Cowboy Dragon Page 16

  25

  Harrison focused on flying steady as he ducked into low light-gray clouds to conceal his presence over the endless prairies and scrublands beneath them. Not that he couldn’t go invisible, but he figured Marian would rather not sit atop something she couldn’t see.

  It was impossible to fully calm down the monster inside him, the one that would’ve crushed, killed, or burned alive anyone who’d harmed his mate. But now that she was safe, that urge was slowly dwindling, leaving him just with the warm sensation he got every time he was with Marian.

  “It’s so beautiful up here,” she said, fearlessly leaning over the side of his neck to look down at miles and miles of land.

  “You aren’t too cold up there, are you?” he asked, keeping halfway in the clouds, but not so far that the wisps of condensation flowing past them wouldn’t ruin her view.

  After all, he knew this territory like the back of his hand. He could traverse it on foot, horse, or flying practically blind and know where he was at all times.

  The fact that she loved it too was just another reason they were perfect together.

  “Nope. It’s actually quite refreshing.” She shivered a little, though, something he could feel even as she sat atop his neck, and he ducked lower, heading for warmer air currents.

  They were only a few minutes from home, but all the things he needed to say were still unsaid.

  He’d never been good with words. Good with people. But Marian was the one person that made him want to change that, if for no other reason than to give her a better life.

  Assuming she still wanted him.

  “I… I have—” He started.

  “Something to say,” she blurted out, finishing just as he did. They shared a laugh as, far off in the distance, the ranch started to appear like a tiny dot.

  “You go first,” he said.

  “No, you.” She patted his scales. The second they landed, he couldn’t wait to get his hands on her curves.

  “I was out of line before, you know.” He paused a second, collecting his thoughts. “If you want to go be with your family, I have no right to keep you from what you want. I’ll even take you there myself if that’s what it takes to show you I mean it.”

  She snorted, surprising him. “That’s not why I left. Though, I didn’t get far. Not that I wanted to anyway…” She trailed off.

  “I’ve been too worried over you as well. I just, I’ve fallen for you, hard, Marian. I never thought I could feel about someone the way I do about you. All my life, I’ve only been around dragons or other shifters. And suddenly, all I could see were ways you could get hurt, ways that my way of life were at odds with keeping you safe and happy.”

  “What if I like your way of livin’ just fine? What if I wouldn’t want to change anything about it?”

  He hadn’t considered it. Maybe it was his assumptions that had misled him. “Even if it’s the life of a cowboy?”

  She let out a puff of air. “This may seem like a surprise to you, but just because life is busy on a ranch, it doesn’t mean it isn’t fulfilling. That even though the hard work you and your men do isn’t frankly astounding, it’s also a heck of a lot better than any of the other crappy jobs I’ve had to hold over my entire life.” She leaned down, legs tightening around his neck so she could run a hand along his head. “And yes, I do think you take things too seriously sometimes, get high strung. But I can learn to live with that so long as I know it isn’t me you’re angry at.”

  He shook his head, and Marian squeaked in surprise. Oops. Fly straight, dumbass. “Never at you. Only at the things I can’t control. Bothered by the fact that the hard life I chose could put the person I love in danger. A fragile human that’s my whole world.”

  “Well, you can give me an honest appraisal, seeing as you hired me with nothing but a favor and a second look. Am I fragile?”

  He grinned. “No, you’re not. You’re the strongest, most amazing person I’ve ever met, shifter or human. You have the kind of mettle even the hardest people I’ve known have. Yet you still are able to smile, take in life around you, and be grateful for the little things too. You’re one-of-a-kind, Marian. And I’d be a damned fool to not let you know that’s exactly how I feel every day of my life, so long as I’m lucky enough to still have you in it.”

  The ranch inched closer, its buildings visible. Down the road, he could see the others bringing Freddie back, hopefully to stay this time.

  She opened her arms, letting wind blow past her as he dove, then spread his wings to coast above the damp earth that smelled of fresh grass and new beginnings.

  “I know I was holding on to my own issues for too long as well. That every time you were distant or put work first or acted like any of the people that have let me down in my life acted, I got scared too. That my hatred of cowboys was justified in applying to every cowboy.” She sighed. “But you’re not those people, and when I see that accurately, those worries just kind of… fly away.”

  “Even a when a certain cowboy that has a tendency of screwing things up puts his foot in it?”

  “Only every now and then. Besides, there’s a lot of things I like about this certain cowboy as well. I think I can take the heat.”

  “You positive? After all, I’m known for being extremely hot.”

  She sputtered out a laugh as he landed in an empty spot on the north side of the ranch, making sure to set down soft and easy before leaning down to let Marian slide off his neck onto the earth beneath. A moment later, he was shifted back into his human form and was picking Marian up into his arms before she could say otherwise.

  But the way she melted against him, and that inescapable warmth that built whenever any part of him was touching her, was evidence of the connection they shared.

  “I like this,” she said quietly, nestling into his chest as he carried her.

  Beck and Clancy both looked over with wariness, and when Harrison nodded back, they returned to whatever they’d been doing.

  He’d update them later.

  But first, to work things out with his mate.

  “Me too,” he replied. “I could do this forever.”

  “Do you mean it?” she asked, hazel eyes a beautiful pale green on cloudy days. “I feel like you’re telling the truth, but it doesn’t change that sometimes I might still get worried.”

  “And every time you do, I’ll be right here to reassure you that I love you with my whole soul. So much that I want to make you mine forever, my mate, if you’ll have me.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck as he strode up the steps into his house. Into their house, hopefully.

  “You need to tell me what this mate thing means. I’ve heard the term thrown around, but I have no clue what it is.”

  “For shifters, a mate is your one and only. The person you seal your soul to, entwine your fate with evermore.” He took the stairs up to his room slowly, just enjoying the way her eyes widened with excitement as he explained. “It means I will love and hold only you for the rest of our days. Which, for a dragon, is an incredibly long time.” He nuzzled her ear, loving the way she squirmed whenever he did that. “It also means you’ll live as long as I will.”

  “So I get to be with the cowboy I love, living in my favorite place, doing the thing I’ve come to really enjoy…” She pretended to be in deep thought. “Choices, choices.”

  “Take it or leave it. It’s my final offer.” He reached their room at the top of the stairs and brought her inside. “Aw hell, who am I kidding? I’ll ask you to be mine every day until you finally say yes.”

  “Lucky for you I’ve already made up my mind,” she said as he took her past the bed, and she looked longingly at the mattress as he smirked down at her. “But… the bed.”

  “I raised enough hell over at the Copperheads’ place to leave us coated in dust. Not that a little dirt would ever keep me from getting my hands on you. But I want to erase all memory of those bastards from your mind so all you can feel ever again is my
touch.”

  “That sounds nice.”

  He sat on the edge of the modest tub in his bathroom and used one hand to turn on the water while he still held Marian with his other.

  “Only you.”

  “Only me, Marian. Will you be mine? You make a man die for waiting.”

  She giggled. “You’ve waited twenty seconds.”

  He nipped her ear, senses tingling at the sound of her gasp. “A damn long time when all I can think about is getting these clothes off of you.”

  She grinned, her lips hovering over his. “Yes, then. I want a life with you, Harrison. Make me yours.”

  His mouth crashed over hers, raw emotion flowing between them as Harrison kissed her with all his being. She was his whole world, his reason for being now. The person he’d protect and give his all for.

  A life without her was no life at all.

  Marian’s lips parted, and his tongue thrust in to meet hers, twisting and sliding and clashing until she was moaning and pushing her hips down against his in want.

  When he pulled away, they were both breathless and panting, staring into the depths of each other’s eyes. He’d already memorized her face, could trace it by hand from memory. He wanted to keep getting to know every inch of her, every curve, every imperfection across her whole body.

  With only forever ahead of them, there was time.

  “So how do we make this mate thing official?” Her words were quick.

  “Just do what we already know we’re good at but without the condom. That’s all.”

  She shivered as his tongue slid up her neck. “That easy, huh?”

  “I’ve been told it has something to do with sharing our life force. That everything will be different once we’re mated. But I’ll admit, no one ever came along that could turn me away from my work.” His gaze raked over her, hands hungry, cock throbbing. “Until you.”

  “To paraphrase words of a frustrating cowboy I know, then, twenty seconds is a damn long time when there’s something you’re waiting for.”

  He growled and picked her up, setting her on her feet as they jointly worked on disrobing the other as quick as possible.

  He was faster.

  She was down to her bra and panties in seconds, and he placed heavy kisses on her shoulder and chest and the swell of her breasts while he undid her bra, then slid her panties down. He then took her hand and guided her into the now-full tub, glad the water was clear so he could see every inch of her as she submerged herself in hot water and set herself in a corner to watch him get undressed.

  “A quick side note. What has been worrying you these past couple weeks?” She splashed a hand in the water, eyes still going between his hips and his face. “Is it all the rain? Can you not turn into a dragon when it’s raining or something?”

  “Oh, that? Just basilisks.” Now that they’d soon be mated, and he’d be keeping his eye on her all hours of the day, the problem suddenly didn’t seem as big as it’d been when their future had been uncertain.

  He took off his shirt and tossed his hat aside.

  “Bas-a-whats?”

  He paused in undoing his belt. He’d never had to tell humans about basilisks before. What was too much or too little? “They’re like gigantic lizards that wake up once a hundred years when it rains a bunch. Rare but dangerous.”

  “Why the hell didn’t you say something about that before? I think a problem that big deserves some leeway, Harrison.”

  He undid his belt and pulled the rest of his clothes down, watching Marian’s mouth fall open while he joined her in the water. “I s’pose I didn’t want to worry you about it.”

  “Well, now you don’t get to keep things like this from me, okay. No more stressing about the ranch or the rain or basilisks or… mmm,” she hummed as he leaned past her and filled his hands with soap, then began to stroke over her shoulders and breasts. “What was I talking about?” She looked so beautiful, eyes looking lost as his whole body tensed at the nearness of her curves.

  “Me being straight with you. And this—” His hands dipped below the water to tease her nipples, thumbs stroking long circles over the hardened tips.

  “I like that topic better.” She arched against the tub as he leaned down to suck one nipple beneath the water. She pushed herself higher in the tub, giving him access to the other, and he sucked on both for several minutes, squeezing her sumptuous flesh with his hands while his tongue played over her.

  “Me too. Here, sit up for a second.” He held her by the hips and pulled Marian up onto her knees before getting even more soap. He lathered it, then explored her curves with slick hands.

  Mine, he thought in tandem with his dragon.

  She did a surprisingly good job of staying steady while Harrison held her with one arm wrapped around her midsection while he stroked down her arm, then up her hip. The sliding, thick sensation on his fingertips only made him harder as she moaned while he brought both hands down to cup her ass and squeeze before he pulled them both down into the water, keeping her on top of him so it wouldn’t splash on her face.

  “Your touch is electrifying,” she said as soap bubbles spread out along the surface of the water.

  Everything about her was electrifying, from her personality and grit to the way she smiled and the erotic expressions she made when she came.

  “That’s because touching you is heaven. Before you, I was just a dragon living out his days in solitude. With you, I’m a man.” He laid her back against the corner of the tub, their bodies hovering near each other like two stars destined to collide. “A man who loves his woman. Who will protect his woman forever.”

  “Who will promise to not just tease his woman and make her his mate?”

  He grinned, lowering a hand between them, wanting to see her make that orgasm face that broke all his notions of beauty.

  “My mate. Marian.” Then he took her lips with his and cupped her sex with his hand.

  He’d never be worthy of her. But Harrison sure as hell was going to try by showing his mate exactly how much he loved her. Every. Single. Day.

  26

  Pleasurable tension coiled Marian’s insides as Harrison’s fingers spread her slit and slid over her clit. The heat of the bathtub, the wetness of the contact, only intensified his touch. That, along with his hot gaze as he looked down over her every curve, which accentuated his long lashes and focused expression.

  She was already so pent up from having his hands all over her. She wasn’t going to last long.

  Not that she minded it.

  The water rippled around them from the motion of his hand moving against her. But Harrison was never one to simply be doing only one thing when they were making love, and he leaned his big body over hers, bringing his mouth down to suck the damp skin on her neck. His lips were warm on cool skin, and when she writhed from all the contact, he only answered by kissing lower.

  She’d never tire of this face he made. Of any of the faces he made—smiling when they were relaxing together, grimacing at Reno’s and Clancy’s bad jokes, stoic when he was thinking hard or enjoying the view of a sunset.

  Alive and intense whenever they made love.

  Marian let out a gasp as he lightly bit down on the skin of her shoulder just as his finger coursed up her center with perfect timing, taking her close to the edge as the water seemed to get hotter instead of colder with the two of them in it.

  She’d been overjoyed when Harrison had shown up to save her from the unexpected situation with the Copperheads. The raw, possessive energy that seemed to thrum in the air around him was still fresh in her memory, energy similar to what she felt each time he pleasured her with ravenous thoroughness.

  Even having known him a few weeks, it felt like she’d known him forever. Felt like she could fully trust him more than any person she’d ever known before.

  At first, she’d hated that the man she was most attracted to was a cowboy. Then, over time, she’d come to realize that just because men who were cowboys had
been unreliable or abandoners or cruel to her in the past, it didn’t mean that it applied to Harrison.

  He was kind, tough as nails, willing to talk things out with her, and she could see a happy future with him in it every time she closed her eyes.

  That, and the sex was too perfect for words.

  His finger went faster, slipping over her with expert precision, and the coiling sensation got tighter and tighter. Marian’s skin tingled everywhere as he pushed her closer to the edge, continuing to kiss her and love her while he did.

  “I’m never going to let you go. Never going to stop wanting you.” He kissed her ear, her cheek. “Especially like this.”

  Words were too much to try to form as her throat got dry and her body got close, closer, so close…

  She arched against the tub, body throbbing with release as Harrison watched her with satisfaction, the water splashing up her body as it vibrated with the motion of her orgasm. Marian tried to watch through blurred vision, noting his eyes got bluer whenever watching her come.

  She could look into those eyes every day and still feel the same sense of wonder seeing them as she had from that first fateful day.

  Her body relaxed into the water. But in her experience, the first was only the start of how her relentless dragon liked to do pleasure.

  That, and his huge cock, which had been pressing against her in the water, only made her ache deep inside, waiting to have more of him.

  “Fuck. You make me lose control whenever I touch you.” His hands were in the water, and both palms squeezed her ass, pulling her slightly out of the water as his kisses became more heated, taking large swaths of her skin into his mouth. She wriggled against him, helpless against his strength as he went down each arm, then turned her so her hands were holding the corner of the tub, her back facing him as he kissed down the center of her spine.

  Each brush of his lips was like lightning down her back, making her hips jerk with each touch. His thick length was near her sheath, teasing her, making her desperate for more as he reached both hands around her chest to tweak her nipples.