Romance: Tall, Dark And Dragon: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (BBW Shifter Romance, Paranormal, Dragon Shifter Romance) (BBW Dragon Shifter Romance Series By Ashley Hunter)

by Hunter, Ashley

  “Nope,” she said.

  “And it’s not strip poker either. Now that I’m healed and don’t have all of the bandages, I’d be at a major disadvantage.”

  “Indeed,” he said, dealing out hands to them both.

  “I have my suit, and you’re wearing the, um, just your…”

  “My shirt,” she said, picking up her cards.

  “And whatever is underneath it.”

  Toby swallowed and looked at his cards. “Yes, this.”

  The way she made him uncomfortable with talk of her scant clothing amused her, and she smiled as she glanced to her cards.

  “All right, so what are we betting?”

  “What’s your favorite color?”

  “What?” he asked, “Have I not told you? It’s b—“

  She quickly put up her hand to cut him off.

  “No, no, that’s what I’m betting. I ask you a question, and you can either bet the same question, or ask one of your own. Then, whoever wins the hand gets their question answered, and it has to be honest.”

  The uncomfortable laugh he gave just before he tapped his cards was logged in her mind.

  “That’s not how poker betting is done. We have to be able to keep adding to the pot to raise the stakes.”

  She put her cards face down on the table and folded her hands over them.

  “That’s fine, if you don’t want to play, we don’t have to.”

  “No, no, I do. Modified rules. I can deal with that. So, favorite color?”

  She nodded.

  “All right. Do you need any cards?”

  Abigail looked at her cards again and shook her head.

  “Dealer takes two,” he said, giving himself two cards and setting the two discarded from his hand off to the side.

  “So, I suppose since there is no raising, I call?”

  Abigail flipped over her cards showing she had nothing.

  “Ah, pair of threes,” he said. “So now I get to ask you a question?”

  “Ah, ah, ah,” she said, waving a finger. “You didn’t put in one of your own, so I have to answer my own question.”

  “Oh,” he said, dragging out the sound.

  “I see how it’s played. Very well then, what is your favorite color?”

  She slid the cards back to him and he began shuffling the deck again. “I don’t know what it used to be, but I’ve grown really fond of the dark green in the marble around the house. So I’m going to say that.”

  “Good choice, good choice,” he said.

  After shuffling he dealt out new hands for them.

  After they looked, he continued, “I’ll start. Favorite room of the house?”

  At first she thought it was a lame question, but as she thought about it, she realized it was a chance for her to find out if this was his favorite room of the house.

  “I’ll keep that question,” she said.

  Toby nodded and asked, “How many?”

  Abigail looked at her cards again. She had a pair of fives. Not great, but if she gave up the other three she had a chance of either randomly getting a second pair, or a third five.

  She still wasn’t an amazing poker player, but she decided to risk it. “Three.”

  “And dealer takes one.”

  After glancing at his cards, he looked up with the poorly hidden smile she’d gotten to know so well. He had something good.

  Abigail looked at her cards: a king, a ten, and a two. Useless. Despite that, she did her best to keep it from showing on her face.

  “There has to be a way to raise the stakes,” he said.

  “That good, huh?”

  “What?” he asked as innocently as he could manage.

  “No, I just mean it doesn’t feel like poker. What if we’re allowed to replace our question with a different one?”

  Abigail tilted her head as she thought about it. It made sense, and the chance to raise the stakes meant she could make this go a bit faster.

  “That sounds fair.”

  “Good. I opened, so you go.”

  “Oh,” she said, and looked at her cards again. Just the pair stared back at her. There was no way she could win with this, but really just asking the question would put out her intentions.

  How quickly did she want this to go?

  “What…” she began, but couldn’t bring herself to finish it.

  When she felt the blush in her cheeks, she laughed at herself and looked away. There went her cool poker face!

  “What do you think about me?” she blurted.

  Best to just get it out there. Of course, now that she’d said it she felt like such a fool.

  “To me?” he asked. Unable to look at him to see what his reaction to her question was, she just nodded.

  “Very well,” he said and cleared his throat.

  “That was quite the raise. I suppose if I’m going to match, I’ll have to change what I was going to ask.”

  Moving her head, she kept her eyes down but faced him.

  “What were you going to ask?”

  “Oh, no, it’s no good to say now. Hmm, let me think.” The seconds stretched, and she got the distinct impression he was toying with her.

  “How about… are you happy here?”

  This made her snap her head up and look at him.

  “Of course, how can you even ask me that?”

  The way he opened his mouth and smiled made her curse herself for her outburst.

  “That’s not how this game is played. Now I have to ask another question. How long would you stay with me?”

  Abigail bit her lip and looked at her cards. “That seems like it’s a raise?”

  “Oh, definitely,” he agreed, playing along with where she was taking this.

  “Damn, I guess I better ask another question.”

  “You could always fold and just answer mine.”

  “I could,” she said slowly,” but if you were looking at what I was you’d drag this out too.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” he said, his voice dropping to a soft tone, “I quite like what I’m looking at.”

  Abigail glanced up and saw him watching her. The hunger in his eyes awoke parts of her that had been slumbering softly during her healing process.

  Now that she was nearly all better, a warm heat was spreading out from her tummy, up to her chest, and down between her legs.

  This was becoming the best game of poker ever.

  “Boxers or briefs?” she asked with a sly smile.

  “Oooh, that’s quite a raise. A far better question.”

  “Thank you,” she said with a slight bow of her head.

  “A good question, but not enough to make me back out.” He nodded his head towards her, his eyes falling to her breasts.

  “What’ve you got on under that shirt, then? I’m curious how screwed you would’ve been had this been strip poker.”

  “Very,” she said, and then added in a whisper, “hopefully.”

  Abigail looked down and saw her excitement was showing through her t-shirt as her nipples hardened.

  When she looked up, she saw him swallow slowly, his eyes locked on her chest.

  “I’ll raise. Do you want me?”

  “I fold,” he said.

  Chapter 5

  In one motion, he stood and flipped the table out of the way as he lunged forward for her. Their lips met in a passionate rush, the heat that had been spreading in her body becoming a roaring fire.

  It was the first real contact she’d had since first waking up. Every touch of skin, every press of the lips was electrical. The need to touch and to connect was overwhelming.

  As he climbed onto the bed, tossing his coat to the side and taking off his tie, she scooted deeper in to give him room. As he unbuttoned his shirt, she removed her own, exposing her breasts.

  A deep groan came from him and after ripping off his shirt and throwing it off the bed; he leaned forward and buried his face in her chest.

  Both hands came up the side,
cupping each and positioning them for his mouth as he locked his lips around one nipple and then the other.

  Abigail tossed her head back and moaned, tangling her fingers in his hair. The level of sensitivity was unthinkable. In all her time there, she hadn’t even touched herself like that. To feel him now, after all this time, it relieved some deep desire that should’ve been sated weeks ago.

  After more sucking, he began planting gentle kisses along her side, following along her body down to her hip. All Abigail could do was freeze and hope for more.

  She could feel each press of his lips as he followed the trail of her upper thigh as it creased down between her legs.

  Just when she couldn’t believe he would be so close to there, he planted his mouth on her and ran his tongue up between her wet lips. Abigail moaned loudly, reaching behind her to grab onto the headboard.

  Encouraged by her reaction, he reached an arm around each of her legs and began a quick and thorough licking of her labia and clit. Her arousal, once so acute, now spread throughout her in ways she couldn’t have imagined.

  Like a tornado, his tongue whirled about her sex, lapping up her juice with an expert attention to detail. Kissing her clit, he then sucked it into his mouth, running it along his teeth at the barest touch. The sensation was indescribable, yet intense.

  Unconsciously, her hips began to move and gyrate, wanting more. Needing more. In response, he tightened his hold and began sucking her clit in and out from his lips rapidly, flicking his tongue across it with each pull in.

  It only took a few minutes of this to build Abigail’s orgasm into a full release and she screamed with the force of it.

  When he leaned back to take off his pants, she sat up.

  “Let me,” she said, looking up at him as she undid the button on his pants and slowly unzipped them.

  That perfect tongue of his moved slowly across his lips as he smiled and he held up his hands as if to show he wasn’t going to stop her.

  She gripped him by the hips and pressed him down to the bed.

  Pulling his pants free, then his boxers – she won that bet with herself – and then his socks, she took a moment to look at him entirely naked before her.

  “You are so beautiful,” he said, taking her by surprise.

  “You jerk,” she said playfully and leaned forward to hover over his erection, “that’s what I was about to say.”

  “Well I—oh…” whatever he was going to say caught in his throat as Abigail shoved the length of him into her mouth. The head pressed along the roof of her mouth as it traveled to the back of her throat.

  Suck and running her tongue along the underside of the shaft, she began bobbing her head to pull him in and out of her mouth.

  As his penis became slick with her saliva, she gripped his thickness with her hand and followed behind her mouth, stroking him as she sucked. Deep groans answered her efforts, pleasing her to no end.

  Even as she did it, she had no idea if this was something she used to enjoy. She knew now, however, without a doubt that it was. The feeling of power, of controlling his pleasure completely was a thrill she’d not had in all of her short memory.

  The walks through the house, poker, the gardens, they were all wonderful, but nothing was as stimulating as this.

  Just as he was in the throes of it, Abigail pulled back and stopped. Toby shook his head as if to clear it and looked at her.

  “You’re not done yet,” she said, and straddled his hips.

  All he could do was moan and reach up to touch her as she leaned forward. Guiding the head of him into her, they both released long, loud breaths at the first penetration.

  As wet as both their parts were, he slipped in rather easily, with only the resistance of her walls slowing their first rhythm.

  After a few thrusts, however, she was able to accept all of him. The feel of him throbbing inside her, stretching as they made love was more than she could’ve hoped for.

  She leaned forward, needing to feel his mouth. The moment their lips touched, it was as though all sensation in her body increased tenfold.

  Unintentionally, the rhythm grew into a rapid motion as they both lost themselves to the sexual pleasure of one another’s touch. In moments, another orgasm crashed against her, this one triggering his.

  The heat and thickness as he finished inside of her gave the last moments of her orgasm the exquisite intensity she needed to feel flush with the pleasure of it.

  She collapsed down on top of him, and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her all over her cheek, face, and neck.

  In moments, they were both asleep. For the first time, Abigail had no nightmares.

  Chapter 6

  When she woke in the middle of the night, Toby wasn’t there. After waiting a moment, she heard a noise. As she listened, she identified it as the noise that had woken her.

  Nothing in this place had ever been a danger to her, and she was feeling too awake to go back to sleep. Curious about the noise, Abigail dressed herself and wandered out to the backyard.

  The moon was full overhead, shining bright white light on the gardens. For a moment, she stood at the top of the steps and hugged herself as she appreciated the beauty of the gardens in the moonlight.

  The flowers were all in various shades of blue in the darkness, yet it did nothing to take away from their beauty. The noise came again from down below. It could be an injured animal that needed help.

  Abigail’s bare feet made soft patting sounds as she stepped down the stairs to the grass.

  As she came around the side of the staircase, a huge reptilian head the size of a couch rose from the ground. The sunlight glinted off of scales as reflective as metal.

  Huge fangs protruded from the top of its mouth, and as it looked at her, its nostrils flared. Fear surged through her entire body and she screamed. The dragon choked on a breath and made a surprised sound itself.

  Spinning around, Abigail ran back up the stairs to the house, slamming the door closed behind her and locking it. Her screams never stopped as she ran as best she could through the house to her room, and closed and locked that door as well.

  After a few moments, the door knob jiggled.

  “Abigail? Are you in there?”

  It was Toby. “Run!” she shouted. “There’s a monster out there!”

  “Abby, please open up.”

  “Don’t call me that, I hate that name.”

  The sudden realization of that snapped her out of her panic. Did she hate being called Abby? It felt like something that ran deep.

  The door suddenly crashed as Toby forced it open with his shoulder.

  Abigail flew out of bed and into his arms.

  “Oh you should’ve seen it, it was terrible! Huge, with teeth, and…”

  “I know,” he said.

  “No, you don’t understand, this thing was real. A dragon, Toby!”

  “Abigail, I know. It’s me.”

  “What?” All of the fight and fear went out of her. “What’re you saying?”

  “The dragon. It’s me. You were asleep, and it was such a beautiful moon out. I only stepped out for a minute to enjoy it while you slept. I’m sorry.”

  He led her over to the bed and sat her down.

  “I should’ve told you. This wasn’t fair to you. You had every right to know. I blame myself, I should never have slept with you, or fallen in love with you. You were just so beautiful and sweet, and I just couldn’t help myself. I know we can’t be together. There’s no way I can expect you to stay with me knowing what I really am.”

  “Toby, I don’t…”

  “I’ve been investigating who you are.” That took her breath away more than anything.

  “You have?”

  “Yes, I know it was important to you, so I’ve been tracking down anything I could find. Your name is Abigail, so that part’s true. You’re an orphan. You’ve been staying with a friend in the same apartment. Or, you were until they assumed you were dead. But now you know whe
re you belong, so you can return there.”

  “Do you want me to go?” she asked, stricken.

  “There’s no way you can love me, knowing what I really am. I know that.”

  “But I do.”

  Toby looked up to her for the first time, searching her eyes.

  “What?”

  “Toby, I do love you. You’ve been so kind and compassionate to me. You could’ve kept my real past from me to keep me here, but you didn’t. You told me, even though you thought I would leave. I love you and your dragon form. During the poker game, you asked me how long I wanted to stay. Can I answer that now?”

  When he nodded, she said, “Forever.”

  “Oh Abigail,” he said and wrapped his arms around her. They held one another before kissing passionately.

  In the heat of the moment, they pulled one another’s clothes off, and he pushed her back down onto the bed. To her surprise, he was already prepared for round two.

  Reaching down, she stroked him as they kissed, making him even firmer. Then, licking her fingertips, she rubbed the saliva over the head of him and guided him into her.

  Their lovemaking was slow. Sweet. A counterpoint to the wild attraction that had fueled their previous encounter, this was a motion of love, a connection between two souls.

  The dragon had found his mate, and Abigail would spend the rest of her life there, bathing in the moonlight with her man.

  ***

  PREVIEW OF ‘THE SHEIKH BEAR’ BY ASHLEY HUNTER

  Chapter 1

  Elle Roberts wasn’t what you’d call a supremely confident woman. Granted, she was comfortable with her looks, she was comfortable with herself—but she wasn’t exactly the type to put herself out there.

  She lived her life in a small town growing up. The same people during elementary school became the people she knew throughout high school. She had one boyfriend, a sweet guy who loved art more than anything; it just took her some time to realize that the list that included ‘anything’ also included her. So when he told her he was going to a college far off to pursue his dream as an artist, she was broken hearted when he said he’d be going alone.

  Still, she didn’t want to appear pushy or clingy and so when he broke it off, Elle smiled, gave him a warm hug, and wished him luck. Not long after he left did she finally decide to leave that small town herself.