"No, this is the best."
"Then what troubles you?"
Amber needed to change the subject. This conversation was veering into an area that she wasn't prepared to tackle.
"I don't think I'm able to articulate that right now."
"I see." He didn't push the issue. "When and if you're ready, I'll be here to listen."
That was the problem. She wouldn't be. In the morning, she'd give him her research, take her van and never come back here. Shaking her head to push the dismal thought away, Amber snuggled into his chest and sighed.
Noran ran a tender fingertip along her hand and fingers. Amber clasped his hand, brought it to her lips and kissed the back of it. She heard his breath catch in his chest. She wouldn't take the gesture back though. It felt right. They felt right. Here in his arms, knowing what he was, and him holding her as he did, this was to be her perfect night that would have to last her for the rest of her life.
A finger lifted her head to look into glowing pools of emerald.
"You’re my undoing, do you know that? he asked, peering past her soul to captivate her essence and spirit.
"No, but I don't want... " The words choked in her throat, unable to maintain enough courage and momentum to be spoken.
Amber's experience in romantic relationships was lean, closer to nil, but she wouldn't be that clingy girl who got attached too fast and deep.
"Finish what you were about to say, please, kind Amber."
"It was nothing."
He bent and brushed her lips with his.
"Please."
He was going to be her undoing as well. Squeezing her eyes shut to block out his penetrating green gaze, she said, "I don't want to leave you. I want to stay with you forever."
There. Her foolish words were out there. She waited, concentrating on monitoring his body's reaction to her proclamation.
Instead of the tensing of his body, her ejection from his lap or an awkward silence, he gathered her up to him and said, "Open your eyes and look at me."
She obeyed. To Amber's shock and amazement his look held hunger, passion, delight.
"You mean it," he said after a pause. "You meant what you said. Amber, you wish to stay here with me?"
She nodded.
"Please, my kind Amber, I need to hear you say the words."
"Noran, I would like to stay here with you. I have nowhere else I need to be, but more importantly, the thought of leaving you is tearing me up inside."
This time when he captured her lips, it was full of raw hunger and need. Amber answered him with all the unmet need and desire she never knew had accumulated over the years.
Noran positioned her to straddle him as he deepened their kiss. Amber responded by looping her arms around his neck and scooting as close as possible. This kiss, this one, was more than ever before. With each swirl of their dueling tongues, her heart beat faster and surer that this Dragon was to be her forever. As crazy as it seemed even to think the thought, Amber wouldn't deny her heart and gut. Noran was hers.
"I want you," she found herself saying as their kiss broke for each to regain breath.
"You don't understand what that means for a Dragon. Don't say what you don't understand."
"Don't lecture me, Dragon. I know that I want you now and forever."
Amber pulled back and did his thing. She captured his face between her hands and peered deep into his eyes determined to connect with that spark that contained every part of him.
"Listen to me Dragon. I offer you me or whatever I need to say to make you understand what I mean. Do you understand?"
She waited for him to reply. Instead, Noran nodded.
"Not good enough. Repeat back to me what you think I mean." His smile was a half grin and crooked. "Noran." She put a little base in her voice to let him know she was serious.
"I think you're saying that you want to have sexual relations with me."
"Ant! Wrong answer. This isn’t about sex. Well, partially correct, but no. You don't get it. I'm saying I can't explain it well, but I know you're mine. Since before I even knew your name, I knew on some level that you were mine—and I'm yours. Does that make any sense to you? Or, am I cuckoo?"
"What you are is amazing."
"Touch me." Amber needed to feel his hands all over her. When he rubbed her back, it wasn't enough. Like a fever taking over, Amber pulled her top off and took his hands to place them against her bare skin. "Please, Noran, touch me."
He obliged, massaging her body with supple strokes and deep kneading. Masterful and intuitive, Noran ministered to her needs and want as she sought to get closer.
After another break for air, he said, "I want you too." Maneuvering to stand with her still clinging to him, he said, "I’m going to take you upstairs to bed. By the time I make it there, I need you to let me know if you still want this—if you want me. As a Dragon, I want you as my mate." He paused as if giving her time to process his words. "Amber, this is equivalent to a human marriage, but with no divorce. My forever is that, forever as long as I live. Are you able to handle that?"
His words scared the hell out of her. Things just got real. Instead of a million thoughts and what-ifs swirling about her mind, only one thought hummed an incessant chant in her thoughts, my Dragon, my Dragon.
He started the trek up to the bedroom. She remained quiet, holding on as he carried her with ease up the stairs. In the hallway, he paused. She looked him straight on. Noran took the last steps to enter his bedroom.
When he stood at the side of the bed, he whispered, "Last chance. Speak now or forever hold our sacred bond."
Amber said one word, "Mine."
13
Amber
The window blinds of the bedroom were still open from earlier. The room cloaked itself in shades of night, save the faint moonlight that peeked in from a distance. Noran tossed her into what had to be the middle of the bed and joined her. Amber watched straining to make out details of his form in the darkness. What she couldn't miss was how well he showcased that fluid grace possessed in his movements.
Giddy was an understatement for how everything within her buzzed, sizzled and ignited. Nothing was more right than this right now. When he made it to her, he pushed her back onto the bed with a gentle but firm command. Amber reached up to have him join her.
In tune with her mounting desire, he whispered, "This is the point of no return. You understand that?"
"Yes." Amber almost didn't recognize her voice with how deep and husky it had grown.
"I'm not like human males. This is my joining my all to you. Again, let me know if you have any shred of doubt and we'll stop. I'm willing to wait, my dear Amber."
Her mind did what it did. Thoughts, ideas, and a wayward memory here and there flooded in. She shook her head to release the pressure of all that mental activity.
"Amber, breathe with me."
Warm and fresh, his breath kissed her cheek and down her jawline to fan out along Amber's sensitive collarbone. The effect was sensually arousing enough to get her out of her head and back into her body where she wanted to be.
"That's it, my Amber. Keep breathing with me."
Her hand found its way up to caress his cheek. Amber wanted to melt when he leaned his head into her hand. Being with Noran was complete and right. Like a wheel of fortune slowing down to land on the jackpot, Amber's thoughts slowed to a manageable pace as she sought to see his facial features in the dark.
"Please, turn the light on so I can see your face," she asked still marveling at how his eyes gleamed and danced in the darkness of the bedroom.
Noran reached over her in the ebony tint of the room, his body heat washing her in comfort. Amber heard a faint click sound in the quiet. A tiny lamp on a nightstand close to her side of the bed cast soft buttery hues in a valiant attempt to light as much space as possible. The effect was to create shadows beyond the bed and give Noran's face a more chiseled look. She soaked up the display of masculine beauty that was Noran as
the light played with partial shadows on his face. This close to him, Amber could see the subtle differences that made him superhuman. The pronounced brow, that kaleidoscope affect his eyes did with his changing mood and the majestic way his features resembled both human and Dragon. Amber willed herself to memorize the portrait of Noran in this moment—before they became forever entwined.
Was there anything else she needed to remember? Instead of allowing a torrent of thoughts to assail her, Amber concentrated on how Noran looked at her right now. His gaze penetrated to the depths of separating her bone and marrow in its intensity. Whatever he did gave Amber the needed peace to process what thoughts may come. Then they were there, easy and peaceful. Her mind remained in control as the ideas came to the forefront.
"I see the wheels of your busy mind are still spinning, just not so vigorously. What questions do you have, my dear Amber?"
"You're a perceptive Dragon."
"I wouldn't be fit to be a Dragon if I weren’t." He bent down to nuzzle the crook of her neck as he planted little, hot kisses along the column of her neck.
"Mmm,"
"You like?"
"I love," she said, realizing her slip of term too late. "I mean, I love how you're kissing my neck."
Noran raised up to look at her again. "Amber, does the word 'love' make you uncomfortable?"
"You and these probing questions. I see they'll be a part of you I'll have to get used to encountering."
"Is it difficult to answer that question?"
She nodded, preferring that overhearing herself stutter and flounder.
"Then I'll answer it first. Based on what I know of human love, I would have to say that Dragon males only experience that for our mate. Its strong and can be overwhelming."
Amber held her breath waiting for the shoe to drop of how he didn't feel that way about her. She expected him to say she was "good enough" in the absence of finding his true mate.
Noran propped on an elbow and continued. "Since I first saw your van on the border of this land, my Dragon has been nudging the fact that you're my mate to the forefront. I'll admit, I've fought it, but I will not any longer. Amber, you're it. You're my mate. I want to make it clear that I'm in love with you, only you, and that won't change." He smiled and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "You don't have to love me as much as I love you. What you do have to do, is carefully and thoughtfully consider what it means for you to be with me."
Talk about the worst moment to delve into emotional terrain. He kept quiet, taking in the play of emotions Amber was sure erupted through her facial features. The Dragon missed nothing.
"Thank you for that. I'm in a strange, unusual place that I've never been in."
"Which is?" he asked, not pressuring her but curiosity heavy in the question.
"Which is that I don't know what true love is, but I know that the thought of not being with you causes me physical pain."
"That could be the sandwich from earlier."
"Hush it, you." She liked that he could keep things light. "No, what I mean is that I think I'm in love with you, but I thought it took a lot of time for that to happen."
"Maybe it does—for some people. You're not like anyone else. For you to be my mate, your soul has a more than human capacity to love."
"You think so?" She hadn't thought of her ache for him in that way.
"I know so. My Dragon wisdom is true. You are amazing, and I plan to find out how in every way."
Noran reached over to grab her into his arms. There was so much Amber didn't know about how to be in love, how to be a good partner, hell, how to be good in bed.
Good in bed, that's what she’d forgotten. Everything came to a screeching halt.
"Hold up, Noran. I forgot to have the STD talk with you. Shoot, I'm new at this. Too much to remember," she said, struggling to push him back and sit up.
Noran stopped and helped her to sit.
"The STD talk?" He looked genuinely confused.
"Yeah, you know about sexually transmitted diseases?"
"Oh, do you have them? Would you like to discuss how they affect you?"
"No Noran, I would not like to discuss diseases I do not have." Amber refrained from taking it personally. This business of discussing their sexual interaction was new to her, and she wouldn't get caught up in temperamental snags. A cleansing breath, a pause and she continued. "Noran, I do NOT have any sexually transmitted diseases. I have had sex once. Since then, I’ve tested for sexual diseases and am clean." Green eyes watched her every move. "What I wanted to talk about was your sexual health status. I think we should wait until we can both have the tests done, you know, together as a couple."
Thumping loud enough for Noran to hear it, her heart fluttered at confronting this issue head-on as she had. In this society, it was up to her to take care of her continued health. Noran was human in so many ways. He could be inundated with diseases. She could never swear on what any penis was willing to do or where it might go, including his.
His chuckle was slow and deep. Amber stared not knowing why he laughed.
"What? Why are you laughing at me?"
It took a moment to regain his composure, but when he did, Amber could swear he'd laughed so hard his eyes were teary.
"Amber, my love and hopefully soon-to-be mate, I'm pleased that you would think about protecting your health."
"Then why all the laughing?" she fumed, and she knew it. His laughter was wreaking havoc on the confidence she'd grown tonight.
"Oh, that. I'm laughing for a few reasons. One, Dragons are immune to human disease, and two I've been, as you call it, celibate since coming to your world."
"So, what, you've been here a few months, that's not a whopping big accomplishment.” It was mean, to say what she did like that, but her feelings smarted in hurt.
Sensing her mood change, he sat up to look her straightforward. Grabbing her hand, Noran grew serious.
"Amber, please, I meant no harm. Please forgive me?"
She wanted to snatch her hand back. Instead Amber decided to behave like an adult and hear him out.
"Go on. Why were you laughing? I was completely sincere. How would I know Dragons can't catch human illness? Did you ever see War of the Worlds?"
"Actually, I did, both when Orson Welles did it on radio and one of the many movie attempts."
"Huh? Orson Welles did that back like many years ago. You must have heard a rebroadcast of some kind."
"No, I heard it live on the radio.”
"What?" The eye roll of disbelief happened too fast for her to catch it. Amber's mind was going to hurt if they kept this conversation going. "Noran, how long have you been here on Earth?"
He smiled again.
"Noran?"
"Yes, my love? And, so you know, I love how you say my name.”
Amber waived off the compliment, determined to get to the bottom of his confusion of Earth time. “If memory serves that was done a century ago."
"Yes, give or take a few years."
Amber leaned in, looking at the young being sitting before her.
"Noran, how long have you been here?"
He scanned her face. "Promise not to freak out or leave me when I answer?"
"I don't know. That depends on if you tell me something crazy."
"Like?"
"Hell, Noran, answer the damn question!"
"Testy, testy."
"Sorry, I just need to wrap my head around this. It's not every day I fall in love with a Dragon who may be way older than the late twenty-something I thought he was."
One of his perfectly arched eyebrows cocked. "You thought I was in my twenties?"
"Yes, I figured I was the slightly older woman in this equation."
"Haha! You are profoundly complimentary, my love."
"Yes, but if you don't answer my question, I swear to God—"
"Yes, no need to go swearing to deities. To answer your question, by Earth years I've been here for a little under two hundred years."
"Uh-uh. Noran quit playing around. I need to know if your time calculation is the same one I have in mind.”
He held up his hand and made a gesture. "On the honor of the Dragon Warrior Guardians what I say is true. And, to answer your next question, if I had to guess, I'd say I'm well over double that in age. Also, I’m not mixed up in my Earth time. That’s human years, not dog years.” He winked at her and grinned.
He winked.
“Glad you’re so calm about the audacious claim you’re making.”
“Dear one, it’s not a claim if it’s true. I’m an old man and the Goddess has seen fit to bless me with a young mate—if you’ll accept me.”
It must have been a lot of minutes before Amber blinked because when she did her eyes were scratchy and dry. She'd been staring at Noran trying to wrap her head around what he'd said.
"You're more than four hundred years old?"
"Way older than that. I came here to retire, remember?"
A nod was all she could muster with all the mental activity whizzing about in her head.
"Take into account that time moves differently on different planets. My calculation could be off, but not by much. It's not like I've lived for thousands of years like other Dragons. I’ve lived the equivalent of hundreds of Earth years, and by human standards, I'm pretty ancient."
Fear like never before overtook her. "Why me then?" I'm human. I'm going to wrinkle up and die in sixty years or so, and that’s if I take care of my health. That’s a blink of an eye in Dragon time. I can't do that to you. You deserve to be with someone like you. I can't do this to you. It won’t work."
He engulfed her in his solid arms again. This time, Noran rocked as he held her in a secure hold.
"Listen to me, Amber, there are a lot of things you'll need to learn. It's good we're having this conversation. I probably should have told you more before moving to the mating part."
She clung to him as his voice soothed her soul.
"Get to talking then, Dragon. I need answers if this is going to work. Why should I mate with you, only to leave you in a few years based on your lifespan?"
Dragon's Curvy Invader Page 10