by Ellis Leigh
“Get up here,” I said, tugging on her shoulders. She popped off my cock and licked her lips, almost making me come right there.
“But I was just getting started.”
Yeah, she was. The pretty pout on her lips almost made me acquiesce to her wants. I needed more than her mouth, though. I craved a taste of her. “It’s my turn.”
Her smile nearly gutted me, and the slinky way she crawled up my body had every inch of me sitting up to take notice. By the fates, she was sexy.
“What did you have in mind?”
“I want you on my face.” As soon as I could reach, I grabbed her by the hips. Tugging her up my body. Past my chest. Positioning her thighs on either side of my head. Her soft giggle sounded more nervous than I would have liked, though. “Are you still consenting?”
“Sure. I mean…I’ll try anything once.”
I froze, my hands wrapped around her soft thighs, the scent of her pussy making my voice more growl than it should have been. Or perhaps it was the neglect she’d suffered from her previous partners. “You’ve never ridden a partner’s face?”
“That’s a little personal.”
“Amuse me.”
“Okay.” She looked down at me, her dark hair falling forward. Her hazel eyes locked on mine even as a flush bloomed on her chest and neck. Nervous. She was nervous. “I’ve had guys go down on me, just not—” she waved a hand toward where her hips met my head “—like this.”
“I get to be first.”
Her head cock and eyebrow raise shouted louder than she ever would. “If that’s what you want.”
It was. It very much was. I didn’t care about her past—was actually thrilled she could be an active, vocal lover so I could make sure to please her—but to give her something new felt like a gift. An opportunity to prove my worth. And I would.
“I won’t pass up the chance to give you new experiences, Sparky.” I lifted my head, seeking her out. Needing her taste on my throat. “Shuffle a little closer. I want your pussy all over me.”
She shuffled, that delicious flush growing darker. “This is seriously awkward.”
“Why? Because you could smother me with your pussy if you wanted to?”
“Keep calling me Sparky, and I might think about it.”
“Please do. It would be a noble way to die.”
“Oh please. As if—”
Her words died with a strangled sort of sound as I licked her from one end of her pussy to the other. No sucking, no fingers, nothing penetrating—just my tongue on her heated flesh. Tasting. And if I purposefully added a little pressure and flick as I finally reached her clit, then so be it. She deserved it.
“Still consenting, my beautiful girl?”
Her thighs trembled. “Yeah. Still in.”
“Good.” I licked her again, adding more pressure. More flicks. More of everything. Teeth and lips joined my tongue as she began to lose herself to the experience. As she grabbed my hair and rocked her hips, riding my face the way I’d wanted. Needed. Craved.
I worked her good, and when she came, when she cried my name and arched her back as she coated my chin in her arousal, pride stronger than any other filled me. I’d done it—pleased my mate with a new experience. Something other males hadn’t given her. I’d succeeded.
“Oh, Kingston. How do you do this to me?” she whispered, running her fingers through my hair as I lay beneath her, my belly wet from where I’d come right along with her. No stimulation needed other than her scent, her taste, and the sound of my name on her lips. Bliss. And I was the lucky bastard who would get to have this woman forever.
I wanted to tell her so much, to give her my past and my plans, my breed heritage and how it would work with hers. I wanted to hold her and talk as the night passed, but I only got one. I managed to pull her into my arms and roll over her. To wrap my arms around her and hold her close before sleep became too hard to resist and I fell into a deep slumber. My mate by my side. Where she belonged.
We could talk in the morning.
* * *
Ginger
Sleeping outside with the bugs and the noises and all the things that could go wrong wasn’t usually my thing, but with Kingston, I slept hard. I dreamed hard, too. Vivid, swirling dreams of animals running through forests and splashing through streams. Of wolves hunting together in the early evening light. Of a lone animal sitting in a clearing and howling toward the moon, his pointy ears up and his fur swirled and sweet. Tasty, really. All the animals would want a bite of him. They’d want to lick the frosting from—
“Shit.” I sat straight up just as the sun peeked over the mountaintop, coming awake from a dead sleep with only one thought in my mind. “I forgot to deliver the cake.”
Thankfully, Kingston didn’t wake up at my outburst. Just what I needed him to do. Sure, it would have been easier to shake him until his eyes came open then ask him to bring me back home. He’d probably have kissed me, shifted forms, and flown me all the way down the side of the mountain. But the idea of how this would end—of the awkwardness of goodbye after such an amazing night—made me avoid that option. It would be better for both of us for me to walk away. No scenes, no excuses. Dragons didn’t take mates like other shifters, so this was just a one-night thing. One glorious, beautiful night that I’d remember long after Kingston had left the cove.
Maybe forever.
And wasn’t he a jerk for making me want more of him?
I couldn’t be that clingy girl, though. That woman who refused to let go when the man made it clear he didn’t want more. I had my pride to protect and my rules to follow—one and done. No commitments, no long term, no complications. My head knew better than to get tangled up in some fantasy of happily ever after just because the dick was good.
My heart…well, I was pretty sure I’d already fucked that all up by spending any time with the naked dragon wrapped around me. He’d pulverized it with his devilish grins and sweet words, with his sexy ice-blue eyes and the way he sought my consent for every move. He’d destroyed me in the best way with far more than just good sex. I liked his attitude and irritating ways. Wanted to hear him call me Sparky even though it drove me insane. I wanted…lots of things I simply couldn’t have.
I gave myself to the count of twenty to take advantage of our positions. Running my fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair, brushing my hands down his muscled shoulders and arms. Absorbing his heat and his cinnamon smell. Saying goodbye to the way he made my heart thump so hard. Cementing him into my memory for those nights when I was alone and wishing for something I simply wasn’t ever going to have.
Eighteen—nineteen—twenty. Time to go.
Kingston slept through me extracting myself from his hold. Slept through me stumbling around to find my clothes. Even slept right on through me cursing his name as I sought a way off the cliff—thank goodness for the hiking trails my sisters and I had explored on a daily basis as kids—and made my way back to town. The man didn’t even stir as I left him on that cliff.
Which was likely a good thing.
I could avoid the awkwardness of the end of the one-night stand and all. No “I’ll call you”s or “We’ll get together soon”s, no simple lies meant to make the other person feel better. Just me slipping through the shadows and doing my best not to think about the possibilities of a life where the fates didn’t control men like Kingston. Where maybe—just maybe—I could let my guard down and allow myself to have more than one night.
I walked away from Kingston before he could walk away from me, leaving a little piece of my heart on that cliff with the dragon who’d rocked my world.
Damn him.
7
Kingston
There were three things a dragon never wanted to experience.
The first was to be trapped on the ground by some sort of damage to their wings. We were flight animals; we danced on air streams and currents.
Second was to be cold. As cold-blooded animals, we tended to seek warmth from
external sources. Sunshine was good, hot water better, but the friction of two bodies coming together was the best. A lack of that…well, it made us cranky.
But the third, the one that was every dragon’s greatest fear, was to be rejected by their mate. It took us so long to find one, and we had so many hoops to jump through to confirm their active and enthusiastic consent along the way, that losing them before we could finalize the mating seemed almost horrific. At least, that’s what I’d always assumed, listening to the other dragons tell stories and legends. I couldn’t really say, seeing as how I’d never found my fated mate.
Until Ginger.
I’d thought locating her, being with her, convincing her to give me a chance to please her, would be the start of something between us. Would open up the door to a true mating. But when I woke up alone on the cliff—cold and mateless under a sun far too high to be in a morning sky—I experienced two of the three things dragons never wanted to at once.
Thankfully, I could still fly.
As soon as I realized my mate was well and truly gone and had been for hours, I yanked on my clothes and shifted forms, flying hard and fast toward the other end of town. I never slept deep like I had the night before, never let myself rest heavy enough for anyone to sneak up—or out—on me. Apparently, showering my mate with orgasms and finding my own release inside of her had worn me out. Or perhaps not sleeping the night before to guard her home had caught up with me. Either way, my timing was shit. I would have liked to have woken her up with my mouth on her sweet cunt again, but she’d left. Left…for reasons I couldn’t possibly fathom. Something that needed rectifying. I hadn’t explained our mating yet, hadn’t bitten her and claimed her as mine. I needed to find her and convince her to be with me. Always.
And then I’d spank her pert little ass nice and hard for leaving me alone without a word of goodbye.
I headed to her home first, shifting as I landed and rushing onto the porch.
“Ginger.” I pounded on the door, yelling her name multiple times. A waste of time, it seemed. No answer. Nothing inside to indicate she was home either. I pounded louder and longer, though. Just in case.
“Yo,” a man said, walking out the door of the house next door and glaring my way. “What’s the problem?”
I had no time for such small talk. “Do you know Ginger Chance? I’m looking for her.”
“Yeah, I know her. Are you sure you do?”
Protective. That was the only way to describe the man’s stance and tone. He was protecting Ginger from me, a comical thought. Being that I was her mate, she was safest with me. But this guy—this lion shifter by the scent of him—apparently thought he knew best what she needed. Cute.
And irritating. “I’m pretty sure I know her better than most considering I’m her mate. Have you seen her today or not?”
“You got Ginger for a mate?” He laughed. “What did you do so wrong as to piss off the fates that bad?”
My growl silenced his chuckle. “Have you seen my mate?”
“Nah, man. Not today. You might want to try the bakery where she works.”
Of course. “Thank you.”
I shifted on the spot and shot into the air, ignoring the lion’s startled gasp. That’s right, fucker. Ginger has a dragon for a mate.
But only if she accepted me as such.
I flew toward the bakery, passing over the building and dropping down behind it. I didn’t sense Ginger, didn’t catch her spicy scent on the air, but that didn’t stop me from rushing for the door. What did was a woman. A small, quiet woman I recognized as one of Ginger’s sisters, walking out of the building I was attempting to enter.
Convenient. “Where is she?”
The woman—Madeleine, if I remembered right—yelped and spun, practically falling back against the dumpster. Before I could offer her my hand to help her regain her footing, the back door burst open and a man rushed between us. A man I recognized.
“Jericho—”
“Get the fuck away from her.”
I froze, glancing from Madeleine to Jericho and back again. Figuring out things faster than he likely had. His snarl and protective stance told me everything I needed to know—he’d found his mate all right. And it definitely wasn’t another bear.
But that was his business—I had my own battle to wage with the fates. So I put my hands up, and I took a step away from Madeleine. “I wasn’t trying to hurt your mate. I was simply trying to find mine.”
“I’m not his mate,” Madeleine said, sounding much angrier than I would have expected. And so very wrong as well.
Jericho huffed, a miserable sort of sound if I’d ever heard one. “What is it you need, Kingston?”
“Ginger. Where is she?”
“Why?” Madeleine asked.
Honesty seemed like the right strategy with the girl. “She’s my mate.”
Her face fell, her entire countenance crumpling before my eyes. “Oh.”
That was it. Nothing more. And yet, she’d just painted me a picture of complete and utter devastation. Never had a single syllable carried so much pain. “I’m sorry. I don’t know—”
“She’s fine,” Jericho said, moving between me and the girl again. “Ginger’s not here, though. You should be on your way.”
“Not without something. I want to know where my mate is. I need to know that she’s okay.”
Jericho twitched his nose, an odd motion from such a big man, and glanced down at Madeleine. “What do you think?”
Madeleine huffed a sarcastic-sounding laugh before looking up at Jericho with the saddest eyes known to man…or beast. “So, when it’s about Ginger, you care what I think?”
“Mad—”
“Ginger’s not here and not coming in,” she said, completely overstepping the bear shifter before her. “I don’t know where she is, but she and Coco both skipped out of work for the day. I do know that she’s going to be at the party tonight, though. Fiona’s bachelorette. It’s at the Metro Club.”
A party. She’d slipped away from me without saying goodbye and was going to a party at the Metro Club—a place where singles drank and danced all over one another. Where sex happened in the bathrooms, in the dark corners, and on the dance floor. And Ginger would be there tonight. Without me by her side.
I wanted to be pissed at her, to roar my hurt feelings all over the town and burn things down with my rage, but I couldn’t. I hadn’t been clear, hadn’t given her enough reasons to stay with me. Hadn’t spoiled her enough to win her over. I’d gotten her consent for sex but not for a true mating with me.
I would change all that.
Tonight.
Decision made, I nodded once at Ginger’s sister. “Thank you.”
Madeleine shrugged. “My sister deserves happiness.”
“As do you.”
That sad sort of smile returned. “I do. And I plan to stop letting things hold me back so I can find it.” She pushed past Jericho and me, heading for a small red car at the back of the lot. “Have fun, boys. I’ve got business to do.”
We watched her drive off. Me, worried and anxious to leave but somehow unable to; Jericho, tense and looking ready to fight.
“What kind of business do you think she meant?” he finally asked, still not looking away from where her car had disappeared around the building.
“Perhaps her mate should already know that.”
“I’m not her mate.”
Lies. “Could have fooled me.”
He sighed, finally meeting my gaze. Looking pensive and wary. “I’ve known her since she was in diapers.”
Such a silly thing to worry about. “She’s not in diapers anymore.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” he asked with a growl, running his hand through his hair as he began to pace. “I fucking know she’s not in diapers anymore. I’ve known it since before she graduated high school when I felt like a lecherous old man for even glancing her way.” He sighed again. “I still feel like a lecherous old man.”
“I’m likely hundreds of years older than my mate, and you’re the one feeling like a dirty old man for the gift the fates have given you.” I patted him on his big shoulder. “I’d love to stay and make you see how stupid you’re being, but I have a mate to track down.”
“How’d you lose her, anyway?”
“Fell asleep.”
He grunted. “Sleep is good.”
“Mates are better.” I shifted and took off before he could answer, launching myself straight up into the skies over Kinship Cove to keep watch for my mate in case she decided to show herself.
And if not, I’d be heading to the Metro Club tonight.
8
Ginger
Get your grumpy ass in this car,” Fiona yelled as she popped her head through the open sunroof of the limousine.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.” I set the last of the cupcake trays in the trunk and shut the lid before running to lock the back door of the bakery. The sun was well past the beginning-to-set phase, and the shop had likely been closed for a couple of hours already. Coco and Madeleine were probably each at home. I’d missed my sisters while I’d played hooky from the bakery. Had needed to talk to them about Kingston and what had happened last night. About all the reasons why my chest had felt so tight all day.
But I’d texted them that I wouldn’t be in and had instead spent the day with Fiona and her friends at the hotel, thinking a change of scenery would clear my head a little.
It did not. If anything, my mind was far more jumbled than it had been all day. Stupid brain. Stupid heart. Stupid me letting one overrule the other.
“Move it, human. We’ve got men to grind on.”
Stupid idea thinking a bachelorette party was what I needed after having the best sex of my life then basically ghosting the guy I’d had it with. Lord, give me the strength not to smack someone tonight.