Stop Dragon My Heart Around

  “I’m sorry about goading you at dinner,” she said.

  “Come on.” Gruffly he turned back toward the campfire.

  Tee padded sluggishly behind him. Sick of following him around.

  Sick of following everyone around.

  All her life, she’d followed the dictates of the Chief and the tribe. All of her days were spent following the orders of spoiled players. Abruptly, she veered off the path into the darkness.

  “Tee?” Leo called. “What’re you doing?” His voice was edgy and worried.

  It was childish, she knew, but she didn’t answer.

  She kept walking.

  Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and the way ahead was clear. A night lizard darted across her path. She jumped back, holding her hand to her heart before crouching down to see the lizard cowering under a rock. He was a beauty, no doubt out for his evening meal, just one of the many harmless reptiles prowling the desert at night.

  Why was she letting Leo dart and hide from her the way this creature did? She hurried to the fire pit, an impulsive plan forming.

  “Tee?” His steps approached her from behind.

  She pulled off his T-shirt and stripped out of her underwear. She’d just gotten his sleeping bag wrapped back around her shoulders when Leo stomped through the underbrush next to her.

  “Why didn’t you answer me?” he sounded worried.

  “Sorry.” Her heart pounded so hard she thought he’d surely hear it and know she was up to something. Giddiness coursed through her, and she faced him squarely. “I got off the path.”

  “Fine. Whatever,” he said. “Just get back in your tent.”

  “First, I want you to see something.”

  “What?”

  “I want you to see what you’re missing.” She dropped the sleeping bag. The cold air whisked over her bare skin, leaving goose bumps on her arms, and bringing her nipples to attention.

  Leo put his hand over his eyes. “Tee, you’re killing me.”

  She yanked his hand away. “Don’t you dare hide.” Her voice broke over the frustrated words. “This is it. The last time. Take a good look. In the morning, when you see me walking away from you for good, you’ll know.” The back of her throat tightened, but she pushed the words out. “You’ll know.”

  Leo met her eyes. He cleared his throat, but no words followed.

  The moon watched overhead, and the desert seemed to wait with her to see how Leo would react. Tee trembled from the cold and nerves. She couldn’t stand his continued silence, so she turned in a full circle. When she faced him again, she bent to get her clothes. “Good luck sleeping.”

  “Wait.”

  …

  Leo could hardly believe his eyes. The moon washed over the beginnings of his dragon mark on Tee’s lower back. His dragon mark. The three red triangular patterned spots were distinctive for what they would become: two golden wings and the head of a dragon. A broad smile stretched his face.

  Tee. A human was now, and forever, his mate. Just like Lucy, Alec’s mate.

  “What?” She clutched the sleeping bag and looked anything but elated. She looked pissed. He couldn’t say he blamed her.

  Usually the dragon marks were on the female’s hand. What was going on that the fates were choosing humans for the dragons and putting the dragon mark in a different spot? It was incredible. There were billions of humans on the planet and only a few thousand dragons. If the dragons could find pairings among the mass of humanity, it would be—a miracle.

  Tee was his miracle. His answered prayer. His mate.

  He picked her up and had her inside the tent before she could react.

  “What’re you doing?” She held him away for a moment, then relaxed her hold. “Never mind, just don’t stop. Promise?”

  “Promise.” He eased her to the ground, keeping his body over hers. “You’re mine.”

  “I was going to make you crawl naked through ants and beg before—”

  “Please, Tee.” He kissed her. Long and sweet, he pulled her tongue into his mouth and let her taste fill him. “I’m begging you.”

  “Okay, then.” She smiled up at him.

  The scent of her was earthy, like sagebrush and soft femininity. Leo wanted to suck her into his lungs and let her fill his pores. His dragon agreed. His beast beat under his skin, demanding possession of his mate. The air was suddenly too thin in the tent. Tee was naked under him. Completely naked, and he was wearing way too many clothes.

  His breath slammed in his throat and his vision narrowed to her golden skin, shining in the moonlight through the roof panel. “I’ve wanted you for so long.” He sat back on his heels and tried to get control. He needed to tell her about his dragon form.

  “I’m good with slow.” Tee’s black hair spread around her shoulders. “I’m good with fast, too.” She reached a hand up to touch his bare belly. His breath caught in his throat. They could talk about the dragon thing tomorrow. She might even be less alarmed after they’d been together.

  Her hand trailed down his chest. Fire followed her fingers, and Leo sucked in a breath, which constricted his belly muscles. His dragon jumped forward under his skin, and Leo fought the motion by leaning back further on his heels.

  “If you keep leaning on the sides of the tent, you’re going to make it collapse.” She lifted both hands to his shoulders, and pulled him down to press a hot kiss in the junction of his neck.

  Leo closed his eyes against the pleasure building inside him. Tee ran her hand up his thigh and cupped his cock through his jeans. Pleasure shot through him, and he swelled even more under her fingers. Achy need consumed him so that all he could think about was being buried deep, deep inside her, with her long legs wrapped around his back, pulling him to her.

  He closed his eyes. “I want to be inside you.”

  Tee tugged him forward over her. Her bare knees bracketed his hips, and her nipples brushed his chest. She embraced his neck and brought her face close to his.

  “What are you waiting for?”

  …

  Her lips moved over his neck, sending violent shivers through Leo. He tunneled his fingers into her hair and held her face to his. His kiss was consuming, hot. His tongue swept over hers, plunging, demanding she meet him. Her body ached to be even closer, twined tight against his. Every nerve ending shivered with awareness of him. Leo.

  Finally.

  The feel of him over her, his skin against hers, was more of a homecoming than she could ever remember. This was where she belonged.

  Leo eased her into the green sleeping mat and moved between her legs. His hot, hungry eyes looked down at her, open and vulnerable under him. “I’ve dreamed of you like this.” He placed a kiss on the inside of her right calf and worked his way up to the back of her knee.

  Sensation swamped her, and Tee hissed in a breath. “Oh God.”

  “You like that?” he murmured against her flesh.

  “Yes.”

  “Where else do you like?” He spread her legs at the knees, climbing with kisses to her thighs. Tee’s inner muscles clenched with anticipation, and her hips pushed toward him of their own accord.

  He touched her between her legs with his fingers, cupping and rubbing the moist skin there. Excited shivers shook her. “Ohhh there,” she moaned.

  Leo watched her, a wicked smile on his face. “There too?” he asked.

  In answer, Tee tugged his head to hers, as if she could kiss away his questions. She unbuttoned and slid his jeans to his thighs. He was commando, and his dick sprang to attention, hot and ready between them. She stroked the hard length of him, enjoying his sounds of pleasure when she circled his tip.

  He discarded his jeans. The vision of him, naked, the muscled V of his chest narrowing to six pack abs and powerful hips seared into her memory. He leaned over her and brought their mouths together, hot, thrusting, demanding. His body covered hers, and his hands encircled her waist, bringing their bodies closer together. Satisfaction and need clenched her muscles a
nd she thrust her hips into him.

  Leo’s face lowered over hers. He cradled the back of her neck just under her hair even as he urged her right thigh around his waist with his other hand. His rigid member nudged the sensitive folds of her skin.

  “Yes,” she demanded against his mouth. “More.”

  Leo probed her moist center, looking for entry to her slick insides. The feel of him at her entrance was tantalizing and she moved her hips up against his, sinking him into her opening.

  “Tee.” He rested his forehead on hers, vibrating with tension.

  She clung to him, her hands digging into his back and her legs climbing up and around his sides. Her lips parted on an exhalation of need, and Leo slipped his tongue inside her mouth. He smelled of hot man campfires. Her hands tightened on him.

  Leo kissed her, moving carefully into her, his hips matching the thrust of his tongue. He dropped his head to her breast, creating a slight separation of their lower bodies. Tee sighed against the lost connection, wanting the contact back, skin to skin. Leo put his hot mouth on her nipple and sucked it into his mouth. “I’ve imagined these one hundred times. So beautiful.”

  Tee cried out as the shooting sensations radiated down her torso. Need swamped her lower body and tightened in an achy coil. Leo moved to the other breast, circling the erect peak and tugging, so a tidal wave pulsed in her. She leaned against his mouth and brought her hands back to his shoulders.

  Leo trailed his free hand down her bare belly. Her breathing hitched and her muscles quivered under the contact. He slipped his hand between them, over her sensitive nub, and circled, building her pleasure. He watched her face, looking into her eyes.

  “Please…” Tee let her knees fall open, giving him full access, vulnerable but trusting. Her desire tightened and Leo kissed her face, even as he worked her closer to the edge with his fingers.

  “Oh yes.” She threw her head back with the spiral of her release. Her body arched and her muscles tightened and quivered under him.

  When she opened her eyes, Leo still watched her, his expression tense. “It’s really you,” he whispered.

  “Yes,” she managed.

  He thrust into her and her insides stretched to take all of him. Each time he moved into her, he lingered and retreated, building back her desire. Tee used her legs to tug him closer, deep into her center.

  He moved her right leg over his shoulder, opening her even more. She thought she’d taken all of him, but her head fell back and she gasped as he thrust in even further. She lifted her hips to him, opened wide, feeling the tension building again.

  He moaned in pleasure and increased his pace, taking long strokes, out all the way past his tip, then returning, forcing himself deeper. She moaned with both the ache and the pleasure. Her inner muscles tightened again, and this time spasmed around him as her legs twitched uncontrollably around him.

  Tightening his hold, his body moved over hers as he quickened his pace. Forward and back, until he roared his own release. His eyes closed with pleasure. “You.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tee sat on a rock the next morning, cradling a hot cup of coffee to her chest, still floating on a happy endorphin cloud. She wore Leo’s shirt, a pair of his gym shorts which she’d belted around her waist with a rope, and her leather moccasins. The energy of the sandstone earth flowed under her feet. She supposed this was the feeling the medicine men described when they were utterly at one with the spirits and themselves.

  “You got any coffee creamer in that magic cooler of yours?” she asked.

  From the side of the tent where he fixed a stake in the ground, Leo smiled. They’d rocked the tent loose with their loving the night before.

  “Of course, Princess. A little cream with your coffee, coming right up.”

  His teasing reached her heart and squeezed. It was as if her blood pumped under his skin and returned to her on a mellow, contented vibration.

  They were connected now, in more than body. It was as if that thing they’d always had between them had intensified one hundred times over. In the serene desert environment, her certainty was absolute, like a heart-stopping sunset you walked past with a knowing smile. It was beautiful, and it wasn’t going anywhere.

  Leo appeared at her shoulder and poured a dollop of heavy whipping cream into her cup. “Happy now?”

  “Oh yes,” she smiled and took a sip. “So very happy.” The coffee was just right, hot and bitter and smooth. “Thank you.”

  Leo returned the carton to the cooler and sat next to her on the log. The brush of his leg sent sensation to her core.

  “My favorite trail is close to here,” she said. “How about we pack a lunch and hike the loop? There’re some amazing pictographs, and a hot spring. And the back side faces east, so we’ll be in the shade in the afternoon.”

  “Sounds great. Do you want to check in with the Chief first?”

  Tee paused, considering. Part of her wanted to know what was going on back at the powwow, but the bigger part of her didn’t want to risk popping the happy bubble she and Leo were floating in. The Chief never carried a cell phone to tribal ceremonies anyway, so calling would be futile.

  “We won’t be able to reach him,” she said. Tomorrow, they’d return to the powwow in time for the closing ceremony. Tomorrow would be soon enough.

  “Okay,” Leo said, seeming to hear her thoughts. “What supplies will we need?”

  “The trail is a five-hour loop. Unless you’re one of those pokey hikers?”

  “You didn’t mind my pace last night.” He gave her a mischievous grin and lifted a brow.

  Tee blushed and smiled wide. “Last night was one thing, hiking is another.”

  “I’ll try to keep up.”

  “You do that.” She laughed and then quieted as memories from the previous night flooded her with achy longing. Leo under her. Leo over her, driving her to ecstasy. His muscled profile in the low light of the tent, easily maneuvering her passion.

  “You’re really strong. I couldn’t believe it yesterday when you broke those mesquite branches with your hands. When do you find the time to weight train?”

  “You make time for what’s important, I guess.” He picked up a long stick and poked at the fire.

  “Mei exercises every morning. In all the time I’ve roomed with her and Jane, I’ve only seen her miss a couple of days, and it was because she had the flu so bad she couldn’t get out of bed.”

  Leo lifted his head, and the rising sun hit his face and contracted his pupils so his green eyes were sage colored. Beautiful eyes. Amazing eyes. How had she missed that before?

  “Mei was sick?” Leo asked. “When?”

  “A few months ago, she spent three days in bed. Jane and I covered for her at the casino.”

  “You should have told me.” Leo looked distressed at the news.

  “Why?” Tee shrugged. “We had it covered.”

  Leo smoothed out the ashes to smother the fire for the day. “I’ve never known Mei to be sick.”

  “Trust me, she’s fine now. Back to grinding it out on the elliptical machine at five in the morning. I can’t wait to have my own place.”

  Leo stood and looked down at her. “That’s really important to you, isn’t it? Your own home.”

  “It’s something I’ve wanted since I was a child.”

  “Unusual, don’t you think?” Leo picked up a medium-sized backpack and started loading it for their trip.

  Tee watched with silent approval as he put the heaviest gear in the bottom of the pack. “What do you mean?”

  Moving to the cooler, he removed some food. “It seems like most kids think about what they’re going to be when they grow up, not where they’re going to do it.”

  “I just always wanted to be off the reservation. I’ve never felt I belonged.”

  “On the reservation or with the tribe?”

  “Both, I guess.”

  She’d grown faster than the other rez kids her age, towering over both b
oys and girls. They’d made fun of her skinny legs and height, and she’d needed glasses and braces. Her disjointed reflection always made her gut twist, to the point that she’d scrupulously avoided mirrors and reflective windows for years.

  “Did you ever talk to the Chief about how you felt?”

  “I talked to my Mom,” she said. “She understood. The Chief, I couldn’t even get past the words ‘I want’ with him. He would get so upset and start talking about the importance of the tribe. The tribe always comes first with him.”

  “You should try to talk to him now, as an adult.” Leo strapped down the pack and tightened the side pulls.

  Tee drained the last of her coffee and stood. “It’s just easier to do what I want and hope he understands.”

  “How’s that working for you?” He added a full canteen of water to the outside of the pack.

  The probing observation made her uncomfortable and seemed too solemn for casual, morning-after coffee conversation.

  “Enough serious talk,” she said. “I know you’re just trying to avoid the hike.”

  Leo’s answering smile was wide and generous and touched her heart as much as his understanding of her struggles with the Chief and the tribe. “After you, Princess.”

  …

  They started out on the trail as the mid-morning sun rose in the east. Tee trekked along with a walking stick she’d foraged and Leo had trimmed smooth with a knife. On her back, she carried a small ration of water and food. Leo had insisted she carry some supplies, just in case they got separated.

  She considered suggesting they divide the load for weight distribution and safety, but when Leo put on his pack, he didn’t even seem to notice the bulk. How often did she get to hike with a packhorse of such amazing, manly hotness?

  Why not just enjoy the view and lighter journey?