“I guess this is goodnight then,” he told her as they pulled up to the front entrance.
“For tonight, anyway,” she replied.
“Yes, just for tonight,” he agreed, leaning over to kiss her.
His lips were hot on hers, his tongue parting her mouth, searching for her own. His kiss was hungry as he seemed to drink her in, weaving a spell over her. She found herself wanting him again – wanting to park the car and come in with him. Her body yearned to feel his hands on her bare flesh as he took her again as he had done on the mountain. She felt like she was slipping away, floating upward into a sort of magical place where their feet had left the ground, but the moment was soon ruined by the blaring of a horn behind them.
“I guess they want us to stop using the front entrance as a make out point,” he laughed.
“Sounds that way,” she said with an agonized sigh.
“Give me a call tomorrow when you wake up. I’m in room 321.”
“Call the hotel? Don’t you have a cell phone?” she asked.
“Never needed one before. Perhaps you can help me pick one out while I’m here,” he said as the car behind them blew its horn again.
“I can do that. Goodnight, Owen.”
“Goodnight, Amy. Tomorrow can’t get here soon enough.” He stood watching as she pulled away, and it was all she could do to keep moving forward and not find a reason to turn around and make her way up to his room. Surely, he wouldn’t turn her away if she showed up on his doorstep rather than leaving him alone for the night.
“Stop it, Amy,” she told herself out loud. She knew she was letting her libido get the best of her. If Owen wanted to take things slow, then she would do that. He was right, of course. Why get all tangled up in sex rather than truly getting to know one another? Still, it was going to be hard. It was one thing to anticipate what someone might be like in bed, but it was another to know just how they could make you feel and having to hold back that part of yourself.
Chapter 11
The following morning, Amy called Owen’s hotel room to let him know she was up and getting dressed. He told her he was just in from an early morning flight around the city, and she found herself feeling disappointed in not having seen it. The vision of him flying toward her on the mountain was prominent in her mind. It was so majestic and magical. Her phone rang as she finished getting dressed. It was Barb.
“What are you up to today? I thought we could go into the city, do some shopping, and maybe stop for a drink or two over lunch,” Barb told her.
“I can’t today, Barb. I have plans. Besides, you aren’t supposed be up and about on your ankle, are you?”
“Not really, but it’s feeling much better, and I’m going stir crazy.”
“Now you are just making me feel bad. You’re all banged up because of me, and I’m leaving you stranded there alone.”
“Yes, yes. You should feel bad. Now, cancel your plans and come get me!” Barb teased.
“I wish I could, but I really can’t. I have a friend in town. I’m not sure for how long.”
“A friend? What sort of friend, Amy?” Barbara said suggestively.
“The male variety,” Amy replied, leaving it at that.
“Oh, really? Well, good for you. And this male friend, might I know him?”
“No, you haven’t met him.”
“Does he have a name?”
“Owen,” Amy replied.
“Owen? Wait, isn’t that the guy the rangers said found you on the mountain? Did you bring home a souvenir and not tell me about it, Amy?”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Doubtful. Your legs either if you have any sense. Of course, I haven’t met him, but I do know you are desperately in need of getting laid.”
“Barb,” Amy began to say, but she was quickly cut off by her friend’s excitement at the prospect of her having a new man in her life.
“What exactly happened while you were stranded with this mountain man of yours? Did you have to resort to sordid measures to keep warm?” Barb teased.
“All I can tell you is that I have to get going. He’s expecting me to pick him up at his hotel,” Amy laughed.
“Fine. Fine. You owe me a full report, though. If I have to stay here and lick my wounds, then you are obligated to entertain me with tales of your carnal conquests.”
“You’re incorrigible, Barb.”
“I certainly am,” Barb laughed. “I’ll talk to you later then.”
“Talk to you later, Barb,” Amy replied before ending the call with a little chuckle. It was going to be hard to tell Barb anything about Owen – not because she was ashamed of having had sex with her rescuer, but because she was afraid she would look shifty leaving out the details of the morning after. She and Barb had no secrets, and her friend had done far more morally questionable things than sleeping with a stranger. It felt strange to keep something from her.
Casting thoughts of all that aside, Amy slipped on her shoes and headed for the door, driving across town to Owen’s hotel. Her heart felt as if it might thump completely out of her chest as she anticipated seeing him again. She was surprised when he met her in the lobby rather than waiting for her to ring his room.
“Ready to go, are we?” she laughed as she stepped through the double doors held open by the doorman and approached him.
“Yeah, staying in a hotel isn’t my style. I get claustrophobic in them,” he laughed.
“Well, let’s get you out of here. Still want to find a cell phone?” she asked.
“Yeah, I suppose it’s time for me to join the modern age.”
Amy stopped and looked up at him as he smiled down at her. Leaning in, he kissed her lightly on the lips, lingering there long enough to make her weak in the knees.
“You look amazing,” he said as he pulled away, his hand still burning the flesh of her arm with his incredible heat.
“Thank you. Shall we go?”
“Yes. Let’s go get you a smart phone,” she replied.
“Nothing fancy. I just need something to send and make calls on,” he told her.
“And texts,” she added.
“Texts?”
“You’re kidding me. You don’t know what texts are?”
“Of course I know what texts are. I don’t quite live in a cave,” he laughed as they climbed into the car. “I just don’t know why I need them.”
“Trust me. You’ll like having them when you are in certain situations and can’t readily talk.”
“You mean like corporate meetings and delicate surgery?”
“Precisely,” she laughed.
“I’ll have to take your word for it. We’ll see,” he said.
“It’s a pretty standard feature on phones these days, so might as well learn to use it.”
“If you say so. I’ll just have to trust you until I see it for myself.”
“Yes, you will,” she told him, pulling out onto the street.
Luckily, traffic wasn’t too heavy at that time of the morning, and they made it to the mobile phone dealer in record time. After browsing the many styles available, they managed to select a very simple phone with a long battery life and a basic plan. Owen tinkered around with it in the car as they made their way to a little breakfast place Amy often frequented. Nestled into a booth, they ordered a bite to eat and spent the time waiting for it to arrive with her giving him a quick tutorial on how to use the phone.
“The most important thing is, did you put your number in there?” he asked.
“Of course I did,” she said with a wink just as their breakfast arrived.
“I don’t know about this, but I guess it will make things a lot easier.”
“Did you not have a phone at all in Ireland?”
“Just a house phone. Not one of these things,” he told her, laying the phone to one side and digging into the food on his plate.
“Well, welcome to modern communication. Nex
t thing we know, you’ll be getting a computer so you can surf the internet.”
“Whoa, now. One thing at a time,” he laughed.
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to overwhelm you,” she laughed, stabbing a bite of eggs with her fork.
“So what would you like to do after breakfast?” he asked.
“I don’t know. You’re the visitor. What would you like to do?”
“I’m not sure. I need some new clothes. Now that it is warming up, I don’t need so many of the heavy things that I have. I didn’t bring the kind of clothes I need for the warmer months. It doesn’t get quite as warm in Ireland as it does here.”
“Well, how about we go to the mall then? That’ll give you different choices of shops to look in for the kinds of things you’d like.”
“Okay, but I might need some help. I’m horrible at dressing myself.”
“Who dresses you at home?”
“My mom.”
“I hope you’re kidding,” Amy laughed, though secretly hoping he was kidding.
“Yes and no. I’ve had most of my clothes for years. She picked them out while I was still living at home, so technically, she dressed me.”
“Ah, that makes sense. I don’t suppose someone who ages so slowly has to buy a lot of new clothes as far as the sizes changing. You just replace things as they wear out.”
“Or get ripped apart,” he laughed.
“Ripped apart?” she asked, not comprehending his meaning.
“Sometimes, if I have to take flight quickly and don’t have time, they tend to come apart in the process.”
“Oh, I hadn’t considered what happens to your clothes. I guess I thought it was like those people that change into superheroes, and when they change back, they are back in their clothes.”
“Not Clark Kent. He changed in a phone booth.”
“Okay, so not all of them then.”
“Well, I’m hardly a superhero anyway,” he replied with a smile.
“Aren’t you?”
“Far from it. I’m just a man with some idiosyncrasies.”
“Ah. I suppose that is one way to look at it,” she replied as they pulled into the parking tower of the mall.
“Wow, this place is massive.”
“Yes. You shouldn’t have any problems finding what you’re looking for in there.”
“I’ve already found what I’m looking for. The clothes are just a necessity.”
****
The days seemed to blend as the two of them spent countless hours together. Amy was a bit put off by Owen’s seeming need for alone time, returning to the mountain most days to enjoy the solitude. Still, she told herself that it was just his way of coping with things that had been with him a lot longer than she had been. Though she would have been content to have him around all the time, she couldn’t complain about his not being too clingy.
“What do you want to do tonight?” he asked.
It was their last night together for a bit, and she wanted to make it special by going out and doing something romantic and memorable. The problem was that nothing came to mind. Instead, she found that all she wanted was to curl up with him and be together, so that is what they ended up doing. A home cooked meal and a bottle of wine later, they danced lazily to an old tune her mother used to play, their bodies pressed provocatively against each other as they glided softly across the floor.
“I don’t know how I got so lucky,” he told her.
“I don’t either,” she laughed.
“Run away with me.”
“Where would we go?”
“Anywhere you want to go. Just name the place, and that is where we will head off to.”
“I wish it were so simple. I’d love to retire to the mountainside with you. You know, spend all our days in an old cottage overlooking the waves that crash against the cliffs just beyond our back door.”
“You’d love it in Ireland then. There is no shortage of that kind of view there.”
“But there is a shortage of a job for me. I’ve worked hard to get where I am. It’s a nice thought to just take off and leave it all behind, but I could never do it.”
“You love your job that much?”
“Not really. It’s not a matter of loving it. It’s just that I’ve put in my time and earned my position. My ratings are the highest in my time slot, and they have been for the past three years.”
“And that makes you happy?”
“You make me happy. That pays my rent to live in this rather nice loft and buy wine.”
“I know another way to make you happy,” he said, leaning down to kiss her neck.
“Mmm. I think you are onto something there.”
“Yeah? How about here? How happy does that make you?” he asked as his hand drifted down toward her breasts, his finger trailing delicately across her cleavage.
“Ecstatic,” she mumbled as his lips trailed across her shoulder, slipping the strap of her dress down one arm.
They were quickly lost in one another, too excited by the heat of the passion that burned between them to even make it to the bedroom. They made love on the living room rug, taking their time to explore one another’s skin as if it was the first time they had done this. Yet, for all their familiarity, it was always fresh – always new in some way.
Amy knew that she could go the rest of her lifetime without another man touching her. Owen was sheer perfection. Though she cautioned herself not to get too wrapped up in him, she knew that she was already way past the point of no return. Their hips met again and again in perfect rhythm as she lost any sense of resistance to what was happening between them. She had fallen hard for Owen. There might be a lot she wasn’t yet sure about, but that part was certain.
Chapter 12
“You’re on the air with A.J. Webb,” Amy said into her microphone the following Monday as her show wound down.
It had felt like the longest show of her life. The morning had been filled with saying her goodbyes to Owen as he prepared to go back to his mountain for a few days apart so he could tend to some things there that he was quite vague about. It wasn’t like she wouldn’t see him again soon, but she could still feel the tug of emptiness he left behind after spending the entire weekend all wrapped up on him.
“Isn’t anyone going to do something about this dragon hoax? It’s going to cause an accident seeing these things flying around the highway,” the high-pitched voice of an elderly sounding woman complained.
“Well, I don’t know, but I’m hardly the one to handle the situation. Perhaps you should contact your local councilman for answers,” Amy said sarcastically, shooting The Grid an angry look for sending through a dragon call after he had told her he wouldn’t do it anymore.
“It’s getting worse. There are three of them, and who knows how many more will show up? How long before they attack the city? You know they are planning something,” the woman whined.
“Three of them? What makes you say that?” Amy asked, her curiosity piqued. Was this just an over imaginative caller, or was there actually more than one? The thought of that made her feel quite unsettled, not because there were more than she had seen, but because why wouldn’t Owen have mentioned that he wasn’t alone on the mountain?
“Yes, three of them. There are two big ones and a smaller one. You can tell them apart. They are all different colors.”
“What colors have you seen?” Amy asked cautiously.
“The big ones are both red, but one is a darker shade, and the other has some orange mixed in along his wings and undercarriage…I guess that is what you call it. The smaller one is a bright blue and silver color.”
Amy was speechless for a moment, but The Grid’s hand motions in the glass booth that adjoined her pushed her past her momentary paralysis. She shook it off and leaned toward the microphone, choosing her words carefully.
“Most likely just some kids with kites. I’m sure they’ll tire of their charade soon,”
she said, dismissing the call and closing out the show before anyone could send another one through.
“What are you doing?” The Grid demanded as she stepped out of the booth. “What is wrong with you lately?”
“What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you? Didn’t I tell you no more dragon calls?”
“Yes, but people have been calling in from all over the city, and they need to be heard. If you don’t do it, someone else will, and we need the ratings. You need to get your head back in the game, Amy. I don’t know where it’s been lately, but you don’t see to be on the same page as the rest of the station. Listeners are going to start finding someone else to follow if you can’t come down off your perch long enough to answer their calls about whatever they want to talk about.”
“If you have a problem with the way I run my show, then you need to take it up with the program manager, or better yet, the station manager. In the meantime, I’ve got better things to do than argue with you,” Amy said, shoving past him and making her way out of the station to her car.
Sitting behind the wheel, she took a deep breath. What was happening here? Perhaps the old woman was just off her rocker, imagining more dragons, or maybe she was just trying to one up other callers by saying she saw several. Wait. Other callers…
The thought stuck in Amy’s mind as she remembered the first call she had taken about the dragons, before she had seen one for herself. The man that had called had said the dragon he saw was blue and silver, just like the woman had said in her call. Oh, of course, Amy surmised. The woman had heard the call on the air. Perhaps other people she had run across in the city had described other dragons, and that is where she got her information. The woman might not have seen any dragons at all.
The more Amy tried to rationalize things, the more she realized that her own efforts to make sense of things weren’t logical. Even if other people were describing different dragons, didn’t that mean they were seeing them? They could be making them up, but who was to say for sure? After all, she hadn’t believed there was even one dragon until she had seen it for herself. Even then, she had thought it might just be some sort of hoax. The sound of her phone ringing jarred her from her thoughts. She glanced at it. Shit, station manager. The Grid hadn’t wasted time, she thought to herself.
Saved by a Dragon (Paranormal Shifter Romance) (Exiled Dragons Book 1) Page 7