by Ashlyn Chase
“That’s where I come in. I’m afraid you can’t get there without a member of GAIA.”
“GAIA?”
“Yes, that’s what Mother Nature named the Council. Gods and Immortals Association. She said she liked the ‘ring’ of it. We all know she just wanted to name it after herself.” He rolled his eyes.
Drake suppressed a smile. “Okay. So, where will I find you when I need you?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll find you.”
Drake still didn’t see how this could possibly work. “How will you know when I’m ready?”
“Hmmm… good question. I don’t think you’d appreciate my spying on you constantly.”
“You got that right.”
“Let’s come up with a code word or phrase. Something you could yell, and when I hear that above the constant drone of earthbound creatures, I’ll come right away.”
“You can do that?”
Vulcan smirked. “I’m not a god for nuthin’.”
“Okay. Let me think of a code. How about, ‘Ow, ow, she’s killing me’?”
Vulcan raised his eyebrows. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I was thinking more along the lines of, ‘What a beautiful day!’ Something like that.”
A couple at the next table, still soaked from the rain, shot twin glares in their direction.
Drake lowered his voice. “Yeah, right. And what if Mother Nature makes it rain or snow that day?”
“Fine. Think about it while I finish these fine hops.”
“I’ve got it. I’ll yell, ‘Taxi!’ She’ll think I’m calling a cab to take us wherever the hell I told her I’d take her.”
Vulcan smiled. “I’ll recognize your voice and I will be your taxi. You’re quite clever, Drake Cameron.”
“Gee, thanks. Now can I get back to my girlfriend?”
“Aren’t you going to finish your drink?”
“No, getting back to Bliss is more important to me right now. She’s not the most patient woman who ever lived.”
“As you wish. I know something about impatient women.”
“I’ll bet you do.” Drake rose and pulled out his wallet. As he left the money to cover the tab and tip, he thought again about how Bliss and Mother Nature seemed to share certain personality traits. Maybe all women did. Maybe Gaia liked creating more than names in her honor.
* * *
The intercom buzzed and Bliss, now in sweatpants and her comfy oversized T-shirt, padded over to it. She pressed the “talk” button and asked, “Who the hell is it, and what do you want in the middle of the friggin’ night?”
When she pressed the “listen” button, Drake’s voice answered.
“Bliss, honey, I—”
“Save it.” She pushed the button to unlock the outside door and waited to hear his footfalls on the stairs.
Before he knocked, she threw open the door and crossed her arms. Trying to look frowny, she wasn’t quite ready to welcome him back. She knew she would eventually, but for now she wanted to pout.
“Where were you? Angie said you never passed her on the stairs, and she was sitting there the whole time. After about an hour, we went up to the Balogs’ apartment because we thought you might have been abducted by the creepy neighbors.”
“Uh—what did they say?”
“Nothing. They didn’t answer the door.” She thought she noticed a flash of relief before his expression returned to one of concern.
“May I come in? I promise I’ll make it up to you?”
Damn it. He probably means with sex, and I’ve been horny all night. She decided it was time to forgive him and probably jump his bones.
She stepped away from the door, allowing him entrance. As soon as he’d crossed the threshold, she locked the door behind him and launched herself into his arms for a desperate hug.
“You had me worried sick.”
He caressed her back and murmured more apologies. Eventually she leaned away to look at his face, and he ran the backs of his fingers over her cheek.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you what was happening… not right now, anyway. I will when I can.” He gently held her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Soon.”
Bliss narrowed her eyes. Maybe if she squinted he wouldn’t look so mouthwateringly gorgeous. No such luck.
He leaned in for a tender kiss. She met his lips, tentatively, but the inevitable magnetic pull demanded that she open to him and caress his tongue with hers. She was heating up fast. Damn, he gets me hotter than any guy I’ve ever known.
The next thing she knew, he had scooped her up and was carrying her to the bedroom. They fell onto the bed together. He whispered the sweetest words in her ear as he pushed up her T-shirt and found her bare breasts.
Bliss arched into his hand and moaned with the gratifying sensations his touch provided. “This is what I’ve wanted since the first time I kissed you outside my burning building,” she murmured. She pulled his shirt up, freeing the hem from his belted waist.
He paused just long enough to pull his shirt over his head and toss it on the floor. Bliss followed suit, losing her T-shirt. He bent down to suckle her breasts while, at the same time, pulling the drawstring on her sweatpants. She raised her bottom, allowing him to work her pants down her legs until they were bunched at her ankles.
Her free hand moved up his side over his bare, heated skin. He shivered as she trailed her fingers down his ribs, continuing toward her goal—the large bulge he was thrusting against her thigh. When she gripped what she could through his pants, he lifted his head and groaned.
As he unbuckled his belt, he said, “Finally, after all the daydreaming, you’re right here in my arms.”
She sighed. “You daydreamed about me, too?”
“Every waking hour. The real woman is so much better. Hot, wicked, and sexy.”
Say something not stupid, Bliss. But she couldn’t think of a thing. Her mind was turning to mush and all she could do was feel. Ah, hell… thinking is overrated.
She grasped his zipper and heard the quick rasp as she yanked it down. She plunged her hand under the waistband of his underwear and tried to envelop his girth. He was too thick for her to close her fingers.
When he opened his eyes, they held a golden glow. She had seen that before, but was now the time to mention it? Hey, when had she ever held anything back? “Your eyes—”
Suddenly he flipped her onto her stomach. Then next thing she knew, her sweatpants were torn off and his pants soon followed them onto the floor. He lay on top of her and whispered, “Do you mind doing it this way again?”
She almost laughed. “Mind? Please do. Or should I say, ‘Do me, please’?”
“Relax,” he whispered in her ear. “Let me give you a massage first.”
“A massage? You mean, on my back?”
“I said I’d make it up to you.”
“Wow.” How many horny guys stop to give a girl a massage? “And after that?”
He chuckled. “Then I’ll lift you up and massage your front.”
“In that case… yes, please.”
Drake applied just the right pressure as he massaged her tense muscles all the way down her back on either side of her spine. Bliss turned her head to the side and relaxed in the warmth of his take-charge hands and fingers. When he reached the bottom of her spine, he kept going.
“Ah… that feels fantastic, even if you’re using it as an excuse to manhandle my butt.”
“It’s a big muscle. The gluteus maximus.”
“Hey, it’s not that big.”
He bent over and whispered in her ear. “Relax. It’s perfect.” Then he gave her right butt cheek a little smack and returned to working his way up from base to shoulders.
Despite the tiny sting, Bliss could have melted into the mattress.
After the thorough massage, good to his word, he lifted her onto her hands and knees and positioned himself behind her. He dipped his fingers into her core to test her wetness, but she could have told him she w
as plenty ready.
Without a word, he thrust into her and she welcomed him by pushing back and meeting him halfway. Being filled with him felt so good. So right.
He began his rhythm and added the promised massage to her clit. Pleasure spiked through her like an electric current.
“Ohhh.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say, but talking didn’t seem necessary at this point anyway. Instead, she rocked a little harder against him.
He leaned down and placed little kisses all over her shoulder. “You have the right name. You’re absolute Bliss.”
It seemed as if all she could do was drown in the sensations and moan her appreciation. A spiral of delicious pleasure was building within her. “I’m close.”
“So am I.”
They tumbled over the edge together. She screamed as she climaxed, and the orgasm lasted longer than usual.
“Oh, God,” she said when they collapsed. “Oh, God; oh God; oh God.”
“Yeah,” he agreed breathlessly.
Drake withdrew and turned her over. He gathered her into his arms and held her close while their panting breaths returned to normal.
She couldn’t have been more relaxed if she’d had a Valium. As Bliss was about to drop off to sleep, Drake said, “Bliss, honey. There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Now?”
“Yes. Before I lose my nerve.”
Chapter 11
Bliss rolled up onto her elbow and rested her cheek in her palm. “You have to go back to work tonight, don’t you?”
“No. I’ve worked all the overtime I’m allowed to for a while.”
Facing him and frowning as if waiting for a firing squad to be called in, she said, “Okay. Tell me.”
Drake propped himself up against the pillow so their eyes were even. “Actually, there’s quite a lot I have to confess to you, but if at any point it becomes too much, tell me to stop.”
“Confessions?” She flopped back onto her pillow. “Uh-oh. This doesn’t sound good at all.”
“There’s both good and bad.”
“Give me the good stuff first.”
He sighed. There wasn’t really anything good that didn’t start with something bad… oh, except possibly one thing.
He stroked her cheek. “I love you.”
The wrinkle in her forehead disappeared and her lips twitched into a smile. “I think I love you too—but I reserve the right to take it back, depending on what else you have to say.”
Oh, great. Someone who admits to conditional love.
He inhaled a deep breath. “Okay. Here it is… I told you before that I was a dragon. You laughed it off because, as far as you know, nothing like that exists, right?”
She smirked. “Well, of course dragons don’t exist. Oh, wait. Maybe they do. Let me go ask my unicorn.”
Drake rolled his eyes. “Okay, not unicorns. We know they died out when Noah couldn’t get them to come onto the ark, but why not dragons? Don’t you think they could exist?”
She stared at him for a few moments. “Are you saying you believe they do?” She reached out and felt his forehead. “You don’t seem to have a fever.”
He smiled. “I’m fine, honey. There are all manner of beings that have been talked about in legends, but how do you think those legends got started?”
“Um… in the old days people had big imaginations to answer their questions, instead of science.”
“Believe me, people back then were no more imaginative than they are now. And as for science, a lot of folks think that if they haven’t seen something with their own eyes, it doesn’t exist, but science has proven the existence of all kinds of things you can’t see. Tiny molecules, germs, plus planets so far away you’d never be able to see them with the naked eye.”
“Yeah, but… dragons? They’d be kind of hard to miss.”
“Not if they don’t want to be seen. And after all the talk of St. George destroying the last dragon, why would any unknown survivors come forward? Are they going to say, ‘Oh, hey, Georgie… Look, you missed one!’”
Drake thought about how his mother had kept him hidden for years, because they were safer with humans believing the extinction rumor. His great-grandfather had been that “last” dragon—or so the humans of the time thought. Most of his other relatives had been slaughtered long before that. Knights just loved to sneak up on and kill dragons. Then they’d brag about it upon their return to their respective castles.
Bliss faced away from him, as if talking to her furniture. “Damn. And he seemed so normal… even smart.”
He laid his hand over hers. “I can prove it.”
“You can prove dragons exist?” She chuckled. “How?”
“I can show you my alternate form.”
She began to pull her hand away, but he grasped it tighter. “Do you remember seeing my eyes shimmer?”
That stopped her momentarily. “Uh… yeah. I wondered about that. They’re green most of the time, like now, but I thought I saw them turn gold a couple times.”
“It’s what happens when I begin to shift.”
“Shift?” She shook her head slowly. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I can change my form. Several centuries ago, as a way to survive, some dragons found a wizard and convinced him to use his magic to help them blend in. I’m descended from those dragons. I understand the Asian dragons found a way to do the same thing, but I’m not sure how. We look human most of the time, but if necessary, we can return to dragon form.”
“Any time now, you can give up and tell me you’re joking. I won’t hold it against you if you admit it—soon.”
Damn, she still doesn’t believe me. But at least she didn’t appear ready to run off, so he blundered on.
“I have a few advantages in my alternate form. As a dragon, I’m fireproof. It comes in handy when fighting fires—I just wish I could let my chief in on that little fact. And my vision improves tremendously. Think about the first time you saw my eyes glow gold.”
“It was during the fire. I couldn’t see you well under all the protective equipment you were wearing, but I did notice your eyes.”
“I had to shift when I was inside the building. The fire was so hot, and flames were everywhere. If I hadn’t taken on my alternate form, I might not have survived, and I certainly couldn’t have seen through the flames and smoke to find my way out.”
She reached out and touched his cheek. Her expression was deadly serious. Maybe he was reaching her, at last.
“You don’t have to go through this alone, Drake. We’ll find you a good doctor. I’ve heard with medication they can treat all kinds of delusions.”
Oh, crap. We’re back to square one.
“Bliss, honey. I’m not delusional. I can show you my dragon transformation, but I don’t want to scare you. If you see me as a dragon you might be afraid, but I can assure you, I’d never hurt you.”
“I believe that. If you didn’t hit back when that awful biker chick was kicking you in the ribs, I don’t think you’ll hurt me for giving you a little ribbing. Although, you might rib me back. I’m pretty sure that’s what you’re doing now.”
He dropped his head and let out a deep breath in a whoosh. I’m still not getting through.
After a long silence, she lifted her chin. “Okay. Prove it.”
“Really? You’ll let me show you my transformation?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Think about it. If you see something you really don’t believe in, it’ll change your perspective forever.”
Bliss flopped onto her back and threw her hands in the air. “Do you want to show me or don’t you?”
“You won’t be scared?”
She rolled back onto her elbow, propped herself up, and looked him right in the eye. “I won’t be scared.”
“Promise? Because it would be perfectly normal to be a little bit nervous.”
“I’m not perfect, nor am I normal.”
“You’re joki
ng again.”
“That’s how I cope.” After a long pause, she worried her lip. “Okay. I guess I’m a little afraid for you, but I’m not afraid of you.”
That was good enough. This is it. Now or never.
Drake got up off the bed and backed away a few feet. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his dragon form. His back vibrated, letting him know his wings and tail were ready to emerge. When he opened his eyes, he saw Bliss still on the bed and not running for the hills. The shimmer he knew could be seen in his eyes colored his vision for a matter of seconds. He transformed briefly but didn’t flap his wings or tail. He truly didn’t want to scare her.
Her eyes had rounded and grown huge throughout the process. Perhaps she wasn’t moving because she was frozen in fear. He’d made his point and didn’t need or want to impress her. All he wanted was her trust—and for her not to doubt him anymore. He quickly closed his eyes and concentrated on his human form. The tingling stopped and the glow faded.
As soon as he could speak with his human mouth he asked, “Are you okay?”
As if she couldn’t quite make words come out, her mouth moved a little before she said, “I… I guess.” She shrugged a shoulder, but he thought he saw it tremble.
He wanted to gather her close and hold her, but he didn’t know if she’d welcome him. He had never let a human see his transition before. Hell, he wasn’t supposed to let anyone see it now.
Maybe if I just tell her that… “I’ve never shown this side of me to anyone else.”
“G—good. I imagine it would scare the pants off most people.” She backed away for the first time since they’d begun talking.
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m good.” She grabbed her clothes with shaking fingers.
“Bliss, there’s more I have to tell you.”
She groaned but didn’t stop pulling up her sweatpants or fastening the drawstring. “Uh—can we do it later?”
“Not really. The whole reason I had to tell you about dragons was to warn you.”
“Warn me?” She finished tying her drawstring, then dragged her T-shirt over her head. “I thought you said you’d never hurt me.”