by Roxie Ray
I smacked a kiss on her cheek and stepped back. “It’s okay. No, not pregnant, I’ve just been drinking too much lately, and I don’t want another hangover like I had the other night. It’s cool, though, you two go ahead.”
When we got settled in with the chips and dip that Bri brought and the wine that Kaylee brought, we got down to the nitty-gritty. I explained about our kisses, my attraction to Anthony, then I had to go back and give Bri the full rundown about what had happened between us when we were teenagers. And what hadn’t happened.
When I finished the whole long, sordid story, they agreed on one course of action.
“You’ve got to go for it,” Bri said.
Kaylee nodded. “What is life if you don’t take risks? Sure, it might end up badly, but then you’ll get over it. If you don’t try, you never succeed.” She took a long sip of wine. “Enjoy yourself, but don’t have any expectations.”
“But it’s not smart to ignore your feelings,” Bri added. “Not with your history. Don’t ignore what your gut tells you and you need to know what Anthony is feeling. With the kisses, I don’t think he wants to be just friends with you.”
“I need to talk to him. I need to know where his head is at.” I sipped my water and contemplated when it would be possible to see him. If I waited, we’d be back at work Monday. Tomorrow felt like so far away.
“Go!” Kaylee exclaimed. “We’ve had several glasses of wine, but you haven’t.”
I blinked repeatedly at my friend, then looked down at myself. “I’m a mess.” My hair was in a messy bun, and I’d just thrown on some leggings and an old t-shirt.
“You’re fine,” Bri said. “Go talk to him. If you don’t come home, we’ll eat your food and drink this wine we brought and go to bed.”
Why couldn’t I? I didn’t mind leaving them here to enjoy the evening together. It wasn’t like I was bailing on them and leaving them alone. They had each other. “Okay,” I said excitedly. “I’m going to do it.”
I jumped up and changed clothes quickly. I wasn’t about to go in leggings. Kaylee and Bri followed me to the bedroom and grinned at me like tipsy fools while I slapped on a layer of mascara and put my hair into a less messy bun.
I stopped short as I slathered on some clear lip balm. “Wait,” I said. “I don’t know where he lives.”
“Oh, he lives near my parents, near the rest of the cult,” Kaylee said.
I shot her a sharp look. “Don’t call them that.”
“You’ve got to admit,” Bri said. “There’s something weird about them and the way they seem to stick together like they do.”
I knew the town gossip. I’d heard it all of my life, but I ignored it because I knew Anthony and even though his parents weren’t the most welcoming of me, they never stopped Anthony from being my friend. Not until he moved away, anyway.
But more than that, I knew Anthony, even if it’d been a long time since we were close. “Whatever. I’ve got to talk to him.”
Kaylee leaned over. “Well, go.”
Bri nodded. “Yeah, stop wasting time!”
I ran for my car and headed straight for the road Kaylee’s parents lived on. I’d been to their house a couple of times, and I’d been to Anthony’s parents’ place. If he lived near them both, I had an idea of what road he lived on.
And until I pulled into his driveway and saw his car sitting there, I was fine. It wasn’t until I knew I was in the right place that I began to panic.
Shit. Maybe I should’ve called first. Just showing up here wasn’t the best idea. What if I was wrong about him? What if he had a woman over and I was interrupting something? Damn it.
His front door opened, and he stepped out onto the front porch with a confused look on his face. “Hey,” he called. “What are you doing here?”
My worries faded because he looked so happy to see me. There was no denying the pleasure on his face. I stepped out of the car and stood uncertainly. We stared at each other for a long moment before Anthony stepped aside and gestured for me to come in. But I didn’t move at first. I stood beside my car and looked up at the porch at him. He was just close enough that I didn’t have to yell. “I have to ask you something before I come inside.”
He didn’t speak but watched me as I tried to gather my words. “You were my best friend and the first boy I ever kissed. The first boy I ever loved. My heart broke when you left.” My heart thumped hard with the memory of the pain. “I’m terrified you’ll just break it again. So, I need to know what you want from me. Why are you back?” I sucked in a deep breath. “If you’re here to break me all over again, because I don’t think I can come back from piecing my heart together again.” His face crumpled as I spoke. It hurt him to think about how much he’d hurt me. I knew he said he’d been hurt by leaving also, but it had been his choice, not mine. If it’d been up to me, we would’ve stayed together. “I was sixteen, but there was something then that told me, something that made me so sure that you belonged to me. I can’t explain it now, but—”
Anthony cut me off by rushing down the stairs and gathering me into his arms. He pressed his lips to mine and moaned against me, then proceeded to kiss me senseless. His tongue warred with mine and my body responded like this was the thing I’d been craving all my life and only just now realized it.
Anthony was mine.
“I have no intention in this world of leaving you ever again. You felt that because you know just like I do that you are mine. You were mine then and you’re mine now. And you’ll be mine until the end of our days. I’m not letting you go. I’m not breaking your heart. I want you for always.”
My relief pulsed through me, a physical thing, because I felt the truth in his words. So, when he kissed me, I kissed him back with matching fire and passion. When he picked me up and carried me into his house, I didn’t protest. In fact, I encouraged him with a moan.
The bedroom door banged open as we barreled through. The taste of him was addictive, and I didn’t think it was my romantic side fooling me. I was in danger of becoming dependent on this man.
I got my hands under the edge of his shirt, breaking away from his lips long enough to pull it off. Anthony’s skin was deliciously smooth under my fingertips. I shivered with need at the sight of him. He was warm, nearly feverish, but I brushed it off to the desire built up inside of him.
How did he make time with his busy schedule to keep up that incredible physique?
Then his fingers deftly navigated the buttons of my blouse and it, too, fell to the floor. He trailed kisses across my cheek, my jaw, down my throat. I threaded my fingers into his inky hair, whispering his name. Heat washed over me when his lips blazed a path across the tops of my breasts, and then suddenly they were free. He tossed my bra on top of the growing pile of discarded clothing.
“So incredible,” he murmured against my skin. “Stunning.”
His tongue flicked out across my nipple and my breath hitched in my throat. I wanted this. His sweet words, his hungry touches, his soft lips. I wanted him far too much for patience. Pushing him back to sit on the edge of the bed, I sealed my lips to his again while I unbuckled his belt, whipping it out of the loops in one smooth motion. Anthony groaned and grabbed my thighs, pulling me onto his lap.
His hard dick pushed against me through his pants, and I ground on him. Our breaths mingled, tongues dancing wildly. My head felt light in a way that had nothing to do with how much or how little I’d had to drink. One of his hands slid under my skirt, massaging my thigh, as he ran the fingertips of his other hand up and down my spine. My fingers fumbled with the button on his pants. I was getting entirely too worked up.
Applying the slightest pressure, I pushed against his chest until he lay back. His blue eyes shone in the moonlight coming through the window. He was absolutely the most gorgeous man I’d ever set my gaze on. Licking my lips, I slowed myself down enough to get his pants undone. Both of his hands rubbed my thighs, and it was proving difficult to concentrate.
Cl
imbing off of his lap, I tugged his pants off, dropping them unceremoniously to the pile. I slid my hands up his thighs and my tongue over his straining cock. The salty-sweet taste of his skin made me hungry for more, but he didn’t give me a chance to take it. With a growl, he grabbed me and pulled me up to him. My skirt rode up again as I straddled him.
Anthony brushed his fingers across my cheek. “Are you sure, Skye?”
I’d never been so sure about anything in my life, and I wanted to say as much, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, I nodded and leaned over, kissing him hard. He took that answer as intended and rolled us so that he was on top. I could feel him pressing against me and reached down to pull my skirt off, but he stilled my hands.
“Wait,” Anthony said, smiling. “I kind of like the skirt.”
Oh, the skirt was totally staying on.
He moved away again and latched onto one of my breasts. I gasped and arched into him, heat pooling low in my belly. Again, his fingers slid up my skirt, this time grabbing my underwear and slowly pulling them off.
I wanted him to move faster. My need for him was a beast that only he could soothe.
His fingers teased my entrance, then slid in, his thumb brushing over my clit with each pump. Grabbing his hair, I pulled him back to my lips. His fingers felt so good, but it wasn’t what I wanted.
“Mmm, you’re so wet.”
“For you,” I replied huskily. “I need you in me.”
He chuckled, then disappeared from my grasp. I blinked the lust-filled haze from my eyes in time to see him dive beneath my skirt. As soon as his tongue swiped across my sex, my mind blanked. The only thought left was the ecstasy of his touch that left my entire body tingling.
My breaths came out in quick pants as he alternated between fast and achingly slow strokes. Just as I approached the edge, he pulled back, pushing my skirt up.
Yes, please! “I’m on the pill,” I gasped out, not wanting to give him even a minute longer to wait.
Anthony positioned himself, running his tip through my slickness. I closed my eyes and moaned with impatience that quickly turned to rapture as he slid in and filled every last crack in my soul. My eyes opened again to find him watching me, something like wonder combined with lust on his face. I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him closer, urging him to move.
And move he did.
It became heated quickly as he pounded into me relentlessly. I clenched tight around him, taking in every second of that delicious friction. He slowed down, and for one disappointing moment, I thought he’d finished already.
Then he sat back, grabbing my hips, and sliding us to the edge of the bed. He pulled my legs up to his shoulder, kissing my calves before he resumed his ruthless pace. With my thighs squeezed tighter together in the new position, I felt him even more. I felt every thrust hit deep, sending jolts of pure pleasure coursing through my body.
“A-Anthony!”
I cried out as an orgasm built up. My chest tightened with anticipation. The room was filled with the sound of our bodies colliding over and over, our panting breaths, our desperate desire for each other.
He grunted as I squeezed my core as tight as I could, his thrusts becoming brutal. I didn’t care how sore I might be the next day. It was everything I’d been craving from him. We could do slow and sweet later, if there was a later.
Right then, it was everything I’d hoped for.
His breaths became unintelligible words that my ears didn’t have the capacity to comprehend just then. My world exploded into bright lights, my chest expanding with the first deep breath I’d taken all night. Rightness settled over us, and it was an odd feeling that I couldn’t ever recall feeling with another partner before.
Anthony’s paced finally slowed, his thrusts turning into more reactionary jerks as my insides clenched and unclenched around him, coming down from my own orgasm. Drowsiness swept over me, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the alcohol or the physical exertion.
As Anthony’s warmth curled into my back, I let it take me into the darkness.
14
Anthony
When the sun first began to appear far on the horizon, it bathed the world in a beautiful orange, red, and pink glow. I sat on the back porch and watched it peek through the trees as I listened to the soft sound of Skye snoring upstairs.
My chuckle was loud to my own ears in the predawn quiet. I couldn’t help myself though, I really had not expected her to snore as much as she did. I made a mental note to convince her to have her tonsils and adenoids checked out.
The need to bite her was so overwhelming that at the moment I was not sure I would make it through our night without doing so. I managed to persevere, a good thing since she was still clueless about my true nature.
Besides the obvious, one cool thing that came from our night together was that my tattoo was not burning at all this morning. I was going to have to tell her soon about who and what I was, or the next time this happened I wouldn’t be able to stop myself.
Surprise! I’m a dragon and you’re my mate. And the proof is in this bite, yeah... not the way I wanted to break the news. It would be more likely to break her mind.
I trusted that she wouldn’t leave me. I trusted that she wouldn’t break our rediscovered bond. But that didn’t stop a small bit of fear from creeping in.
When the sounds of her sleep growing more restless began to creep in, I got up and made a fresh pot of coffee and then started breakfast. We had definitely burned enough calories to deserve a decadent breakfast, so I started crepes and bacon.
After such a wonderful night, it was time to tell her everything. She’d never be more receiving of my unbelievable news than after a night like that. I hoped. My nerves were all over the place, but I knew in my bones that it was time.
That didn’t stop me from changing my mind a hundred times before she even set foot on the floor.
When I heard the bed creak, indicating she’d sat up, I started the finishing touches for our food. By the time she shuffled in, looking flushed from head to toe as she made her way into the kitchen, I had everything hot on the table.
“I promise that I don’t make a habit of showing up at someone else’s place unannounced.”
Laughing, I set a cup of coffee in front of her. “I believe you. But you can show up at my home at any time.” That wasn’t technically true. If she showed up during a flight before I told her the truth, well, that would be bad. I sat beside her and dished out our plates.
“What are your plans for the day?” As I made breakfast, I’d made sure my schedule was free and clear so that I could spend the day with her. Jace and my mother would handle any pack business that might crop up. Dad didn’t need to know the details. He was too cranky.
After breakfast and lots of idle chitchat, I loaded the dishwasher. Skye rinsed and handed me the dishes. Working together like this was amazing. We’d taken care of patients with each other at the hospital, but after the night we’d had, I felt so connected to her. I couldn’t imagine how much better it might feel after we’d completely bonded.
When I finished wiping the counters, I turned to Skye. “I’m going to take a quick shower, then we’ll head to your house so you can change?” I asked.
She nodded and smiled, so I turned to leave the room. “Don’t start the dishwasher yet,” I told her as I backed out of the kitchen. “We can start it before we leave.”
Skye simply smiled back at me as I turned and headed for the bathroom. I turned the water up as hot as I could stand it, trying to rush through my routine in case she needed a shower as well. After the previous night, she probably would.
Thinking about it again had my dick waking up. She hadn’t complained, but I knew I’d been kind of rough with her in my eagerness to have her. There was a possibility she’d be too sore for more, even if we had time this morning. I lathered up my hand, gripped my hard length, and started pumping, intending to relieve myself quickly.
Then the shower curtain rust
led behind me. “I see you’ve gotten yourself ready for me,” Skye said in a purring voice.
Her fingers slid across my slick back, and I slowed my hand. She wrapped her arms around my waist, pressed her naked body against me, and removed my hand to replace it with hers. I leaned against the shower wall with one hand, trying to hold myself back. This woman was going to be the death of me.
“Show me how you like it,” she whispered.
A shiver ran down my spine, despite the heat of the water crashing down over us. I took her hand, clamped down harder, and did as she asked. The soap rinsed off, but that didn’t matter so much. Skye knew what she was doing.
She grabbed my shoulder and spun me, pressing my back to the wall, and kept going. In seconds, the rest of the soap had rinsed off and it was just her hand and my dick. At least until she got down on her knees.
I groaned out loud when she took me into her mouth. My hands automatically went to her hair, the brown turning nearly black under the water. Seeing her in that prone position made me want to dominate her as I had in bed. I wanted to fuck her mouth, feel the back of her throat, force her to swallow me.
It was testing my restraint, but I stopped myself and let her take the lead. Part of her liked it, I could tell, but I didn’t want to test her too quickly and scare her off. Besides, she knew what she was doing.
Skye used her hand in coordination with her mouth so that all of me was covered. Her tongue was creating the most delectable sucking action that I was afraid I’d come too soon. No, damn, I was going to.
“Skye, I’m about to—”
She sat back, licking the tip one last time, then pumped hard with her hand the way I’d shown her. Her other hand, I’d noticed, was between her own legs. Pressure built up and up and then let go all over her. She moaned as my seed splashed across her breasts, and damn if that didn’t make an erotic sight.