My Dragon Lover

by Alisa Woods

  He finally turns. “I’m not the kind of man a woman like you needs.”

  I arch an eyebrow. “I can decide what I need for myself, thank you very much.”

  His shoulders drop. “Of course you can.”

  “Then what’s this about?” The man doesn’t owe me, but any fool could see there’s some dark torment roiling under all that rough exterior.

  He sighs and takes my hand, leading me out of the kitchen and back to the couches. He’s bent me over the back of said couches and spread me wide while hanging off them, but it looks like we’re going to sit on those couches now. I take a spot, and Ree sits close, then seems to think better of that, scooting a little further away.

  He’s still holding my hand, although it’s casual-like, just fingers laced across the back of the couch between us. “You were thinking of someone else. When we were at the table.”

  When we were fucking. But for some reason, Ree’s suddenly tip-toeing around words. It’s easy to guess that maybe he’s been burned. I sure know a thing about that.

  I give him a solemn nod. “I was. My ex-boyfriend-almost-fiance.”

  “Ex?” Like he thinks maybe I’m still pining for Jeremiah.

  Oh, hell no. “That boy’s so far in my rearview mirror, he’s in a different zip code.”

  Ree doesn’t seem convinced. “Yet, you’re thinking about him while I’m inside you.”

  “That is true.” At the wince on his face, I hurry out, “But I’m not wishing it was him, Ree. I’m worried that this…” I gesture between us. “This hot and crazy thing we have going isn’t really something you’re into. Like him. Or maybe I’ve just been burned, and I’m a little skittish.” I don’t think it’s that, but if he’s been burned by someone, now’s the time for him to fess up. I’m telling him straight-up I’m a little raw right now. He’ll have to understand that and not be jumpy as hell whenever my mind wanders during sex. Or tell me what’s on his mind. Either way.

  “Did you really think I would just bed you and forget you?” he asks, but it’s strained. He draws his hand back. “Did you think you’re that kind of woman? The kind I could forget? Because you’re not. You should know that.”

  “I don’t know that.” But his words heat my skin—that’s the thing about Ree that’s like no one else. That intensity. It burrows right into me and lights me on fire.

  “I don’t know what the hell your ex’s problem was, but—”

  “He fucked my best friend.”

  That stops Ree cold. He just stares at me a moment, so I tell him the rest. “We worked together. All three of us, at my prior job. Jeremiah and I started dating while we were all working long hours for our merger clients. I thought it was the real thing. He was a few years younger, but we had work in common, and all we did was work. We moved in together, and I thought for sure he saw marriage in our future. I know I did. We just needed to get through the next big job, maybe save up a little money. Then word came down they were going to promote someone in our group. I thought for sure it was me—I was lead, I had the most experience, and I was most requested by our clients. But no. They promoted Jeremiah to head of our division, and suddenly he was my boss. Which was fucking awkward enough, and I was pissed, but then I came home early one day and found him fucking my girlfriend—the other member of our team—in our bed.”

  There’s fire in Ree’s eyes. “Tell me you hurt him. Badly.”

  I huff a short laugh, but there’s no humor in it. “That’s when he fired me.”

  “What the fuck?” Ree’s ready to murder something, and it makes my burned heart just a little glad.

  “He made up some bullshit about me underperforming,” I say bitterly. “Somehow, the problem was me, and I had to go. Suddenly, I was out of an apartment, lost a best friend and a boyfriend—well, good riddance there, fuck ‘em—and had no job.” I take a deep breath and let it out. “And then, just when I’d gotten a new job and almost moved on, the Vardigah came along. So when I said I needed to keep this job I have now, I really meant it, Ree. And you helped me do that, so…” I shake my head a little. “You don’t owe me anything else, baby. If this thing between us isn’t for you, it’s okay. Just don’t go fucking my best friend on your way out the door, okay?”

  “That man was a coward.” Ree’s anger is still palpable, but there’s relief behind it. Or maybe just a looseness I haven’t seen on his face before.

  “I think so.” But that doesn’t answer my question.

  “I could destroy him for you if you’d like.”

  I laugh for real. But he’s deadly serious. “That’s not necessary. But thank you for the offer.”

  Ree bites his lip, and this is the most uncertain I’ve ever seen the man. He scoots closer and laces his fingers with mine again. “It’s not that I don’t want you, Jayda. It’s that I’m afraid…” He blinks and presses his lips tight. “I’m not sure I believe in happy endings. Not for me, anyway.”

  I peer at him. “That’s what you don’t believe? Teleportation’s fine. Magic healing, sure. But not that you could, what? Find someone to love?” But it feels right. The way he holds back. The way he’s always too strong, in control—of everything and, if I’m honest, even me. Not in a terrible way. It’s damn hot in the shower. But not so much in the relationship department. This is a man who thinks everything will fall apart if he lets go even a little.

  “A woman like you needs a man who’s not broken.” He says it in all sincerity. It feels the closest he’s ever come to opening up.

  So I take a chance. “I’ll tell you what I need.” I slide my fingers away from his and rise up off the couch. Then I lift my blouse over my head and drop it on the floor. Ree’s watching me with wide eyes. As I unhook my bra in the back, I tell him. “I need that big cock of yours.” My bra falls to the floor. I bend down to slide my yoga pants off. “I need to ride it like I own it.” Ree’s eyes grow hungry. I reach for the stash of condoms he keeps in the table at the end of the couch—he has them all over the house. I’m sure he’s had dozens of women he’s fucked right here, but I’m also certain I’m the only one he’s opened up to. The only one who knows what he needs—a woman who doesn’t demand someone perfect, just someone decent. And Ree is the most decent man I’ve ever known.

  In the time it’s taken for me to get the condom and return, he’s shucked off his shirt and pants and is waiting for me on the couch with the most glorious erection. I hand him the condom package and wait, standing over him with my hands on my hips, ready to take control of this man and his fears and turn them into something real—something he can believe in.

  Once he’s sheathed himself, I climb onto the couch and straddle him. Then I slowly lower myself, taking that enormous cock deep inside. “Oh, fuck,” I breathe as I seat myself. I cradle his face between my breasts. His hands and tongue are already busy with them. I ease up and then ease down. “Are all dragons this big? Because damn.”

  His hands slide down to my hips, where he grips me hard. “I’m the only dragon for you,” he growls.

  I lift up and then slam back down.

  “Fuck,” he says into my chest.

  “Is that right?” I ask as I slowly rise again.

  “Yes,” he pants, but his hands are loose on me again. He’s letting me take control.

  I ease back down, taking him all the way in, and stay seated for a second. My hands slide up into his hair, and I peer down at his dark eyes, all wide and scared. Of that happy ending? I’m not sure. But I want him to know he’s in safe hands with me.

  “Good thing you’re my kind of dragon.” I brush my thumb across his bottom lip. “Tough. Tender. A grown man who knows how to take care of his business… and mine.” I’ve got all his attention. I rise again until his cock almost slips out. “Now, prepare yourself. Because I’m going to fuck you, Ree, all the way to that happy ending.” I slam down on him, and he cries out. I brace my hands on his shoulders, pinning him back on the couch, and get serious about riding this man’s cock.
Up and down, quickly ramping up the pace, until he’s a rock-hard joystick that I’m taking all the way home. He’s grunting and whimpering with every slam down, and Lord, do I love that manly pleasure music he’s making. I feel the quiver build deep inside me, a flutter with each bang down on his luscious cock. Ree’s gaze is focused on my breasts bouncing in his face.

  “Yes, please, yes,” he begs, and I love the sound of that.

  I go at him even harder, but then he slides one of his hands between us, and now he’s flicking my nub with each pass, and oh shit, that’s getting me there fast.

  “Ree!” I gasp. I can’t last this way.

  He jerks up into me. “I’m going to—” Then he grabs my body, holding me tight while he gushes inside me. That deeply sexy feeling reverberates through me, and I come and come, shaking and squeezing that giant cock. A long, low groan rumbles through his body as he shudders and releases. “Fuck. Yes,” he breathes, but it keeps going, for both of us, for a while. When the aftershocks finally subside, he slumps back against the couch, head tipped to the ceiling, eyes closed. “Holy fuck, Jayda.”

  “Was that ending happy enough for you?” I tease, breathless as well.

  He just lies there, sated.

  I lean forward, breasts pressed against him, his softening cock still deep inside me. I take his cheeks in my hands, and he lifts his head, eyes drunk with sex, as he lazily opens them.

  So I kiss him.

  Full on the mouth, my lips asking permission, but not waiting for an answer before my tongue dives in, exploring the hotness of this man. He’s shocked by it, his hands suddenly on me, like he will push me away, but then he doesn’t. He lets me lavish this kiss upon him, and a moment later, he returns it. His tongue tangling with mine, his hands sliding up and going deep in my hair, not trying to move me to his will, just luxuriating in the feel of it. I can hear his breath quicken, and it is a damn hot kiss, but there’s something more—something connecting between us that’s cracking open my bruised heart. My gut is saying, Let this man in, and I tell it, I’ve already got his cock buried in me, but the gut is right. I’ve got to let him all the way in.

  Then Ree takes control, but only enough to pivot us down on the couch. He slides his cock from my body, and I miss that connection, but now he’s on top of me, kissing me hard, a different connection which feels even deeper.

  When he pulls back and stares down at me in wonder, those hard eyes of his are glistening.

  It reaches inside me and wrenches my heart. I touch his face with my fingertips. “Who hurt you, baby? Tell me, so I can destroy them.” But that seems the wrong thing to say because the tears just come harder, almost ready to break loose. “Shhh.” I run my fingers across his lips. “You don’t have to say it.”

  He leans back, jaw setting hard, eyes wide.

  Something on the floor buzzes. It’s his phone, buried in his track pants pocket. He disengages from me completely and sits up on the couch, but before he can dig out the phone, it stops buzzing and starts to ring. He scrambles to extract it from the pocket.

  “It’s from Niko,” he says, his expression still shook.

  He takes the call.

  Eight

  Ree

  Niko is shouting in my ear.

  “Slow down,” I say. “Start over.” My brain is still reeling from the mind-blowing sex with Jayda. My heart is exploding with the things she’s said. But most of all, it’s the kiss. A True Kiss. The thing I’ve been desperately trying to avoid, but Jayda just opened her heart and pulled me right in. It’s everything the fairy tales about soul mates have ever described—a connection so deep and so true it can’t be anything but your other half bonding with you across magical space.

  I thought I could have her—taste her, fuck her, enjoy everything about her—without risking the mating. Without falling in love. Without making that fateful connection. Then it wouldn’t hurt so bad when I lose her. Because that’s what my heart knows would happen. That’s how life—my life—works. I told myself I could get away with it, but even that’s a lie—I knew I’d never stay away from her. And when I lose her, to the Vardigah or when she simply decides I’m too broken, too fucked up to keep, it will kill me. Maybe not outright, but that’s a possibility too. Dragons do die from broken hearts. All the fucking time. But even if I don’t wither away, she’s my last and only chance, my one and only soul mate. Losing her will shatter everything inside me. I’ve known it instinctively, all along, deep in my bones.

  Niko’s jabbering on again. Fuck. Focus, Ree!

  “—so you’ve got to search everything.”

  Shit. What is he talking about? “Niko, I’ve got a bad connection here. Can you repeat that?”

  “Are you okay?” he asks.

  No. “I can hear you better now.”

  Niko sighs. “Look, we think we’ve figured out how the Vardigah are tracking the soul mates.”

  I straighten up. “How?” I look to Jayda—the sweet concern on her face, which was cracking open my heart even before that True Kiss, has me reaching a hand over to hold hers.

  “A couple other soul mates have had their houses ransacked,” he says. “We almost lost one, but she held him off with a seventh-century Ottoman sword.”

  “Of course, she did.” My heart is soaring. Because eliminating this threat is everything. “But what was the connection between them?”

  “Every one of them still had something from their time in the Vardigah’s torture cells. Could be as simple as their clothes. One kept a bracelet. Grace had her red shoes. You need to ask Jayda—did she have anything in that alley that also traveled to the Vardigah realm? If so, that seals it. And you need to get rid of it immediately.”

  “Okay, hold on.” I lift the phone away and briefly explain it to Jayda.

  Her eyes go wide. “The shoes. Prada. I was wearing them in the alley.”

  To Niko, I say, “I’ve got confirmation. Her shoes in the alley were the same as when she was kidnapped.” I’m fucking kicking myself for bringing those back from her apartment.

  “Copy that.” He breathes out audibly over the phone. “I think that’s it. The soul mates who threw out everything—shoes, jewelry, clothing—that reminded them of the torture haven’t had the Vardigah find them. Purge anything left over, and I think you’re safe.”

  “I might need transport to do that.” I glance at Jayda, but she’s got the same hopeful look that’s lifting my heart.

  “Just text me. I’ve got every mated dragon working the others. I’m your direct contact.”

  “Copy that.” I sigh. “And thanks. That’s good news.”

  “Yeah. Finally. Talk soon.” Niko hangs up.

  I put the phone down. “You left those shoes back in the alley, right?” Jayda nods to confirm. “Do you have anything else? Bracelets? Earrings? Even underwear? The Vardigah track things. We need to make sure there’s nothing left.”

  “I threw everything else out. I’m sure of it.”

  Relief trickles through me. I squeeze her hand. “Good.” I suck in a breath. So much has shifted in just a few moments. I need to get my bearings. I don’t know what this means for us. “You’re safe now,” I say, starting with what I know. I check the time. “It’s ten o’clock, but that’s only four p.m. New York time. If you’re sure everything’s clear from your apartment, there’s no reason you have to stay here.” At her small frown, I quickly add, “Of course, there’s no reason you have to move back right away, either.” Shit, that didn’t sound any better. “It’s up to you.”

  My heart is in freefall. She’s safe from the Vardigah—but there’s no guarantee on my second-biggest fear. That she’d want nothing to do with someone as fucked up as me. That if she knew me—not just as her protection detail, but as her soul mate—she’d run screaming back to her high-powered career and life in New York City and count herself lucky to have gotten out while she could.

  “Oh. Well.” She seems uncertain. “I suppose I should go home.”

 
“Sure.” But it stabs me. I’m still naked from her riding me on the couch. Her clothes are in a pile on the floor. She lifts the pieces out. I scoop mine off the couch and stand. “I’ll start packing your things.” There’s almost nothing to pack, but I’m striding away from the couch anyway. I decide I need a shower, first—no idea why. But I toss my clothes on my bed and head straight in. The video feed’s still there, and I can see she’s stumbled into her bedroom and is heading for the bathroom.

  I unplug it.

  There’s no reason for me to watch her every second now. The danger has passed—along with my reason for being part of her life. I step into the shower space and wave my hand at the sensor. I stand under the downpour for a full minute. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? Just let her go? She’s everything I could want in a woman, even if we weren’t literally two halves of the same soul. Smart. Beautiful. Taking her world by storm. I’m a fool to let that go. And I’m a fool to think she’ll be satisfied with a knucklehead like me. Jayda’s too smart to sign up for mating—being magically bound for all time to a man she barely knows? She’ll take one look at that merger deal and say Get the fuck out. As she should. And then my life is fucking over because I’ll never recover from that. I barely hold the pieces together as it is.

  I should just let her go. I’ll die unmated, but it’s probably better that way. Better than taking a hit I know I can’t survive. I soap up and work on convincing myself that’s the best course of action. By the time I’m done, I’m not even sure how much time has passed.

  Turns out a lot. That becomes clear when I return to the great room.

  Jayda’s waiting with her bags packed.

  “I’ll, um, text Niko.” Which I do. My heart’s hammering. Fuck. Am I just taking her home? Does she even want me to? Maybe I should just let Niko take her? Oh, hell no. I need at least a few more minutes with her, alone, to put this right—as right as it can be. Something’s pricking the back of my eyes, and it takes until Niko shows up in my damn living room to figure out it’s the same tears I was fighting off before. Fuck. Me.