Her Thee Dragon MatchMates (Dragon's MatchMate Agency Book 3)

by Maia Starr

  Reed

  By the time we reach my bedroom door, Erika’s hands are all over my hair, threading her fingers through my locks. Her lips are so unbelievably soft and taste like something sweet. She presses her body to mine, and my hands run up and down her curves. I grab her hips, my mind melting from the sheer prospect of her body.

  She’s already breathing hard, and by the time I spin her around and throw her on my bed, she’s gazing up at me longingly. But then her eyes dart away and look elsewhere as I pull off my shirt.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asks as I drop my pants. She keeps glancing back and forth between my half-naked body and my dresser, her cheeks a burning red mess.

  I pull off my socks, staring down at her. “It’s all right if you’re okay with it. We don’t have to keep going if this makes you uncomfortable.” It kills me to say that, yet I’m not about to force her or frighten her. She deserves respect, and so much more than what Maxen gave her.

  She stutters as she tries to speak next, her eyes drifting across the hard lines of my abs. She licks her lips and looks up at me. I hook my thumbs under my boxers and wait for her go-ahead to drop them. “What about Hayden and Sven?”

  “What about them? Would you rather sleep with them?”

  “That’s not what I meant...I…” Taking a deep breath. “Oh, screw it. I need this.”

  And with that, I slide down my boxers, revealing all of my skin to her. She gawks openly. “Not bad.” Rising to her feet, she slips her t-shirt over her head. “I guess it’s my turn now. Wait patiently, okay?”

  I clutch my hands behind my back as I watch her strip slowly, sensually. I nearly drool when she’s completely naked, my eyes looking all over her goddess-like body. She stares at me, smiling, and starts to strut around me, teasing me. I reach forward to grab her, but she slaps me away. “No touch. Not yet.”

  Trembling, I remain rooted in place, my body hard and ready to go. All I can think about is connecting my body to hers. I want her like nobody’s ever wanted another person before. Yet she’s in no rush. This is another game for her, and so she’s taking her sweet time. She touches my shoulder with a single finger and traces that finger down my arm.

  Finally, she steps in front of the bed again and beckons me forward.

  So I pounce on her, embracing her from behind. She gasps at my intensity, but I ignore her. I can't stop myself now. Reaching down, my hand slips between her legs, and she moans at my touch. I kiss and bite her neck, leaving marks. Her skin is so comfortable and soft that I can’t let go. Her hips press hard against mine, making me huff with desire. Wrapping one arm around her chest, I rub against her and turn her head back to kiss her.

  As we make out, I can tell she’s holding back. No matter how teasing she was before, she’s letting me lead now, never daring to take any action herself. I want her to relax, to forget about the pain and worry of before. “If you ever feel like stopping…” I breathe, “just tell me, okay? I do as you tell me to.”

  “Then bend me over,” she whispers back.

  Her whisper is full of raw desire. So I do as she tells me; I place a hand on the small of her back and push her down. She looks back up at me pleadingly, my body pressed tight to hers.

  “You wanna make me forget?” she asks. “Then go ahead and do it.”

  I grip her hips and enter her. We both hiss at the sudden sensation, and she swears nonstop. My body is already shaking from the pleasure, and as I start to move, my mind begins to melt again. Being connected to her makes me feel like my whole body will burn up and turn to ashes. She’s so hot.

  My inner dragon begins to take over, and I pound her wildly, shaking my bed. Her legs shake, and she swears and groans and moans. She calls out my name, making me go wilder. Her hands spread out to grip the sheets, and she closes her eyes. I do the same, wanting to just feel her. I quickly forget where I am and nearly forget my name too. I forget that I’m a part of a clan of dragon shifters that are clamoring to have her just like I am right now.

  Actually, that only turns me on even more, and suddenly, without warning, I lose myself in the moment. I spasm and shoot out. Erika muffles her screams of pleasure into the sheets. I pull her hips even tighter into mine, and I strain to keep myself from collapsing on top of her. My inner dragon roars out, and then we both slacken.

  Erika is breathing hard, and so am I...but I want more.

  Pulling out, I lift her and turn her over. She doesn’t say a thing when I place her down on her back. She knows from my look of desire that I want to go another round, and this time I want to see her beautiful face twist at the ecstasy.

  She smiles up at me, her arms splayed over her head. After entering her again, I reach forward and grab her arms, crossing them under her chest. And then I go nuts.

  Erika can’t help but laugh and moan and keep on swearing. Her voice is like the rhythm I move to, the beat I never want to stop hearing. I want to do this again, and again, and again. I want her to be my mate, and my mate only.

  The bed shakes wildly. Erika locks eyes with me. My face scrunches up as I keep pounding her. My body heats up to the point where I’m sweating like crazy. I’m stunned by how amazing this feels.

  I spasm harder this time, locking my muscles in place, hunching over at the sheer pleasure. Erika bites her lips, and at the last second, I lean down and kiss her. We both jerk on the bed. An eternity seems to pass.

  Eventually, I collapse on the bed next to her, and we both smile and gaze into each other’s eyes. At this moment, I can’t accept anything less than Erika becoming my mate.

  I go to speak, but then suddenly, the front door swings open.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Erika

  When we hear the front door swing open, we both scramble to our feet. Or, at least I do.

  Reed takes his time even just sitting up, rolling his shoulders, even whistling, while I quickly hurry to put on my clothes. Everything is sweaty and smelly, but I need to learn to deal with it if I don’t want us to be caught in Reed’s bedroom.

  “Reed? Erika?” Sven’s voice calls out.

  Finally standing, Reed goes to pick up his clothes and pull them on. In an effort to hurry him up, I toss his shirt at him, which he catches and then chuckles about. My cheeks are fully red now, and my embarrassment is driving my every action. I have a bad feeling that if Sven catches us, those two might begin to argue, or worse. Reed is already acting cockier than before, and it makes me sick to my stomach.

  Barging out into the hallway, I walk back into the rest of the apartment. I see Sven about to barge out the door, scowling. “Sven!” He stops and swivels, taking me in, his eyes widening at the sight of me.

  “Erika! Where were you? And why didn’t you answer me right away?” He comes back in, letting the door slam behind him. “And where the hell is Reed? He’s supposed to be guarding you right now. I swear, if that guy left to grab a bite to eat…”

  But Sven stops five feet away from me, his gaze shifting to something over my shoulder. I turn and see Reed, still shirtless, leaning against the hallway wall. He’s smiling like a kid who just bought candy, and he’s holding his shirt in one hand. “Hey, Sven, how did the scouting go?”

  Sven is looking between Reed and I now. I can see the connection being made in his hard eyes. He sniffs the air and grunts. “What exactly were you two doing?”

  Reed won’t answer, so Sven turns to me. “Were you both in your room, or his? There’s a heavy stench of sweat coming from back there...and you both smell like sex.”

  I cross my arms and look away, my heart thumping wildly. Ugh, this is not the conversation I want to be having right now! “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Sighing, Sven moves over to sit on a stool by the kitchen island, resting one tattooed arm on the table. The first tattoo I spy is a three-headed dragon spewing fire from all three mouths. Its tail wraps around his bicep and ends a bit further down. He catches me looking, and I try to smile at him.
“You don’t need to lie about it, Erika. We’re all adults here.” And when I still stand, rigid, my shoulders high and tight, he smiles. “It’s nothing to be ashamed about.”

  “Your damn right it isn’t,” Reed says. Coming forward, he pulls on his shirt. “Erika’s been stressed like hell recently. Since you and Hayden seem to never stop reminding her that she’s being hunted by a maniac for an ex-boyfriend, I decided to take it upon myself to help her out.” He comes forward to loom over Sven, which, well, isn’t easy to do. Sven is frowning, clearly not happy with Reed’s attitude. “So, I slept with her while you two were out.”

  “Excuse me?” Sven says, clenching his fist. “Are you telling me her paranoia is my fault?”

  “Pretty much, yeah.”

  My jaw is dropping, seeing my fears are already coming to fruition. I step forward to hopefully get their attention. “Okay, guys, let’s stop it there.”

  They both acknowledge me, but Sven growls and whips his eyes back to Reed. “I want to, Erika, but Reed has a tendency to get bullheaded every time he thinks he’s winning in a competition. I’m not about to let this one slide.”

  “Well, it was never a competition in the first place,” I say, my blood boiling. I step closer until I’m as close to those two as they are to each other.

  Reed actually flinches at my boldness and snarls himself. “We’ve been betting on who would sleep with you first for days now. No, actually, that was before we even met you. Sven might be acting all nice right now, but I guarantee you that the second you’re out of sight, he’ll whisper some nasty things to me.”

  “At least I don’t need to lord it over people in front of her,” Sven spits. “It’s like you’re too insecure about your standing in our clan...what, did you feel that Hayden and I were so far ahead of you that you had to just rub this in my face?”

  A vein pops in Reed’s neck as Sven rises, and the two are inches from each other, snarling and staring each other down.

  Finally, I’ve had enough and grab both of their shoulders. I wrench them apart as best I can, straining to push these two dragon shifters away from each other. Sven is easier to push, maybe because he’s willing to back down. But Reed is defiant. “Come on! You’re both here to protect me, not kill each other.” Both deflate a bit.

  “It’s your turn to scout, Reed,” I continue, completely putting myself between him and Sven. “Come on...I’ll walk you to the door.”

  Trembling, Reed grinds his teeth and shakes his head. “No, just stay in here. Who knows? Maybe Maxen’s just waiting outside to snatch you away.”

  He stalks past me, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “What was the point of getting dressed again if I am stripping down minutes later? Unbelievable.” He opens the door and steps outside into the sunlight. Sven and I stand in silence as we wait to hear the telltale signs of his shift into a dragon. Within seconds we hear his roar and the hard flap of his wings as he lifts into the sky.

  I’m left alone with Sven, unsure of what to do next.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sven

  I still find myself staring at the door when Reed finally leaves. It’s more like I’m picturing him still standing here, his back to me. I want to keep glaring at him, but I know that would be a waste of energy.

  Glancing at Erika, she meets my gaze, but only briefly. Quickly, she turns away and heads over to the couch, where she collapses and pulls her knees up to her chest. Sighing, I trudge over and plop down next to her, my full weight rocking the couch slightly. Erika jolts at the sudden movement and then gazes at me curiously.

  I shrug. “Yeah, this couch has a loose leg. We’ll get it fixed down the road.”

  She blinks but otherwise doesn’t say anything.

  Out of Hayden, Reed, and I, I’ve probably spent the least amount of time getting to know her. It hasn’t been because I didn’t want to, but Hayden and Reed were usually quicker about these things, much more impatient. I mean, I was impatient to know her too, but maybe I’d learned a thing or two over the years on how to approach these delicate situations.

  Right now, Erika was guarded. That much was obvious. Generally, if someone crosses their arms or just leans away from me, they’re a bit hesitant to speak with me. But now that Erika is huddling in a corner of the couch, drawing her knees up, resting her head on her knee and making herself as small as possible, she is more than just a bit hesitant. That conversation between Reed and me clearly upset her.

  While we sit on the couch, Erika stares straight ahead, and I follow her lead, stroking my beard.

  “Want to watch a movie?” I say suddenly. Erika glances at me, and then slowly nods. “Great. Anything in particular? No? Well, I’m just gonna randomly look for something on TV then.”

  She remains silent while I reach forward, grab the remote, and flip on the TV. The awkward tension is still hanging around us, but now at least we have some noise to drown out the silence. And now she has somewhere to look, something to focus on.

  I drape one arm over the back of the couch and put my feet up, rubbing my neck from those four hours of flying around the city, looking for Maxen. Peeking at her out of the corner of my eye, I see her do the same. Her eyes can never not make me go wild on the inside. A bright amber color, as if they were windows into her beautiful soul. She keeps glancing at me, as if she wants to say something, but doesn’t know what.

  Smiling, I turn my attention back to the TV and land on an action movie. Since we’re already halfway into the movie, the first thing that we see is a muscled guy with three different guns slung over his shoulder shooting wildly into a building, screaming something horrid.

  “Don’t let Reed or I get to you, Erika,” I say, choosing to start the conversation. My inner dragon wants to get to know her better, and this is as good a chance as any. “We’re all competitive shifters by heart, and sometimes we’re driven to try and one-up each other.” She frowns but otherwise doesn’t speak, so I go on. “Reed is...well, he’s not the youngest, but I think sometimes he feels like it. Hayden is just all around naturally charming, and me, well, what can I say?” I wave at myself. “I mean, I’m practically a Roman god, right?”

  Erika gives me a half-smile. “I guess so.”

  I lay my head back in defeat. “Damn! Well, if you’re not convinced, I suppose no one else will be.”

  “I don’t like the way Reed acted as if he conquered me,” Erika blurts out, curling up tighter on the couch. She turns to me, a skeptical look in her eyes. “Are you guys seriously competing over who’ll sleep with me first?”

  I scratch my chin. “Honestly? We are...or were, since I guess Reed beat us to it. I’m sorry about that. We all just think you’re gorgeous and our innate dragon nature demands us to sleep with women to stay sane. It was...kind of natural for us to want to sleep with you.” Erika is watching me intently now, her face blank, almost unreadable. I’m not exactly sure how she’ll react to what I’m telling her. “It’s perfectly fine to be frustrated with us because of that. We’ll all probably butt heads over it again.”

  Erika’s telltale red cheeks appear again. “So you’re just as attracted to me as Reed, or Hayden might be?”

  I grin. “Of course! Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? It’s not only that; you’ve got a great personality. Plus, I can relate to what you’re going through, so it’s a bit easier for me to fall for you, I think.”

  She raises an eyebrow, her legs coming down. Now she leans towards me. “How so?”

  Turning towards her, forgetting about the flashing movie on the TV screen entirely, I put my full attention on her. “When I was a kid, I had a pretty controlling father. He would beat my mother for talking to the people he didn’t want her too. If she even looked at another man, he would drag her into the bedroom against her will and have sex with her until she couldn’t move. He wouldn’t let us have any kind of phones or laptops whatsoever. I couldn’t even go to a normal school. I was an only child, but as soon as I got old enough, I did
odd jobs for our neighbors secretly to earn enough cash to buy a cam recorder. When I finally did get the recorder, I used it to film my dad’s abusive behavior. Then one day, I strolled into the local police station and showed them the footage, and weeks later, he was in jail.”

  “Oh, Sven, I’m so sorry,” Erika says. My hand is on the couch, and she reaches across to clasp it. Her touch is soft and electrifying, and I crave so much more.

  I can’t help but grin. “Looks like you’re feeling better already.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Erika

  Sven’s hand is tough yet warm. Where Reed is quick, or Hayden is cool and charming, when I hold onto Sven, I feel a different kind of inner peace. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s older and more experienced that comforts me, or maybe it’s because Sven actually understands what I’m going through. Either way, I’m quickly falling for him too.

  My head is practically hurting from this trio. I never expected to fall for any of these three shifters. I only wanted their protection, but now that I’m getting to know each of them in turn, I can’t help but grow closer to them. They’re quickly becoming my first friends in San Francisco, my first family, and maybe something more.

  But I tremble at the thought. It’s not like I can take all three of them as lovers, can I? No, that can’t happen...can it? I doubt they’ll all agree to that. They’ll probably kill each other before that happened, and I can’t allow tensions to ever get that far, especially not when Maxen is still on the prowl.

  Sighing, I hold Sven’s hand tighter subconsciously, staring back up at the action movie. One of the bad guys on screen shifts into a dragon, towering over the good guy with all the guns. They have an epic stare down before they charge at each other. And then it goes to commercials.