by Amelia Jade
“You startled me,” she said, momentarily out of breath. “I didn’t hear you come closer.”
“We dragons are suuuuper stealthy,” he drawled.
Aimee rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen you in your other form, bigfoot, and trust me, you are nothing close to stealthy.”
“Pretty sure I sneaked up on you,” he shot back, sticking out his tongue.
Aimee didn’t respond with words, just glared at him as she stood in the doorway.
“Are you doing the whole ‘don’t move he might not see me’ routine again?” he teased.
Her face had to have lit up like a spotlight if the burning in her cheeks was any indication. “That was a cheap shot,” she said grumpily. “Now, are you staying somewhere else or on the couch?”
He grinned. “Umm, as awkward as it is, can I use your couch again?”
“You just keep unravelling this night,” she teased, finding her stride again as she stepped back to let him in.
“Maybe,” he agreed. “But I could feel your pulse when I was kissing you.”
She froze.
“And I can feel it again now,” he said, taking her wrist.
Aimee forced herself to swallow through the dryness, licking her lips nervously. She hadn’t expected things to heat up again. His hand was causing a jumpy flutter of her heartbeat, even as it raced along like a runaway freight train.
This was moving too fast.
That’s the thought she knew should be going through her mind, prompting her to slow things down so they could take their time. It was normal, natural even, to be turned on by someone, but she liked to wait a little longer before hopping into bed with them. So where had her restraint gone? It had clearly abandoned her when it came to Rhys, but she couldn’t figure out why.
He stepped closer, his twin azure circles staring down at her from above, unfazed by the fact she was wearing heels. The sharp jaw that was right off of a statue was so close, she could almost reach out and touch it.
Or I could just, you know, actually touch it, she thought to herself as her fingers started to caress him. Next thing you know I’m going to kiss him again.
Her fingers tightened and pulled his head down to hers so she could taste him once more.
I give up.
She inhaled sharply as he picked her up and twirled her around, the floor-length dress billowing out around her feet as they spun. Aimee felt weightless in his arms. Not only did she feel like she was flying, but Aimee, for the first time in a long time, was feeling like she was fragile and dainty. Like a woman.
Perhaps it was ultra-stereotypical of her, but screw it. Deep down she’d always wanted a fairytale romance where the big strapping hero stepped in and swept her off her feet, making her swoon.
And now she was getting it, she thought, her head beginning to spin as he dipped her and kissed her again. She was swooning… that was actually happening.
The next thing she knew they were falling into the bed, her dress collapsing into a puddle on the floor while his suit flicked up and over the door to hang in place. Aimee couldn’t believe what was about to happen.
She gasped as he turned around from removing everything but his boxers. “Oh. My. God.”
Aimee and her team were in good shape. They worked out daily, and adhered to a fairly rigid eating plan as well. It was necessary for the job, and provided them with the best chances of a successful rescue, something that was important to all. She’d seen the boys in the buff; it was just a fact of the job. They were muscular and fit. Possibly even once or twice she’d actually admired their physique, during a particularly dry spell.
But Rhys put them all to shame in as painful a way as you could imagine. She was quite positive that his muscles had muscles, which were really just composed of even more ripped muscles. His body quite literally rippled as he came to a halt.
His everything was taut and tight. Forearms, biceps, his shoulders bulged outward. His chest was shredded, and oh, those abs. She wanted to wash her clothes on them. While she was still dressed!
Delicious perfection was the phrase she chose to use to describe him as he stood clad in a pair of black boxers that he’d probably gotten at the same time as the suit.
“Is there a problem?”
“Yes,” she said, nodding absently as her gaze traveled down his body.
“Really?”
“Yeah. A half-naked man in black socks is an awkward sight to behold.”
The words hadn’t finished leaving her mouth before they flew across the room, landing somewhere out of sight.
“How about now?”
“Well, there’s still the…”
His boxers joined them.
“Wow.”
Her eyes were unabashedly fixed on his cock. A particularly depraved part of her mind had been interested in seeing this view since early on. Now that she had it, Aimee knew her imagination had been lacking. It was better than she could have hoped.
“Is it my turn now?” he asked, one side of his mouth curling up.
“My dress is over there,” she started to say while looking down. “Oh fuck me! What the hell. This is so embarrassing,” she muttered while ripping the pasties off her nipples. “Ow! Dammit, stupid tape.”
She was so caught up in her cursing she almost missed Rhys murmur the words, “I intend to.”
Almost.
“Do you now?” she asked, trying to regain her sexy voice and pose now that she was clad in only a black, see-through lace thong and heels.
“Unless you say otherwise, yes.” His voice deepened as he spoke, his desire finally starting to leak through.
“I suppose you’d better come over here and take these off then.” She pulled out the band to her underwear, intending to snap it against her skin.
It broke in her hand and fell to the ground.
“Are you kidding me! Those were expensive.” Looking up at him, now completely naked, she sighed, crossing her arms in front of her. “I am not any good at this sexy thing. I’m sorry. It’s just not me.”
He frowned, then waved his hand up and down in front of her face as if trying to get her attention. Then he pointed down. Her eyes traveled across his gorgeously defined torso until they saw what he was indicating.
“I think you are absolutely stunning,” he rumbled, stepping forward, his hardness causing his shaft to sway from side to side.
“You’re just saying that because I’m naked,” she pouted, only half-faking it. Her ego had taken a real bruise the past few minutes as she tried over and over again to be seductive, only to have it fail.
“I mean, it certainly helps,” he agreed jokingly. “But look at it this way.”
She reluctantly let her arms drop as he pulled them away from her small chest. “What way?”
“It’s about time you bombed spectacularly.”
Despite herself she giggled. Rhys saw his moment and he took it, sweeping her off her feet once more and laying her back onto the bed as he climbed on top.
“You won’t need these,” he said, sliding a hand down her leg and slipping off one shoe before repeating it with the other leg.
They kissed some more, and as he lowered himself over the top of her, Aimee’s body reacted positively to the pressure of him against her opening as he rested there carefully.
“You don’t need to put so much pressure on yourself to be ‘sexy,’” he said, emphasizing the word so she could visualize the quotes around it.
“But I want to be,” she said, her head rocking back as he kissed her neck and the top of her chest. “Mmm, that’s nice.”
“You can be sexy, but without having to try so hard.”
“How?” she hissed as his finger slid between her legs and teased at her.
“What do you want right now?”
“To have sex.”
He dipped his finger a little lower, using some of her own wetness to slide easier across her skin. “And what does sex involve?”
“You inside me?” sh
e asked with a frown.
“Exactly. So tell me what you want, but say it differently this time,” he growled, his finger lifting away from her.
She whimpered as he stopped.
“Say it.”
“I want you inside of me,” she said, knowing now what he was getting at.
His finger returned, quickly increasing in speed and even a bit in pressure.
“What is this going to do?” he said, biting down gently on her earlobe.
“I’m going to come,” she moaned, leaning forward to bite down on his shoulder as he arched over her to kiss the other side of her neck. “Don’t stop.”
He didn’t. A few minutes later she gasped and her body convulsed as her core tightened, the pressure between her legs building to an incredible level in the span of a second before exploding out through her body. Her fingers dug deep into his back as she arched, her cries filling the room and probably seeping through the paper-thin walls into her neighbors’ apartment.
That was the least of her worries however, as before she was even finished with her orgasm Rhys began to push inside of her.
“Oh fuck yesss,” she hissed as he entered her. She felt herself spread to accommodate his girth, knowing it would only continue until he was entirely inside of her. “Take me,” she moaned, not caring if her neighbors heard. If they hadn’t yet, they were going to in a minute.
“Take me now.”
Chapter Sixteen
Rhyolite
He stared down at her, hardly believing his luck.
The tightness of her walls clamped down on him, but she was so wet his cock slid in and out with ease, allowing him to quickly reach a slow rhythm that he could build from. Maybe. Aimee’s eyes were already rolling back into her head, and he wondered if she was going to climax again, simply from the act of taking him inside of her. Rhys knew he might.
It was tough going for a bit. The sight of her naked body underneath him was an incredibly powerful aphrodisiac that called to him, making him want to explode inside her, to give her his seed so that she might one day carry his children. All of those thoughts and more were racing through one section or another of his head. So he kept dragging himself back to the most important part of it all, pleasing Aimee until she was fully satisfied.
Focusing on that he flexed his abs, knowing that it would provide a nice visual for her, but also allow him to siphon some of the blood away from between his legs and hopefully keep him calm. Not only did he want to please her, but he wanted to impress her. He doubted that society had changed to the point that women now liked men who couldn’t last thirty seconds.
Her legs hooked up and around him, letting Rhys slide all the way in with ease. He grunted when squeezed, trying to prevent him from pulling back. The pressure from her muscular legs lessened as he pushed his hips into hers once more.
“So good,” she moaned over and over as he started grinding into Aimee hard. They kissed some more like that before he pulled away, sitting back on his heels.
Her face turned sad for a mere second before his thumb found what he was looking for, and started moving in circles once more.
“Fuck,” was all she could manage, and even that became too difficult when his hips entered the equation, thrusting him in and out of her at a slow, steady pace, so that she could feel every inch of him.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Don’t fucking stop. Fuck me, Rhys. Fuck me!”
For someone who didn’t think she was sexy, Aimee was turning him on like no other. His entire body was singing with testosterone as he fucked her faster and faster, his thumb speeding up slightly too.
This time he could feel her climax approaching, as her walls tightened around him like a vise, squeezing hard and trying to force him to explode as well.
“Do it!” she begged, but he shook his head.
“Not yet. I want to—”
Aimee threw her head back and moaned loudly as her body shuddered hard once more under his touch. The sight of her in the throes of life’s greatest physical pleasure was more than he could take. Rhys fought valiantly, but his arousal was too great, and his willpower too weak.
“Yes!” Aimee cried out as she clued in to what was happening. “Do it. Please, oh I want it. Give it to me, Rhys.”
He slipped off the edge of the bed onto his feet and grabbed her legs. Then he started to thrust as his mind filled with warmth even as his cock swelled up inside of her. Aimee was overwhelmed from all the various sensations, but she still managed to focus enough on him to reach a hand out and place it on his abdomen, encouraging him on once more.
The dam broke and he erupted with a groan that filled the room, his hips never stopping as he pumped everything he had into her, his body deflating as he began to tremble, overwhelmed by the pleasure that was assaulting his nerves, tripping all sorts of circuits in his brain to the point that he fell forward on top of Aimee, gasping for air as he stood there, knees shaking violently from the force of his orgasm.
“That was quite possibly the single hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” she whispered into his ear, her arms clamping around his neck to prevent him from pulling away. “And you feel fantastic inside me, fuck.”
He smiled weakly. “I agree with all of the above.”
Aimee pulled his face to hers and kissed him. After they parted he pushed her back onto the bed carefully, working to ensure he stayed inside her. Both of them back on the bed, he collapsed on top of her, taking deep breaths to try and calm his circulatory system down as fast as possible. There was no time to waste.
Rhys wanted to do it again.
Chapter Seventeen
Aimee
It was the last day of leave, as she called it. Three days on, three days off. That’s how it went.
“You’d better not accuse me of stealing this time,” she told him as they made their way up the slope.
The day was overcast, but that wasn’t unusual for the middle of winter. Gray skies were the norm, and they wouldn’t let up for a few months yet. But it didn’t matter, because her spirits were as bright as could be. They were back up on the mountain, headed for his cave. Apparently he’d liked going shopping with her so much, he wanted to do it again. For that they needed more gold, so they were headed up there. Aimee wasn’t objecting.
He’d mentioned some other treasures he wanted to show her, and truthfully she was excited to see those as well. Artifacts from hundreds of years ago that had been lost to the world were now going to be discovered. She wasn’t an archaeologist, but it didn’t matter. It was a fascinating opportunity.
“I would never accuse you of something you are innocent of.”
Aimee could just imagine him rolling his eyes and she grinned. They’d spent much of the evening before in each other’s arms, neither wanting to be the first to leave. The giggles, cuddles, and pillow talk had been just as satisfying as the sex, if in different ways. Although she was still coming to terms that they’d slept together, at least she could say they’d done more as well.
It just seemed so soon. Three days, the first one of which she’d been convinced that he was as imaginary as a child’s friend. That’s all it had taken before they’d fallen between the sheets together. Wasn’t she supposed to show some resistance, to keep him at bay? Not because of propriety’s sake, but because she wanted to make sure it wasn’t a bad choice.
After all, how much did she really know about the dragon shifter?
For now she’d decided to try and ignore those thoughts and move on from them. It had happened, and that was that. It wasn’t like she regretted the sex—it had been, well, mind-blowing seemed too cliché—but her brain had shut off multiple times during it, so it seemed applicable at least.
She planted her walking stick and pushed off.
“Shouldn’t we be knee-deep in snow by now?” she asked to no one in particular, looking at the white landscape around them.
“Yes. I’m clearing us a path,” he replied from farther ahead, his voice distracted.
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“You are? I mean, you can do that?”
“I can,” he confirmed. “And am. It’s relatively simple. You see, we’re not actually walking on ground level. I’ve been raising the earth up to meet us, so that we stay above the snow.”
“You’re serious,” she said, marveling at his calm explanation, as if altering the ground was no big deal.
“Of course I’m serious. I would never lie to you, Aimee.”
“Good. Keep it that way, mister.”
They paused briefly to look adoringly into each other’s eyes before resuming the climb. She was all bundled up, while he took the lead in a pair of jeans and a formfitting sweater he’d procured from somewhere as well. It irked her that the cold didn’t affect him, but she supposed that was one of the perks of being more than human. Such was life.
All at once they reached the entrance to his cave. The path he’d been carving for them had allowed for an easy ascent that should have taken hours longer than it did.
She looked back down the slope behind them. “That’s damn convenient.”
He ducked inside. “Come on now. I promise not to chase you around this time.”
“Oh, you can chase me,” she teased. “Just not with the intent to eat me at the end!”
The shadows in the cave were dark, but they were still near enough the entrance that she could see his face when he replied.
“Are you sure? Because you seemed okay with it last night…”
All at once she was thankful for the shadows, as they hid the redness in her face.
“That is not what I meant. And where the hell did you learn that term?” she snapped without anger.
“You. You cuss like a sailor sometimes, you know that, right? In between one session or another you told me to ‘eat me,’ remember?”
She did. Damn, that meant she was responsible for all the bad habits he was picking up. Although, she thought fondly, he was particularly adept at following through on that one…
“That doesn’t mean you get to turn around and use the line on me, though.”
Rhys stepped closer, picked her up, and kissed her rather thoroughly without any explanation before setting her back down. Aimee was still seeing stars when he spoke again.