I hadn’t even realized I was grinning. I straightened my face and nodded. “Sure thing.”
Amie followed me into the main room and hissed behind me. “You’re not getting away without giving me details. Now, get busy. I’ve been covering you, but I’ll gladly give you the tips if you take over for tables five and six.”
I looked over at the table of perfectly coiffed women holding clipboards and talking animatedly. “Oh, no.”
Amie laughed. “Oh, yes. Something I’m sure you’ve been shouting a lot this morning.”
I swatted at her, but she moved out of range and skirted off to other tables leaving me with the PTA moms. I would’ve recognized them anywhere. They were all put together with their perfect highlighted hair and their perfect manicures and their perfect designer clothes and their perfectly judgmental sneers. Even in a small school district like the one we were in, the PTA was like a mini mafia. Possibly even darker than the real mafia.
I stopped at their table and noticed they still had menus in front of them. “Are you gals ready to order or do you need a little longer?”
The one in charge, clearly an obvious choice due to her having the biggest hair and thickest false eyelashes, glanced at me disdainfully and raised her eyebrows. “We’ve been ready.”
I kept my smile in place. “Wonderful. I’ll go ahead and take those orders now so we can get your food out to you as soon as possible.”
She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll have an egg white and spinach omelet, fresh spring water and half of an avocado.”
I took the rest of the table’s tasteless orders before smiling at them and starting to walk away. The clearing of a throat stopped me. I looked back and saw the head ‘bitch in charge’ scowling at me.
“Are you going to take these menus, or what?”
I heard the low growl from Beast’s direction and winced. “Of course. So sorry. I’ll get those out of your way.”
“Did that man just growl?” She nodded at Beast and I witnessed the instant she really saw him. She sat up straighter, pushed her breasts forward and released a breathy whisper. “Oh, wow.”
I felt a pang of jealously and had to fight to keep it under wraps. Moving away from their table, I dropped their order ticket off to the kitchen and paused to take a deep, calming breath. I barely had a second to calm myself before I had to hurry back out and take a few more orders
When I was finally able to check on Beast, I felt the same fluttering in my stomach that he always gave me. I rested my order pad on my hip and nodded to his menu. “Anything acceptable for a beast to eat?”
His eyes trailed slowly down my body. “Oh, yes.”
I fought a blush and shook my head. “What do you want to eat?”
“Same answer.”
“Beast.” I crossed my arms over my chest and bit my lip. It was hard to focus with him around. I hadn’t even started to tackle the question of why he was around.
“Sky.”
An unexpected zing of lust rippled through me and I had to grab the edge of his table to steady myself. “Don’t do that.”
“Don’t say your name?” He tapped his fingers on the table and licked his lips. “Or don’t say your name like I’m imaging what your little body is going to feel like wrapped around my cock?”
I snatched his menu away from him and smacked him with it before I even thought twice about it. The heated look he gave me was dangerous.
“You want me to bend you over and redden your sweet ass, don’t you?”
Someone at the table behind him coughed and I hit him with the menu on the arm again. “Stop it! I work here, Beast. I have to come back here tomorrow and the next day and the next.”
“No, you don’t.” He shrugged. “What time do the young males get home?”
My stomach fluttered. “They come here after school and then we go home together. Unless they sneak off in the search of a swamp monster slash dragon.”
“So, we have to wait until tonight. That will not be easy.”
I just walked away. I didn’t know what to do with him. I didn’t even understand why he was still following me around. It didn’t make any sense. Yet, at some level, it also felt natural and easy to let him touch me and demand things from my body. Just which one of us was the crazy one?
I put in an order for Beast and then made myself busy serving meals and cleaning tables. When I took the food to the PTA ladies, they were just as rude as ever, each of them finding something about the food to complain about after their queen bitch did.
The orange juice was too pulpy, the avocados didn’t taste like they’d been picked up at the market that morning, the egg whites were tasteless. Egg whites tasteless, imagine that! It was infuriating, but I dealt with their type daily.
My overbearing ‘wannabe dragon’ didn’t, though. His low growl had turned into something a little louder, a little fiercer. When he started to get out of his seat, I held up my hands to ward him off and shot him a sharp glare. Amazingly, he remained seated.
After nodding my head and pretending to take notes from the PTA witches on how their orders should have properly been prepared, I hurried to the kitchen, dropped off a couple more order tickets to the cook and picked up Beast’s food. When I placed it in front of him, I smiled sweetly.
“Can you be a good dragon and sit here nicely without growling at the other diners?”
He growled at me and snapped his arm out to grab me and pull me into his booth. He brushed his lips over the shell of my ear and nipped it. “I’m ready to go home.”
I shivered with pleasure, but still pulled myself away. “Finally. Go home, then. I’m busy.”
“I will not leave without you. Especially not with those women treating you like that. If they only knew. You are the mate of a warrior dragon. You are deserving of respect. They should be falling at your feet. You should not be serving them like some house maid.”
Embarrassed and angry, I put my hands on my hips and backed away. “You’re an asshole, you know that.”
Almost comically, he threw his hands up and groaned. “You are confusing. What did I say now?”
“I’m not a house maid. I’m a waitress. This is my job. It might be beneath you, Mr. High-and-mighty, but it’s how I support my family.”
“I’m your family.”
I gave a growl of my own. “This is too much. You’re too much. You’re completely bananas. Finish your food; it’s on me. Then, go home. Without me.”
11
Beast
I wasn’t going anywhere without her. She was stuck with me, no matter what. I glared at the women who were being rude to Sky. My mate was too nice. With the food in front of me, I picked up a piece of fried fish and examined it. Dragon females of the old world wouldn’t have stood for that type of treatment. They fought for and demanded the respect they deserved.
Sky was soft. I took a bite of the fish and watched as she crossed the room with an armload of plates. Soft, but strong. I couldn’t deny that her softness did things to me, too. Seeing the way she cared for the young males, even when they behaved as selfish younglings, made me think of the way she’d be with our younglings. She would love them, probably too much. They’d probably end up soft but strong like her. For some reason, that made me smile.
I huffed and shoved the rest of the fish into my mouth. It seemed like I was the only person she wanted to be direct with. In my opinion, she should’ve kicked the nasty women out long before me.
After my food was gone, I stayed and waited for her to come back around to me. It appeared as though she was intent on ignoring me, though. I wasn’t used to the feeling, and I found myself wanting to stand up and demand her attention. I was her mate. Who could be more interesting than one’s mate? Human women didn’t make much sense to me. I had a lot to learn.
Time crawled and I was too old to start letting time get to me, so I stood up and approached Sky. She barely looked at me and it drove me crazy. “Female, what is wrong wit
h you?”
She walked away and dropped a drink off before coming back to where I stood. “Don’t call me female.”
“You should be nicer to your mate.” I crossed my arms over my chest, thinking that she’d realize that I was right.
Instead, she raised her eyebrows at me in that infuriating way that told me I was about to see just how much attitude she could dish out. “I thought I asked you to leave.”
I frowned. “I am not leaving. Not without you.”
“What are you just gonna sit there and watch me work all day?” She tried to walk away, but I caught her arm.
“Little one, stop. We can go home and get back to the good stuff. It was much more fun than anger.”
She bared her teeth at me, letting me see that she possessed all of the strength that I could ever want in a mate. I didn’t doubt that she’d try to bite me any moment. “You’re stressing me out. I can’t focus with you here. And I’ve had enough of your judgmental attitude. About my kids, my house, my job. This is my life. You walked into it. If you don’t like it, there’s the door. Please use it.”
“Your kids are troubled. Your house is falling down. And you don’t have to work anymore. You have a mate who is a very wealthy dragon.” I was getting tired of fighting with her. I just wanted sex and some cuddling with her. I’d never tried cuddling before but it seemed like something I would like—as long as it was with her.
“You are not a fucking dragon!” Her raised voice drew the stares of the people around us and a man came out of the back to scowl at us.
Fed up, I caught her arm and pulled her to me. “We will go to my castle and solve this right now. We will not have disagreements and resentments between us”
Her friend came over and gave Sky a look. “Marcus is getting pissed. Go take care of whatever you need to and I’ll cover for you today.”
Sky pushed me away and took the woman’s hand. “Are you sure? I just need to…”
“Yes. Go. You can cover for me tomorrow. I’m going to a specialist about the thing.”
“Shit. Okay, of course.” Sky hugged her friend and then glared back at me. “Okay, let’s go, dragon.”
I took her hand and pulled her out of the café. She was still trying to get her apron off, but I was in a hurry to get this resolved and out of the way. I was tired of her doubting me.
“Wait, Beast! How are we getting there?”
I gave her a wicked grin. “Flying.”
She stopped walking and scowled at me. “I’m over this.”
I easily scooped her up and tossed her over my shoulder before speeding out of there. I hurried back to her house with her bouncing all the way, then slipped into the water behind it.
“What are you doing?! No! Don’t go into the water; are you crazy? What am I saying, of course you’re crazy!”
Her heart pounded a thunderous beat against my back as I went deeper still. “We won’t be in it for long. I just need to get to the other side. We need more privacy.”
She fought me, but I just moved faster, at one point, swimming and dragging her with me. When I got to the other side of the water, I carried her through the tall brush and stopped only when we reached a clearing.
She was livid when I put her down. “What is wrong with you?! The water is dangerous!”
“I’m dangerous.”
“I’m starting to agree with you.” She turned away and ran her fingers over her wet hair. “Look, Beast, this has to stop. I have enough problems with my life as it is. I can’t….I mean, you’re hot as Hades and for some damned reason, I get so turned on around you I can barely think straight, but you obviously come with a whole shit ton of issues. This—whatever it is—between you and me, is the last thing I need. It’s the last thing the boys need. I’m going to go home, Beast. I’m done.”
I left her standing there with her arms folded over her chest and backed away far enough to not crush her when I shifted. Then, I stripped my clothes off and winked at her before allowing my dragon form to emerge.
The feeling was always refreshing. Slipping into my dragon form was pure power and strength. Black scales covered my oversized body, hard as diamonds, matte and edged in gold. They created quite the magnificent sight, if I did say so myself. I stretched my long, leathery wings out and whipped my tail. Lifting my head, I released a puff of fire just for show and, of course, to impress my female, and then looked down for her reaction.
She stood far below me, her mouth hanging open, her eyes wide. Ha! She was impressed. I knew it. She appeared amazed by what she was seeing. If I expected her to scream, I’d have been wrong, though. She moved closer.
Pride reared in me. People didn’t usually move towards me. I was terrifyingly large and I radiated power that intimidated most. My soft, strong mate, though, she moved in closer. Her hand stretched out and she stroked the scales on my foot.
“Holy shit.”
I chuffed, wishing for the first time that I could laugh in dragon form. I wanted to talk to her. Eventually, when we’d fully mated and been together for a bit longer, we’d be able to communicate through our telepathy as dragons could with one another. Until then, I’d have to get creative to communicate with her.
I knelt in front of her, resting my head on the ground and looked back at my neck trying to coax her to crawl on. I’d never had someone ride me before, but it was a first I was looking forward to. I belonged to her as much as she belonged to me and I wanted her to experience my world, a little taste of it, anyway.
She gave me a wide eyed look. “You want me to crawl onto you?”
I chuffed again and nodded my head.
“Holy shit. This is insane.” She did as I wanted, though. She crawled onto my body and her legs straddled my neck. Her arms wrapped around as far as they would go and her face pressed against the back of my head.
I had the inane thought that I may have to get her some sort of saddle to keep her safe if it was something we wanted to do very often. I didn’t want to chance her getting hurt if she slipped, and the way she felt astride me, I knew I would want to do it often.
With that thought in mind, I lifted into the air slower than normal so as not to startle her. I went higher and higher, until I’d appear just a large bird from the ground. Sky’s heart pounded against my neck. She smelled of fear, but under that fear, I was shocked to find that she scented of arousal. I had to smile. That was my female.
12
Sky
The truth that Beast wasn’t actually some hot but pathetic crazy man like I’d thought sunk in more and more as we soared through the sky. The moment we landed in the open swamp by his house, I knew what I wanted. I’d known it in the air, too. Flying so high above everything, looking down at the world like it was this tiny thing, it had terrified me, but also left me invigorated. I wanted to touch the man again. The dragon was hypnotic and astonishing, but I wanted the man back under my fingers so I could give in to what my body demanded.
I slid off Beast’s back and splashed into the water forgetting all about snapping alligators and poisonous snakes. I had a dragon beside me. Surely, he’d scare away any piddly little gator or copperhead. The dock was just a few feet away, and I didn’t waste any time getting to it. I started to hoist myself up and felt hands wrap around my waist lifting me out of the water.
I spun around and came face to face with Beast, now a very large, very sexy, very naked man. His handsome face was wet and wild-eyed. His dark hair flopped over his forehead. We stared at each other for a few seconds. I suddenly saw him in a whole new light now that I knew he wasn’t crazy. Maybe the world was crazy, I mean—dragons! But he really was who and what he claimed. And, I wanted him like I’d never wanted anyone or anything before. I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it. Things like passion and seduction were all new to me. It suddenly seemed as though the entire world was new to me.
He looked at me with a concerned expression. “Are you—”
I decided that, like him, I would just take w
hat I wanted. Before he could finish his sentence, I grabbed his face, stood on my tip toes and kissed him hard. Not enough. I jumped up and hooked my legs around his waist. He caught my ass in his hands and squeezed as I kissed him harder, slipping my tongue into his mouth. I wanted to make him feel the way I’d felt when he kissed me. Nipping and sucking his lips, I let myself go.
He was naked and as I moaned into his mouth, I stroked my hands over his shoulders and back. I dug my fingers in trying to pull him even closer to me.
The big man who harbored a big dragon that flew through the sky and who bragged about how powerful he was, stumbled because of me. We went down in a heap, Beast catching me so I hit the wooden dock with barely more than a slight bump. He stared down at me with those gold flecks in his eyes glowing brighter.
I thought about how they matched the gold on his big dragon body. He was stunning. In each of his forms I was intoxicated by him.
“I want to consummate our mating, little one.” His voice was gruffer, just above a growl and it sent shivers all over my wet body.
I locked my fingers in his hair and dragged his mouth down to mine sucking his bottom lip gently. Then, I moved to his ear, nibbling on the lobe. “What are you waiting for?”
I wasn’t even sure how it happened, but I was suddenly naked and my work clothes were floating away in the bayou, but I didn’t care. I was so focused on the feeling of Beast resting his naked body against mine. I felt the heaviness of his cock pressing against my thigh and moaned. I should have been frightened. Or, maybe embarrassed to have never had sex before. It was time. I was going to lose my virginity to a dragon on a boat dock. If that didn’t beat all! And, it felt right, so I didn’t even stop to second guess it.
Beast must’ve read my mind, though. He stood up and held me in his arms, tightly against his chest, while heading towards his house. “Bed. I will take you to my bed.”
I kissed his neck and whispered in his ear how much I wanted him while he walked. Pulling at his hair and doing my best to rub my chest against his, I felt like a fire had been lit in me. I knew how good he could make me feel and I wanted more. I wanted to make him feel that good, too.
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