that. A lot. I was wondering for so long, and then I worried it would hurt a lot, or it would be bad, but… I worried too much, it seems.”
He rolled off her gently before stroking her cheek. “You have little to be worried about, Kelsey. And everything to look forward to when we return to Azarus.”
“Once you survive the backlash from your failed mission, I suppose,” Kelsey said, knowing it’d be tough.
“We might not have failed,” he said. “Luan and Haut are hot on the trail of one of the refugees. We think it’s a possibility he might be the person we’re looking for.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he stay on an island he purposefully intended to sink?”
“I think if he underestimated when it sank, he might. Lissa did say he had to be on the island to summon the coal-demon. It’s entirely possible he underestimated the spread.”
That made sense. Kelsey cuddled up to him, her mind turning over her life in the past few months.
Everything had improved from the moment she met Perran Rus. When he took her out of that place, because she was unable to do so herself. He’d shown her respect, care, and love. He’d gone above and beyond the call of duty for her, and she wanted nothing more now than to spend more of her life with him, to continue exploring the budding relationship. The budding love.
“There’s something I want to say,” she said, though she wasn’t too excited about the prospect of potentially ruining the peace between them. But she needed to mention it. “About… the comments we exchanged. Back before I was left with Lissa.”
She felt Perran stiffen slightly before he took a breath and nodded. “Okay.”
“I have more to add on the matter. I still think that if there’s anyone you should be angry at, it’s her abuser. But I understand what you mean that it is her fault as well. Maybe she could have been stronger. But neither should you be angry because she wasn’t. It’s just… I don’t think she knew the choice she was making. Even if it was a choice, she didn’t understand.”
Perran took more deep breaths, giving himself a moment before he answered. “I was angry. Because I thought we’d be together, and I’d protect her. But it’s hard to protect someone who doesn’t want to protect themselves. And I hate… I hate seeing they have a choice, but each time, they keep thinking they don’t.”
She kissed him on his cheek, resting one hand against his gradually slowing heartbeat. “You did everything you could at the time, I’m sure.”
He shook his head. “I could have done more. But… it’s too late now. I just have to accept that I didn’t. And I hope that somewhere down the line, I succeed with someone else where I failed with my sister. Like you.” He kissed her on the nose, and she giggled in response.
She hoped he’d be able to get over the ghost of his sister. She hoped as well that she could completely shrug off her own past and be able to plunge into this relationship fully, without any fears weighing her down. To be able to tell her parents the truth and know it was a good truth to tell.
To love someone else, and to love herself. It was all she wanted.
“I still have a ways to go, I think,” she said, closing her eyes, listening to his steady breaths. “But out of all the people I get to be with on the journey—I’m glad I’m with you.”
His arms wrapped around her tighter. “Me, too,” he said. “Can’t wait to see more of you in action, either.”
“Depends on what type of action you’re looking for,” Kelsey said with a grin. “The storm kind, or the bed kind?”
“Why not both?”
Well, she couldn’t really argue with that.
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Dragon House Reality Show
Reality Star Shifters
Book 1
By: Mia Taylor
Prologue
Jamie blinked expectantly, the excitement in his face almost palpable, but Cypress was not nearly as impressed by the proposal as his agent.
I’m really getting too old for this shit, he thought miserably, tossing the pages aside.
“There is no way I’m producing this,” he said flatly. “I’m out of the reality TV game.”
“But this is cutting edge, Cypress! This isn’t anything that’s ever been done before—”
“I don’t care,” Cypress interjected, his mind still fresh with what had happened the last time he’d gotten involved with the genre. He wanted no part in it.
“You’ll be helping society,” Jamie cooed. “You’ll be—”
“Jamie, I have no interest in this. Please take it out of my face.”
The agent looked helplessly at Graciela, who shrugged her shoulders.
“He’s got bad associations with the trope,” his mate explained, but Jamie didn’t seem to take that as an answer.
“This isn’t Dance Divas,” he insisted. “This is a real show with real people who need help.”
“You can package it any way you want,” Cypress growled. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m not doing it.”
“It’s all dragons…”
Cypress clamped his mouth closed and eyed J
amie warily.
“Imprisoned dragons?” he demanded. “How does that even happen?”
“We aren’t infallible, Cypress,” Jamie chuckled. “We fall into the same traps as our mortal companions and those of us who are trying to keep a low profile, do the time and and move on with our lives.”
Cypress’ brow shot up.
“You were in prison?” he choked.
Jamie snorted. “Where do you think I get all my Hollywood street cred?”
“Jesus,” Cypress mumbled, looking sheepish. “I had no idea.”
“This is why I’m telling you this is such a good idea. Halfway house, ex-cons, a really sexy psychologist and the parole officers…”
Cypress was beginning to warm to the idea.
“How the hell is this even going to work? I mean, with the parole board and—”
Jamie held up his hand as if he had expected the protest.
“It’s all taken care of. The Scottsdale Police Department is already on board and the prison system wants some good press for once.”
“Scottsdale?” Cypress looked at Gabriela, who shrugged again.
“I’m staying out of this,” she murmured, turning to leave the living room.
“Think about it. It will show the prisoners in a humane light. It’s good publicity for everyone.”
“Provided a bunch of ex-cons in a house don’t end up killing each other,” Cypress grumbled.
“You’re a fatalist but you’re worried about nothing. They just want to get back on their feet and live normal lives. Think of it as sponsoring a weyr.”
Cypress exhaled and found himself nodding.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll produce it, but on paper only. I don’t want to be hands-on. If anything goes wrong, I’m holding you personally responsible.”
Jamie looked at him innocently and blinked.
“What could possibly go wrong?” he asked lightly.
“Gee, I don’t know, Jamie,” Cypress replied sarcastically. “A bunch of dragon ex-cons living in a house together. I can’t think of any way that might backfire.”