Drawn by Dragonblood

by Lynn Burke

  Elijah lifted his head, and the desire for him rolled over me at the need in his crystalline eyes. My body longed to go to him as though he’d made a verbal command, but the hairs on my neck stood on end. I didn’t need to look above me to know Jon peered down at us. I turned and walked inside, trying like hell to focus on the preparations Elijah had left out for our morning coffee and tea rather than the unease still standing the hairs on my nape.

  Would Jon be upset that I’d gone down to watch Elijah rather than wake him as I’d done the previous three days with my lips around his soft cock, sucking, licking, and nipping until he lost control and flipped me onto my belly, and hand tangled in my hair, fucked me from behind until we both lay spent?

  Lower lip between my teeth and hands shaking, I poured boiling water over the grounds in the French press and into my mug with the tea bag Elijah had placed in it.

  “Morning, baby.” Jon’s sleepy voice from the top of the stairs tipped my head back. His slow smile eased me, and I smiled back.

  “Morning.”

  Scratching his balls through the lounge pants he’d pulled on, same as every morning, he moved down the stairs, and I turned away chuckling. Why had I worried myself? Jon was the love of my life, and he knew it.

  He wrapped his arms around my stomach, kissing my neck, a slight scent of soap from our shower the evening before clinging to his skin. “Missed your mouth this morning.”

  I sighed and pressed my ass against him. “I’ll make up for it after coffee if you want.”

  “Pretty sure I’m supposed to start work, but I can tell my boss I’ll be a little late.” He ground his hips against me, letting me know his cock was half-interested in what he’d said.

  “Not the best way to start a new job, though.” I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Are you excited?”

  One of his eyebrows rose, and the twinkle in his eye said his mind went straight to the gutter.

  “Forget I asked.” I leaned up on my tiptoes, raising Elijah’s shirt enough Jon’s hands cupped my bare ass, and pressed my lips softly against his. “Love you,” I murmured, rubbing my nose across his.

  “Love you more.” He squeezed my ass and pressed me against his semi, but stepped back. “Coffee?”

  Huffing on laughter, I turned and poured him a cup.

  Jon wrapped his hands around the mug, and eyes closed, breathed in the rising steam. “The man has exquisite taste in coffee, wine, and women.”

  Heat flooded my face, but fortunately, Jon didn’t peer at me as though gauging my reaction. He sat at the island, sipping.

  Turning back around, I added a teaspoon of sugar as I had noted Elijah enjoyed to the second mug before lacing my tea with honey.

  The luscious scent of Elijah and the tingling over my skin let me know he approached. I glanced at Jon. He stared at the door leading downstairs.

  It opened, and Elijah stepped into the kitchen, his body dried of sweat and a t-shirt hiding his upper body, but my drool factory set to work regardless. Forcing myself to focus on the mugs in front of me was one of the hardest things I’d ever done.

  “Good morning.” His low rumble was like a sensual caress against my ears, and my knees weakened.

  “Hey,” Jon said at the same time I squeaked a, “Morning.”

  My body tuned in to every shift of his as he sat at the island. Breath held, I turned and placed his coffee in front of him without looking at his face. I took up the third chair and held my mug in both hands, eyes closed as Jon had done, wishing I could smell the tea over the scent of fire and brimstone, soap and sex flooding my nose.

  “What time did you want to get started this morning?” Jon asked.

  Guess that means the elephant isn’t going to get discussed. I peeked at Jon. He sat, seemingly relaxed on his stool, smirking as though he hadn’t a care in the world—or that the man behind him had his face buried between my thighs the night before.

  I finally glanced at Elijah. A flicker of something unnamed crossed his face as he glanced at me then back to Jon.

  “I’ll meet you in ten?”

  “Sure.” Jon lifted his mug and sipped.

  Elijah meandered upstairs, coffee in hand, and Jon kissed the top of my head before heading off to the shower.

  Jon had set wheels in motion that I wanted to roll downhill—damn quick—but the thought he had zero plans to continue driving that bus had me chewing the inside of my lip to death. I sat and stared at my steaming tea, relieved Jon wasn’t upset but beyond bummed that we hadn’t picked up right where we’d left off a handful of hours earlier.

  My camera in the middle of the island caught my eye, and I pulled it toward me. Image after image caught Elijah paused in motion, muscles flexed, sweat dripping. I focused in on his face, the memory of his full lips laying open-mouth kisses between my thighs causing my pussy to pulse with need.

  “Damn,” I murmured, tempted to finger myself.

  A whisper of sound reminded me of where I sat, and I glanced up to find Elijah at the foot of the stairs.

  My breath caught, and the sexual energy between us heightened my heartbeat and fluttered my belly with butterflies. I sat frozen, ensnared by his unwavering gaze as he stalked toward me in near silence.

  He pushed my hair over my shoulder, his fingertips brushing along my neck and sending a shiver of goosebumps down my body. “So beautiful,” he murmured, laying his warm palm against the side of my neck.

  I breathed in the scent of fire and brimstone and found myself leaning into his touch, all thoughts of right and wrong vanishing from my mind. My lips tingled to touch his. My nipples strained against his shirt, needing the warmth of his mouth, the tug of his fingers.

  Frozen in time took on a whole new meaning as I floated in an ocean of desire, of physical need so intense a soft whine escaped me.

  “The memory of your mouth on me and the taste of you lingered on my lips far into the night,” he whispered, running the pad of his thumb across my lower lip. “I couldn’t sleep for want of you.”

  Wetness leaked from my body as his low voice rumbled over me, heating me through. Captured and on fire … I’d never found myself in such a dangerous place before.

  “You want me, too.”

  Elijah’s words weren’t intoned with question, but I found myself needing to answer. I swallowed. “I—I can’t.”

  “That’s not a no.”

  Silence hovered, and I blinked, desperate to find the strength to remain true to Jon. “I can’t,” I whispered again, knowing I needed to stay away from Elijah without Jon nearby.

  Elijah’s hand dropped to his side, and the second his touch left me, I hopped off the stool and hurried upstairs on shaking legs, my throat tightening. I would do anything, deny my body what it wanted if it meant Jon would get the job of his dreams.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jonathan

  So much for that blowjob after coffee Dakota had promised me. I hopped in the shower and didn’t even have time to relieve the ache in my balls Elijah had caused from a mere three minutes in his presence.

  How the fuck was I going to work with him every day for the next four weeks? The temptation to keep my lips to myself after tasting him, to keep from feeling his cock swell in my hand, the squeeze of his hand on my dick.

  Fucking torture.

  Giving into the lust had only made me want him more. Mistake, for sure. The three of us together, even if we hadn’t fucked, had been the single hottest night of my life, and I knew it could get even better if I wanted it to.

  But initiating would cause issues with my job and marriage if things got weird or jealousy came into play.

  Dakota hadn’t ever given me a reason to be jealous, but I knew she wanted Elijah. The fact I wanted him just as much, if not more, messed with my fucking head.

  I’d watched Elijah do his fancy yoga, still-my-mind-shit, for a full minute before I noticed my wife on the veranda below capturing him on camera. How long had she watched him? The thought
she’d gone to drink her fill with her eyes rather than wrap her lips around my cock like she’d been doing every morning didn’t even nudge the sleeping, green beast inside of me. Why wasn’t I jealous? Any other man would be.

  The fuck?

  Second cup of coffee in my hand, I made my way down to the cavern’s lower levels. I didn’t need anyone to tell me Elijah had already gone below—his smoldering, fiery scent swarmed my nose the deeper into his lair I walked.

  Lair. I chuckled at the word my brain had chosen. His cave-home felt like that exact thing, and I, the unsuspecting victim falling prey to his pheromones. Dakota would get a serious kick out of my brain right now…

  She sat in the sunken tub surrounded by bubbles when I’d left our room. Had she touched herself yet? Taken care of that sweet pussy I had shared with Elijah? The only other man to touch her. The idea of anyone but him putting their hands on her had me clenching my jaw against a sudden growl rising from my chest.

  Was I turning into an animal, for fuck’s sake?

  The flanking doors—the dungeon I’d jerked off in, and the computer lab, I noticed, peeking into the wide-open door to my left.

  Screens lined the far wall, showing feed from the house, and a quick glance revealed every room but the bathrooms—and the dungeon across the hall. He must have watched us, just as I’d wondered about, but I needed to know.

  “Get live feed on your cell?” I asked, lifting my coffee cup for a sip.

  He turned, glanced at me then the screens. “I do.”

  “Did you enjoy your nightly show while in New York?”

  “I did.” The dude didn’t even have the grace to glance away, blush, or apologize. Those pale eyes of his, so light blue they twinkled like a diamond.

  Fucking fanciful mind.

  I found myself grinning. “My wife is hot.”

  “As are you.”

  Well, fuck. My cock twitched, but I cleared my throat, determined to focus and start off on the right foot. “So. Work.”

  A corner of Elijah’s lip quirked, and he turned away. “Have a seat, and I’ll get you started.”

  For two agonizing hours, I sat in one of the kitchen chairs beside him. He said he’d get another office chair on the next trip to New York in a couple days, but I didn’t even notice the discomfort of the hard-back and wooden seat.

  Elijah built robots. Like, fucking real-life humans, two legs, arms, ten fingers and toes. And I held a controller in hand, moving one of the high-tech models around in a huge laboratory in his New York office. Three-hundred some miles away, and I had the fucking thing sprinting, leaping, and spinning like a world-class gymnast.

  “Holy fuck, this thing is cool.” I stared at the monitor, my mind blown. It appeared more human than any robot I’d ever seen, unsexed, but with agility enough to make me think the damn thing was human.

  Elijah’s employees had set up a dozen obstacles to test my ability to control the robot. Once I got the hang of how quickly the limbs responded, I raced that motherfucker around the lab like he owned the place.

  A smaller remote controlled the hands, and after a few dexterity tests, I dismantled a bomb, snips and all, just like in the movies.

  “Well done.” Elijah’s murmur after I completed the final test, warmed me through.

  “Coolest fucking thing I’ve ever done.” I put the remote controller on the desk and sat back, watching as the New York staff began checking the robot over with their white lab coats and bootied feet.

  “I have a dozen other prototypes—”

  “Shit.”

  “—but this is the one the American government decided on.”

  “How much does it cost to build one of those things?”

  A wry smile twisted his lips. “Too much, but if they will save lives…”

  “Damn worth it,” I said, glancing once more at the robot. “They going to clothe the damn thing or let it run around naked?”

  “There’s armor—you’ll be testing various designs to see which best suits each prototype.”

  Grinning, I tipped the chair onto its back legs, hands behind my head. “When do I get to see these things in real life?”

  “I have to go to New York in a few days.” Elijah flicked a few buttons and spoke into a mike, telling the lab tech to outfit the robot in the first suit of armor. “You’re welcome to come along with me if you’d like,” Elijah said, returning to our conversation. “I’m sure you’ll be wanting more of your belongings—if you’re still planning on staying for four weeks?”

  “Better fucking believe it.”

  My gaze snagged on his lips as he turned to face me. Full, perfectly bowed, sexy as sin and so fucking soft… I sucked in my lower lip, remembering how he’d owned me with that mouth. The taste of him, the sweetness of his breath.

  “Jon.”

  “Hmm?” I tore my gaze off his mouth, and my dick jerked fully to attention at the hunger in his eyes.

  “Last night…” He glanced away, his brow furrowing.

  I waited, my body tense, jeans trapping my hard cock that throbbed for his touch.

  Elijah heaved a breath and stood. “Run the same course with that armor,” he said, nodding toward the monitor. “I’ll be back.”

  My gaze trailed after his ass—his tight, round ass in jeans I wanted to rip off his body.

  “Fuck.” I growled under my breath and picked up the remote, my knee bouncing while the lab techs strapped on black, scale-like armor. The breast plate glinted in the lab’s light, sending a shimmer of rainbows across its surface—and tickling a memory in my mind.

  I leaned forward, mesmerized by each piece the lab techs strapped to the robot. They looked like scales. Black, fucking dragon scales like my make-believe friend.

  “No fucking way.” I actually touched the screen, my fingertip trailing over the robot’s body.

  “Whenever you’re ready, sir.” The tech’s voice came through the speaker, jerking me back to the present rather than flying through the skies like I’d done in my mind as a child.

  I cleared my throat. “I’m ready.”

  For fifteen minutes, I set the robot through the course, only slightly hindered by the armor they’d added. The techs took over, readying the next suit of armor, and Elijah still hadn’t returned.

  I stood and stretched the kink from my neck and back. Without meaning to, I found myself moving up the hallway, drawn as though tethered to a life-giving energy I couldn’t escape—and didn’t want to.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Elijah

  Both Jon’s and Dakota’s actions baffled me. He’d spun in the window earlier that morning as though angry, jealous perhaps, at finding his wife watching me, and I had expected so much more than a mere question about work over coffee. His disinterest in expanding upon what had transpired the prior evening sent an ache through my chest so painful, I was reminded of my heartache from before.

  And Dakota … her desire for me couldn’t be contained, but yet she refused me. While I should have been pleased by her strength and wanting to remain faithful to her husband, I couldn’t help my own jealousy over her emotions toward him. I longed for both of my mates to experience the sense of ownership I felt for them, for their desires to bond to match my own.

  Two hours trapped in the computer lab with my mind replaying the kiss Jon and I had shared, the stroking of each other’s bodies, had taken me to the breaking point. My cock swollen, aching, I needed to distance myself. Gather my thoughts and reins on the steaming dragon within.

  I sat on the weight bench, my head in my hands, trying to find the serenity I’d had while practicing my Tai Chi, but failed. Breathing deeply and flowing through the poses in my mind, cleared my head slightly, but didn’t lessen my desire for my mates to love me. I felt as though a thousand-pound weight lay upon my chest, squeezing the life, the breath, from my lungs.

  Jon moved up the hallway, and I straightened, arms by my sides. He appeared in the doorway, his gaze focused on my eyes, a sligh
t frown furrowing his brow. “Break time?”

  I shrugged.

  He sauntered to the chin-up bar and lifted his arms, pulling his t-shirt up and revealing a stretch of golden skin, the V of muscles within his hip bones above his low-slung pants. Lifting his feet from the floor, he flexed and hauled himself upward. Five steady reps, and I couldn’t tear my gaze from that peek of skin, the tease of what lay below.

  He lowered his feet and stood, but kept his hands clasped around the bar. “See something you like?”

  The smirk in his tone—on his face when I glanced up—only confused me more. “Why are you doing this?” I asked, more guarded than I’d ever been around him.

  “Doing what?”

  I ran my hands through my hair, the urge to move toward him, slam him against the wall, and claim what belonged to me wreaking such havoc in my body, I shifted on my feet side to side. “Tell me what you want, Jon.”

  His smirk faded as he held my stare. “Fuck if I can figure it out. I want my wife. I want her happy—content.” His jaw ticked to the side as though he considered. “I also want you.”

  My dragon moved me forward three strides, and I stood in front of my beta, my heart pounding, breathing in his heightened exhales.

  Arms still overhead, he didn’t shy away, didn’t flinch, but continued to hold my gaze, his blue eyes unshuttered and showing a vulnerability that made me want to weep. I lifted one hand and caressed his neck, gently wrapping my fingers around him.

  “Tell me what you want, Jon,” I repeated with a ragged whisper.

  Sexual energy rippled the few inches separating us, radiating outward in an all-consuming vortex of need.

  Lips parted, he tilted his head back as I lightly tightened my hold on his neck.

  My nostrils flared at the sweetness wafting toward us from the doorway. “Your wife is watching.”

  Jon’s gaze flitted to my left, but I didn’t need to turn to know she stood on the threshold. The rush of her sudden arousal roused my dragon to the point a low growl emitted from my lips.