by Anya Nowlan
They sat down and he opened up the picnic basket. Ares had figured it’d be a lot weirder to try and have a proper date, but with Pearl, it all seemed to flow just right. Nothing stuck out to him as being off, and even though he could see she had her defenses up, she’d given him plenty of hope that he could break them down, if given enough time.
The first thing he did was pop open a bottle of champagne and pour her a glass. He handed the flute to her.
“Aren’t you going to get a glass?” she asked, smiling.
“Waste of a good glass,” he answered, tipping the bottle a bit. “To trusting others!” he said, raising the bottle.
“Why?”
“Because if you don’t trust me we can’t do this right and if I don’t trust you to not get annoyed at me, this will be one hell of an awkward night!” he said, clinking the bottle against her glass and taking a swig.
She laughed and it was balm to his soul. He watched a sip of champagne disappear behind her lips and, for a moment, he was jealous of the liquid, getting to know her mouth before he did. It felt unbelievable that he had known and chased her for months now and he was yet to even get a kiss. That had never happened to the dragon before.
And never will, a self-confident voice in his head told him.
It couldn’t. She was the one. She had to be.
He didn’t mind the thought of this being his first, and last, first date.
“So, why me?” Pearl asked, kicking off her shoes.
She was wearing a sexy red dress that hugged her curves just right but wasn’t too dressy. And he appreciated that she had done her make-up and hair just for him. All that was missing was some of his gold on her and then his soul could rest easy. Until then, he would constantly feel like he had to protect her from the world around them, like another shifter might swoop in any minute and steal her from him. The thought alone unnerved him. A feeling he was not accustomed to at all.
“Why you?” he echoed, confusion drawing a line on his forehead.
“Yes. Why me? Why are you so adamant about taking me out? Why did you have to chase me down all the way to Idaho?”
He could feel Pearl’s insistent gaze on him as he took out the food – some sandwiches, fresh fruit and a cherry pie that Cerise had assured him was her favorite. When he looked up, she was still peering at him from over the rim of her glass.
“Easy. I saw you and I knew right away that there was something about you that I needed in my life. I couldn’t tell right away what it was exactly, but I knew I had to find out more. I didn’t get a chance to hunt you down the same night, and I regret that.”
“Why?”
She really seemed to like that word.
“Because I think we’ve wasted precious time that could have been spent getting to know one another better.”
His words were earnest and he assumed she could tell. There was no use in fronting with her in a situation like this – where it was just him and her and no one to overhear them. He’d already made her break down once, he didn’t want that to happen again. He’d never felt as damn vulnerable as he did when he saw her collapse in the store. Ares knew right then and there that he would do anything to never have her feel bad again.
He could spy a hint of a blush on her cheeks. It looked good on her, but then again, everything did.
“So tell me why I should trust you? Why should I go on another date with you?” she asked, leaning back and nibbling on a strawberry.
How he wished that her lips and teeth were on him instead! His chest constricted a little, looking at those inviting lips curl around the berry and become moist with its juices. Ares wondered what she tasted like and how heavenly she would look when he’d dip down between her legs for the first time and have a taste of her maddening wetness.
“You ask a lot of questions,” he said, smirking. “Good to know I’ve at least piqued your interest. I was beginning to think you were just doing this to appease me. I think you should trust me because I know I would never hurt you. Not willingly, not knowingly. Damn, I think I’d lose a limb instead of putting you in harm’s way. And I think you should go on more dates with me because you want to know what makes a man like me tick that way for a woman. I think you want to get it, to understand, and I respect that. But I think deep down inside, you feel it too. Whether or not you want to admit it is a whole other story, though.”
He took a big bite of one of the sandwiches, giving her a moment to digest his words. Ares had feared that he wouldn’t know what to tell her, how to answer her questions or make her feel at ease around him. But now, when they were talking, it all felt so easy. Just tell her the truth and that would be that. How hard was that?
His dragon knew what they felt for her better than the man ever could, but the words flowed through both of them. Dragons didn’t joke around about their mates, and when a dragon was sure of something, it was nearly impossible to convince them otherwise. Dragons above, Ares had tried reasoning with his dragon. All his rational, sensible protests that it just wasn’t the time to settle down yet and get a bride like everyone else around him had fallen on deaf ears. The dragon had decided.
Now, spending time with Pearl, Ares had to admit that his dragon had been completely right – he couldn’t get enough of her.
The sun was falling lower and lower and soon, it would disappear behind the treetops altogether. The rushing water filled the air with a happy babbling even when Ares and Pearl were silent. He couldn’t get enough of looking at her. She almost vibrated with energy. There was so much about her that he needed to learn, but what he already knew had him completely tied up.
She was a woman who wasn’t afraid of standing up for herself. Everything about her told him that she was the kind of woman who wouldn’t mind going on an adventure with him. He felt a note of hesitance about her and he wasn’t sure if it was because of him or something else, but it didn’t matter. She would see and she would understand that they were perfect for each other, at her own pace. All he could do was help her along.
“Those are fighting words,” she finally said, smirking.
He gave her a devilish look and hopped up on his feet. Ares kicked off his boots and was halfway through dragging off his shirt before she could say a word about it. He wasn’t too modest to assume it was because of his abs.
“What are you doing!?” she asked, laughing.
“I promised I’d get you out of those clothes and dammit, I’m gonna do it.”
He loved the way her eyes filled with surprise and how she laughed when he grabbed for her. As if he was picking up nothing at all, he hauled her into his arms and then over his shoulder.
Taking a page out of Devon’s book after all! Ares thought to himself with a grin, running at full speed towards the ledge.
“Ares!” Pearl screamed, her nails digging into his back.
A second later, they were already down in the depths of the crystal blue pool and Pearl’s laughter made the entire world around them that much brighter.
“You’re insane!” she called, splashing water at him.
Apollo grinned and swam over to her, pulling her to him as soon as she was within arm’s reach. Her red dress was clinging to her curves like a second skin and he could see her chest rise and fall quickly.
“Only when you need me to be,” he said.
Then, he kissed her, and Ares Goldplains was pretty sure he was never going to let her out of that kiss again.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Pearl
That kiss knocked her whole universe upside down. Black turned to white, up turned to down and her reluctance to go out with this cocky bad boy dragon turned into a screaming desire to never leave his side.
Funny how little things like that can change one’s entire perspective.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and their bodies pushed together in the cool water. He was so impossibly hard. His entire body was chipped right out of rock and she couldn’t believe a man could be so massive and so strong.
Pearl loved the way his long fingers trailed down the length of her back and how he cupped her ass with one palm, squeezing hard.
His tongue slipped into her mouth without meeting any resistance, and she moaned softly into the kiss that was becoming more and more heated with each passing second. She’d completely forgotten about keeping herself afloat. Pearl was clinging to Ares like he was her lifeboat and the only way she was going to survive was if he kept breathing life into her.
She tingled all over from the kiss, and when they drew apart, their lips reluctantly leaving each other’s, it was almost physically painful.
“You taste like heaven,” he growled, his deep voice resonating through her and making her stomach tighten in even harder coils.
Her head was telling her to get out and find her wits wherever she’d left them, but her body just screamed for more. And when you’re against someone as impossibly hot as Ares, your body is going to win. The objections in her head were quickly overridden by reminding herself that she’d promised herself one night of fun. And what could possibly be more fun than Ares, right there, right then?
“You’re not too bad yourself,” she said teasingly.
Ares groaned lightly as Pearl captured his lower lip between her teeth and then sucked on it slightly. His grip on her tightened and, through a haze, Pearl could feel him guiding their bodies through the water. She gasped as the waterfall cascaded over her for a moment as they swam through it. The waterfall hid a warmer and shallower private little alcove behind the thick curtain of water.
Without a further word, Ares’s hands tugged at her dress and pulled it over her head. She helped him tear the offending clothing off of her and the red garment landed in a pile on a rock, soon to be followed by her bra.
Her fingers curled into his dirty blonde hair, tugging and pulling at it as he ravenously kissed down her neck and chest. Pearl’s legs were locked around his waist, her thighs squeezing his tucked, tight waist. God, he felt good. He knew just how to tease her, every kiss and lick sending her spiraling deeper into that passion she’d been denying herself since she met him. That spark of desire that had been there all along and that she’d tried to ignore so defiantly.
There was no getting away from it.
Her hands reached down and pulled his belt loose just as he kissed down the valley between her breasts. Ares gripped her thigh and pulled her higher along his body, just enough to allow him to push his jeans lower.
“Oh my God,” Pearl gasped, feeling his hard cock spring free and push against her soft stomach.
He was so big. It was unnatural. It was mouthwatering. It was going to be so much fun.
She grinned and Ares kissed her hard on the lips again. He tugged her head back by grabbing a fistful of her hair, making her lean back. Water glistened on his body, streaming down the curves and plains of his muscles as the waterfall splashed droplets on him. His blue and gold eyes burned with need and she knew she must have had the exact same look in her eyes. She wanted him, more than she’d ever wanted anything.
And for once, she wasn’t going to hem and haw about whether or not she should go for it.
“Is it too much for you?” he growled, barely contained desire pressing against the edges of every word.
“Fuck me,” she said back, almost spitting it out.
With expert precision, he moved her hips up, letting his thick head press right against her pussy lips. Her nails were scraping down his shoulders, trying to hold onto him as he kept her right where he wanted her – right where she wanted to be.
“What do you want?” he asked, a note of teasing in his tone.
“I want you to fill me with that fucking cock of yours,” she begged, her back arching in anticipation.
He didn’t need to be told twice. He thrust into her and her universe shifted again. Colors burned and exploded behind her eyelids and that tightness that had tied her up so completely loosened immediately. He plowed into her hard, and after a few strokes, sunk into her completely. Only the roar of the waterfall could muffle her cries of ecstasy.
Pearl pushed her head back, bouncing up and down on him with the hunger of a woman left without the right kind of cock for too long. Hell, he was by far the best she’d ever had – he was better than anything she could have imagined.
Ares yanked her back by her hair and quieted her screams with his mouth. She kissed him back hard, scratching his neck as she clung to him. He should have been cold to the touch in the lukewarm water, but he felt like fire against her, heating her with his presence. She was surprised he didn't make the water boil around them.
“Damn, you’re tight,” he hissed through clenched teeth when she gave him a chance to speak a few words.
Pearl grinned, squeezing down on him and getting a satisfying groan in response. He obviously noticed her toying with him, because he grabbed her by the hips with both hands and pumped up and into her twice as fast. She was going to say something, but her words turned into squeals of delight instead.
She held onto him for dear life, their breaths growing more and more ragged. The waterfall was making little prisms of light scatter around them, creating tiny rainbows in the last rays of the sun. The tight ball of need that had been growing and growing in her with every day she spent away from him was now on the verge of exploding. When he buried his head into her neck and sunk into her to the base of the shaft, it finally shattered and took her right along with it.
His skin tasted salty as she bit into it, her orgasm shaking her with its intensity. She clamped down around him and dragged him right along with her, his release just as powerful as hers. When the peak passed and she was left weak in his arms, she could barely comprehend where or who she was. It wasn’t an entirely unappealing state to be in. She could have stayed like that forever if she’d had to.
If anyone had asked, Pearl couldn’t have recited how they’d got back out of the water and up the side of the mountain. But, so they had, and it wasn’t long until she was sitting on Ares’s lap in the back seat of his truck, wrapped up in blankets and curled up snug as a bug in a rug. Her head was resting on his shoulder and she was listening to the beat of his heart, strong and steady.
“What do you want, Pearl? What do you really want?” Ares asked, breaking the silence.
His hands were brushing through her damp hair and she couldn’t recall when she’d felt so safe before. Warmth pooled in the pit of her stomach, hearing his voice and wishing they could stay on the backseat of that beat up truck forever. The bottle of champagne was empty now, but she didn’t need the bubbly to feel completely and utterly satisfied.
“I want a man I can depend on. Kids. A home. Doesn’t have to be big, just mine, something I built up with my own two hands. I want to make my mark and build my own path. I want a love that lasts and a man I can lean on when I can’t stand up by myself.”
The words just flowed out of her. She didn’t need to coax them out from somewhere deep, dark within her, or look for what to say in hopes that it would sound smart or sexy. Right then and there, Ares Goldplains wasn’t a demanding, stubborn, pig-headed dragon, but a man she felt good being next to. A man she felt so good with that she had to wonder if that was how it was always supposed to be – and the thought wasn’t scary.
He kissed the top of her head, falling quiet.
“What do you want?” she asked after a pause, trailing her hands down his chest and along the ridges of his abs.
His skin felt gritty under her touch and she wondered how his scales would feel.
“I want to be that man.”
Ares reached for something in the pocket on the back of the driver’s seat. He fished out a small pendant on a thin chain. It seemed to suck in the light around it and glow at the same time. He placed it in her palm and she sucked in a breath in surprise. It was hot to the touch, just like he was.
“What is it?” Pearl asked, looking at him.
His blue eyes kept sucking her into them time and time again. She didn’t m
ind at all.
“That’s a dragon stone. I know it’s too early to make any promises, but I want you to know that if you’re ever in any trouble, you can call for me and I’ll be there. Just wear this and I’m never too far away. Okay?”
She looked at the strangely pulsing pendant in her palm and then locked her fingers around it. Maybe it was too early for big spoken promises, but she didn’t mind the implication of them.
“Okay,” she said.
He kissed her forehead and then her lips, and happiness spread through her like wildfire, hot and fast. For that evening, Pearl clung to the hope that things could work out exactly as she wanted them to. He could be that man, she could be a woman worthy of a man like that, and everything would be perfect.
But of course, things were never that easy.
CHAPTER NINE
Pearl
Things weren’t all sunshine and roses down at Mae’s General Goods. In fact, if anyone were to ask Dalton North, he’d say that things were pretty much completely shitty at that point.
Hurricane Pearl had been flying through the store for the past few days and there seemed to be no stopping her. As far as Pearl was concerned, nothing was where it should be and was never going to be. That might have been a slight exaggeration had anyone else said it, but when Pearl Mae Landon said it, people were going to believe her.
She could hear hushed voices as she restacked some cans of peaches for the umpteenth time that day without being completely satisfied with where, how and what they were. Her lips were twisted in a mild snarl, one that had made at least one werewolf contractor back right out of the store when he’d laid eyes on it. The shifters knew when a battle wasn’t worth fighting, and Pearl sure looked like she was ready to go a round or two.
“What’s going on?” Pearl heard Danni’s gentle voice ask.
“I don’t know, ma’am. She’s been a right pain in the…“