But his attention never left her. Tiffany was all but forgotten.
“She’s not the kind of woman to barge in, right?” Nellie asked. “Tiffany isn’t going to break that door down?”
“I told everyone that if she asks, you’re in here alone. She won’t bother you.”
Nellie sat up and reached for the radio she’d borrowed from Isabella. She turned the music up until it filled every nook and cranny of the room. Gavin smirked and sat on the end of the inset tub.
“If I still had my magic, I would have hexed you for barging in on me like that,” she said, playfully threatening him.
“You could turn me into a frog and let me join you in that bath. I wouldn’t mind.”
Outside, a woman’s voice nearly rose over the music pumping out of the radio. Nellie’s brows rose with disbelief. Gavin stifled a groan.
“Don’t think about her,” Nellie said. She didn’t know how to pull his attention back to her, but words alone worked. “What does it mean when your eyes are gold? That happens a lot around me. Does your beast not like me?”
Gavin laughed.
* * *
Gavin had a raging erection. He sat with his legs open, one knee up, so she wouldn’t be able to tell. He needed to stop hiding it because she seemed determined to ignore his compliments at every turn.
He’d never seen a more enticing image in his life. She lounged back, her dark hair curling at the nape of her neck from the bathwater. Her bountiful breasts floated on the water’s surface. Tiny hints of metal glimmered on her nipples. He wanted to take them into his mouth and see if the rumors were true, that piercings amplified every sensation.
“I have to hold my beast back from you,” he said. He’d been open with her since the beginning. Always, he made sure to give her room to run if she had to. Though her eyes widened, she made no move to escape. “My beast has never been so infatuated with another woman in my entire life. My beast is telling me what to do, and I have to work very hard to ignore it.”
There she went again, biting her lip. That gesture should have been illegal. His beast roared and threatened to overthrow Gavin if he didn’t crawl into that bath right this instant.
If he’d known his beast would react like this, he wouldn’t have taken Evangeline’s advice and hidden in here with Nellie. This woman had been hiding from him for weeks, and now he couldn’t stop walking in on her at every turn: from the middle of the night to the middle of her bath.
What was it about this witch that enchanted him? Clearly, she hadn’t cast a spell over him. If she had, she would be much more adamant about sealing the deal. Nellie wouldn’t have spent the last few weeks exhausting herself just to stay away from him. Now that she had no way of protecting herself, she’d been in his company nearly the whole time.
He couldn’t complain because he thoroughly enjoyed her presence, but he didn’t know what made her feel so safe now of all times. She kept standing up for him. Somehow, she knew all the right things to say. How could she do such things if she felt nothing for him?
“What does your beast want to do to me?” she asked.
He choked as the creature climbed up his throat to tell her himself. Only a growl came out. She didn’t flinch or run away, but he heard the catch in her breath. He needed to put more space between them before he lost control. She would hate him forever if the beast broke out.
He wasn’t the kind of man meant to have soft and endearing romances. He wanted to protect and keep a woman safe, but he also wanted to ravage her until she could do nothing more than shout his name. Nellie required a gentle touch. He couldn’t handle her the way his beast desperately wanted.
“You don’t want to know.” He would have stood and left had it not been for the erection that would have given him away.
Hell, by now she shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d made it very clear that he wanted her in every way. Of course, his dick would get hard while she was naked in front of him.
“How am I to know what that means if you won’t tell me?” She played with the water until glitter swirled like tiny galaxies around her fingertips. Little black stars were inked up the side of her wrist.
“I don’t want to hurt you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Why Tiffany had come back after accusing him of being unable to stop himself from hurting her, he would never know. He wondered what his father had offered her. Had he promised her power? Money?
He didn’t want to believe that she could come back to him after all this time because that only twisted the knife in his heart. He’d spent weeks trying to get over her. Pursuing Nellie had kept him occupied and allowed him to move on from Tiffany. Now, he seemed caught between a rock and hard place—and the hard place wasn’t his dick.
“If I thought you were going to hurt me right now, I would have already left. You’re not going to make me scream because Tiffany would find out that you’re up here. We both know you don’t want that. Especially if you’re actually going to work things out with her.” Nellie stared into the green water.
“Fu—” Gavin stopped mid-word as a revelation slapped him upside the head.
He didn’t want Tiffany. She could have been the only person meant for him in this life, but he would rather they both go their own ways than suffer in torment together. He’d hated himself and the monster everyone had made him out to be for so long that he’d barely entertained any other possible future for himself.
Here, staring at the most majestic mermaid he’d ever seen, Gavin considered other possibilities. Even if Nellie decided to hate him for the rest of his life, he would rather take care of her than deal with Tiffany. He had a feeling that Nellie couldn’t hate him, that the emotion simply wasn’t in her.
She might avoid him from time to time, but she wouldn’t outright hate him.
Which was far better than the future that Tiffany would grant him. He glanced back to the windows and listened to the conversation outside. The music from the nearby radio softened it, but he could hear her plaintive whining all the same. He heard the front door open and footsteps inside.
“I don’t know if I ever loved her, or if I simply wanted someone to protect, so my beast would settle down,” Gavin confessed.
The beast snarled and lashed its tail at him. He blew a hot breath through his nose. Always, always, it sat too close to the surface. He felt more beast than man. He wanted. He yearned. He hungered. Every drive coming from the basest part of him.
Nellie leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “The easiest thing to do to make her go away is kiss another woman in front of her. Make sure she can see that you’ve moved on. Too bad all your clanmates are already coupled.”
Her words didn’t sink in because her movement had raised her breasts once again. They entranced him for a long while. He shook himself and cocked his head.
“You’re not mated,” he pointed out.
She hissed. “I was really hoping you wouldn’t notice.”
“Like I’m going to pass up the chance to touch you with your permission,” he growled.
“You don’t sound much like a monster to me. A monster would take what he wants.” She ran her hands up her body, over her breasts.
His mind blanked. Those little metal bars were far too bewitching in a way he’d never expected.
“Are you trying to convince yourself?” He inched closer until he sat on the edge of the tub.
The beast roared. Take her. Make her yours. Show her what you have to give!
Gavin held his position.
“Tell me where my mate is!” Tiffany howled below.
Gavin hung his head. He heard the sloshing of water and kept still as Nellie reached for a towel. All he needed to do was sneak a peek. Just a little glimpse. By the time he looked up, though, she’d wrapped a towel around herself.
He watched the water drip down her bare thighs and wished he could be those droplets. In the end, he knew he would never be able to touch her the way he wanted. Nellie would
keep running away. For as long as he was a dragon, she would remain in fear of him. Her snark could only be a self-defense mechanism.
Right?
“I can’t believe you would hide him from me!” Tiffany whined. He could hear the tears gathering in her voice, making it wobbly. “Gavin! Love! I came for you!”
Nellie snorted. “And she probably faked it, too.”
The corner of his mouth quirked. “No woman has to fake an orgasm with me.”
He caught the flush of her cheeks just before she turned her back to him. She used a smaller towel to dry the tips of her hair while holding the bath towel around her form. If he stepped up behind her, where she couldn’t see his face, could she pretend he was someone else for a while?
He didn’t try it. If he could have her, just once, he would never get enough. Once she remembered who he truly was, she would throw up wall after wall between them. His beast wouldn’t sleep until it had broken them all down and violated any semblance of a truce they might have had.
Gavin curled his fingers into fists on top of his knees.
Nellie turned and cocked her hip. A small, playful smile graced her lips. “I don’t have anything clean to wear. Do you think I could borrow something of yours?”
His brows furrowed. She was up to something. He didn’t quite understand, but he jumped to his feet anyway.
71
Nellie knotted Gavin’s shirt under her breasts, turning it into a make-shift crop-top for the time being. His sweatpants rode high on her hips, which was the style these days. She sauntered downstairs, toward the sound of Tiffany’s incessant whining.
Tiffany leapt to her feet only for her expression to fall once she saw Nellie. The way Tiffany took in Nellie’s outfit made her grin. Nellie already knew Tiffany hated fatness. Wearing Gavin’s clothing implied enough to infuriate Tiffany. Nellie had ruffled her own hair just to add to the effect.
Nellie tried not to think about the ways Gavin could muss her hair, how she wanted him bucking above her, his hands on her hips. He would remain off limits so long as she had access to common sense.
“Cover your stomach,” Tiffany grumbled under her breath. Clearly, she hadn’t expected Nellie to be able to hear her.
Silence fell over the room. Soft footsteps approached Nellie from behind. Warm hands slid up her hips to her exposed stomach. Gavin’s scent rolled over her. She twisted to look up at him, just as he tried to plant a kiss on the top of her head.
His lips met hers. She stood still, shock and desire raging inside her. Gavin didn’t flinch. He played it off like he’d meant to do it. She wanted to glare at him when he winked at her before turning toward Tiffany, but she managed to control herself for the sake of their display.
She’d heard tales of fake dating to trick people, but those stories always began with a deal. This messy attempt to trick Tiffany hadn’t been planned in any way. The pieces were kind of falling into place rather unexpectedly. Did that mean she and Gavin worked well together? Or was it all a joke fate was playing on them?
“Gavin? What is the meaning of this?” Tiffany’s voice cracked. “She’s wearing your clothing. Are you…cheating on me?”
Nellie nearly choked on the muffin she’d put in her mouth.
“You left me, therefore ending our relationship,” Gavin responded calmly.
“I came back for you, though! You’ve…you violated my trust.”
Nellie wanted to chuck the rest of the muffin at Tiffany’s head. She would have hexed her if she had any magic left. Tiffany knew what she was doing. Everything she did came right out of the handbook for emotional abuse. A force in Nellie’s center of gravity tried to propel her into the space between Gavin and the horrid woman.
Gavin made a small sound in his throat. She wasn’t even sure anyone else had heard it. Before she could stop herself, Nellie stepped forward. She hugged Gavin’s waist and innocently batted her eyelashes at Tiffany.
“How do you know you aren’t the one trying to be a homewrecker right now?” Nellie asked. “Gav and I have been together for months now.”
Tiffany’s nose wrinkled in disgust. The gesture lasted barely a second before she hid it, but Nellie had caught it anyway. Tiffany really didn’t approve of Nellie. Was it because of Nellie’s size? Or did Tiffany expect something from Gavin?
If Tiffany had come with the expectation that she could get power or riches from Gavin, then Nellie would prepare a special hex for the woman the moment her magic came back. No man deserved to live with a woman who did nothing but take. She would leave him hollow in no time.
Actually, that explained a lot. Nellie didn’t know much about dragons other than she should fear them, yet she understood Gavin’s reservations much better. Tiffany had cleaned him out and left him a shell of a man. With only his beast left, he leaned into this idea that he was a monster.
Nellie’s refusal to accept him probably only made his relationship with his beast worse. She wanted to help him, she really did, but fear that she would be burned both metaphorically and literally still haunted her. Dragons were not safe.
Yet, if that was so true, then why did she feel the need to protect Gavin?
Nellie hated these intrusive thoughts trying to dismantle everything she thought she knew. Gavin slung his arm around her and pulled her tight into his body as if he could feel her drifting away. His touch didn’t scare her. Instead, tension melted away and a single question drifted through her mind.
Was this what it felt like to be with a mate?
If Gavin was her mate, then perhaps the situation would be different. She would be able to trust him then. He could never hurt his mate. She would be safe to explore her feelings for him then.
Tiffany stiffened. “You didn’t tell me about this.”
“I don’t have to tell you a damn thing about my life anymore,” Gavin growled. Nellie put a hand on his stomach and his tone softened. “You walked out on me. After that, my life was in my own hands.”
His fingers dug into Nellie’s shoulders, like a silent call for help. Tiffany’s pout and the glassy tears gathering in her eyes were breaking down his resolve. She could feel his anger melting away. Tiffany should have given up the moment she saw Nellie and Gavin together, but Tiffany seemed determined to make a mess of things.
Nellie had never seen another woman fight so hard to break up a relationship, even if Gavin and Nellie’s bond was faked. She was really starting to question Gavin’s taste in women.
“C-c-can we t-t-talk somewhere?” Tiffany clutched her purse like it would keep her from bawling, even though Nellie knew this was all for show.
Gavin sighed. He would give in. Nellie wanted to dig her claws into him and pray the pain brought him back to his good senses. This woman would continue to ruin his sense of self until he ended things with her once and for all.
Frustrated because she knew he would say yes, Nellie broke away. He didn’t call out for her or try to stop her. She grabbed her bag and stepped outside before remembering that Evangeline had brought her. Evangeline’s car had vanished, leaving Nellie without a ride home.
An unfamiliar shifter leaned against a truck. He tipped his hat to her but didn’t say anything. She gave him a tight-lipped smile and gave him a wide berth. The shifter might have looked kind on the outside, but Nellie knew he belonged to Zander. If she feared Gavin, then Zander absolutely terrified her. If he knew about her, he would have stopped at nothing to kill or capture her. She suspected Gavin’s own greediness had kept him from telling his father.
A soft voice snuck into her head and told her that Gavin would never try to use her. She shushed the voice and looked out at the road ahead. She wanted to curl up in bed and nap away the rest of her day off, but that meant she had to get home first.
She wasn’t about to go back inside and face Gavin. Their momentary display of affection had addled her mind. She shouldn’t be this mad about his indecision when it came to Tiffany, but she couldn’t douse the fire trying to consume her, ei
ther.
With only one choice left, she walked home. Her throat tightened and tears tried to reach her eyes, but she kept them back. She wouldn’t cry over a man like Gavin. She refused. He would never mean anything to her. Not a damn thing.
Then why did she want to scream? Why did she want to grab him and kiss him right in front of Tiffany’s stupid face? If Nellie could get her magic back, then she could cast a spell over herself to be rid of these feelings. She wouldn’t have to deal with the many ways he confused her.
About half a mile away from the house, her phone rang. Nellie knew who it would be without having to look. Of course, Gavin would call her and pretend that he was worried about her safety. If he’d actually been worried, then he would have stopped her from leaving the moment she tore away from him.
* * *
Gavin counted down the second until he could rush to Nellie’s side. Her anger had nearly radiated off her, like she had the heat of a dragon boiling inside her. He’d messed up, but he didn’t want to piss Tiffany off more, either.
“I can’t talk right now,” he told Tiffany. “How about we meet another day? At…the diner in town?”
He didn’t give her time to respond before he rushed past her. Nellie’s scent drifted on the air, but he couldn’t see her anywhere. He grabbed his keys from his pocket, but Tyler pushed off his truck and intercepted Gavin.
“We need to talk,” Tyler said.
Gavin’s upper lip curled. He wanted to burn the world to the ground because it kept getting in his way. No, that was his beast talking. Gavin wasn’t that kind of monster. He wouldn’t let his anger get the best of him.
“Not right now.”
Tyler put his body between Gavin and the Jeep. “Yes. Right now. Listen, I want to help you.”
Gavin struggled to keep his gnashing beast under control, but Tyler’s words still caught his attention. He’d heard little from the other shifters in Zander’s clan since leaving. Most of them believed in his father’s might is right drivel and probably thought Gavin weak for defecting.
Rogue Dragons Series: Box Set Books 1-5 Page 60