by Amelia Jade
“It is something, isn’t it,” Ivore agreed, ignoring her first comment.
Violet got the distinct impression from the tone of his voice that Ivore wasn’t looking out the window, but she didn’t want to go there, so she just ignored it. If he wanted to stare at her drywall-covered butt, then so be it.
“Which way is the shower?” she asked, tearing her eyes away from the landscape.
“My room is over here.” He gestured off to the right at a set of doors. Leading her through, he showed her the washroom, grabbing a spare towel from a nearby closet.
Then he snatched up a bottle from the shower and his towel and departed, leaving her alone, just as he’d promised. Without making a move of any sort, also like he’d promised.
Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that it was empty and that she’d promised it pasta. There would be little more patience if she delayed. Locking the door, she hopped into the glass-walled shower. It was huge. She could move in a circle with her arms outstretched and not touch any side of it.
The control knobs took some figuring out, and she got splashed with freezing cold water on two separate occasions, both of which prompted some high-pitched yelps. Eventually she got the shower going. It was amazing—not only was there a huge showerhead, but she could turn on some massaging jets and let them play across her back while she cleaned all the grime off.
All too soon she was clean, and any further time spent in the shower would just be delaying her stomach’s gratification. Reluctantly she turned it off and got out, drying herself off. Realizing she’d left her bag back in his bedroom, she opened the door and walked out into the room, stopping dead.
Across the room from her Ivore was pulling something out from one of his dresser drawers. It wasn’t his presence that caught her attention, but instead the complete lack of underwear. He was nude.
And she was staring at his butt.
It was rather cute. Tight and firm-looking, just like what she’d imagined it would, though maybe it was just a little bigger.
Two things happened at once as they both clued in to what was happening at the same time.
Ivore yelped in surprise, noticing her in the mirror and spinning around.
Violet meanwhile stumbled backward toward the washroom to try and hide, but her towel caught on the door handle and pulled itself free, tripping her up. She fell to the ground, hitting her arm off the tiled floor. “Ow!” she cried as pain blossomed up her arm.
“Violet!” He rushed over to her, kneeling at her side. “Are you okay?”
He was still naked.
Something brushed against her feet as she lay cradling one arm. It was the towel, sliding off the door handle. Violet shouted and thrashed, covering up her nudity. “What are you doing?!”
In her movements she turned her head back and forth, catching a complete look at what was hanging between his legs.
Oh God, why did this have to happen to her? She was so embarrassed.
“You cried out. Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine, it just stung. But you’re naked.”
He nodded. “So are you.”
She adjusted her hands, trying to cover herself up. “Don’t remind me.”
“Okay.” He draped the towel across her. “I’m sorry.”
“What were you doing in there? You said you weren’t going to try anything.”
“I forgot to bring clothes. I’m sorry. I needed to get fresh ones. Somebody said I had an aroma they didn’t approve of. So I was going for a different approach this time. I thought I’d try clean everything.”
Despite everything she couldn’t help but snicker. That had been a good line.
“Okay. But you’re still naked. I can see your…well, everything.” She inadvertently looked when she spoke, another image of his dick implanting itself in her brain.
At least as far as dicks went, it was a good one. Long, thick, and just the right amount of veins when it was hard. Oh no. He was hard.
“Sorry about that. I’d use the towel to cover up, but someone decided they wanted to hog it.”
She rolled her eyes. “What, you think we can both fit under here? What exactly would that accomplish?”
“I could think of a few things.”
His voice sent tingles down her spine. Against her will the tips of her breasts hardened, her body responding to the unspoken thoughts and the hard cock sitting mere inches away from her left hand.
Violet knew she was at a crossroad. Things with Ivore were supposed to move slow, at a pace she was comfortable with, when she was ready. Taking a leap forward like this wasn’t something she’d actually thought would occur. After all, the more Ivore learned about her the more she was positive he’d want to distance himself.
Yet here they were, both naked, the only thing stopping anything from happening being a far-too-small piece of terrycloth draped over her body. Nothing was visible, and yet he was still as hard as a rock, kneeling at her side, massaging her right arm with his fingers. The pain had long since fled, but she didn’t want him to stop.
“Why are you hard?” she asked suddenly.
Ivore’s fingers paused in their motion as he studied her. “Is that a serious question? While I know you didn’t mean to, I saw you. All of you. Naked. Every curve and swoop, every valley and peak. I’ve never come across a more intoxicating sight before in my life. Have you any idea how badly I’ve wanted you this past while? How hard I’ve had to fight to ensure I behaved around you so that I wouldn’t drive you away?”
His voice grew deeper as he spoke, coming from his core, from the truth of who he was.
“But I’m not sexy,” she protested. “I’m just fat. I have rolls and bumps and—”
“You’re soft and luxurious and full of life,” he corrected. “So tender and delicious, tantalizing and erotic. I want to explore everything there is about you while showing you just how sexy you are, and how lucky any man should be to have you.”
His voice was practically a growl by the time he finished. Like before his dark blue eyes had become lighter, glowing with a feral light as he eyed her up and down, likely picturing what was beneath the little towel.
The arousal in his voice spoke to something in Violet, something deep that she’d buried and pushed away, refusing to allow herself to think about or feel. Her body responded sluggishly, working to remember just how it felt to be wanted, to be touched by someone.
Ivore seemed to pick up on the change. Maybe it was her breathing, or the way she kept glancing between his legs, try as though she might not to. His fingers danced across her forearm and then worked their way across her bicep, heading toward her shoulder. Each time he touched somewhere new she shuddered, struggling to draw in a breath.
The sensation of being touched was almost overwhelming, a stimulus her body had gone without for year after year. Now Ivore was not only reminding her of it, but taking everything she’d ever known to a whole new level.
She stared at the crossroad for a moment longer before making her decision. Hormone met brain, and one side emerged the victor.
Chapter Sixteen
Ivore
He hissed in surprise as her left hand twitched, soft, thick fingers wrapping themselves around his shaft. They were a little cold, but the sensation soon fled, any discomfort washed away by the slow, gentle strokes of his mate. She knew just how to touch him, taking it slow, allowing him to savor the feeling of being pleasured. It was a wonderful thing.
“You have a rather big dick.” She mostly sounded impressed, though there might have been a bit of fear or trepidation there as well.
There needn’t have been. Ivore wasn’t planning to have sex with her today. They were already moving way faster than either of them had planned. Hormones were raging and the pair of them were acting uncontrollably, like teenagers in heat exploring one another’s bodies for the first time.
“Why thank you. You have soft hands.” He worked his fingers across her collarbone as he spoke, wondering if he
would get another peek beneath the towel at the gorgeous figure she was hiding.
Violet cringed and dropped her hand, but he smiled. “I like the way it feels.”
His words seemed to give her the courage to resume. It felt weird to him to do little more than massage her skin while she pleasured him. It was the opposite of what he’d expected to happen, but at this point Ivore wasn’t sure how to change the flow of things without disrupting it completely. Everything was going completely off-script and he knew the slightest misstep could stop it all in a heartbeat.
“Well that makes two of us,” she replied, glancing down at where his fingers were gently kneading the skin of her upper chest.
Ivore glanced down at the rest of her, noting what curves he could see through the towel. “If there’s anywhere else that hurts, let me know,” he said, wincing at the hoarseness in his voice. How was it that she could make him feel so aroused and yet lose all his composure at the same time? What a remarkable woman.
“Okay.” She used her free hand and gently tugged the towel down until the top of her breasts were visible.
Taking the clue, he started to massage her chest, gently sending warming touches deep into the muscles and flesh there. Despite being an ice dragon, he still burned at an abnormally high temperature in human form, courtesy of his high metabolism. His stomach threatened to rumble in reminder of that very thing, but he tamped down on it, not wanting the noise to spoil the mood.
Violet shuffled slightly as he worked his way lower, and the towel slid free of her chest. He drank in the sight of her large, swollen breasts, noting the hardness of her nipples. But he had to be polite, and so he went to place the towel back. A hand stopped him however, and a questioning glance received a headshake, affirming her acceptance of her nudity.
He braced himself on the floor with one hand, the other massaging her chest, slowly tweaking her nipple. A soft moan reached his ears, all the impetus he needed to continue. His mate was enjoying herself, and Ivore wanted nothing more in the world. Lowering his head he kissed her, something else they hadn’t done nearly enough of.
There was no hesitation this time, her mouth parting right away. Her hand squeezed tighter around his shaft when he ran a finger over the tip of her breast, prompting a surge of blood between his legs.
Ivore ran his hand up and down her side, pulling the towel all the way off her soft, supple stomach, leaving it in a pile covering her mound. He wanted to rip it away, to see her completely naked body once more, but he had to wait for her.
“Why’d you leave it there?” she protested. “I’m enjoying touching you, but if you think you’re going to get me all turned on and leave me high and dry, then you aren’t the man I—”
Ivore ripped the towel away and straddled her in one smooth motion, sitting just above her hips. “I would love that,” he rumbled, reaching behind and dragging his fingers up her inner thigh.
He watched his mate’s eyes slowly roll back into her head, chin lifting to the sky. Both hands were working him now, though she often would use one for a moment, the other running up and down his flexed stomach. She loved his muscles.
At long last he dipped a solitary finger between her legs, watching her face intently, listening to the way her deep breathing transitioned to moaning almost instantaneously. There was plenty of wetness for him to use, and the more he touched her the more she responded.
Ivore wanted to speak, to tell her how amazing she looked. That he loved the way she tasted after he licked his finger, or to say just about anything. But he feared that any noise would shatter the stillness of the moment, reminding both of them that this wasn’t supposed to be happening yet.
She squirmed under him as he focused on her clit, moving in circles over it. The low moans grew louder, punctuated by the occasional cry of pleasure, a sound that made his cock strain in her hand, throbbing with the need to explode.
When she switched to a single hand on his shaft and one massaging his sac Ivore thought he was about to explode. Violet wasn’t at her climax yet, and so he flexed his abs as hard as he could to stave it off. He wanted it to be together the first time.
“Faster,” she hissed, thrusting her hips up at him.
It was the first word she’d spoken, the first sign that she was near. Ivore moved his finger faster, putting just the tiniest bit of extra pressure on her as well.
Violet gasped, her eyes going wide and her chest arching high into the sky. She fixated on him, head shaking slightly, nodding, telling him that she was close. Ivore groaned, the sight nearly more than he could take. She had to be close; he couldn’t hold on much longer. It was too much.
“Ivore!”
Hearing his mate cry out his name was too much. Ivore groaned loudly, feeling himself tighten. He was going to finish and there was no stopping it now. The sight and feel was overwhelming. All he wanted was to ensure she came with him. Together, as one.
Just as he fell over the edge Violet went stiff behind him, her mouth frozen open, her entire body still for a split second.
A stream shot forth from his cock, splashing across her breast, and the world went white. Violet cried out his name again and again, shuddering violently underneath him as she came, her hands working his cock for all it was worth. She drained him completely across both breasts while he watched, a sight that was already arousing him again even as he fell forward, bracing himself on both hands, cock throbbing.
Violet was shuddering and whimpering, the small smile on her face telling him he needn’t worry, that she was good, and was simply basking in the moment.
“Can I offer you the towel now?” he asked after a minute or so, both of them having finally recovered their breaths.
“Yes. Yes, I think that would be a good idea,” she said, looking down at the mess covering her chest and upper stomach. “A really good idea.”
He offered to clean it for her, but she waved him off. “It’s just easier this way,” she stated, sitting up next to him.
Ivore leaned in and kissed her, momentarily distracting them both, thoughts of a second round entering his head…and probably hers too, judging by how thoroughly she kissed him back.
Then, almost as one, their stomachs rumbled loudly, a reminder of what the plan had been before an inadvertent butt and door handle had changed their relationship completely.
Blue eyes met amber, and Violet collapsed into him, the two of them laughing hysterically at the inside joke, struggling for breath harder than they had minutes earlier.
How had they gone from a simple shower before food to this?
Ivore didn’t know the answer, but he couldn’t wipe the smile from his face for the rest of the evening.
Chapter Seventeen
Violet
There was a problem.
Violet was happy.
She wasn’t supposed to be happy. Not with Ivore, not with anyone, or anything. It wasn’t right for her to be. Maybe if things were different, if someone else could feel happiness, she might allow herself to as well. But they couldn’t. Not now, and not ever again. If they couldn’t feel joy, why should she get to?
It was impossible to deny that’s how Ivore made her feel. Although she hadn’t stayed the night, she’d been yawning continuously all morning, having stayed up until the small hours of the morning talking.
Everything was confusing. After her talk with Andria she’d felt like opening herself up to the possibility of something happening with Ivore was the right way to go. She hadn’t expected to feel like she was betraying the memory of someone else by doing so.
Since it had happened, more people than she could count—those close to her and those not—had told her that she should let go and be happy. That it was a freak accident and that she wasn’t to blame. That she was forgiven.
None of it had ever sunk in. Violet hated herself, and there had been days shortly after the accident that she’d wanted to kill herself in hopes that it might balance the scales. Those days had passed eventually, with
the help of alcohol to numb the pain. With the help of Andria, she’d stopped drinking daily, turning herself into a social drinker only. But what had never left her was the guilt. The knowledge that everything would have been different if she had just thought of someone else instead of being selfish.
Now she was sitting in her car in the parking lot of the apartment building where her new shop was going to be located, trying to decide what to do.
Running felt…wrong. Like it would make her out to be an even worse person than she already was, after telling Ivore that she would give him a chance. He was a good man, and none of what was going on was his fault, so she shouldn’t be doing anything to hurt him. But how was she supposed to reconcile everything that was going on? In the end, someone was going to get hurt. Violet just needed to ensure it was her, and not anyone else.
In the meantime, there was work to be done. She couldn’t just sit around in her car and avoid it. The store was coming together and she hoped to be able to open it in the next few weeks at best. Today was a good day though. Today they were supposed to be putting the sign out front.
Getting out of the car, she headed inside. Ivore was busy getting everything ready, cleaning the sign and doing some measurements, and didn’t even notice her until she came up next to him.
“Morning!” he said jovially, reaching out with one arm to give her a hug. “Are you ready to put this bad boy up?”
Violet returned it, letting her arm drop quickly. She wanted to focus on work today, pushing her personal problems to the side for a bit. Besides, there were plenty of contractors around. Ivore had hired multiple crews, and most of them were unknown faces.
“Yeah, I’m ready.” She looked at the sign, reading the name once again and feeling subdued by it all.
O’Hara’s Famous Cupcakes.
It looked great, done up in a beautiful scarlet-colored cursive font on a white background. It would stand out from the black and steel-gray building with ease. The name wasn’t her first choice, but it was an homage to someone who couldn’t be there, and she felt it had to be done. It had been his idea for the name, and now at least it would live on forever.