I giggled. Actually giggled. “I’ve never been that close when you shifted before,” I breathed as he came closer. “It’s like going to the beach and having a margarita. I’m all warm and tingly.” I grinned up at him, and he put his hand under my chin, raising my head even further.
“It’s kind of like a contact high since we flow with the energy of the goddess when we shift. If you’re close enough, you can feel it, too.”
“It’s magical.”
“So are you,” he said before he leaned down and pressed his lips against my own. It was a fairly chaste kiss, but it lit a fire low in my belly, a fire that was greedy and demanded more attention.
“Noah,” I moaned quietly when he pulled away.
“There will be enough time later. Right now, we need to get your friend settled.”
The thought of Scarlett sobered me enough that I turned around and began walking back to the group. The guys were grinning at me as though they knew exactly what had just happened, while my best friend stared at me as if I were an alien.
Chapter Seventeen
Ava
“Which one?” Noah asked as he held up two DVDs. We had decided to have pizza, beer, and a movie night, and in all honesty, I couldn’t be more excited. It was something so normal after a lot of not normal. I looked again at what he held. The Shining and Forrest Gump. Great, so I could be scared or cry. Not good options in my opinion.
“Don’t you have something light-hearted or an action movie or something? What about John Wick or The Princess Bride?” I asked.
“You and I are going to get along just fine.” Sebastian grinned and threw an arm around my shoulders.
I couldn’t help but smile back.
“I vote Princess Bride if it’s an option,” Scarlett said. I knew she would. It was her all-time favorite movie. The girl knew almost every word, and the two of us had seen it so many times that we could practically act out some of the scenes.
“The ladies have decided.” Noah inclined his head and pulled out a different DVD. I was surprised that they didn’t just have streaming services, but when I thought about it a little more, they had probably collected a lot of this stuff as it became available, since they had been alive for so long.
Grayson made some popcorn while Logan supplied us with more beers as the movie opened. We had been watching for a while when I noticed Logan was missing.
“I’ll be right back,” I whispered to both Scarlett, who was currently shoveling popcorn into her mouth, and Sebastian, who looked half asleep, before I got up and scooted out of the living-room area.
I quietly padded down the hall where the guys’ bedrooms were and knocked on the only door that had light coming out from under it. When it opened to a half-naked Logan who was only wearing some gray sweatpants, I had second thoughts for a moment, but he and I needed to talk.
“Can I come in?”
He nodded and opened the door wide. I stepped in and heard the door close behind me. My heart was beating hard in my chest as if I were about to go into an exam or something. I looked around and saw that the rooms were set up as mirror images of one another, and the wall that Grayson decorated with his record collection had nothing but a few nice pieces of artwork on it in Logan’s room. His personal mini bar with a wine cellar behind it was not something I’d expected. Although, the more I looked at it, the more I realized that it wasn’t just wine in there.
“What’s going on with you?” I asked as I sat down next to him on the couch in his sitting area.
“Nothing.” He shrugged.
“Bullshit. You’ve barely spoken to me or looked at me since I woke up. I felt more of a connection with your dragon than I do with you right now, which, if I remember correctly, was not how we left things.”
He got up and poured us both drinks before sitting back down again. I sniffed at my glass and found the scent of honey coming up from it.
“It’s mead. Just sip it slowly.”
I tried a sip, and it was like an explosion of nature on my tongue. Honey and flowers but not in the sickly-sweet way—the sting of the alcohol cut through that, leaving a lovely warming sensation when I swallowed. “It’s delicious,” I said honestly.
He chuckled and agreed. “Just don’t drink too much too fast or you’ll end up on the floor. It’s stronger than it seems.”
“Yes, boss.” I nodded as I took another sip. “So, are you going to answer my question?”
“I did. There’s nothing going on.”
“So why didn’t you stay and have movie night with the rest of us? Even Grayson stayed.”
“I didn’t feel like watching some sappy love story.” He finished his glass and poured another.
“You have something against love stories?”
“They are just lies we tell ourselves. None of that shit ever happens.”
“I would argue otherwise, but you’re entitled to your own opinion. Do you believe in true love?”
He paused and seemed to be thinking. “I do, but mainly because dragon shifters can tell when they’ve found their mate because of how their dragon reacts. I don’t know that I believe in it for humans since you have no way to tell.”
“I think you can tell. True love is when you support each other while also challenging each other to be better, and also amazing sex.”
He watched me while I talked, and it made me nervous. When he didn’t reply, I wanted to ramble on about how I would know when it was real and blah, blah, blah, but I didn’t. I had to consciously think about it, but I didn’t just ramble as I normally would. Instead, I just stared back.
After a while, it was too much, though, and I blurted, “I hope you don’t feel guilty for what happened, and that’s why you’ve been avoiding me.”
He stood and poured himself another drink. He had said this stuff was strong, but he was drinking it like freaking apple juice.
“I do. I feel guilty. And I should. I’m a better fighter than that, and I should have been aware of my surroundings. It’s not like that dagger could have seriously hurt me, but it could have killed you. It nearly did.”
I set my drink down and went to him. The need to comfort him was so strong that it was all I could think about. “What you did was instinct, reflex. You didn’t do it intentionally, and you certainly aren’t responsible. Even though I’ve only known you a short time, I know you better than that, Logan. You’re a protector, a guardian for your people, and you are for me, too.” I ran my hands up and down his back as he braced himself against the small countertop.
“I thought I had killed you,” he whispered.
“Just answer me one question. Would you still feel this way if I wasn’t supposed to be the flamekeeper?”
He momentarily tensed under my hands before he turned to me and cupped my face with his own. “I would feel guilty either way. I’ve started to care for you, flamekeeper or not, and if you don’t pass the trials . . .” He swallowed hard. “Let’s just say no one will want to be around me for a long while.”
My hand went up to his face then, and I was lost in his forest-green eyes and their golden rings. “I’m going to pass the trials. You’re going to help me, and between the two of us and your brothers, I know everything will work out.”
His lips were on mine then, hungry and desperate, as though he hadn’t quite believed I was alive until that moment.
My hand that had been touching his face moved to the back of his neck, and I wrapped my other hand around as well, lacing my fingers together for a moment before I tangled them in his hair.
His lips were hard against my own, demanding, his tongue plundering my mouth when I opened for him, while his hands slipped low on my waist. Everything about him was exquisite. He felt like heaven under my hands.
When his hands dipped lower, I pushed up onto my toes so he could have a better grip on my butt. His fingers dug in and left me panting as he crushed me to him. I could feel the hard ridge of his erection through his jeans, and a shiver of anticipation r
an through me.
“Logan.” I sighed as we broke our kiss.
“Fuck, Ava. If you don’t leave right now, then I’m going to take that as a green light,” he groaned into my ear as I grabbed on to his shoulders.
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t make it five feet from you before my libido dragged me back. I want you, Logan. You and that beautiful gold dragon of yours are mine, and I’ll happily show you exactly what I mean,” I said as I nipped at his lower lip.
A low growl rumbled in his chest, vibrating through me as his hands pulled me up so I was wrapping my legs around his waist as he walked me over to the bed. Without breaking stride, he climbed up onto the bed so that he was kneeling and still holding me, releasing me only when my head would fall back on a pillow as he lay me down.
His bed was like lying on a giant down pillow. I sank in a little as he put me down, but I felt as if I were on a cloud. His broad shoulders and muscular chest filled my vision for a moment before he was gone.
When I looked up, I found him standing at the end of the bed, his shirt coming off over his head and his jeans being shucked off as well. The man was almost completely undressed before I even realized that was what he was doing. But what a glorious sight to behold. Thick, strong arms and legs, a toned and muscular chest with flat abs, all topped with a beautiful face and eyes that made him look as if he wanted to devour me.
“Get undressed, Ava.” His voice was commanding, and I didn’t hesitate to oblige. A lot of the men I had been with over the years took forever to get me naked. They enjoyed the unwrapping process too much in my opinion. Sure, getting naked could be sensual in and of itself, but I much preferred to have a man’s hands on me.
I sat up on the bed and pulled my top over my head, reaching behind my back to unhook the bra. When my breasts were free, I heard the faintest hum of appreciation come from Logan, which made me want to smile. I had my leggings and panties off before I could get too distracted. All the clothes had been waiting for me when I had gotten ready to leave the hospital. I assumed they were things that the guys had bought for me when I’d first arrived, but it was as if they had a much better idea of my taste than they should after such a short time.
A hand pushed on my shoulder, sending me flopping back onto the bed and startling me out of my thoughts. Logan prowled toward me across the bed, slowly encasing me in a cage of his arms and legs. His eyes devoured my body as he looked at every inch of me before he was level with my face.
His lips crashed against mine once more, our teeth almost clicking together from the force of the impact. I bit down on his lower lip and swirled my tongue against the soft skin. His hips ground against mine in response, and his lip popped from between my teeth as I felt the whole length of him rub against my core.
My hands drifted down his shoulders and back, skimming over the skin of his butt as far as I could reach. He growled at the contact and reached behind, grabbing first one wrist and then the other so he could pin my hands over my head. I hadn’t even realized his bed had a headboard until he took each hand and wrapped the fingers around metal.
I glanced up and saw that his headboard was made up of wrought iron bars that swooped from one side to the other. The image they created, at least from my angle, looked like a sun setting, or maybe it was rising over hills. He had positioned my hands on the lowest swooping bar.
“Don’t let go,” he commanded.
The Logan I was used to was much more relaxed and jovial, but this Logan was dark and sexy. He made parts of my body clench tight with need, while the rest of my body just begged to be touched.
When those lips of his landed on one of my nipples, I gasped. He swirled his tongue around the sensitive peak while his free hand played with my other nipple. Each circle he drew around them had my hips bucking off the bed, and before I had even realized it, I had let go of the bar.
Logan immediately stopped touching and kissing me as soon as he realized I wasn’t following his command anymore. “I believe I gave you an instruction, Ava. Why aren’t you following it?”
I giggled at his stern voice and wondered if he was always like that in bed. Before I could even answer his question, not that I thought he was really expecting one, he flipped me over with my ass up in the air.
His hand cracked against the skin of my butt cheek. The sound was what I noticed first; the sting of the connection followed a moment later. It didn’t hurt, but it did make my body respond, so I craved his touch even more. His hand landed on the other cheek and then rubbed both of them before repeating the process. By the end, moans were escaping my mouth.
He pulled my hips up even higher and nudged my knees apart. Part of me hoped that I might get some relief for this ache inside me, but it wasn’t in the cards; at least, not yet. His hand landed on both cheeks at the same time, and even some of the slick lips of my pussy.
The impact made me squeak in surprise, but when his hand connected again with a crack, I moaned. Part of me tried to muffle my noises so the others couldn’t hear, but the rest of me didn’t care. Each time he connected, my body tightened a little more, leaving me a panting, needy mess.
“Logan, I need you to fuck me soon or I’m going to lose my damn mind.”
“Patience, Ava,” Logan said with a slight chuckle, his voice low with desire.
I rolled over before he could stop me and looked up at his stunning eyes. His irises looked as if they were turning the coal-black that he had in dragon form, and for some reason, that made me excited instead of scared.
“So impatient,” he tut-tutted when I shimmied under him.
To be fair, the cravings my body had been throwing at me for these guys were leaving me drowning in hormones, and all I had wanted to do was touch and be touched. I couldn’t wait any longer.
When his cock nudged at my slick entrance, I groaned, urging him on by lifting my hips to make access easier. As though he enjoyed denying me, Logan eased just the tip of his cock in before withdrawing. His absence made me whimper in frustration, while his dark eyes just seemed to drink me in.
“You’re so fucking sexy,” he growled at me, his eyes glowing as though lit from within.
“Then show me,” I panted.
With one swift thrust, he was inside me, stretching me to my limit with his cock. Every inch of me ached for him to move, and as though my thoughts had spurred him on, that was exactly what Logan started to do.
Each thrust felt like heaven, as if I’d never woken up from my coma and had died in the fire as I was supposed to. I rocked my hips in time with his, meeting him thrust for thrust while he watched my body move under him.
His movements were building, getting faster and harder as he crashed into me again and again. The noises escaping me at this point were beyond my control. It was all I could do to hold on and not end up pushed up against the headboard.
Without warning, he pulled out and flipped me over. I went to put my elbows on the bed, but his hands caught them. His rough fingertips skimmed the sensitive skin of my inner arm as he raised my hands and placed them behind his neck.
“You hold on there. Deal?”
I nodded, too eager to have him back inside me to protest. I was draped over him like a piece of cloth, barely clinging to his neck while his hands moved over the front of my body. Sometimes soft, like when he kneaded my breasts, sometimes hard, like when he tugged at my nipples.
My skin felt electrified from his touch, and every time his fingers reconnected with my skin, I gasped. Finally, his hands worked their way down to my most sensitive spot. As his finger slipped between my folds and teased my delicate flesh, he circled my clit before dipping further down and teasing my entrance.
When his hand vanished, my heart began to hammer in my chest as I waited for his cock once more. There was no teasing this time. He was inside me with a single thrust. While his hands alternated between massaging my breasts and playing with my bud of pleasure, his cock began to rub against me in just the right way, and a sensation I’d
never felt before began to build inside me.
Everything was becoming more and more sensitive as he continued to play me like an instrument. When his fingers brushed over my clit once more, I almost came right then and there.
“Not just yet, sweetness. I want to go with you,” he growled in my ear, and all it did was make my body clench around his.
My hips were bucking against his cock, and his hand caught between the two as if I were standing on a knife edge of pleasure. All I knew was that I wouldn’t be able to balance much longer.
The sensation that had been building inside me with every thrust was getting too big to control. I was almost screaming between panting for breath as he worked me, his speed increasing until I couldn’t keep up with him anymore. He was better than any lover, any sex toy, any other pleasurable experience I’d had in my life.
Pleasure broke forth from some dam inside me and gushed forward, consuming me like a tidal wave. I felt as if I had been pushed from my body, as if I were a million times bigger and stronger than I was, as if I had wings and could soar through the sky and touch the stars dancing in front of my eyes.
A few moments later, I heard Logan’s roar in my ear, and I felt it vibrate throughout my whole body, making me come all over again. This time, I was weightless and floating. I’d never had an orgasm like that before, and probably never would again if I left the dragon brothers.
As I sank back into my body, the first thing I was aware of was the aching absence of Logan’s cock, and the second thing was the warm arms that circled me and held me close.
I wanted to look up at him and thank him for an amazing experience, but my eyelids wouldn’t open. My body felt heavy and weak, so I just curled tighter around him and listened to the steady beat of his heart under my ear.
I felt slightly guilty the next morning when I got up and hurried down the hall to my room in the same clothes from the night before, but I just couldn’t bring myself to leave Logan’s bed, especially not when he was curled around me as if I were a precious jewel.
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