Diamond Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 4) Page 7

  His tongue fought with hers, soft and hot and skilled, making her hands curl tighter into his hair, her center growing tight and achy, her legs feeling weak and light.

  He picked her up in his arms and sat on the swing, turning her and pressing his hands into her back to lift her so he could keep kissing her.

  She felt like she couldn’t stop this, no matter what she did, as her hands released his hair and ran over his body, under his jacket, until in frustration, she shoved it off his shoulders, leaving him in his tee shirt.

  He growled and pulled her jacket off in response, and she noticed his eyes were like a sunset. Beautiful, changing, and focused on her like nothing else mattered in the world.

  She couldn’t question it anymore. Her body wanted what it wanted, and it wanted it now.

  She tugged at his shirt, and he laughed before finally pulling it over his head, leaving him shirtless.

  It felt naughty, doing this out in the open, but with the rain and the woods all around them, it also felt private and safe. She loved his chest, the solid, carved muscles. Its broadness.

  Dragon or not, Alistair was all man.

  She could feel his bulge against her, and despite a quiver of fear at how she could accommodate it, she also felt excitement rush through her.

  “I’ll go slow,” he said. “I’ll be careful. I promise.”

  She nodded against his shoulder, no more able to stop this than she could stop a freight train.

  She was surprised when he picked her up and set her on the ground just below the stairs and then walked her back into the rain, undressing her as he went. He pulled off her dampening tee shirt, leaving her in a bra, and then curled his body around her, kissing her harshly as rain swirled around and over them.

  The wetness was erotic, cool, and stinging as it bit down on her bare skin, but it awoke her, contrasting the heat burning inside. The heat that would burn until he took her.

  She bit into the skin of his neck as he leaned down to put his arms around her. He picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, which was hard as iron. He held her up easily, kissing her neck and bare shoulders with abandon as she squealed and held on.

  His hands gripped her ass, squeezing, and then his lips were back on hers, kissing her hard, biting at her lower lip, licking her as the water ran down between them, making their kiss that much hotter and wetter.

  She gasped against his lips and then bit him back, and he let out a little growl, carrying her to the side of the clearing where there was a patch of soft grass. He laid her there and came over her, his hair dark and soaking wet, streaming over his strong shoulders. Like he was some kind of warrior about to claim her.

  She looked around them, seeing nothing but nature. She couldn’t even hear the road. They were totally alone.

  He put his hands on either side of her, straddling her. Then he ran a hand over her cheek and down her shoulder, sending a gentle thrill through her. “No one is going to see you. Only I can. I’ll kill anyone else who looks.”

  She felt a thrill of pleasure at that. The possessiveness of it. The protectiveness. It was something she’d never expected to see from Alistair.

  After all, he’d never pretended to feel anything for her.

  But that was different now. As his hands stroked over her wet arms, she enjoyed the slick, cool feel of skin on skin. He ran a hand over her stomach, grinning as he gently squeezed. “You’re so gorgeous,” he uttered, gracefully cupping her hip in his large hand.

  “I’m not,” she said. “I’m painfully average.”

  His eyes shuttered with anger. “You’re not. You’re beautiful. But you’re like a flower, only showing its beauty when it’s treated with enough care to open. I’m glad you’ve guarded it for me.”

  She gaped at him. “I wasn’t guarding it…”

  But he didn’t care about the particulars. He was holding her like she was something precious, something breakable and protectable, and it was an addictive feeling to have a man that beautiful looking at her like that.

  “You intoxicate me,” he said, moving his hands down over the button of her pants, rubbing softly over it.

  She squirmed against him, wanting him to keep going, but he paused, his eyes thoughtful, rain running over his handsome features and between his powerful muscles.

  “Are you certain?” he asked. “Here, in the grass? With no protection save what I can give you?”

  She nodded.

  “I can’t impregnate you or give you diseases. At least that’s how it worked with the humans in my day.”

  She nodded again. She didn’t really care. She just wanted him inside her. Right now. Wanted to feel everything.

  “I’ll be careful,” he said. “I’ll make it feel good. I promise—”

  “Alistair, just shut up and take me,” she bit out, writhing under him as rain continued to fall around them.

  It felt as if it were cleansing everything around them, washing away the painful past months they’d shared together. Washing away the bad feelings.

  He caressed her bare shoulders again and then nodded. He pulled off his sweats, revealing a pair of boxers they’d bought that he’d changed into at the store.

  His tall, muscled body was so sexy that she took another look around, not wanting anyone to see it.

  “Possessive, aren’t we?” he teased, and she nodded, not caring as she reached for his package.

  His eyes widened, long lashes fluttering as he caught her hand. “Not yet, princess.”

  “I’m no one’s princess,” she argued.

  “Bridget,” he murmured. “I guess it’s more intimate to use your name. I’ve never been good with intimacy.”

  She snorted. “No kidding.”

  His eyes narrowed, but then he was distracted as she went to work on her own pants. She unbuttoned them, trying to wriggle out, and then he helped, pulling them down, his eyes going fiery as he looked at her panties.

  “I like your underwear,” he said with a grin, slipping a finger along their edge, making her shudder. His hand dipped lower, feeling her where she’d never been felt. She’d touched herself, sure, but it felt nothing like this, with his masculine, strong, slightly rough fingers moving over her. Testing her.

  “So wet, so hot, so soft,” he said. “Ah, Bridget, what are you doing to me?”

  She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him close. “Now.”

  He glanced around them, and then, satisfied, ripped off his own boxers.

  It was her first time, yet she was having sex outdoors. But she felt utterly safe.

  “You should,” he said. “I would be able to sense someone from miles away. There is no one here with us.”

  She nodded.

  “Just us. Do you trust me?” he asked, playing at her entrance with one finger and then two. Even that made her feel stretched, tingly, slightly sore.

  But she wanted more. The ache inside her wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted.

  He tore away her panties like they were nothing, and she felt another rush of wetness. She bit her lips as his hands slid over her, and he grinned, knowing how ready she was.

  He kept his fingers on her as he leaned forward, kissing over her shoulders. With every swirl of his fingers, every little touch, she felt tension building inside her.

  “Wait, what are you—”

  He caught her protests with his perfect lips and then kept playing with his hand, testing her sensitive spots, teasing inside her and then over her folds, and pressing down lightly and then hard on her clit, until she felt herself poised at the edge of a precipice.

  “I still want sex,” she declared.

  “I just want you ready,” he said against her lips. Then he flicked his finger and took her over the edge, holding her tight, kissing her through her cries of pleasure, making her whole body shake in response.

  He kept the rain out, the world out, and when she opened her eyes, body still convulsing in pleasure, she looked up at the
beautiful cloudy sky and the tall pines all around them and knew she’d never have anything as wonderful as this moment.

  “Yes you will,” he said. “This is only the start. We have days together.”

  She closed her eyes in rapture and then felt him between her legs, silky and strong and so large. Her eyes flew open, but she was reassured when he was there, expression patient and careful, so handsome she could barely breathe at the thought that he was about to be inside her.

  “I’ll protect you, Bridget,” he said. “I promise.” And then he pushed inside, inch by exquisite inch, and she took deep breaths as she tried to convince her panicking body to relax.

  “Hold on.” She gasped, and he waited a moment as she let her legs relax, let out all her breath, and got used to the foreign sensation of having him inside her. “Okay.”

  And then he pushed all the way in, and something broke inside her. Her reservation, her fear, everything, and it was all pleasure. Just hot, tight pleasure tingling through her, stronger than anything before.

  How had a simple kiss in the rain led to this?

  “It’s dangerous,” he murmured, kissing over her shoulder as he began to move inside her, setting off shockwaves of emotion. “Touching a dragon.”

  It was, she knew, but she couldn’t help it anymore. She gripped his shoulders, loving the feel of the cool, wet grass beneath her, the sounds of the forest around her, his warm body covering her, protecting her, as he stoked the pleasure inside her, taking her higher and higher.

  She knew she was high enough that falling would scare her, but she couldn’t bring herself to come down. She was like Icarus, flying high and not wanting to think of the consequences.

  He drove deep inside her, pulled out, and then drove again, and she felt the pressure growing unbearable. She had to come soon, and she didn’t know what it would feel like when she did, with him consuming her so fully, filling her so completely.

  But he wasn’t about to stop, and with a few more strokes, he pushed her over the edge, both of them free-falling into pleasure so intense she couldn’t remember how to breathe until his lips covered hers urgently.

  Then a scream escaped her as she jerked away from him, burying her face in his shoulder as his body went rigid, and she felt him coming inside her. Warm, strong pulses that only heightened her pleasure.

  It was amazing, the best feeling ever, the way their bodies rocked together, the sound of the rain on his shoulders, the feel of his cool, wet skin, and the heat of their hips pressed together. The perfect way they were joined.

  She finally fell back against the grass, and he propped himself over her, still inside her, looking down at her with as much shock and awe as she felt.

  It was more than she’d ever imagined. It had gone further than she’d ever hoped.

  “I… I…”

  “Shh,” he said, flopping down over her, covering her with his body and pulling his shirt back over them to cover their hips. “Don’t say anything. Just let me recover.”

  She blinked. Why did he need to recover? Hadn’t it been as wonderful for him as it had for her? She’d seen the rapture in his expression, seen his entire powerful body tense with hers.

  But she said nothing, simply put her hand in his hair, stroking, as the fire in her continued to slowly burn, and watched the blue sky above them.

  She’d never ever forget this moment.

  As they slowly got dressed, the rain abated, and Alistair was still astonished by what had happened.

  No, not by what had happened, by the way it felt. Sex was supposed to be simple, pleasurable. But when he’d been with Bridget, it had felt like she was inside his soul. Inside all the dark, difficult places of his heart he kept hidden from the world.

  He tried not to feel anything. It didn’t do any good. Being inside her, watching her trust him, feeling her accept him—it made him aware of everything inside him. The baseness, the goodness. The complications.

  He felt he’d left some part of himself there on the grass beneath them, his defenses maybe, and he would never be the same.

  Bridget didn’t look nearly as affected. Sure, her skin was gorgeous and flushed, her expression relaxed and pleased, but she didn’t appear as if she’d had her entire world pulled apart.

  He helped her get dressed as much as possible and then dressed himself and then helped her over to the cabin.

  He’d tried to be careful, to make sure she wouldn’t be sore, but he was still large and knew after a first time, there might be some discomfort.

  Protectiveness washed through him as he helped her inside and shut the door behind them.

  “A shower,” she said quietly, stretching. “Want to join me?”

  Did he ever.

  He shook his head. He didn’t know what would happen if he was with her again so soon. She was overwhelming him. If he even touched her…

  No, he needed to refrain, to gain some sanity again. He’d just taken a virgin on the floor of a forest. Sure, they’d been safe, but still. She’d deserved a bed in the finest room in the finest mansion.

  Yet, somehow, with her in his arms, that bed of grass had been the finest he’d ever felt.

  She gave him an understanding nod and a soft smile and disappeared up the stairs as he slumped on the couch next to Scrangey. Scrangey sniffed the air and meowed and then hopped down, as if to say with the grass and rain all over Alistair, he would rather not have him as company.

  Alistair grinned and relaxed slightly as he pulled another set of clothes out of the shopping bags. Black sweats that fit loosely on his hips, a white tee, and a gray hooded sweatshirt that zipped in front.

  Now, warm and dry, he picked up Scrangey and set him on his lap. The cat settled in and began to purr, the sound soothing Alistair.

  Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to keep him after all. Him and Bridget.

  But the thought startled him, and he moved Scrangey and then stood abruptly, disturbed.

  He walked outside, shut the door behind him, and stood on the deck, looking out.

  Bridget would be out of her shower soon, and knowing her, there would be no drama. She would take what had happened for what it was. A passionate moment where they both got carried away.

  But he was the one who wanted it to be more. Wanted them to stay together.

  Which was such an odd thought for a dragon that had always been surrounded by people but totally alone.

  “Dominic, where are you?” he said to the empty, unanswering forest.

  This woman was making him reconsider everything about his life, and he needed to take a step back.

  He wasn’t some gentle guy, ready to be anyone’s mate. He was a selfish, shallow person who somehow managed to be something else when he was with Bridget.

  And he didn’t know how he could commit to being that for life.

  Perhaps Bridget was right and he should just focus on their common goal.

  But after tonight, he knew it was going to be impossible. He’d be wanting her every moment, wrestling with the confusion in his soul over who he was and who he could be.

  He didn’t know what he was going to do.

  Chapter 8

  At Onyx’s Mansion

  Dominic woke feeling ready to vomit, as he sometimes did when a dream was so strong he had to fight to wake from it.

  He took deep, steadying breaths and looked out at the clear, bright moonlight streaming through the window.

  He still wasn’t used to the nice accommodations in this new world. In his past life, he’d lived and moved in the shadows, too haunted to take the time to stay in nice places. Even when he’d visited Diamond to get help influencing humans, he’d never stayed long enough to enjoy luxury.

  After all, what was the point of physical luxury when you were being mentally tortured? It was like lying on a cloud while being punctured with needles.

  Still, he didn’t have a choice right now. This was the safest place to be, and until he got Diamond back home safely with the other drago
ns, he needed to keep himself in the best place possible.

  At least here, if he had an intensely bad vision, someone could hear him.

  Maybe.

  He stretched, still feeling nauseous, and tried to recall everything he’d seen in his dream.

  Diamond was with the woman. Her name was Bridget. That part had been fine. But they’d been in danger. It was approaching, like a dark shadow on the horizon.

  Which made sense, since the people they escaped from were probably chasing them.

  But they were at some little cabin-type place in the middle of nowhere. He had no idea how to locate it.

  Something else about the dream had bothered him, though he guessed it was nothing in the large scheme of things.

  Ugh, it wasn’t enough to go on. He’d have to go back to sleep to hope for more snippets of Diamond among his persistent nightmares. But first, he was going to eat and see if he could settle his stomach.

  As he walked into the darkness downstairs, he saw a light on in the dining room.

  It would be just his luck that someone was up, just when he was looking forward to being alone.

  But when he walked in and saw it was Luc, the sapphire dragon, he let out a sigh of relief and sat down.

  “How’s it going?” Luc asked, pushing his plate toward him. “I just made this sandwich, but you look like you could use it more than me.”

  Dom nodded and took the offering. He wasn’t going to say no to food. Truthfully, he felt too weak to make much anyway.

  “You know,” Luc said thoughtfully, “we appreciate your help with this, but you don’t have to kill yourself over it.”

  Dom gave him a dark glare before biting into his sandwich. Bland. Everything was bland after dreams like that. So vivid, so out of control, so suffocating.

  Still, dreams weren’t the worst thing he experienced.

  No, those things happened while he was awake.

  “I’m just trying to hurry. I understood we were in a rush,” he said.