NINE
Tiana woke up exhausted. The nightmares had gone on all night. Dark dreams of fire, pain, and hate. She woke several times, but each time she went back to sleep they were there again, taunting her. As if to let her know they weren't going away.
She showered and dressed once it hit ten. The last thing she wanted was for Ker to wonder what the hell was going on with her.
The scent of bacon reached her at the top of the stairs.
“Dear god,” she moaned and rushed down the rest of the steps and headed for the kitchen without missing a beat.
Ker was dressed in casual clothing, placing mini croissants on the table. “Good morning.”
If she hadn't been drooling for the bacon, the way he smiled at her would have done it. There was definite flirtation in his eyes and the way his lip curled in a wicked grin.
“Good morning. It smells delicious,” she said and walked over to the kitchen table, ogling the food and him.
“I hope you're hungry. I didn't know what you might be in the mood for, so I made everything.”
She laughed and sat, going for the pot of coffee on the table and the mug in front of her. “I am definitely hungry. One of the things Roberta used to say when I was a kid was that I was always eating.” She raised her brows and shrugged. “You know, because I'm a big girl.”
He sat across from her and gave her a confused look. “I don't understand. What does your size have to do with food?”
“Hello?” She raised her hands to get him to see her shape. “I'm really curvy. A big girl. Or as one of my exes called me fat with a cute face.”
The look on his face stopped the laugh that usually accompanied her words. His eyes were glowing a bright blue and changing back and forth between blue and green.
“You're absolutely beautiful, Tiana.”
She gulped and glanced down at the coffee, remembering she hadn't put any sugar or cream in it. She almost brought it up to her mouth to drink as it was. What a fucking nightmare that would've been. To drink straight black coffee. Yuck.
“Oh, I know,” she said with a smile. “I'm also not blind. I know I'm big.”
He shrugged. “I don't know what your size has to do with anything. In my experience, I've seen society love women who had large curves because it showed wealth. Then it wanted slimmer women. Now it's a fucking mess and all it does is make the female population question everything about themselves.”
“That's true. Women have it tough. If it's not one thing, it's another. For me, it's two things. My skin color and my weight.” At his frown, she added. “I don't have a problem having dark skin. But a lot of people do. Then when you add to that my size, they make assumptions. Mean and hurtful ones.”
“I can imagine.”
“Which,” she cleared her throat and put a piece of bacon on her plate, “made me wonder why you were interested in me.”
“What do you mean?” He leaned forward. “You have a great personality, a sexy voice, a sweet disposition and I find you irresistible.” He popped a blueberry in his mouth, chewed it slowly, not once taking his gaze away from her lips and then glanced at her eyes. “And those same curves you worry about? They make me want to strip you down to nothing and claim every inch as my own.”
She squeezed her legs tightly and inhaled hard. Fuck, this man was good.
“Ker, I'm not sure what to say.”
He took a deep inhale, his eyes glowing brighter and gave her a wolfish grin. “You don't have to say anything, beautiful. Your scent says it all.”
She frowned. “What does that mean?”
“You know I'm a Drachen. A dragon shifter.”
“Yeah.”
“Shifters have unique abilities. Like scenting another's emotional reactions.”
She licked her bottom lip and watched his gaze zero in on her lip. “Uh, reactions?”
He nodded slowly. “Happiness. Sadness...arousal.”
Fucking hell. He knew what he was doing to her. This was not the way she envisioned having a meal with him.
“I...”
He picked up his coffee and took a sip. “Eat your food, Tiana. I want to show you this great spot I love.”
She nodded and started eating. Even though she couldn't taste anything. That delicious bacon from before was a distant memory. She had other parts of her mind busy, tasting a visual image of him.
“How long have you had this cabin?” she asked and picked up a mini croissant and took a bite.
“I built it a while ago. I was bored and going through a phase. I wanted to do more with my hands. At first, I used to come here and write.”
She raised her brows as she ate. “You write? What do you write?”
He shrugged. “I had a phase where I swore I was going to write the best novel in the world. I mean, I have lots of history I could share.”
She nodded and frowned. “I don't know that I've seen your name in any books.”
“That's because you haven't. I realized writing wasn't for me. I wrote an outline after several months of trying, I finally quit. When video games became popular, I found one of my callings. I came up here and turned the barn into a massive gaming area.”
“Right! I remember you mentioning people come here to game.”
“My corporation gives out a few scholarships. Several to technology students, some to trade school students. And a big one that's part of the gaming industry.”
She gaped at him. “You have a gaming scholarship?”
“I love video games. I have been competing for years and have made many friends through the online gaming community. I wanted to encourage more kids to design great games.”
“That's so nice of you.”
“Not every kid out there is meant to go to a traditional school and go into an office. A lot of them are hands on people.”
Tiana had a lot of students who were hands on kids. One of them in particular required extra help from her. He forgot all things and lived in his mind. But the boy had great memory for the things he liked. Like his video games. It was so nice to know that because of Ker children like him would be able to get extra help to get a non-traditional education.
The more she found out about him, the more she realized he was even nicer than she could have expected.
After breakfast, he told her to put on comfortable shoes. She met him at the front door wearing a pair of trainers.
“I'm ready,” she yelled into the cabin.
He came from a room in the back with an empty duffel bag and a jacket. “Here,” he handed her the jacket. “Put this on.”
She did as he said but frowned the entire time. “It's pretty warm outside.”
He grinned, took her hand and once they were outside, handed her the duffel. “Hold this for a few minutes.”
She took the bag and watched in awe as he walked several yards away from her, stripped quickly and shifted into the most beautiful dragon she'd ever seen. Hell, she'd never seen a dragon in real life, but his was amazing.
She gasped and walked slowly forward, picking up the clothes he’d taken off moments before, shoving them in the empty duffel bag. “Oh, my god. Ker. Your dragon is beautiful.”
And big as hell. She approached him without an ounce of fear. Though, he was massive and intimidating, she wasn't scared.
He lowered down to the ground, and pinned her with his gaze.
“I'm guessing you want me to climb on you, huh?”
“You're guessing right, love.”