by Silver Milan
He abruptly pulled back, though he still held her in his arms. “We don’t have to do this, if you don’t want to.”
Ariel had trouble catching her breath. The nightmare, the hiker, the tears... all forgotten.
“I feel strangely lightheaded,” Ariel said, gasping.
“Probably because of my blood,” Jett said. “You bit me.”
“I thought it was supposed to give strength,” Ariel said. “Not dizziness.”
“In vampires it gives strength,” Jett said. “Last I checked, you weren’t one.”
“Nor do I want to be.”
“You could also be lightheaded because you’re breathing so hard...” Jett said.
“Could be.” She studied his lips, well aware of the effect just the sight of that luscious mouth was having on her. She throbbed with need. “How did I even break the skin? You’re a dragon.”
“Because I willed it,” Jett replied.
“Well, I’m definitely not lightheaded because of the blood.” She stared into his eyes in the moonlight. Oh, to feel those lips against hers again...
She was the one who made the next move, pushing her mouth onto his. The kiss they shared was gentler this time, but still passionate. When she felt his tongue probing against her mouth, this time she immediately opened, letting him explore. Meanwhile, he gently sucked her lips. He tasted like one of those cinnamon mints that left a slight burning sensation in the mouth. A good burning sensation.
She’d never been kissed like this by anyone. Not ever.
Her inner lioness purred.
One of his hands slid underneath the hem of her blouse, his thumb making thin circles above her hipbone; his touch sent tingles of pleasure running up and down her spine. His other hand ran across the nape of her neck, his fingertips threading into her hair. He withdrew his tongue, but continued sucking on her lips, gently nibbling.
His hand tightened around a handful of her hair, and he tenderly drew her head backward, exposing her neck. His lips moved downward and he sucked hard on the exposed skin, his tongue tracing circles over her flesh. She’d have a mark there in the morning, she knew, but she didn’t care. She wanted him to mark her as his.
Ariel moaned, her hands bunching his shirt. Oh, he really, really understood how to touch a woman. She prayed he didn’t stop. She tilted her body into him, wanting him more than she wanted anything else in the world in that moment. She wanted him to take her right there in that tent in the middle of the woods.
He released her suddenly and leaned back. “Are you sure you want to do this?” His chest heaved with deep breaths.
“Again you ask?” Ariel panted, unable to hide the need from her voice. “Why the concern for me all of a sudden? You seemed to have no problem pushing for sex earlier. What was that you told me about your cock?”
He wrapped his big hands around her hips. They nearly encircled her waist. “Tempt me at your peril.”
She licked her lips, tasting the remnants of him there. “I’m tempting you at my peril. Take me, Big Dragon.”
He leaned into her slowly, shaking as if struggling to control himself. She heard a deep throated rumbling coming from inside of him, and felt his chest vibrate. It lasted only an instant, and then was gone. His dragon wanted to come out to play.
She angled her lips upward and closed her eyes. She felt his mouth touch hers in what proved the tenderest kiss yet, as if he truly wanted to savor the moment.
His hands slid underneath her blouse again, and as he kissed her, he slowly lifted the fabric upward.
This is happening. It’s really happening.
Jett ran his hands across her ribs underneath the blouse, then he jerked upward, lifting the clothing quickly.
Almost desperately, as if worried one of them would change their minds, Ariel raised her arms to help him.
As the blouse slid up and over her head, her naked breasts jiggled free.
“Damn it,” Jett said, his breath ragged. “You really have to start wearing underwear! Then again…”
His gorgeous head swept downward, toward her chest. While one of his hands gripped her left breast, the finger tracing tender circles around the areola, his lips suckled the nipple of the other. His tongue plucked the tip, making her ache for him with all her being. Ariel gasped for breath, her back arching.
In that moment she wanted to stay with him forever. Together in the woods, joined under the moonlight. Never running away.
As his pleasant suckling continued, his mouth enveloping her breast, flicking the nipple, her core throbbed for him, yearning for his touch, and she spread her legs wide, pressing her center against his groin. She could feel a welcoming bulge pushing back.
Jett finally came up for air. His chest was heaving rapidly as he planted his lips against hers in a passionate kiss.
God I love dragons.
She reached for his shirt collar and quickly unbuttoned the rest of his shirt. Then she slid her hands inside the expensive fabric, her fingertips brushing over his tanned, smooth pecs, and up over his muscular shoulders. He leaned back and shucked off the shirt, then wrapped his arms around her once more, his biceps bulging with his immense strength as he resumed the kiss.
She felt so safe in his arms. So protected. This was how life was meant to be lived. In the strong arms of a beautiful man. A king of a man. Tasting him. His heady smell sweeping over her entire being. There was nothing better than this.
Well, that wasn’t true. There was something she wanted even more. So badly.
As he kissed her, his hand guided hers to the massive pressure in the center of his pants.
“Yes,” Ariel said from the corner of her mouth, not wanting to break the kiss. She fumbled with his belt, opening it, and then shoved her hand inside the hem of his pants. She found his underwear, then slid her hand over the rim and wrapped her fingers around the molten shaft that was waiting within, and Jett stiffened.
He released her mouth, and stared into her eyes with orbs that blazed fire and gold in the night.
“I want you,” Ariel said.
She squeezed, and his whole body jerked. The agonizing desire was plain on his face.
She smiled slightly, feeling like she had this big man, this dragon king, entirely at her mercy. She released him, slipping her hand out from his jeans, and across his sculpted abs, to his left pec, above his heart. She bent forward, and pressed a kiss onto his chest there, teasing his nipple. His smell was so intoxicating.
His hand ran down the front of her pants and found her throbbing folds. She was glad she hadn’t worn underwear. She moaned as his fingers slipped inside her.
“I’m going to make you beg,” Jett said.
She didn’t know what he was doing down there—it felt like he was massaging her both inside and outside with his thumb and fingers. Whatever it was, she had never experienced a sensation like this from any man before. Her breathing increased, and she began repeatedly thrusting her hips toward his hand.
“Mmm…” Ariel said. “You truly are a king.”
She was getting close. So close. She would soon have her release. She desired it more than anything. Desired him.
She almost shouted his name. She wanted it to echo throughout the woods, throughout the world. But she bit it back at the last moment, and instead let it come out a whisper.
“Jett,” she said.
He withdrew his hand.
“Please, don’t stop!” Ariel gasped.
Jett unbuttoned her jeans entirely and slid them down to her knees.
“You’re so perfect,” Jett said. He cupped her center in admiration with one hand, while another wrapped around her hips, and he violently mashed his lips against hers. She pressed back with equal fervor, her desire for him completely consuming her.
“Take me,” she said.
She could feel one of his hands tracing shapes on her back while the other hand massaged her aching entrance.
She squirmed, arching her back, but then his lips released
her, as did his hands. She glanced at his jeans, as if she could will them away with a look.
She lay back in the grass and slid her pants completely off. She waited for Jett to come to her again, wanting him so badly, needing him, but he didn’t.
“You really want me to beg, don’t you?” she said, sitting up.
Jett was on his knees before her. He had opened his belt and was holding the hem of his jeans away from his pubic bone, and perhaps the underwear within, too, as if to give his manhood room down there.
“We have to stop,” Jett said, his voice hoarse.
“Don’t you dare!” Ariel said huskily. That would be the flip-flop of the century. Sheer torture.
“I’m afraid once I have you, I won’t want you anymore,” Jett said. “I already told you, part of your allure is that I can’t have you. The First Rule…”
“You’re the one who told me to forget the rule!” Ariel said. “And I did, because you’re right. Listen to your own advice, Jett. Forget about the future. Live in this moment with me. Forget about who you are, who I am. Let go. There are no kings and subjects here. No dragons. No lions. No shifters. We might never see each other again. Hold me. Take me. I want you. I need you. Jett. Take me away.”
He seemed to tremble at those words. His fingers opened the buttons of his jeans, and he slid them down gracefully, revealing his muscular thighs and calves. There was a sexy, inverted V on each leg where the bulging quadriceps met the knees. But her eyes were drawn to an entirely different bulge in that moment.
He was wearing underwear that seemed to glow a pristine white in the moonlight. She focused on the long shaft that stood out along the surface, running diagonally from the center region, the tip peeking out from under the hem. She watched, mesmerized, as he reached up and slid the undergarment off, allowing the constrained dragon within to burst forth.
And what a glorious dragon it was.
She wanted him to take her right there, but instead he dropped on all fours and shoved his head between her legs. Her inner lioness shrieked in delight. She gripped his golden locks in her hands, and thrust her hips against him as his stubble tickled her thighs. His cool tongue licked her scorching center, making her squirm.
No one was this good. His skills were just unreal. She felt herself approaching the edge, but once more he backed off.
Ariel frantically tugged at his hair, trying to reel his head back in, wanting release from this incredible desire, but she couldn’t move the stone wall of muscle that was his neck.
He placed his arms and legs on either side of her as he slowly planted kisses up her body. When he glanced at her face, she was reminded of an animal stalking his prey. His eyes shone with want. Possession.
Yes. I’m yours!
She spread her legs wide in anticipation, suddenly fearful that she might not be able to accommodate his ample girth.
HIs lips reached her mouth, and he kissed her passionately, his tongue darting in and out with increasing frequency. She waited for him to penetrate her with his manhood, but he didn’t.
“I’m begging you, do it now!” Ariel said.
“I want to,” he said gruffly. “More than you know, my Ariel, my sweet Ariel. But I don’t have a condom.”
“So?” she said. “I won’t get pregnant.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know my body fairly well,” she said. She rammed her lips against his, pressing her tongue against his teeth, but he didn’t part them.
He retreated, moving his head just beyond her reach.
“I can’t,” he said.
“You can,” she said, gritting her teeth. “You will. You can’t do this to me. Not after all this buildup.” She folded her legs around his buttocks, drawing him in. He resisted at first, but then she growled as the inner beast inside her began to come forth, tripling her strength, and she felt his hips buckling.
When his tip touched her entrance, she flung her arms around his back and pulled down even harder. Pulled as if her life depended on it.
She raked his nails down his bare flesh with the claws she felt forming.
Jett snarled in outrage. “You want to get fucked, do you?”
He slammed his manhood inside her.
Ariel moaned in surprise, not expecting him to drive so deep. Nor to be so big. He filled her completely, stretching her to the limit, so that he was buried deep within. Her body shuddered involuntarily as she felt a heady mixture of pain and pleasure. It was so good. Just so, so good. Unlike anything she’d ever felt. She knew she was spoiled now, forever ruined. She could never go back to an ordinary man, not after she’d tasted a dragon.
He pulled back and then bucked into her once more. She bit back squeals of pleasure as he repeatedly rammed into her hard and fast. Her lioness had stopped scrabbling at her skin, and lay forgotten inside of her.
All conscious thought was drowned out by the continual bursts of pleasure that pulsed through her body. She began to moan in unison with his every thrust. She fumbled for his hands and entwined her fingers with his. She looked into his eyes.
I’m yours, but you’re mine now, too.
That last thought echoed in unison with every thrust.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
14
Jett gazed deeply into her eyes as he bucked. He gripped her hands tightly. The way she had done that, wrapped her fingers around his, was sexy as hell. Everything about her was sexy as hell, in fact.
At first, she seemed stunned when he’d entered her, even in pain. That was her fault. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. But he had left himself exposed to her, leaving his skin unhardened, and when she had raked her nails down his back, causing agonizing pain, he’d lost all inhibition. She was basically telling him she wanted him to hurt her. And that she didn’t care if he was gentle or not.
The flash of pain he’d seen in her features had quickly melted, her eyes rolling in pleasure as he’d begun to thrust.
He was lost now in his own pleasures as he continued to drive himself inside her.
“Yes, yes!” she said. “Mine, mine.”
For some reason, everything she said only turned him on more. He was the one who wanted to make her his own, and seeing this possessiveness from her aroused him beyond measure. He felt himself coming close to release, but he held back as much as he was able, wanting to time his crescendo with her own.
“Harder!” she said, and moaned when he increased his pace to accommodate her wishes.
When she bit her lower lip in the same sexy way she had done when she was pitching her tent, he knew he wasn’t going to make it.
Thankfully, she climaxed right then, shouting his name into the woods, again and again. As he felt her muscles repeatedly clench around his girth, he too gave in to his need, and his entire body shuddered.
When it was done, he collapsed on top of her. Mindful that he might be crushing her, he rolled to the side, lying on his back in the tent.
Ariel snuggled up against him, pressing her head into his chest. He wrapped his fingers around her long hair and held her close.
“What have we done?” he said.
“Oh, shush,” she said. “It’s not the end of the world. No one will ever know.”
“But we will know,” Jett said.
She glanced up at his face and smiled sadly in the moonlight. “It’ll be our secret.”
He sighed and wrapped his other arm around her, and rocked her against his chest. “I don’t want it to be a secret. I want you to stay in my arms like this for all eternity.”
“I want that, too,” Ariel said. “But you know that can’t happen.”
“Why not?” Jett said.
She lowered her head and pressed into his chest. “Once we find the pride, you’ll have to go back to your kingdom. You’ve been hinting at that since we left.”
“Maybe I’ll stay with you,” Jett said.
“No,” she said. “I couldn’t make you do that. Your people need you.”
“M
y brother can rule well enough in my absence,” Jett said. “Maybe I’ll just abdicate to him.”
“Like I said, I couldn’t do that to you,” Ariel said.
Jett pushed her away so he could look at her face. “Don’t tell me what you can and can’t do to me. I know what’s best for me. And right now, you are.”
“Yes,” Ariel told him. “Right now. But how long will that last? You said it yourself: you were afraid you wouldn’t want me after you satisfied your forbidden lust. Maybe you’re already having second thoughts.”
“I want you now more than ever,” Jett said.
She smiled, then placed her head on his chest once more. She traced small circles across his abs. “Mr. Dragon is sweet tonight.”
“You know, when I was resisting you back there, you started to transform,” Jett said.
“Oh, you noticed that, did you?” she said, seeming to put on an air of innocence.
“Yes,” he said. “And when I gave in to you, the change reversed. You summoned your lioness to help you overpower me. You’re learning how to control it, aren’t you?”
“Not really,” she said. “Though I’d like to think you have a calming influence over me. For the most part. Until you refused me back there, anyway.”
“I get the hint, refusing you is a bad idea,” he said.
“You’re damn right,” Ariel said.
He held her in silence, wanting to relish her presence, her smell, her everything, for as long as possible; with a sigh, he finally released her.
“Hey,” she said.
“I have to keep watch,” he told her, pulling away completely.
It was almost as if he could still feel her pressing into his side—his body was already missing her.
Jett grabbed his clothes and left the tent. She held the flap open behind him, but stayed inside.
He slipped on his underwear, well aware of her eyes on him in the moonlight. Then he pulled on his jeans, and shrugged on his black and gold dress shirt, slowly doing up the buttons.
When he was finished, he turned to look at her, but she had let the flap fall closed.
“See you tomorrow,” he said.
“Uh huh.” Her voice sounded wistful.