by Ophelia Bell
Josh obeyed without question, shutting it securely again the second Gray let go.
I lay there looking up at them all, too stunned to process what had just happened. Gray chuckled and squatted down beside me.
“That was a close one.” He offered me his hand to help me up. I just stared at it, then at my own bare hand that had just been in contact with a piece of glass and metal that was easily a thousand degrees Fahrenheit. I hadn’t been burned.
I took his hand and let him haul me up, holding on for a second longer to stare up into his eyes with my question at the forefront of my mind. What the fuck just happened? He only grinned.
“April! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Jesus, you guys!” Renee grabbed my hand and gawked at it.
“I’m fine, I promise,” I said, reclaiming my hand and pulling off the other glove. I shot Gray another inquiring look.
“Dragon blood,” he said by way of explanation. He held up both hands, which showed the calluses of a man who worked with his hands, but were otherwise pristine and burn-free. “We’re immune to fire. I guess April has enough in her that she is too.”
“Wicked,” Josh said, always the laid back one in the group.
“Wicked? That’s all you have to say? That was, like, superhuman!” Renee stared at Gray and me in disbelief. “I’m pinching myself because I’m pretty sure I just dreamed this.”
I still had a little trouble believing it myself, but couldn’t deny it had happened. Renee’s comment served to highlight how long we’d been working tonight. “Speaking of dreaming, why don’t you two head home for the night. I think we’ll be more efficient if we’re all rested. Less likely to make mistakes that require starting over.”
“Sorry for that,” Renee said with a grimace.
I waved her off. “I’m just glad nobody got hurt, and the piece itself survived. We made good progress, thanks to Gray.”
Glancing back at him, my eyes snagged on the heated look he gave me. My stomach did a somersault. I tore my eyes away and slipped past him, heading toward the kitchen. Renee and Josh both shrugged into their jackets and said goodnight, then disappeared into the rainy darkness.
“Where are you staying?” I asked, needing to fill the ensuing silence with something while I started another pot of coffee. I added an extra scoop. I planned to keep going for a little longer, if not with the glass portion of the sculpture, I’d make a concerted effort to make more progress with the base.
“I have a room at a local hotel downtown. I don’t need to leave though, if you want more help tonight. We work well together.” His voice pitched lower on the last few words, and for some reason, my spine tingled. We did work well together. Well enough that I wanted to find out how well we did other things.
I shoved down that urge and shot a playful smile over my shoulder. “You sure you don’t want a job as my assistant? I pay in compliments and good pastries. And studio time if you want it.”
Gray slipped into the kitchen behind me and leaned against the counter. “Is that what Josh and Renee get for compensation?”
“They’re students, so yeah. They get access to the tools and the studio, I get their help and get to teach them what to do and what not to do. Like always wear your gloves and never work while exhausted; it’s a good recipe for getting burned.” I held up my hand and stared at my palm. “At least, if you aren’t us.”
Gray stepped closer and took my hand, cradled it against his, and drifted his thumb in a circle over the center of my palm. His eyes lifted to mine. “I’d be honored to work at your side, April.”
I laughed. “I was joking. I really can’t pay you. I appreciate your help tonight, but you came here looking for a real job, which you’re more than qualified for, I’m sure.”
He shook his head and angled a little closer. The heat between us grew, and my pulse sped up. “I didn’t come seeking a job because I need money. I need this. What we accomplished tonight. The scent of fire surrounding me and the brilliant aura of a partner with a creative heart like mine.” He released my hand and pressed his palm to my chest. I inhaled sharply at the contact.
“We were pretty amazing together. You would be a good teacher.” I didn’t know why I made that comment. I’d have loved to work with him more, but I wasn’t ready to believe he was even real, much less standing in my studio suggesting he’d want to be my assistant. Not even a collaborator, but a helper.
“I would like to be a teacher, but not the way you suggest. You have the heart of a dragon, April. And I think you’re even more than that. I’m prepared to give up that job. Instead I’d rather explore your power with you, show you what you’re capable of, help you master it.”
He was standing so close his heat embraced me like before, but this time I wasn’t relaxing in its comforting cocoon. I was tense, every nerve awakened by his proximity, and I hadn’t even tasted the coffee yet.
I swallowed and forced myself to meet his gaze. “You mean like how I managed to grab hold of that hot glass bare-handed? I can channel that magic somehow?”
“That, and other things.”
“Like what?” I breathed, intoxicated by the scent of him surrounding me. I should have smelled the coffee brewing right behind me, but my entire universe was filled with nothing but this unexpected man.
He crowded closer, leaning past me to flip the dial on the coffee maker to the off position. “Like the fact that you don’t need coffee to regain your energy if you’re as much like me as I think you are.”
“Oh?” I leaned back, meeting his gaze, but holding my ground. He pressed closer, propping his hands on the counter behind me and caging me in. “What do I need?”
He was so close his breath brushed against my lips, and the soft flow made my eyelids flutter closed. Then his lips grazed mine with his answer: “Nirvana.”
6
April
I had no idea what he meant, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t talking about the nineties grunge band. If he meant the abstract concept of enlightenment, I wasn’t sure how it applied to actually finding energy to channel into my work, but the way his lips felt on mine made me more than willing to allow him to elaborate.
But despite my mental question, he didn’t even offer a verbal reply, mental or out loud. All he did was kiss me, and this time the heat of his mouth against mine dissolved every sense of caution I’d managed to exert earlier in the day.
Heat exploded within me, and I moaned into the kiss, sliding my tongue against his in response to the seeking, velvet wetness he plunged into my mouth. He dropped his hands to my hips and squeezed, pulling me tighter. Awareness of his arousal blasted through me. He was big. All over.
Desperate and more than a little curious, I dropped one hand between us, seeking out the front of his pants. The enormous bulge I found pulsed through the fabric, the sheer size reminding me starkly that this man in my arms wasn’t human. The urge to see him naked overwhelmed my enjoyment of the kiss, and I pulled back to begin frantically tugging at his clothing. He’d removed the fleece hours ago but still wore a snug cotton T-shirt, which I yanked up over his head. His eyes flashed with humor at my enthusiastic undressing of him. When I went for his belt buckle, his abs flexed with a low laugh.
“I promise it all looks pretty normal.”
“Are you kidding? Nothing about you is normal. I want to see the real you.” I had his belt open and his fly unzipped, but he grasped my hand before I could pull down his boxers.
“Only if you promise to share yourself with me.” I met his eyes and smiled, releasing his pants to tug at the tied tails of my shirt.
“Do you have a condom or three?” I asked with one arched eyebrow.
He eased close again and took my hands. “Let me. We can undress each other, that’s part of the fun. Lesson one: drawing out the pleasure makes it even better for our kind, so it’s best not to rush. And lesson two: dragons can only get you pregnant if both parties are on board with having a child together. We have to explicitly desire an o
ffspring for it to happen. You would also need my mark.”
“That might be the sexiest thing a man has ever said to me. Do what you will.” I parked my hands on the edge of the counter and let him take control of the undressing, but before going for the hem of my shirt, he touched my chin. “Open your eyes, April. Really open them. Watch my aura when you touch me.”
I concentrated my focus on the invisible field of power that encompassed me whenever I was near him, and with the barest exertion of mental will, I felt a switch flip. The world around me faded into monotone except for Gray, his silvery aura pulsing visibly now, but it wasn’t just silver. Threaded among the membranous aura were threads of deep red.
He smiled. “That’s it. Now continue what you were doing.”
He released my hands, and I resumed undressing him, but this time I went slower, watching the red magic flare when my knuckles brushed across the tops of his hips. He hummed a low sound and tugged my shirt open, pushing the flannel off my shoulders and leaning in to brush his lips over my throat.
“That’s right. Slow like that.”
With his nearness, his aura became a cloud around me, the red and silver crackling almost audibly. I slid my hands around his hips, dipping them beneath his pants and cupping his ass. I squeezed, and the red flared brighter, accompanied by Gray’s rumble of encouragement against my neck.
His fingers slipped beneath the bottom of my tank top, palms splaying across my belly and sliding up. My stomach tightened, and I inhaled as he grazed the bottoms of my breasts. The red in his aura brightened yet again.
“No bra?” he whispered, hands venturing up even higher.
My attention wavered as his fingertips brushed across my nipples, and it took every effort to reply. “Don’t like underwear.”
“Mmm,” was his only answer as he covered my breasts with his hands and nipped at my neck.
I released his ass and slid my hands back around. Two could play at this distraction game, and if he wanted slow, he’d get it. Reaching the front of his boxers, my fingertips encountered the tip of his erect cock, trapped tight within the elastic of his waistband. I enjoyed the light flinch then relax of his belly when I accidentally grazed hot skin, but if his goal was teasing for the sake of this lesson, I’d happily prove what a conscientious student I could be.
Instead of touching him directly again, I concentrated on the undressing part. I grabbed the top of his pants and tugged down, leaving his boxers put. When I dropped lower, it forced him to release my breasts and stand straight again. I smiled up at him as I slid his pants down his long legs, over thick, muscular thighs and calves, stopping at the sturdy hiking boots on his feet. My face was inches from his groin, and I indulged in a slow perusal of the impressive shape that filled out the stretchy black fabric.
My heart thudded hard, but I managed to school my features to avoid looking too awe-struck. Jesus Christ, he was enormous. So huge I should be scared, but for some reason, my core grew even hotter at the prospect of having him inside me. I had to force my attention back to the task at hand. Before untying his boots, I hazarded a look at his aura, pleased at the deeper infusion of red that had appeared since I’d dropped to my knees in front of him.
“You like this, don’t you?” I asked, glancing up his sleek torso while I unraveled the laces of his boots. “Me on my knees for you.”
“I like anything you do that leads us closer to making love.” He reached down and cupped my face, caressed my cheek, then tugged my bandana off my head. Reaching up, he looped it over his own dark head and smiled as he tugged it down to wrap around his forehead the way I’d been wearing it.
I rolled my eyes and pulled off one boot, then the other, and he stepped out of his pants. He reached down to pull me back up, crowding close again, his heat even more delicious now that he was nearly naked.
“You look like Rambo,” I said on a laugh as he dipped in for another kiss.
“Mmm, is that a good thing?” he murmured against my throat as his hand ventured up my shirt again.
“It works on you.”
He pulled back and quirked his mouth, causing a deep dimple to appear in his cheek. My pulse sped up at the image, his rugged features softened by the ridiculous sight of my bandana and that newly discovered attribute.
Everything about him appealed to me in surprising ways. I usually liked big, burly guys with beards, but despite his complete lack of body hair, I couldn’t resist running my hands over his skin. My palms tingled at the feel of his taut, bulging muscles beneath his smooth skin. But when I closed my eyes, I felt a texture unlike normal skin. If I focused, a velveteen sensation brushed beneath my palms, broken by regular, small ridges.
Tracing one of those ridges, I felt Gray cover my hand with his and guide my fingers in a more deliberate pattern.
“You can feel my scales, can’t you?”
“Is that what that is?” I asked without opening my eyes.
“They aren’t visible, but they don’t completely disappear even when I’m in human form. What do you think? Do you like it?”
“Yes,” I whispered, following a line of the tiny bumps down the center of his stomach. Aside from that faint texture, he felt like a man, and though he lacked the enticing line of hair down his belly that most men had, the scales seemed to converge in a faint ridge beneath his navel. My smile broadened, and I opened my eyes. “I love this part. Your happy trail.”
His eyelids grew heavy as I followed the line into the top of his boxers, pushing my hand beneath. He was so soft, the scales fading into nothing but luxuriant, velvety skin when I reached his groin and wrapped my hand around the base of his shaft. No scales here. When I squeezed, his aura flared bright red, the color obliterating the silver entirely.
“The color change is a cue, isn’t it? Red means you’re turned on. What color is mine?”
“Multiple colors, but getting redder with every second. The brighter it gets, the more magic you build up for release when I make you come.”
A pleasant tingle shot up my spine, and my core pulsed. “And how long do I have to wait for that?”
Without answering, he peeled my tank top over my head and paused to admire my naked chest. He rested his index finger at my sternum and traced the lines of the tattoo that began at a point just between my breasts and stretched down and across, covering the area between and beneath my breasts with a symmetrical pattern of intricate, colorful scrollwork with a six-sided mandala in the very center. He touched the center, and a spark seemed to pass from his finger into my heart.
In a gruff voice, he said, “I’m afraid if I taste you once, I’ll never want to leave. Do you believe in Fate, April?”
He was so earnest I wasn’t sure how to respond at first. I did, in fact, believe in a higher power, though I’d never really given it a name. I suspected there might be more than one, that there might even be minor gods like some cultures believed in, who held dominion over different aspects of the world and humanity. That I was here, half-undressed with this man I’d only met today—who wasn’t even human—was a sign on its own.
“Yes. And I think you must have come into the gallery for a reason, even if it was just to help me understand who I am. I want to see this through. If it doesn’t end, even better. Are you going to finish my lesson?”
He dropped his hands to the button of my shorts, unfastening it and lowering the zipper. His face a mask of concentration, he slipped his hand inside, his mouth quirking again.
“No panties,” he said, smiling fully now. But I was beyond smiling when his fingers drifted through the damp curls between my legs and into the soaking wetness of my pussy.
“Oh, fuck.” I dropped my head back and gasped as he explored my sensitive folds, teasing past my clitoris to circle my entrance with his fingertips. His mouth came down on mine again. He growled into the kiss, his excitement vibrating through me.
His hand still stroking in my shorts, he angled himself against my side, looped his free arm around my ba
ck and slipped behind me. “Bend over and take off your boots,” he rumbled into my ear. His hand slipped out of my shorts, and he wrapped his fingers around my hips, holding me tight to his groin. His granite cock pressed bruisingly hard against my ass, digging in as I bent at the hips to obey his command, too aroused to do anything else.
He didn’t move an inch, yet the act of bending over made my ass press harder against him. Every cell in my body lit up from the sensation of that hard length grinding so close to my core. Blood rushed to my head, and I broke out in a sweat, finding it difficult to focus as I clumsily plucked at the laces of my boots. He slipped one hand up to rest at my lower back, running a soft caress up my spine and back down, then hooked his fingers in the waistband of my shorts.
I got my boots untied and slipped them off, but when I tried to stand, he pressed a hand to the center of my back.
“Stay like that for a second.” His smooth, deep voice sounded distracted. I guess he liked these shorts.
Biting my lip, I braced my hands on my knees and craned my head over my shoulder. His aura was the first thing I saw, and the brilliant pulsing red of it made my eyes widen in surprise. It was even brighter than the red bandana still wrapped around his head. He smirked at me and urged me forward. “Grab the counter and hold on. Whatever you do, don’t let yourself come.”
“What? Why?” What kind of kinky game was he playing?
He nudged me forward a little more, and I had no choice but to grab hold of the opposite counter or stand up, but I wasn’t ready to give up on this yet. I ached for whatever was going to culminate from all that red magic he seemed to be absorbing.
“Because you’re not at your limit yet. I want to see how much more you can hold.”
I groaned. “Gray, is it really necessary to torture me?”
“Torture is, by definition, unpleasant.” He squeezed my ass with both hands and stroked his palms down until his fingertips grazed the backs of my thighs, just beneath the edge of my shorts. He traced the crease of my ass inward until he reached my core, caressing with the fingertips of both hands. “Is this unpleasant?”