An interesting thought dawned on her. “If you don’t get sick, then why is your cousin a doctor?”
“Because it pays so freaking well giving humans medical attention. He makes a killing fixing Dragon injuries. Dragons hate pain more than anyone. We’ll pay out the ass to alleviate it—fast. Remember, he’s a Dragon. You can always find us where there’s loads of money to be made. Making house calls to Dragons and shifters is beyond lucrative.
“Then why wouldn’t he allow me to pay him?” Mac looked away as if he didn’t want to tell her. “Mac, why?
“Because you’re mine. Let me clarify though, he doesn’t do day to day work for humans. For that, he owns a conglomerate of Medical healthcare systems that make up one of the largest in the nation. In a few years, he’s going international.”
“So, his coming over to check on me?”
“A favor for my mate. He’s the best doctor I know, so you were in the best hands I could have found.”
“I assume he has healing magic too?”
“Yes, our family is known for our strength in various forms of magic. My mother is gifted with sight. She can see past, present, and future.”
“Whoa! That’s scary powerful.”
“Not really. She doesn’t like to use it. Says folks are too flaky and irrational. She prefers to only use it when something important is going to affect a lot of people.”
“Your parents are still alive?”
“Yes. Pardon me, I forgot to bring you up to speed on my background and life. I’m oldest of three with my sister as the youngest. I’m thirty-eight in human years. My brother is thirty-five, and my sister is thirty-two. Up until now, she was the only one of us who’d found her bond mate. They’ve been together for a little over a year and live close to my parents back in Asheville, North Carolina where I grew up. That’s another thing. If you want to know where a lot of Dragons live, look for places with mountains. We like being able to fly without a lot of detection, so we go up and high. The cold doesn’t too much affect us. Colorado, Tennessee, the Georgia Mountains, California mountains, all of them have huge Dragon populations.”
“It’s like another world right under my nose. Who knew?”
“Humans, that’s who. They’re usually so scared of finding out they’re not the absolute top of the food chain that they get a bit testy when they find out about us or others. Instead of wiping them out, we kept an oath to only reveal ourselves to human mates, other non-humans and trusted inner circle members. That’s why I don’t have a housekeeper at any of my properties.”
“Let me fix that for you.”
“We have time for that later, my love. If I had one, I’d like to have a cat shifter. They tend to like everything very clean.”
“Wait, shifters are real?”
“Yes, but Bronwyn, let me get back to telling you about my background. You need to know as much as possible before making a decision to join with me.”
“Okay…” she said, allowing the whine in her voice to elongate.
“I own a venture capital firm, but my primary interests centralize in brokering deals between large companies. I have the ability to see profitable business outcomes. When I sense that the fusion of different companies will work, I either put a meeting together for them to meet and get paid if it works out. Or, if they’re stubborn and their business will fail without taking that step, I take them over and do it myself.”
“That’s harsh.”
“No, that’s profitable and the way of the Dragon. We love money, wealth, and treasure. There’s no hope for those who would get in between a Dragon and his treasure. That’s who I am. Do you still want to join with a greedy Dragon who will stop at nothing to possess his treasures?”
“You’re my Dragon. This makes so much sense. That’s why all those fairy tales talk about the Dragon guarding his horde?”
“Yes, but trust me, the knights never won. That was told to make the humans feel better. And no, we don’t eat humans. That’s more propaganda.”
This was fascinating, but she wanted to get back to steering him toward their mating. This was another way he was stalling. Bronwyn searched to find a way to convey her desires and decisions to him in the way he’d be able to accept. The hard intake of breath she took was more for emphasis. What she was about to say was more important than a need to strengthen her ability to get it out. Bronwyn was in fight mode. She’d fight for the chance they needed to move forward.
“Look you, remember when you asked me if I would take the leap of faith to see who we are together?” She wanted him to know she’d been listening to everything he’d said and asked of her. He nodded, refusing to relax those massively broad shoulders of his.
“I did.”
“I did too. Mac, I see you, and I know you see me.” Looking down at where he cast his concentration, she moved her foot from his lap to the side, placing it next to his muscular thigh. Leaning into him more she waited until he looked her in the eyes. The foot was stiff and a little sore, like she’s slept on it all night, but there was no pain. “Mac, I’m fine, and my foot feels a million times better. Yes, I’ll do what you and your doctor cousin ask me to heal, but I also think this is as important as my foot. I’m excited about and grateful for you telling me about your family. More importantly, I’m ready to mate with you. The question is, are you?”
He continued to hold her gaze for a while. Gone was her insecurity that he’d flake out and wake up to see she wasn’t the one he should be with. This was her Dragon. She loved him and had seen what he’d do to make sure she was taken care of and protected.
“Yes, I’ve been ready for a long time.”
“Whew, all right. As for me, I’m simple. Was orphaned at birth, raised in an orphanage, never adopted, been on my own since turning eighteen. I’m twenty-eight—yes, I know, I look great for my age, heehee—and been working to get enough money to find out who my mother was if I have any siblings, and to show her that I made something of myself despite her leaving me.”
“I already know about your background. I vetted you soon after I saw you.”
“Figures.”
“Does that upset you?”
“No, I expected that. I did what I could to do the same before our meeting.”
“Good, always vet before you meet.”
“Gotcha. Back to what I was saying. We’re at that point. It’s odd that I’m the one pushing for us to join. It’s like a role reversal from yesterday. What gives?”
“There’s so much you need to know to make an informed decision about what I’m offering you.”
“Dude, this isn’t a logical decision. What we’re embarking on is a matter of the heart. You know, that area that makes no sense?”
“Yeah, you’re right. I just don’t want you to get into our relationship as my bond mate and have second thoughts.”
“So, what if I do. I’m giving you my word and heart. Life is for that purpose, to work out our crap as it comes to the surface. I know you in here,” she said pointing to her heart. “Let’s do this.” Silence settled in as he placed a hand on her foot. “I still sense hesitancy from you. Why?”
“You’re my heart too. As a Dragon, once we know who our mates are, the bond starts immediately. I look at you, your foot, that bruise on your chest—yes—I saw it yesterday—and all the other pain you’re going through, and it’s hard to put you through more just to be with me.” Anguish clouded his eyes, “I don’t want to cause you any more pain. It hurts too much to see you in any type of discomfort.”
“Oh, my Dragon, I do love you.” She didn’t try to edit or amend that proclamation. It was true. He smiled, recapturing her heart yet again. “But, you’ve got to stop being such a damn wuss when it comes to me. I’m strong and can endure a lot. I would think that the wisdom I always sense when I’m around you is the same wisdom that allowed us to be together. Don’t you trust it enough to know you won’t break or hurt me?”
“Now who’s being the wise one?” he ask
ed, allowing some of the rigidity ramrodding his shoulders to soften a little.
“Yeah, baby, that would be me. Hey,” she waited until she knew she had his complete focus again. “I’m ready to be with you for the rest of my life.”
He paused as if considering whether or not to tell her something else.
“Spill it, Dragon.”
“What?”
“Whatever you’re mulling around in your head. Tell me. I can handle it.”
“It’s not something to handle as much as know. As part of the joining, your body will most likely change to behave more like mine.”
“I’ll have the ability to turn into a Dragon?”
“No, I don’t think so, but your aging process will slow down to match mine. Your immunity will strengthen and healing ability probably speed up.”
“Then why are we waiting around. Let’s join so I can get this cast off.”
“Whoa there, not so fast. It takes time for your body to change. Over time you’ll begin to see the changes.”
“I could stay young for a long time?”
“Yes.
“Wow—that’s a crazy benefit. You should have led off with that yesterday. I would have taken your offer hook, line and sinker.”
“Now you tell me,” his laughter filled the room, making her laugh hard too.
“Told you, I’m gonna be Chocolate Wonder Woman.”
“Seriously though, can you stand to be around me when my thirst and need for you is all consuming? A lot of the rumors and tales about Dragons are true. For all the wonderful things you think you know about me and my kind, there are hundreds of downsides.”
“Such as?”
“We’re moody, selfish, demanding, driven to fixation on that which we treasure the most, a tendency to horde and amass wealth and values without thought of how that affects others, overbearing, over protective, temperamental, and the list goes on. By the way, having a bond mate is the greatest treasure we can possess. Yes, I know, you’re not a thing, but to my Dragon, you are life, breath, and being. When we join, you’ll have to find a way to deal with my bouts where I’m all-consuming, overwhelming, insatiable, irascible, and all the other Dragon downsides that will arise. There’s no backing out once you’re in. Oh, and if you birth my children, they’ll be like that too. Imagine raising a Dragon? Yeah, I’m going to let that marinate in your mind for a moment.”
The idea of having him as her mate, bearing his children, and being loved so deeply he could feel her pain was the answer to her prayers. All her life she’d wanted a family. Everything she did was so that one day she’d be able to find her mother and show her she was worthy of being her daughter and with her. A chance at having her own children and mate who would never leave her was as if the heavens were finally calling her number.
There were a few things she did have to establish with him though. She might be caught up with having her Dragon in the flesh, but she still needed to be able to be herself.
“Mac, I want this. I also want to know that you’ll honor my wishes on things I need to feel complete and whole in who I am.”
“Shoot.”
“I need time to myself here and there. If I’m having one of those days or weeks, know that I’m fine, just need to get away and recharge. Can you and your Dragon handle that?”
He considered it, took a moment, stared at her for another one, then said, “Yes. I’m smothering with my affection but not obsessive.”
“Is there a difference?” she asked, allowing laughter to perfume the room.
“Yes! I’m able to pull the brakes if it seems I’m at that crazy stalker stage. But in all seriousness, I won’t ignore your needs, as long as you agree to tell me what you need, when you need it. Even though we’ll grow in our ability to sense each other, we won’t and can’t read each other’s minds. Don’t try to make me become a mind reader. That won’t ever work. Tell me what you need, how you want it, and when you want to have it and I’ll do my level best to make it happen.”
“Done. Also, about my business. Just because I’m here recuperating doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore my business.”
“I don’t expect you to. You’re a business owner. We don’t abandon our businesses.”
“Great you see it that way. With that, I work with men, all day. I can’t have you getting jealous of what my clients ask of me.”
“Can I help you hire and train a staff of professionals to provide direct services to your clients? You appear to be at the level where it’s time for you to leverage your time and talent.”
“What do you mean?”
“We can discuss this later, but I notice that you have a definite way in which you provide service to your clients. If you like, we can sit down and figure out a process and framework to make it teachable. Then you can train others how to give your clients the same experience. If you want, we can turn it into a franchise as well.”
This man!
“Wait, hold up. Let this braingasm you just gave me pass so I can retrieve my mind into my body. Mac that is the sexiest thing you’ve ever said to me. Hell yes, I want you to show me how to do all that stuff.”
“You’ve got it.”
Bronwyn returned to the singular focus on having her Dragon. “But, after we join and figure out the immediate things we need to make our relationship work and hum along.” She still wanted to stay on track to get him mated to her.
“Agreed. Pardon me for the interruption. Carry on,” he said with a mock business voice.
“You’re funny. As I was saying, as long as you don’t act like an obsessed, jealous cuckoo and can handle the fact that I have an identity outside of being your mate, I want us to do this.” He was still with her, nodding agreement. That was a great sign. “So… yes?”
Silence.
“Can I still have the right to do check-ins when you’re at work with those bozos you call clients?”
“No. I’m yours, you’re mine. They pay me, you have me.”
“Fair enough. Hey, a Dragon’s got to test his boundaries.”
She put up two fingers with a narrow width. “When it comes to my business this is your boundary. Like my hair, respect it. Got that?”
He nodded again, laughing.
“Good. Don’t make me have to handle up on you for trying me?”
“What does that mean?” he asked.
“Pray you never have to find out,” was all she said about that. Needing to make it plain to him that this joining was happening, she added, “Whatever comes, Dragon babies, pain, or peril, I’m good. Why? Because I know you’re not going to leave me when things go bad. You’re my stick and stay. I want to be that for you too. Can we make that happen?”
Before she could comprehend how fast he’d moved, Mac was lowering her back down to the bed, placing sultry, hot kisses along her neck and inching his way down.
“Mac—what the hell?”
“Shh, it’s time for the joining to begin.”
“Oh! So that’s going down for real, right now?”
He nodded as his hands managed to get her pajama top up and over her head. Bronwyn didn’t waste energy or attention on where the piece landed in the distance. Her goal was to survive the onslaught of emotions—good and scary—coming straight for her.
15
Bronwyn
“Remember to breathe my love.” Baritone vibrations whispered across her bare skin as his voice floated up to her ears.
Close as he was, comprehension was still hard to manage. Following his instruction, Bronwyn released the breath caught in her throat as Mac placed delicate kisses along the bruised area of her chest. Wherever his lips landed, flutters of energy surged through her body. Without him saying a word, she knew he was infusing his kisses and touch with magical healing power.
If this was powerful, hot as hell, and beyond loving she was so not ready for when his tongue flicked one of her nipples. Coming up off the bed, she arched into his waiting hot mouth as he devoured one nipple and th
en another. Mac pleased her with the skill she’d only heard of as a dark fantasy by some of the women co-workers she used to talk trash with during lunch breaks. Never could she imagine the dexterity of his tongue or the skill of his approach, much less that she’d be on the receiving end.
Her fists balled the sheets beneath her, looking for relief from the intensity of sensations assailing her body.
“Mmm…” the sound formed and left her body of its own accord. Mac hovered over her sucking a taut nipple into his hot mouth.
“Tell me what you want me to do to you.”
“I, uh, I…” scrambled thoughts, disjointed desires, and heightened senses warred for attention. She’d been rendered mute and dumbfounded by the pleasure he’d already wrung from her body.
A wicked grin crawled across his breathtaking features. “That’s what I thought. Relax and let me take you to places only we’ll ever experience together.” Kissing the tip of her beaded nipple, then giving it what it needed with a swirl of his tongue and hard suck, he added, “Do you trust me?”
Frantic nodding was the only answer she could give with any hope of being understood.
“Good. I’ve got you, dear one. I’m going to learn every inch of your body, explore what you like and then you’re going to do the same to me.” He moved down her body, never neglecting to place kisses in his sensual march down to what she hoped would be her pussy.
Stopping at the mound that held her secret space no man had ever known, he took in a deep inhale and smiled.
“Exquisite, I’ve wanted to taste you from the moment I first saw you.” With a kiss on that mound searing enough to pierce through her pajama bottoms, he raised up on his knees and adjusted her body to lay cross length the bed.
Large, strong hands removed the offending pajama bottoms to expose skin so sensitive, the air around them sent shivers through her body. Not sure what she wanted to do with herself, Bronwyn remained still, waiting for his next move. She didn’t have to wait long as he parted her thighs wide. His caress of her inner thighs might as well be a maestro and his instrument for how she responded. Over and over, he touched the soft inner skin of her thighs with varying pressure and speed of strokes and rubbing only a master could administer.
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