Slave Dragon: Earth Dragons Series: Book4

by Hartnady, Charlene

  “Oh.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I thought quick sex would do it.”

  Quick? Fuck that!

  “I mean, you lasted ten-seconds when you…” She stopped talking. Must have caught the look on his face.

  “That was when you were in heat. I, assure you I can last longer than ten-seconds.”

  “Then the other time you just touched my shoulder and…boom. I was kind of expecting that. Wouldn’t that be enough?”

  “Let’s go back to the part where we need your system flooded with endorphins. She won’t believe us otherwise. The proof has to be irrefutable. I can last longer than ten seconds.” No fucking pressure! His ego wasn’t just bruised, it was bleeding. It might not actually survive.

  “Oh, I see.” She didn’t seem thrilled at the prospect, which was weird since he was sure he’d caught her checking him out and on numerous occasions.

  “Think it through, otherwise, we might do the deed and she won’t be able to pick up on it. We would end up fucking for nothing.”

  “That would be terrible.” Her eyes were so wide.

  Not so fucking terrible! What the hell?

  “Look,” he leaned forward, taking her hand, “it’s up to you. It’s...not a big deal to me. I’m a shifter.”

  “You have plenty of casual sex.” Not a question. She nodded once when she said it, even looked at him as if she pitied him.

  “Not as often as I would like.” He laughed, noticing that she didn’t join in. It made him feel like a dick about making the stupid joke in the first place. He was trying to lighten the mood. “What I meant to say was that I think you are very sexy, and I would love to…” How did he say this without sounding crass? “go there with you…a good couple of times to be sure…if you’re okay with it. It’s up to you. All up to you.” He was such a dick!

  “Thing is…I was desperate when I promised that to her.” She groaned and rubbed a hand over her face. “I don’t do well with sex and emotions. I just don’t. I become attached too easily.”

  He felt his palms begin to sweat.

  “I fall for someone when I’m intimate with them. I don’t cope well with ‘casual’.”

  “We won’t be intimate.” He shook his head. “I’ll fuck you…that’s it. We can have rules, like no kissing. No holding hands, or any of that shit!”

  “Fucking, sex, intimate, they all mean the same thing to me. Sex is sex.”

  It wasn’t, though. Was it? “Oh.” He couldn’t believe how deflated he sounded. He had really looked forward to sex with Macy. He wanted to bury his head between her soft thighs. Listen to her cries of ecstasy as he brought her over the edge. He had a feeling she would be noisy in the sack. He loved females who expressed themselves. “I see.”

  “That’s just it, you don’t. I had sex with Rock some months back.”

  Sand narrowed his eyes on her. “Rock? As in the dragon shifter, Rock?”

  “How many humans do you think there are out there with the name Rock?”

  “None, I guess.”

  “Exactly. It was dragon shifter Rock and I haven’t been able to get him out of my mind. As I said, I’m bad at the ‘no emotions’ thing.”

  Relief coursed through him. “Oh, I get it. You still have feelings for Rock. You would feel bad sleeping with me because of him.”

  She lifted her eyes in thought. “Not bad, exactly. We aren’t dating or anything. I just wanted you to know about my past and how I am and…”

  “But you want to date him, and sex with me might ruin that? Especially now that your best friend is living with a dragon shifter? There will probably be an opportunity to see Rock again. To pursue things. Us fucking could definitely screw that up.” Sand would hate it if a female he was interested in rutted another male. Shale had stolen enough of his females in the past, and vice versa. They had just been hook-ups, though. He couldn’t imagine Rock’s reaction if they were more. It was a valid point.

  “I guess so.” She nodded once.

  Sand breathed out. Loads of the tension he had been feeling eased. “I can’t say either way what the right thing to do here is. I can’t give you any advice. The decision would be yours and yours alone. You can let me know what you want to do.”

  She nodded again.

  Thank fuck she wouldn’t become attached to him. “We have until morning then?” he asked.

  She grimaced. “Yes. She will take you if she isn’t convinced of our ‘bond’.”

  “Ball’s in your court then.”

  “So simple.” She shook her head. “You always make things sound so darned simple and they’re not.”

  “It is simple.” He smiled at her. “What else did you agree to? It sounded like more than one thing.”

  “That we would breed when the time came.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  He nodded. “Hopefully we’ll be long gone by then. This will buy us a couple of weeks…I think. It will take that long before your next heat, won’t it?” He raised his brows.

  She nodded. “Yes, it will. Every time that Feral returns it’s an opportunity. She might just slip up.”

  “Let’s hope. I still don’t get how you managed to convince her. She seemed dead set on removing me.”

  “I lied to her. She’s cold and calculating. She’s more about facts than emotions.”

  He nodded. “Anyone who insists that a female can have more kids to replace the ones she was forced to part with, is cold-fucking-hearted.”

  “Exactly. The answer just came to me when I saw you broken and bleeding.”

  “It wasn’t that bad.”

  “I don’t mean it like that. I think you had some nerve trying to go against that thing.” She widened her eyes. “I remembered an earlier conversation we had. She believes humans are money grabbers.”

  He made a face. “A lot of humans are.”

  “A lot of us don’t care about money.”

  “Absolutely.” He held up both his hands, not wanting to argue. “I wasn’t talking about you.”

  “Maybe you should have been.” She snort-laughed at her own joke. “Anyway, I’m sure you remember how she mentioned making this whole plan of hers worth my while financially. She was shocked when I didn’t show any interest. She offered a couple of pounds of gold per month if I stuck it out in here.”

  He nodded. “I remember thinking she’d lost her ever-loving mind.”

  “I told her I denied sex with you so that I would get an extra month’s gold. That it was too good of an opportunity to miss out on.”

  He frowned. “You didn’t.”

  She scrunched up her face. “I totally did.”

  “And she bought it?”

  “In a heartbeat. She told me this was my last chance, though. Not to mess around this time…or else.”

  Sand grinned. “That’s unbelievable. You’re unbelievable. That was smart thinking.”

  Macy smiled as well. “I had to do something. Had to say something that would convince her.”

  “Well, it worked. Well done! Don’t feel bad about any of it.”

  “I don’t!” She shook her head.

  “How’s about we get some food? I just heard your stomach grumbling…again.”

  “Yeah, let’s do that.” She smiled, but still looked both tired and tense.

  Sand took her hand as she was stepping away. Macy turned back. “You say the word and…it’s up to you where we go from here.”

  She nodded once, her throat working.

  “Let’s eat first. Big decisions shouldn’t be made on empty stomachs.”

  Chapter 13

  Macy couldn’t fit another bite of food into her stomach, which now protested. She’d never eaten so many grilled chicken wings in one sitting before. Ten of them. They also devoured mashed potatoes and gravy. As well as grilled vegetables. She’d eaten and eaten and eaten. Both of them had, and in complete silence for most of the meal. They had been that hungry.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have eaten so much,” she s
aid, drying the plate Sand had just handed to her.

  “She’ll be back tomorrow. There’ll be more food.” He washed the next plate in the soapy water.

  “I guess.” She put the plate away and took the next one from him. “So, you really don’t want kids? I mean, one day?”

  Sand shrugged. “I don’t know. For years I didn’t think so, but it’s hard to say for sure. My instincts push me in that direction but I’m too young to be a father. Too young to think along those lines, period.”

  “How old are you?” she asked as she took another plate.

  “Thirty-two. It’s young for a dragon.”

  “It’s young for a human as well. Especially since you’re a guy. Guys don’t have ticking clocks like we do. I’m thirty.” She made a face. “You would swear I was ancient by the way my mom carries on. She’s always trying to set me up with someone. The manager from the store she goes to or one of her friends’ sons. She once tried to set me up with one of her doctors.” He had been fifty-one and completely grey. The worst part of it was that he had two ex-wives. Then there was that cheating lawyer. Her mom obviously thought she was desperate. “It comes from a good place, but it’s annoying as hell.”

  “I’m sure. You’re still young, Macy. You still have plenty of time.”

  “Most days I’d agree, however, I have the odd day where I buy into all that crap she sells me. My brother is gay. He and his husband have decided not to adopt or to try to find a surrogate. I’m her only chance at grandbabies.” Macy sighed. “‘I want to be a nana, Macy.’” She pretended to be her mom. “‘You are our only hope at grandchildren, you can’t let us down,’” she went on. “‘Don’t deny an old woman.’ She’s not old at all. She and my father are still fit and healthy…thankfully.”

  He whistled low. “All that pressure…”

  She packed away the last of the dishes, watching as Sand wiped the countertop. “Thing is, I want the same thing as she does. I broke it off with my ex two or so years ago because he didn’t want to take the next step. We’d been together for four years and I thought it was time, but he didn’t agree.”

  “His loss.”

  She smiled. “Thanks, I agree. I don’t want to settle though. I want…the right person in my life. In hindsight, I’m glad Jim and I didn’t settle down. We lacked something.”

  “Didn’t you love him?”

  “I did. We missed passion in our relationship. That spark you need in a healthy relationship. We didn’t have it.”

  “Compatibility. Yes,” he nodded, "it is important that both love and compatibility are present.”

  “Hopefully I find the right person before my time runs out. My mom would never forgive me otherwise.”

  “It has nothing to do with your mother. Besides, Rock does want kids. I can tell you that now. He’s that kind of a male. He always goes on the Hunt.”

  “You’re talking about the Bride Hunt, where your men hunt human women and the strongest, fastest win those women to mate with?”

  “That’s right.” Sand nodded. “Rock always takes part. He has hopes of winning a female. Maybe—”

  “Stop right there. That’s good to know, however,” she pulled in a deep breath, “I don’t think that talking about Rock right now is a good idea.”

  “Why not?” Sand leaned back against the counter, his arms folded. He looked amazing. Truth be told, there were worse things than having to have sex with a guy as good-looking as him. She felt a little bad for him because, well, he got her in return. Not that she was bad or ugly or anything. She just wasn’t…in his league. That’s all. She wasn’t being hard on herself. She was being realistic. They were worlds apart. He could grace any magazine cover. He had a face for the big screen. She was more of a plain Jane. She was a bit on the chubby side but wasn’t giving up food for any man. She was happy in her skin but…just look at him. Sex god with the eyes of an angel…make that the devil. Maybe a little of both.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Have you come to a decision?”

  “That’s just it.” She wrung the dishcloth in her hands. “I think we have to just go ahead and do it.” There it was out.

  “You mean fuck?”

  Her body reacted when he said the word. Fuck. Four letters had that effect on her. He was rude and arrogant, and he turned her on in a way nice guys could never do. It was something she hadn’t known about herself and yet there it was. “Yes.” She cleared her throat. “That’s exactly what I mean. As long as you’re sure you’re comfortable going down that road…with me.”

  “I’m a male, Macy. I happen to enjoy fucking very much. I would enjoy fucking you.” So clinical. So straight forward. He shrugged. Men were built like that. They could fuck just about anyone and still have a good time. Leagues be damned. “As I said before, I would ensure you enjoyed it too.”

  She nodded once and cleared her throat. “You said the ball was in my court. I think we could spend time thinking about it. Trying to come up with another plan, but,” she shrugged, “I doubt we’d get anywhere. I don’t see any other way out, at this time.”

  “Me neither, and quite frankly, there are worse things.”

  Indeed.

  Her only worry remained the ‘falling for him’ part. Then again, he was so not her type at all. She needed to tread carefully anyway. “We do this tonight and then I think we need to stay away from one another after that.” She couldn’t risk her emotions getting the better of her. She’d had sex with Rock three times during the course of one night ‒ not even a whole night ‒ and she’d thought of him far too many times afterward. She felt regret when he left. Macy thought back to her high school days. Namely, about Jeffery Butler. He’d kissed her during that game of spin the bottle at her friend’s birthday party. Macy had been devastated when Jeffery hadn’t asked her to go steady. To him, it had been a game. To her… so much more. It had hurt.

  Yep, she needed to tread carefully. “No unnecessary sex. We convince her this once and then move on.” She was shocked at how detached she sounded.

  “I disagree,” Sand countered. “That Feral female is cunning. She’ll smell a rat if we don’t fuck regularly. She’ll know it was a set-up. She’ll have no qualms changing her mind and removing me before your next heat. We need to keep her convinced. If we fuck…we can keep fucking for a while. It’s not a big deal.”

  Not to him. Macy did like the sound of frequent sex. It had been a long time since she’d had frequent sex. In fact, her encounter with Rock was the only time she’d slept with a guy after breaking it off with Jim. It was dangerous. What if she fell for him?

  “We’ll need to have a clear set of rules.”

  “What kind of rules?” she asked. “Don’t get me wrong. I agree with you.” Something like this could be key.

  “Like I said earlier, no kissing, no cuddling, no holding hands or any of that bullshit.”

  “Okay. Although I’m not sure how we’ll get started without kissing.” That was how sex had been initiated since the beginning of time. Or wasn’t it? Was there another way?

  He got this little half-smile. It was downright naughty. His eyes glinted. “I think we’ll be okay, Mace, but let me get a little more detailed…no kissing on the mouth. Everywhere else is fair game.”

  Oh! That made her mouth a little dry and her palms a little sweaty. “Okay.” She nodded, a little too crazily. Head bobbing like her neck was on a spring.

  “Um…I’ll continue to sleep on the sofa,” he said.

  Macy would offer for them to take turns, but she knew he wouldn’t go for it. She’d tried that already. She nodded.

  He looked up, clearly in thought. “I think we should avoid the missionary position. It could be considered the most intimate of all the positions. All that staring into each other’s eyes bullshit. We should stick to doggy, you can ride me facing either direction. There are a couple of others I know you would like. It would all be about making you come.”

  “Me? Why me? It would be both of us. Wouldn’t
it?”

  “Trust me on this one.”

  She just widened her eyes, not sure what he meant at all. It was the first time she had heard a man essentially deny himself where sex was concerned. That didn’t happen ever. She was missing something here.

  “You need to understand that when a female comes, everything is better for the male. The scent of her pussy is better, her channel tightens up and spasms around him…”

  Her mouth had just fallen open and she couldn’t seem to close it.

  Sand went on, “the noises she makes will drive him insane. All of it. That is what it’s about. That’s what fucking is about. A male will have no other choice but to come as well. His pleasure that much greater with her tight, wet pussy clamping around him and her moans in his ears.”

  She nodded, eyes still wide, mouth still opened. “That makes sense,” she said when she finally managed to close her mouth. Her voice had a husky edge as something tightened in the pit of her stomach. Her nipples were hard too. If they talked for much longer, she was going to jump him, and that would be embarrassing.

  “Was there anything you wanted to add?”

  “To what?” Her brain wasn’t functioning so well anymore. “Oh yes. The list. Um…” She tried to think of something. Tried hard. “I think you covered everything. No kissing ‒ on the lips,” she quickly added.

  “Mouth,” he corrected.

  She felt herself blush. “Mouth. No sleeping together in the same bed. It’s all about me because it’s then inadvertently all about you.”

  “Us,” Sand growled, his voice low. “It’s all about getting us out of here before your next heat.”

  “Of course.” She had forgotten about that part. Already forgotten. Was there any other way around this without having sex with Sand?

  “I guess the biggest rule is no falling for each other.” He chuckled. “I don’t think we have to worry since I’m not looking for any kind of relationship at this stage in my life and you having feelings for another male.” He clapped his hands together. “I think we’re good to go. When do you want to start?”