“And lose the pleasure of you touching me just because you want too? It was bound to be a one-time event. Soon as you felt the exchange, you’d be doing it for other reasons,” he explained quietly. “You weren’t in danger. I’d never let myself get that weak for selfish reasons.”
“Kiss him,” Minuet directed as she brought the bowl of macaroni and cheese to the table. “Cord good, we eat.”
“Kissing is private,” Kelly said.
Minuet cocked her head as she regarded them. “You like it. He like it. I not umbarr…em…I like too. Happy Mommy. I seen Aunt Penny kiss Uncle Hank for long time.”
“Aunt Penny and Uncle Hank are married. It’s okay for married people to kiss. Did you see them doing anything else?” Kelly wanted to know.
“No. I hug dem. Dey happy and pretty colors. Den we go play park swing.” Minuet sat at her plate. “You marry Cord. He need kisses.”
“Penny is my younger sister. Hank is her husband. They’re newlyweds and babysat Minuet several times before we moved,” Kelly explained to Cord. Her eyes remained glued to his chest as she studiously ignored Minuet’s last comment.
“Let’s eat,” Cord suggested as he lifted Kelly to her chair.
“She didn’t kiss you,” Minuet stated as she looked at them.
“Mommy’s kisses are special, right?” Cord asked. “Mommy has to be careful with them.” Cord winked at Minuet. “I think I’ll let her decide when I’ve been good enough to get one.”
Kelly distracted Minuet by filling her plate with not only macaroni and cheese but sliced tomatoes and baby carrots. Both favorites but not yet part of the three-year-old’s meal planning.
The atmosphere relaxed considerably as the conversation moved to the possibility of Barney being a good dragon in hiding. Explaining that he was a person walking around in a Barney suit proved complicated. The concept perplexed Minuet. She couldn’t get over the fact that a man was standing in the Barney suit and lying to all the children.
Minuet turned to Cord and frowned. “Can you make Barney?”
“Ah, you mean shapeshift to look like this Barney?” Cord asked cautiously.
“Yes. Make Barney but not a clothes. Be Barney?” she questioned seriously.
“Honey, shapeshifting does not mean a person can be someone else. It just means they look different. I could look like Barney but it would always be Cord inside.”
“Please make Barney,” she asked with such a hopeful expression on her face.
“I can’t right now. I’ve never seen Barney,” he confessed with the appropriate humility. Minuet was satisfied but not done with him. “Barney tomorrow. He on TV in a morning.”
“Oh honey.” Kelly reached over and laid a hand on Cord’s arm as she laughed and continued. “Cord might not want to be Barney when he sees him.”
Power flowed from her touch in a flood of unexpected heat. She was laughing and yet her emotions were colored with such a mix of intriguing delight that Cord sat back and smiled at her. Taking her hand in his to enjoy the connection, he turned it over and kissed the back. “Why not?”
“Have you ever watched children’s TV?” she asked.
“No,” he confessed. “But it can’t be that difficult to mimic a figure.”
“Ah, probably not,” she agreed. “But remember, you can change your mind.”
There was silence for a few minutes as food disappeared.
“Cord no have TV?” Minuet wanted to know.
Cord nodded at her puzzled face. “Nope, I don’t. If I want to hear the news, I use the radio.”
“We let you look ours,” she consoled him as if he were sad.
Done with her meal, Minuet left her chair to come to his other side and climb onto his lap. Sitting on his thigh, leaning into his body as one of his arms circled her securely, she proceeded to discuss the Barney issue. Kelly hadn’t let go of his other hand, and Cord discovered the most amazing sensations he’d ever experienced.
Minuet’s trust flowed through him with jewel-bright sincerity. She didn’t just believe in him, as she had this morning, there was more. Her emotions were personal, filled with her affection and trust. Kelly’s connection mingled with it as she laughed softly, leaning across him to kiss her daughter’s cheek. The round table allowed the three of them an intimate closeness. In that moment, Cord found something huge.
It was bigger than his mission, bigger than all of the history piling up on them. This was more important than any past betrayal or alliance. He had no word for what they brought him, who he was with them, but it was entirely different from the creature he’d been this morning.
Minuet yawned but pressed on with her case. “Cord be good Barney. No lying.”
“The man in the Barney suit is not lying. He’s playing a part. Acting,” Kelly assured her.
“Honey, if you want to see Barney, I’ll do my best, but you have to remember, its Cord inside,” he promised. “Tomorrow I’ll watch him and see if we can manage it. I might need your help.”
“I help,” Minuet promised solemnly with big, unblinking eyes.
Looking down at her snuggled into his chest, Cord knew he’d probably promise her the impossible and do it because she believed in him. Not because she was the amazing twist in fate that she’d prove to be. No, simply because she was Minuet.
Kelly leaned into his shoulder and smiled at her daughter as she pushed riotous curls behind Minuet’s ear. “It’s bath time. We’ll talk about Barney tomorrow.”
Minuet slid off Cord’s leg. “I make water,” she declared, and ran toward the stairs, excited to test her new abilities in a way she hadn’t thought of yet.
Kelly hurried after her. “Only enough water for a bath. Be careful,” she directed as she rushed up the stairs after the little witch who couldn’t wait to play in the water.
Cord gazed after them. What had just happened?
Both of them had worked hard today. He’d tried to make the lessons part of their normal activities to get them used to the unusual. Easing it into their world without shock or the harsh reality of how ugly unusual could be. He suspected that would come soon enough. Even though they’d done relatively normal things, it hadn’t been easy.
Believing in themselves wasn’t enough. To work magic, one had to infuse confidence into each command. Knowing a thing could be done and believing oneself capable of making it happen were two different things. It had been easier for Minuet. She was too young to be loaded down with self-doubt. Kelly had struggled.
Focusing on the empty kitchen, Cord waved a hand and dispatched the dishes back to the cabinets, now clean and ready for the next meal. He sat there trying to work through the change in himself.
Was it possible for there to be too much of a good thing? No, that wasn’t it. His hunger was not less. It was more. More in a way that included Minuet as a part of Kelly. One of them in his world would not be enough, both of them had to be safe, cared for, treasured. His need of them was more than physical hunger for the substance they provided him. The peace of this kitchen was what he needed. Knowing they were happy. Peace.
Like love, peace was an intangible. Something worth fighting for, dying for, but at the end of the day, peace could not be given to another.
A dragon’s life was supposed to be simple. Jesus! One day with them and he was craving things that didn’t exist, couldn’t be “gathered”, had nothing to do with his nature.
Dragons were creatures created by finite beings. Monsters designed for one purpose or another, be it war or defense. Even he had been made by the hand of a programmer. A programmer who worked in DNA, but it did not make him a God-created creature. He had no inborn right to evolve. He was made to do one thing, ensure the other dragons did not rise again.
This mission had been his only reason for living. It had consumed eons of time. Hard, empty time when he’d hungered without end, and now this? This impossible need to have what could never be captured, taken or contained? Hungering for such things with a dragon’s ap
petite was a danger. His instincts would not allow him to back away from the drive to attain everything that had been out of humankind’s reach since the creation of man.
Small feet rushed down the stairs, this time muffled a bit. Cord stood and turned to the door. Minuet launched herself into the air and he caught the bundle of pink footy pajamas. She laughed in glee as he lifted her high above his head and pretended to drop her, catching her again.
The power of her happiness shot through him with the zing of an adrenaline rush. Laughing Minuet commanded more force than most wizards could hope to leash. She was amazing. Cord was about to swing her around when Kelly stopped him from the doorway.
“Time to calm down. We came down to read a book before going to bed.”
“Cord read,” Minuet stated from her seat on his hip. “Cord read Barney. He need ta know it.”
After two Barney books on the couch, Kelly took Minuet up to bed. Cord stretched out and let the hazy warmth of the last half-hour melt off him.
In some part of her brain, Minuet was aware she strengthened him by touching. She probably had no idea why, but the little miracle child had insisted on sitting on his leg as he read to her, making sure Mommy sat on the other side. She’d arranged them then relaxed into his hold.
The time reading had calmed her down so at the end she drooped with sleepy eyes, struggling to stay awake. Before going with her mother upstairs, she’d kissed his cheek in her muzzy way.
“You better, Cord?” she’d asked, blinking. “My bear makes me safe. You needs him?”
“I’m much better. Bear needs you, hon. Good night,” he’d responded with a smile.
The two of them had trudged slowly upstairs.
The couch he was stretched out on had begun the day an average size. Now it’s long, comfortable shape fit him perfectly. Magic had given Kelly the freedom to decorate exactly as she wanted. When she’d gotten over the unexpected delight, her house had taken shape rapidly with warm colors and contrasting jewel tones.
Cord closed his eyes and listened as the voices above him murmur soft, sleepy things. Those engaging murmurs bound him to them with ever tightening strings.
This day had been a time-traveling experience. Where they had been last evening bore almost no relation to where they were tonight. The problem was, they were riding a one-way express car and they were dragging the hounds of hell with them.
It was clear the horrific solution employed by the great ladies of the past had been no solution at all. In fact, it had been a very temporary fix. They had given humans a second chance to solve the same problem. The one they, in all their brilliant planning, had failed to correct.
He heard Kelly move out of Minuet’s room, tiptoeing down the hall. She paused at the top of the stairs. It was only for a second, but he felt it. That moment of hesitation told him she was feeling that day’s effects too. It spoke of her fear, her courage and made him want to rip something to shreds. She was afraid, but she had no choice.
She would walk in here and seduce him if she had to. Kelly was that strong and just that vulnerable. He couldn’t afford to refuse her courage. She had no time for a courtship, no time to pretend that was something a creature like him could give her.
She appeared in the doorway, outlined by the dark entry behind her. Coming out of the shadows to him, the Wind Witch smiled with her lips, but her eyes could not.
Cord slowly stood as she stopped three feet away from him. Her gaze didn’t waver as she raised her chin to look him in the eye.
“You’re afraid,” he observed softly.
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Will you hurt me?” Kelly asked.
“Probably, but never by choice,” he answered as honestly as he could.
“Are you afraid?” she wanted to know.
“Not of this, a little of you,” he admitted.
“I scare you?” She did smile this time.
“More than you can know. But the problem isn’t yours.”
“No, it’s not my problem. It makes me feel better though.”
Cord took a small step and reached for her, he had to. Standing so close and discussing the distance fear was putting between them was a fine new form of torture. His palm ran down her arm from shoulder to elbow in a soft caress. He didn’t close his fingers around silky flesh, didn’t draw her to him. There was nothing he wanted more than to help her cross the cold space between them, but he refused to take that choice from her too.
All she had to do was ask and he’d gladly cross it for her. He suspected she knew that. She was looking at him from the safety of her old life. Coming to him now would shed that illusion forever.
Kelly stepped into his body, sliding her hands up his biceps in slow motion as she studied his eyes. His hands slipped around her waist to hold her in a loose embrace as she chose him over her fear.
“I can make you feel better about a lot of things,” he murmured. “But what we have to fear in each other is not one of them.” His head dipped to her mouth, going that final step for her. She had come to him and it was enough. Brushing her mouth with his lips in a damp caress, he concentrated on controlling the drive to possess.
She relaxed into his body. His beautiful Wind Witch stretched up to him with a little moan to press her mouth more firmly into his. Cord’s hands briefly fisted at her back, resisting the response she triggered in him. Acceptance from this woman, no matter how small, inflamed a primal urge, the one that demanded her immediate surrender in the most basic terms.
He pulled his mouth off hers. “Close your eyes,” he instructed. He remained perfectly still as she stared into his eyes. She needed to feel the fact that he expected her to comply with a direction. Her hesitation was acknowledged with his patience but that patience would not allow her any other option either.
Kelly’s eyes closed, reluctantly. There it was, fear. A basic instinct of her own, but one he would do almost anything to ensure she never had to act on while in his arms. Those lessons started now.
Candles appeared on the surface of end tables, windowsills, across the top of the armoire and flickered in the empty fireplace. The couch beside them now had a soft cotton sheet draped down its long cushions.
He easily swung her up across his arms as he said, “You can look.”
“Oh,” Kelly breathed. The sensation of being held high in his arms as her eyes opened on the romantic scene he’d made of the living room was overwhelming. “It’s lovely but you didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to,” he said into her neck as he sat down with her in his lap. His mouth paused over her sensitive nerves there, she shivered. Her warm body squirmed and he didn’t care if it was the glowing candles or his tongue, the aroma of desire was deepening in the room around them.
Kelly’s head tilted in response to his tantalizing licking. “You were going to get lucky without them.”
His head lifted from her skin. “If you don’t like it, I’ll get rid of them.”
“I like, I like,” Kelly assured him hastily. “What would make you think I didn’t?” Her hands pulled his shirt up to delve under it. There was something irresistible about the feel of his warm flesh under her hands. She had to have it. “Can you get rid of the shirt?”
The T-shirt disappeared as he explained. “Getting rid of excess clothing will never be your problem,” Cord growled as his Wind Witch surprised him. Removing his shirt at her request was a thoughtless response. Her reaction had driven all reason from his mind for a second.
Kelly’s body twisted swiftly in his lap as her mouth sought his skin. She seemed fascinated with the taste of his neck, shoulders and was very busy working her way down his pectoral muscle. Her hands alternately raked and caressed. The sharp gratification of her nails followed by the tease of gentle hands exploring was sweet torture. Sensation piled on top of spiking sensation and bombarded his resistance in a concentrated attack.
Her hands skimmed down his sides and she slipped fingers in the
waistband of his jeans and slid them around to his abdomen just as her lips reached the sensitive disk of his nipple. His involuntary gasp at her mouth closing and sucking on his chest gave her a moment and she took it. Her finger dove into his jeans and the tip of her forefinger lightly caressed the head of his cock.
Cord’s hand immediately closed around her wrist, the other hand gently wrapped around her neck as he turned her face up to his. His hold controlled her so it was impossible to remove her fingers from down the front of his pants, and he held her looking up at him from just above his chest.
“What are you doing?” he snarled aggressively into her face.
Kelly blinked. “Seems obvious to me,” she countered. “Now if you would kindly disappear the jeans for me, I’ll be a happy girl.” His big body shuddered under her, but his hands would not release their hold on her.
“No,” he said slowly as if talking slowly made his point clear. “You will not seduce me. I will be the one doing the seducing.”
Looking up at him from her frozen position, Kelly’s eyes warmed in laughter. “We have to take turns? It’s not a dragon buffet? I was feeling like a first come, first serve policy might be in order.”
“Buffet? What does an eating establishment have to do… Oh.” Cord’s brain finally unscrambled enough to catch up. “No, little Wind Witch. The dragon buffet is closed until such time as the Kelly dinner has been consumed to my satisfaction.”
In one swift move, he rolled them to the side. Kelly gasped, she was beneath his body and all clothes had been removed. There was no time for discomfort as her smug laugh turned to a moan.
His mouth was on her breast and he was not being gentle with his enjoyment. Sucking her hard, his body forced her legs around his hips. White-hot sensation ripped through her as hard cock came down on damp pussy with an intoxicating thrust. He wasn’t entering her, he was overwhelming her. In the next instant, his teeth clamped down on her well-sucked nipple as his hips sawed that hard shaft over her sensitive folds. He thrust her into a vortex of sensation, and Kelly gave up to it.
There was nothing but the mind-bending pleasure as he handled her. Sensations came with the thunder of an approaching tornado in her head. As if from a distance, Kelly realized the low rumble was him. He purred as his mouth moved down her belly. His body smoothly slithered down her and suddenly his hands were behind her knees. There was no possibility of thought as he lifted and spread her, holding her open for his mouth.
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