“Usually?”
He grinned. “Ever. I’ve never done it before. You’re the first person I’ve ever brought up and shown my shift.”
Laughing, Amy leaned against the trunk next to him. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not.” He cocked his head and folded his arms.
“You’re how old and you’ve never taken anyone for a dive off a tall cliff?”
“Never.” He turned and pinned her against the trunk. “There’s never been anyone I wanted to show this to.”
Amy felt his heat on her body, and it wasn’t unpleasant. He wasn’t crowding her either, but he was making suggestions. “You’ve never found anyone to show your dragon to? Niko has never seen you?”
“Other dragons don’t count. Not even Raissa.”
“You dated Raissa? And didn’t show her?”
“She didn’t show me hers either. The first person you show is the person…”
There was a gravity in his voice at that moment, and Amy could tell the lighthearted banter of a moment ago was gone. He was very serious, and he was trying to tell her something. “Who’s the first person you show this to, Max?”
Leaning into her ear, he whispered, “A dragon always shows his mate first.”
Her stomach dropped out, worse than anything that happened when they were flying. “Mate?”
He nodded. “I’ve known since I first saw you.”
The pit in her stomach wouldn’t go away. “We should probably go…”
There was a war in his eyes, somewhere between lust and sadness. Her breath caught at the depth of his confusion, and just how lost he looked. She felt the same lost confusion, and she certainly wasn’t ready for him to say...that word.
“Maximillian, that’s a serious—”
“I jumped off a cliff for you.”
“You jumped off a cliff with me,” she said. “With no warning.”
Casting his eyes down, he let out a sigh. “I thought that maybe…”
Putting two fingers under his chin, she brought his eyes to hers. “Max. If you want to kiss me, you’d better do it before I run.”
Not even a second passed before his lips were on hers. He was unbelievably tender, and his tongue was soft and sweet as he explored her mouth. Pulling her close, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her to sit on the trunk. He nestled himself between her legs—a familiar feeling already—and just kept kissing her.
There was no demand. He didn’t try to pull her shirt up or palm her breast through her clothes. There was only him and only his sweet, tender kiss, his arms holding her tight. There was absolutely no doubt that he was aroused—she could feel his very large erection pressing against her lower stomach, twitching once in a while—but he made absolutely no move to do anything about it.
There was only the kiss.
“I’ve wanted to taste you since that night at Niko’s. I’ve wanted nothing more than to have you here and kiss you mindless,” he breathed the words across her lips. “I’m sorry I was mean to you in the diner that night. I was being selfish and I wanted you to myself.”
Putting the back of her hand to her head, Amy took a deep breath. “Damn. I’m dizzy.”
He studied her. “Good dizzy or bad dizzy?”
The smirk crawled onto her lips. “A very good dizzy.”
Max grinned. “Well, then allow me to make you even more dizzy.”
As promised, he did. He stole her breath and her very thoughts with the depth and tenderness of his kiss. He explored her slowly, seeming almost to memorize her every feature, and when he was done, he invited her to him and showed her how he could caress and suckle on her.
God, she had never been kissed like this. Not ever. This was beyond heat, this was melting. She couldn’t hold herself together and couldn’t think. “Max…”
Touching his forehead to hers, he just breathed for a moment. “I want you, Amy. You’re mine, and I know that with every fiber of my being. But this is your move. You haven’t had a chance to even talk to Brent and I won’t disrespect your decisions.”
“I’m not going back to him. Not ever.” She giggled. “Not after that kiss.”
He wrapped his hand around her neck. “You should see what else I can do.”
“Fuuu… Max…”
“Mój cenny, I am immortal. I will wait for you. Until you are ready.”
“If we weren’t in this park illegally, and I didn’t have work in a few hours… I’d be ready now.” Her confession kicked her rational mind in. “But you’re right. At the very least I have to talk to Brent and bring closure there. I don’t know if I’m really meant to be a dragon’s mate, but the way you kiss, and the heat of your touch…”
His grin was back. “Oh, Amy…if only you knew what I could do for you.”
“Not helping.”
“I can smell your desire.” He raised an eyebrow as he pulled back from her.
“And I can feel yours.” God, she wanted to wrap a hand around his cock, to feel that weight in her palm. Not helping!
Grunting, it was clear that Max didn’t know if he should step in close again, or step totally away. Amy laughed. “It’s clear what we’re both thinking here, Max. Just…give me time to deal with Brent and the fallout. Please. I’m not giving up kisses like yours.”
“Will you…will you have dinner with me?”
“Yes.”
“Tomorrow night?”
Amy nodded slowly. “Yes. Tomorrow would probably be smarter.”
“What—”
“I was just thinking that tonight would be good, but I got zero sleep and you didn’t get all that much either.”
With a chuckle, he dropped a kiss on her nose. “I could stand with less.”
“Not helping, Maximillian.”
“Oh, woman, you have no idea how hard I am right now. None of this is helping, and keeping it rated PG isn’t going to make this go away anytime soon.”
“Get me back to my house, dragon. I need a cold shower and I have to be at work in two hours.”
“Are you okay? I know this has been a hell of week for you and it’s only Tuesday.”
Laughing, Amy nodded. “Yes. I needed someone to talk to and take my mind off everything. You did that. You gave me more to think about it, but it’s not bad things. I want to give Niko the chance to see his wife on Saturday, but if you are going back on Sunday, I’ll go after you all take off.” She pursed her lips. “I just have to find a new balance.”
“And don’t ever be afraid to ask for help with that, mój cenny.” He kissed her forehead. “Now, let’s evade the police and get you home.”
Max waited on the front porch.
It wasn’t a typical Southern home, since the Hogans had settled in the mountains, but Patricia kept the place beautifully. Amy’s mother clearly adored her, even if she didn’t really get that dreamwalking wasn’t a fortunetelling talent.
It was actually sweet, the amount of dream-related décor Patricia had put up. She clearly had supported her husband and continued to support her daughter. There were pictures of Sean Hogan everywhere in the house, and he had clearly been loved.
Max didn’t much remember his own father, Jan. He’d run away from his mother when he was very young because he couldn’t deal with devil in his house. The magic his mother had in her dragon was impressive, and still was. But Jan couldn’t deal with it in a time when all magic was black, and dragons were evil.
“Would you like some lemonade, Max?”
Patricia appeared on the porch with a tray carrying a pitcher, three glasses and ice in each, and put it on the table between the two benches. Max smiled—a proper Southern woman complete with lemonade.
“Sure, I’ll have some, thank you.”
Pouring a glass and handing it to him, she took one for herself and sat down. “Have you talked to Amy yet today?”
“Only briefly as she was leaving work.”
“She’s very upset about the confrontation between her and Brent. It’s not that I can
really blame her for being upset.”
The lemonade was perfect, and Max was quietly impressed. He had been expecting something terrible. Too many movies. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“I was very glad I made her bring him here. He got…confrontational. Of course, the ass denied all of it and immediately accused her of the same thing. Sleeping around. With someone named Rijn, and then threw in Niko. I tried not to laugh, but that was very difficult at that moment. Can you imagine? With the way that man only has eyes for his mate?” She snorted.
“Amy was composed. I think all those years in refining school paid off.”
Max snickered. Refining school. Amy? Not with the way she had talked to him that morning…he’d never had phone sex before, but damn, his little mate talked a filthy game.
“He wasn’t interested in hearing her out. He just kept saying that she couldn’t call off the wedding because they were already in a contract at the catering hall, and that we would lose all the money. Like I care more about money than my little girl’s happiness? And her potential marriage to a cheater?” Patricia took a neat sip of the lemonade. “Well, Amy just folded her arms and let him rant and rave and storm around the house. It was a sight.”
“I’m sure it was.” Max smirked.
“When he was done listing all of her faults, and why his faults were her fault, Amy held up her hand with the engagement ring on it, slipped it off, grabbed his hand, and stabbed the diamond down into his palm. I was only sorry she didn’t draw blood.”
With a laugh, Max tossed his head back. “She’s fiery.”
“She is indeed. Don’t cross my Southern belle. You’ll get the sharp end of her lawyer’s tongue.” Considering her glass a moment, Patricia went on. “He threw the ring back at her, and you’re going to see the little nick on her eyebrow where he hit her.”
Max’s dragon raced to the surface and Patricia laughed. She must’ve seen his eyes go startling white and patted his hand. “Relax. Not only does my daughter have a sharp tongue, she also has a sharp elbow. Brent very much found that out the hard way last night. She punched him in the stomach and kneed him in the face. She didn’t break his nose, but she did manage to bloody him.
“The ass turns to me and proceeds to tell me that he will ruin my family’s reputation in all of our social circles and we’ll never be able to show our faces again anywhere in all of the South. Because, I’m sorry, I care? These are all the people who rejected me after I married a Yank with an impeccable pedigree. I don’t give a fiddler’s whosits about their opinions of me. Sean spent his life with Carl taking cases on that were clearly skewed to the wealthy and did what they could to support the poor and under-represented of this state. So he could go suck a toad for all I cared.” She took a proper sip of the lemonade and looked down into the glass. “I should have spiked this.”
He couldn’t stop the laugh that boiled up out of him. “Patricia, you are a champion for your daughter.”
“No one comes into my house and threatens me and mine. So I kicked him out.” Studying the lip of the glass, she said, “Now, Amy doesn’t know this part, but, as he was leaving he was swearing at me, and he threw a curse at me. I’m not talking about swear word, but an actual curse, with the fingers and all. Nothing will come of it, but I wanted you know that. You’re part of this whole magical world, and maybe there’s something we need to worry about?”
“I would have had to see the fingers to tell you—”
Turning her hand away from them, she formed the symbol. “That. And the words were something mortem sectorum in aeternum? My Latin is totally non-existent anymore.”
“Well, that little finger jive isn’t good. That’s laying a curse. But the words? I’d call and ask Carl Tillman what he thinks. I’m just a dragon. He’s the historian. I would not, under any circumstances, ask your daughter.”
“Oh, no. No. I am better than that. She doesn’t need anything like that from me.” Sipping the drink once more, she turned in the chair and looked at Max. “I feel like I should ask you what your intentions are toward my daughter, but just knowing you’re here and seeing you two together at any point in the past week, I think I know perfectly well what you intend.”
“To woo her and marry her.”
Rolling her eyes, Patricia peered at him. “Please. I’m Southern, not stupid.”
“I really do—”
“Yes, I know. And you’re happy to get a shag in before that.”
“Mother!” Amy was standing behind the screen door. “Really?”
Patricia gave her a one-shoulder shrug as she walked out onto the porch. “You lived with Brent, dear. Do you think for an instant I was under the illusion that you had separate beds?”
Turning bright red, Amy hid her face behind her hand. “Mother…”
Filling the third glass with lemonade, Patricia stood to face her daughter. “It’s fine, Amy. There was a saying when I was growing up that we used to taunt the looser girls with. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? Well.” She cleared her throat. “Why buy the pig when all you need is a little sausage?”
Amy’s jaw dropped open and she gaped at her mother in astonishment. Patricia threw a wink at Max and patted her daughter on the cheek. “All’s fair in love and war, my dear. Just be careful and don’t get blown up by landmine in the battle.”
The screen door banged shut, and Amy was left standing with her jaw stuck in the ‘shocked’ position. “Max, I’m so sorry. She’s—”
“Absolutely hilarious and insanely protective of you, despite her last little bit of…advice.”
Taking the seat next to him, Amy grabbed the lemonade and took a sip. “Oh, thank God it’s not her goofy juice.”
“She did say she regretted not spiking it.”
Shaking her head, Amy took another sip. “Max, I’m sorry about her—”
“Stop, don’t apologize because your mother loves you and knows that people have sex.” He sighed. “I lived through Victorian and Edwardian ideals. It was hell pretending we didn’t like sex, and women put up with it for the sake of babies. Your mom grew up in the sixties, at least a bit, and it’s fine.”
A quiet moment passed, and Amy touched the little, almost healed cut above her right eye. “Did she tell you all about Brent?”
“Duh?”
A tinkling laugh left her, and it did funny things to him. “Good. I’m glad I don’t have to rehash that. Where are we going for dinner?”
“Sugar Loaf. Stonewalls. It seemed like a nice place.”
“Nicest in the area.” She smiled.
“Good.” Standing, he offered her his hand. “Let’s go.”
The car turned out of the parking lot, in the opposite direction of home.
“Max, I live the other way.”
“We’re going somewhere else.”
Giving him a confused look, she glanced down the street in the other direction. “Look, Max, I appreciate it, but I have to get home and get some sleep before work tomorrow.”
“I already talked to Carl. You have tomorrow off.”
Amy chuffed. “You took the day off for me? I have cases, Max! Ones that are very important to me and that can’t wait.”
“They’re all covered. Carl said he would handle them personally for the day.”
“The head partner is going to cover for me?”
“Your friend, Carl, is going to cover.”
“I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
“Amy, I have to go home on Sunday. And since I really don’t think you’re interested in coming with me, I have to get my wooing in now.”
She sat back in the seat. “What makes you think I wouldn’t come with you?”
“You argued so passionately for Betsy to come back and stay here.”
He was right.
It hit her that he was talking about a permanent move. Not a visit.
“Why couldn’t you come here?”
“I have a telescope at home that needs me. There ar
en’t very many scopes in the country, and if I moved, I’d lose my position and access to a telescope any time I wanted. I’m the dean of the sciences. I can’t give that up. I’ve worked four lifetimes to get here.” Quickly glancing at her, he looked back at the road. “And why wouldn’t you move to Pine Valley?”
“Well, you got that ass cold weather up there, one.”
He grinned wickedly. “I’ll keep you warm, baby.”
She slapped his arm with the back of her hand in jest. “Two. Snow? Three, my mom and my job are here. The Sectorum is here. This is the only place I know.”
“All the reasons you gave Betsy.”
“Yes.”
He sighed. “I’ll wait my lifetime for you.”
She was quiet. That was a hell of a promise from an immortal dragon shifter. This was her home, though, and the idea of leaving it all behind and not being able to visit her mother on Sundays for dinner, or pop over to Carl’s for some Sectorum business on a lazy Saturday wasn’t where she was yet. If ever. But she wasn’t even sure that he was right about the mates part yet. There wasn’t a chance that she was ready to just jump into a commitment like that after the last one blew up in her face. Badly.
The hills rolled by and they climbed up one particular one that had a view of the valleys below through the trees. A small house appeared, and Max turned the car into the driveway. He put it in park and turned to look at her. “Amy. I’m not here to try and convince you that this is something that has to happen right now, tonight. We don’t know each other. Niko and Betsy were actually dating, getting to know each other. I’m okay with that. I’m also willing to see if long distance will work if you’re not ready. I’m willing to step back completely and wait. But I need you to believe me that you’re my mate and I will do anything and everything for you.”
“I’m not ready for that, Max.”
He grabbed her hand. “I’m here, and I’ll wait. If you want to go home, I’ll take you home right now. No questions.”
“Where are we?”
“It’s a little cottage I rented for us. Called Angel Ridge. I couldn’t find a hotel I liked, so I went for the house instead.”
She blinked a few times. “You’re a little cocky.”
Skydance Page 8