by Tami Lund
“You’re pretty good at this. Gabe picked the right person for this assignment.”
She stared at him for long seconds.
“What?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I just realized you’re right. I am pretty good at this.”
He smiled and patted her knee. “So what did you learn from Carlos tonight?”
Petra opened the internet browser on her laptop. She Googled antique shops royal street and then pointed at the row of red dots on the map that came up on her screen. “I believe Gabe’s mother owns one of these shops.”
Noah contemplated the image for a few moments before saying, “Well, I guess we’d better call it a night. Looks like we have our work cut out for us tomorrow.”
Considering it was past midnight and Sadie generally woke by 5 a.m., it was a good suggestion. Except, where the hell was he supposed to sleep?
“Are you, er, planning to stay here?” she asked as she stood and stretched before heading over to extract Sadie from the swing so she could change her diaper and put her in her bassinet.
“Yeah, I hadn’t really thought that through. I can go find a hotel or something.”
He could also stay at Pacey’s place. Petra knew the human woman would welcome him with open arms. But Rebecca lived there, too, and the way she’d looked at Noah earlier… Well, Petra’s dragon was quite adamantly against that idea.
“Um, you don’t have to do that.”
He glanced at her small, secondhand couch. “So you don’t mind if I crash on your couch?”
She snorted. “It’s surprisingly comfortable but way too short for you. You’ll be miserable. You take the bed.”
She walked down the hall toward the bedroom. Noah followed.
“No way. I’m not kicking you out of your bed.”
“Hey, if you sleep in here, you get to wake up with Sadie. So trust me, it’s not that great of a deal.” She placed the baby on the changing table and proceeded to exchange her wet diaper for a fresh one.
“Damn, your bed is huge.”
“Yeah, I totally got a great deal by accident. I ordered a queen, but they shipped a king, and because it was their fault, they let me keep it.”
“Nice.”
She kissed the top of her baby’s downy head and placed her in the bassinet.
“Um…” She darted a glance at the bed. “We could, uh, share. If you want to.”
Holy smokes, why the hell had she offered up that option? Just being in the same room with the guy turned her dragon into a lust-crazed pussycat and her body into a puddle of liquid desire. She’d practically attacked him in that cemetery. No way could she handle sleeping in the same bed with him.
No. Way.
Noah ran his hand over his hair and then cupped the back of his neck. “I don’t know…”
“It’s huge.” She waved at the monstrosity of a bed. Her mind and her mouth were clearly not on the same wavelength. “Plenty of room for both of us, without even touching.” He still hesitated, and she didn’t let up. “Your other option is a couch that is half the length of your body. Your choice.”
“Well, when you put it that way…”
***
She was an idiot. Why did she think she’d be able to sleep with Noah lying next to her?
No, he didn’t snore. He wasn’t a bed hog, and he didn’t steal the covers. In fact, he was quite the polite sleeping companion, all things considered.
What he did do was exist. With that remarkably cut chest lying next to her, without a shirt to hide it from her view. In fact, all he was currently wearing was a pair of blue plaid boxer shorts. He’d apologized and offered to don more clothing, and she’d insisted he do whatever makes him comfortable.
They were friends, after all, right? Platonic co-parents. It was like having her closest gay friend sleep with her.
No, no it wasn’t. Not even close. She’d never once fantasized about Jeff, whereas she’d fantasized several times a day about Noah. Hell, she’d fantasized about him since he walked back into her life less than twenty-four hours ago.
She was definitely a woman with issues. And the biggest one was sound asleep next to her right now.
I remember how big he was.
Her damn dragon certainly wasn’t helping matters.
Noah shifted and Petra held her breath. He rolled onto his side and blinked his eyes open. “Can’t sleep?” he asked, his voice gravelly because he most certainly didn’t have the same problem.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He lay on his back and threaded his fingers behind his head. “You didn’t. I wasn’t sleeping either.”
“Why not?”
“You first.”
“Because you’re in the bed with me.”
He started to sit up, and she reached out and clamped a hand onto his bicep. Gods, the man had seriously huge arms. Who knew cooking kept a man in such good shape?
“Don’t leave. It’s not your fault.”
“You just said you can’t sleep because I’m here. So I’ll leave. It’s—”
“It’s because I’m attracted to you.” She stared at him. Well, it was out there now. She cleared her throat. “So…yeah. I mean, you’re pretty damn hot.”
He stilled, and for long moments it was as though time stood still. And then he slowly lay back down, facing her, and propped his head in his hand. “So you’re attracted to me, huh?”
She rolled her eyes. “This isn’t about to turn into one of those stupid ego trips, is it?”
He chuckled. “No. If it makes you feel better, I’m attracted to you, too.”
“You are?”
“Do you not recall what happened when Sadie was conceived? My recollection was, it was damned hot. We were so high on endorphins we forgot to use protection. That’s some serious attraction, in my book.”
She clutched at the sheet draped over her hips. “Yeah, well, I’m not the same person anymore.”
“You’re not? What’s changed? Besides the baby, I mean.”
Glancing down at the boobs practically spilling out of the top of her camisole, she said, “I have a mom bod now.”
She watched as he took his time perusing her body, his gaze landing on her cleavage, the curve of her hips, the apex of her thighs, which was warming at an alarming rate. Cripes, she was going to set the bedsheets on fire if she didn’t figure out a way to cool down.
“What’s a mom bod?” he finally asked.
She waved at her chest. “These things. They’re way bigger and not nearly as perky as they were before.”
“Not a deterrent. Breasts are fantastic, whatever their shape and size.”
“They also leak milk at the most inopportune times.”
“Okay, that’s a little…awkward. But still, not a turnoff.”
When did they start playing “prove to me you’re not attractive?”
She cupped her belly, gave it a little jiggle. Then slapped her ample thigh. “These. They’re way more…”
“Soft?”
She frowned. “I guess. And that’s—”
“Hot.”
“Huh?”
“Not that our first experience together was bad in any way whatsoever, but there was a moment where I thought, damn, she’s bony.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “Yep. I prefer soft women. I like to cuddle, and it’s far more comfortable when the person I’m cuddling has a little cushion.”
“You—you like to cuddle?” When had she morphed into a parrot?
He nodded again, staring at her, unblinking, his eyes so bright they were practically glowing.
“Wait. Did you say ‘first experience together?’”
“I did.”
Oh gods.
I don’t want this.
Yes, you do, her dragon whispered.
Yes, I do.
She rolled over to face him, copying his stance by bending her elbow and resting her head in her hand. “So what are you suggesting?” s
he asked, her voice taking on a low, sexy tone she didn’t even realize she could accomplish.
“When you talk like that, any damn thing you want,” he said, reaching for her.
Petra flopped onto her back and slapped her hands against the bed. “Damn it.”
He pulled his arm back. “What?”
“No protection. Unless you brought some with you?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t really plan ahead for this trip. As soon as I figured out—or at least suspected—you had my baby, I took off.”
Okay, she was definitely not going to read into that. Yes, she was. Just not right now.
Instead, she lay there, staring at the ceiling, hyper-aware of the man lying next to her, as tense as she was. She could see the outline of his erection in the filtered moonlight shining through the curtains.
Her mouth watered. Her dragon wept. Her body screamed.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” she announced, abruptly rolling out of bed and stumbling toward the door.
Once in the hall, instead of turning left to use the toilet, she kept going, into the living room, where she snagged her purse and a hoodie, which she tugged over her shoulders and zipped up to hide her erect nipples from view. And then she slipped out the front door.
There was a twenty-four-hour pharmacy two blocks away.
***
When she returned to the bedroom, breathless from jogging back to the house, Noah was sitting up in bed. “You didn’t go to the bathroom,” he said.
“Nope.” She tossed a small box at him. He caught it and his brow furrowed as he read the words printed on the glossy front.
“You bought condoms?”
He sounded disbelieving, not excited. Shit. Had she read the situation wrong?
“Um, yeah.”
He shook his head. “Next time, tell me what you’re planning and I’ll do it for you. It’s three in the morning. Who knows what could have happened to you out there.”
“The same things that could have happened to you if you’d gone instead. Now, are you going to continue lecturing me, or are we going to make my trip worth it?”
He placed the box on the bedside table and reached out, using the hem of her hoodie to drag her toward him. “We’re definitely going to make your trip worth it.” He grasped the zipper and started to tug it down but stopped.
“What?” she asked, her voice breathless.
“What about Sadie? Should we, uh, go to another room?”
“She’s asleep.” Petra pushed him onto his back and tugged off the hoodie. Her nipples pressed against the fabric of her camisole, the abrasion heightening her arousal. “We have until probably around 5 a.m.”
He sat up again, grabbed a fistful of her shirt, and pulled her toward him. She landed on top of him and he deftly flipped her onto her back. Her breasts rose and fell with her erratic breathing as he hovered over her, a hand pressed into the sheets on either side of her arms.
“Only two hours,” he said. “I’d better get to work.”
Only two hours? Criminy, most of her sexual encounters hadn’t lasted more than fifteen minutes. Including the first one with him.
Her eyes widened as she watched his lips descend, and then they fluttered closed as flesh pressed against flesh and sparks erupted in her body. She was a sparkler and he’d lit the fuse. Except she didn’t think the fireworks would ever burn out.
She wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him to her, spreading her legs so that he could nestle between them. Despite the difference in their sizes, he fit perfectly, like they were meant to be here, in this position. In this situation.
He broke the kiss and nibbled his way across her cheek to her ear, nuzzling it for a moment before trailing his lips down her neck and across her chest. He teased a finger along the bodice of her camisole and asked, “Can I touch them?”
Oh gods, she wished, but she shook her head. “Probably not a good idea, unless you like the taste of breast milk.”
He chuckled. “Maybe we’ll wait.”
Before her mind could fully grasp the idea that maybe we’ll wait meant he planned to do this again, he started moving lower, shifting his body down the bed as he lifted her camisole to drop hot kisses onto her quivering belly. She sucked in a breath and held it when he reached the hem of her pajama shorts.
Lifting his head, he said, “Breathe, Petra. I’d really rather you not pass out right now.”
She exhaled in a great whoosh, and his lips quirked before he focused his attention back to parts below her belly button. Parts that were warming at an alarming rate. Parts that were eager and desperate for his touch. Parts that were really, really hoping he was about to do what she suspected he was about to…
Hooking his fingers into the waistband of her shorts, he tugged them down, kissing her pelvic bone and then the top of her thigh, then her knee. As he lifted her leg to extract it from the material, he kissed her ankle and shifted to the other leg and repeated the process.
Oh, she was definitely breathing now. Short, gasping spurts.
Once he’d gotten rid of her shorts, he placed his hands on the tops of her feet, smoothed them up her legs until his thumbs grazed her sex. She arched off the bed and bit her lip to keep from crying out.
Cupping her inner thighs, he spread her legs. Petra grasped the headboard and squeezed her eyes shut as he brushed a finger along her seam. “Mmm,” he said, and it sounded like he had something in his mouth. She opened her eyes and watched as he sucked her juices from his digit.
“Oh gods,” she said on a gasp, flinging her head back against the pillow.
She felt the heat of his breath a scant moment before his tongue rasped against her sex, licking her from bottom to top and causing her to arch her back again. He placed a hand on top of her thigh and pressed, holding her still, and then he began lapping at her, thrusting his tongue into her opening while his teeth grazed her clit, over and over. Petra’s body was on fire, a liquid heat. Like lava, it was bubbling, building in intensity. When he swirled his tongue around her clit while inserting two fingers into her opening, she exploded, a volcano erupting like it had been dormant for centuries.
When she blinked open her eyes long moments later, Noah was lying between her thighs, licking his fingers and looking quite pleased with himself.
“I need more,” she said, her chest still heaving, her heart ramming against her rib cage. She pushed him onto his back and scrambled to her hands and knees, crawling down the bed so she could pull down his boxer shorts. His erection sprang free, bobbing, glistening with pre-cum. Eager. Ready.
Just like her.
“Here,” he said, and he was holding a small, foil packet. She plucked the condom from his fingers, ripped the foil, and took her sweet time rolling it down the length of him. His drawn out groan told her he probably both hated and loved the effort.
“Petra,” he murmured as she simply sat and stroked him after she’d sheathed him. “This is bordering on torture.”
“Let’s see if I can do something about that,” she said as she straddled him, grasped his erection, and rubbed it against the wetness at her core. He clutched her hips, his fingers pressing into her skin. Finally, she couldn’t take the anticipation any longer, and she sank down onto his shaft with a satisfied gasp.
He took control, using his hands on her hips to find his rhythm, their rhythm. Every stroke sent tingles of pleasure shooting up her spine, and she began to climb toward that pinnacle again. Gods, had she ever had two orgasms in one night before?
“So close,” he said through gritted teeth, and she pressed her hands against his abs as she rotated her hips, chasing the pleasure, wanting more.
He moved his hands so that his thumbs brushed against her clit, rubbing her there, harder, faster, until she cried out as her climax slammed into her. While she was still riding the waves, he wrapped his arm around her back and flipped her over to begin pounding into her at a frenzied pace, until his entire body stiffened and she felt him
pulsing inside her, as he, too, found his release.
With a gusty sigh, he rolled onto his back next to her, tugged off the condom, tied it, and tossed it into the small trashcan next to the bedside table. Then he shifted to his side, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her close, until they were nestled together like spoons in a drawer.
“Sorry I didn’t make it to two hours,” he whispered, his breath fluttering her hair.
She sighed and smiled, closing her eyes and letting his body heat seep into her soul. “Guess we’ll have to try again tomorrow night.”
Chapter 6
“Don’t forget, this is all an act.”
It was at least the tenth time the woman had made a similar comment since they’d concocted this plan while eating the hearty omelets he’d whipped up as she breastfed Sadie and sucked down coffee like a vampire drinking blood.
“Yeah, I was there when we came up with this idea.” Her paranoia that he might suddenly want to mate with her was a tad over the top.
It’s just lust, he reminded his dragon. Or maybe himself.
But, yeah, that meant they had nothing to worry about. He wasn’t about to fall in love. And she sure as hell was determined to keep their relationship on a strictly physical level.
Which should be the perfect scenario. Therefore, he shouldn’t be irritated at her constant reminders that last night meant nothing.
“We’re a happy couple with our infant daughter, tourists visiting New Orleans, and we’re from a colony out west. Our reeve loves antiques, so we’re looking for something appropriate to take back to him,” Petra repeated the story they’d concocted prior to setting out on this excursion down Royal Street. There were antique shops as far as the eye could see. And they had to visit every single one, at least until they found—or didn’t—Gabe’s mother.
They had no idea what the woman looked like and they weren’t 100 percent certain she owned one of these places. But if this brought Petra that much closer to moving home, he was more than happy to help her, as she put it, turn every stone.
Noah stopped pushing the stroller at the first storefront. Sadie was in the seat, clutching a brightly colored toy and observing her surroundings. Petra had fed her right before they left the house and said she should be good for at least three hours before they’d need to take a break.