ANDI

As I finish eating, I hear Liam moving around the store. I don't get up, because I can only imagine what he's thinking as he wanders through the shelves of old porn videos, dildos, and god knows what else. Edible underwear? I wonder if those are still good. If so, I might have to snag some to munch on. In theory, it's just…candy, right?

Boy, Benny would laugh his ass off if he knew his sister was eating edible underwear.

A wave of loneliness moves over me and I suddenly miss my little brother so much that I ache. Benny's all I have. I think of his sharp face, so recently moved away from the chubbiness of childhood. His sly laugh and the way he grins and shows off that broken tooth when he's truly amused. He's a good kid. He's just…bored and miserable. That's why he acts out. Maybe I'm wrong to chase him down and bring him back. Maybe I should be escorting him to someplace that will make him happy, someplace where he can be around other men and boys his age and not feel like an outsider in a fort full of women.

But…Fort Dallas isn't that place. If anything, I still need to find him and make sure he gets somewhere safe.

"Andrea?"

I look up as Liam comes back into the break room and drops himself next to me. He's got a few tubes in his hands and shows one to me. "Is this food?" He pulls the cap off and squeezes the tube, and pink gel oozes down the side and onto his hands.

I read the writing on one of the tubes in his lap. Lubricant. Oh Jesus. "Um, no, not really."

"No? It smells like fruit." He sniffs the gel sliding down the back of his hand and wrinkles his nose. "Rotten fruit, perhaps, but it does smell like food. Is this bait of some kind, then? To trap animals?"

Awkward. "So that's, uh, for sex, actually."

He looks over at me in surprise. "Sex?"

"Yeah, it's for making a woman wet enough to take a cock without pain." The words come out of my throat a little strangled. "It's supposed to make things better for her."

Liam's lip curls and he looks down at the gel and then at me. "Your males would take a female without her being wet and ready?"

I lick my lips, trying to figure out the best way to respond. "Dragon people don't, ah, mate even if the female isn't all that into it?" His disgusted look tells me everything. "All right, so yeah, human men are a little different, I guess. The nice ones make sure the girl is into it, but not everyone does. And sometimes some women just can't get wet enough, I guess, or maybe his dick's too big and she's too small…" And dear lord, my face feels like an inferno right now because I'm picturing his dick and how well-built he is. He would definitely need to lube a female up unless she was soaking wet with arousal.

And now I'm picturing him all over a woman, making sure she's hot and wet and ready, and my thighs squeeze a little tighter together. This is the wrong conversation to have, especially with the sexual tension between the two of us already. "So…how do dragon men get a lady into bed?"

He wipes his hand off on his clothes, disgusted. "Not like this. A drakoni female is just as ready for mating as any male. She challenges him and if he bests her in a battle, she shifts back to her two-legged form and submits to him. It is very arousing for a female to be bested by a stronger male, because she knows he is strong enough to protect their young." He sniffs his hand again, his nostrils flaring at the scent of the lube that perfumes the air around us. "A drakoni male would never try to mate with a female that did not demonstrate that she was ready."

"So if she fights, that means she's horny?" I ask. "I guess that's like flirting, or kissing for your people. We're different. Some women might be interested in mating, but maybe the body doesn't respond like it should." I've been there. I've had unpleasant sex in the past just because it was easier than making a fuss or fighting back. A few minutes of dry, invasive grinding was worth being left alone. I hate thinking about that time in my life, though. "Some men don't care if she wants it or not."

Liam just shakes his head. He puts the cap on the tube of lube and tosses it aside as if its mere presence irritates him. "So your human men are this bad at pleasing their mates?"

I can feel my mouth twitch with amusement. "I guess some are, yeah."

"This both pleases me and makes me sad for your race."

I nudge him with my shoulder. "Why does bad sex make you happy?"

He looks over at me, his expression arch and somewhat arrogant. "Because it tells me that the competition is weak."

"Are you competing?" My breath catches in my lungs.

His gaze gets heated, focuses on my mouth. "I shouldn't. I can't."

But I think we both know he is. I'm suddenly very aware of his nearness, the heat of his body, and the fact that we're sitting so close that it wouldn't take much to move over and be in his lap. To have his big arms around me and tucking me against him, our breath mingling like it did the other day and…

I shouldn't be thinking of things like that. I should be focused on Benny and Benny alone. Flirting with Liam won't lead anywhere good.

But he's staring at me, too, and his eyes are growing more and more gold by the moment, until they're practically a deep, rich amber that makes me get all squirmy at the sight of them. "No male," he says slowly, his gaze locked on me, "should touch a female if he can't smell her cunt sopping with heat."

His words take my breath away. Smell her cunt sopping with heat? Oh my god. "You—you can smell that?"

"I can."

I squeeze my thighs tighter together, as if that will somehow fix the ache deep between them. I want to ask if he can smell anything right now, but I don't dare. I know I'm turned on. I know if I slid my hand into my panties, my pussy would be slippery and aching, my folds hot and puffy with need.

I wonder if he can smell me right now.

Before I can ask, his mouth curls into a heart-stopping smile. "Oh yeah, I can."

Oh, dear lord. I make a strangled sound in my throat as his gaze focuses on my mouth. My lips are parted and I'm panting, just a little, with the hot need curling through me.

"I want to kiss you again," Liam murmurs. He tosses his baseball cap aside.

"Okay," I breathe out, because even though this is trouble, I want it, too.

He leans in close, and I tilt my face up. Instead of putting his mouth on my lips, though, he rubs his nose against mine and murmurs, “If you were my mate, your cunt would be a river before I sank my cock into you. I would make sure of it.”

I whimper.

“I would press my lips to your skin and taste you everywhere.” His breath fans hot over my face as I whimper, but he continues. “Explore those pretty breasts of yours until your nipples ache. I wouldn’t use my hands, either. They’re too big and rough to do anything other than hold you down…unless you’d like that.” His hot gaze meets mine. “If you did, I’d pin your hands above your head so you can’t squirm away, and then I’d lick you all over. My tongue would glide all over that pretty cunt of yours until you were begging for me to conquer you, Andrea. I’d taste you and if you weren’t wet enough, I’d lick you over and over, until you soaked my mouth and my face with your pleasure. Only then would I give you my cock, Andrea. Only then.”

Oh god. My nipples are so hard that they ache. Goosebumps cover my skin, and I can’t move. I’m mesmerized by the erotic picture he’s painting.

His eyes blaze into mine and then he inhales…and groans. “Your scent,” he murmurs, sliding a hand behind the back of my neck. “It’s been driving me wild for weeks.”

Does he mean my normal scent? I haven’t been a walking puddle of arousal for weeks. “My scent?”

“All of it,” he murmurs, and then his mouth is on my skin, nipping gently at my jaw and moving to my ear. Delicious shockwaves ripple through my body and I bite back another moan. “When you wake up and touch yourself. When you sweat. When you walk past me—I love all of it, Andrea. And it makes me hungry for more.”

He even likes it when I sweat? I open my mouth to protest, because that’s not a human thing to say, but then his mouth is on mine and he’s giving me a hungry kiss full of need and I’m utterly lost. Our tongues tangle and I lose myself in his touch. There’s nothing outside of his mouth, his lips, his tongue, his heat. We kiss for so long that I lose track of the world around me. I only know that my hand is clutching at the front of his shirt, his is on the small of my back, and our mouths are locked in an endless, delicious kiss, and it’s still somehow not enough. I need more of him. I want his hands everywhere, and I want to put my hands all over him. I want to drag my nails across his skin and feel him shudder. I want to bite him. I want him to throw me down and fuck the daylights out of me.

I want all kinds of crazy things, and they all revolve around him.

Liam breaks the kiss, panting, and his hands are in my hair, dragging it free of my braid. “You smell incredible, Andrea. I want more.”

“I want more, too,” I tell him, panting.

“Let me taste you.” His eyes are vivid with need. “Let me put my mouth on your cunt and taste that sweetness.”

I cling to him, his words making me dizzy. My mind fills with images of Liam and his mouth on my pussy, Liam with his tongue delving between my folds, Liam with his hands on my naked thighs as he buries his face…and then I remember the filthy, filthy floor and where we’re at. I shudder. “Much as I want that, I’m not lying down on this floor, Liam.”

His tongue flicks at my lip, and I feel the rough texture of it against my skin. Odd how I don’t notice that when we’re kissing. It makes me shiver to feel it, as if he’s teasing me with how it’ll be against other parts of my body. “If you won’t lie on the floor, then stand up.”

I suck in a breath. Should I? Is this a bad idea? It’s clear Liam wants me—has wanted me for weeks. I want him, too, and now that we’re safely away from the fort, does it matter if we indulge ourselves? No one’s around to see, and I’m not a virgin. “Stand…up?”

He nods, his eyes utterly hungry.

No one’s ever looked at me like that—like he’ll die if he doesn’t get to touch me. I can’t resist. I detangle myself from his grip and get to my feet, my legs trembling with the anticipation of his touch.

Liam’s big hands immediately go to my waist, and he undoes the button and zipper on my jeans. I’m grateful that he’s careful with them—they’re old and worn, but I don’t have many pairs. When they’re loose around my waist, he eases them down over my hips and I squirm just a little, because the panties I have on aren’t cute and flirty. They’re faded cotton, bleached white from a million washings, just like my bra. But he groans at the sight and shakes his head slightly. “You humans and your layers of clothing.”

“It’s for hygiene,” I tell him defensively, feeling awkward, especially when I have to put a hand on his shoulder to steady myself as he eases the jeans all the way down my legs and I lift each foot so we can take them off.

“It’s because your people are obsessed with how displeased they are with their bodies,” he murmurs, tossing my jeans onto one corner of the black trash bag tarp I’ve made. “They don’t appreciate how they smell, how they look…or how they taste.” He gestures at the discarded lube containers nearby, his hand a dismissive flick. “Do you know what I see when I look at you?”

“No, but I’m sure you’ll tell me,” I say nervously.

“I see Andrea,” he murmurs, gazing at my panties intently. One big hand caresses my hip, and he watches me with a fervent gaze. “I see a strong female who is loyal to those she loves and wants to do her best by her people. I see someone who is brave but still manages to be playful. And I see beauty. It is in your long legs and your pretty breasts and your gorgeous, gorgeous scent. It’s in your smile when you look at me.” He leans forward and buries his face against my navel, groaning. “And you make me want things.”

I shiver, reaching down to lightly touch his hair. It’s the first time I’ve ever touched it, and the feel of it is…different. It’s not soft like I imagined. It’s sleek, but the hairs are thick and almost wiry, as if they’re made of copper strands that have been hammered into shape. They spike up all over his head, and I run my fingers through his hair and then lightly caress one of his horns. “What kinds of things?” I ask, my voice a mere whisper.

But he shakes his head and doesn’t answer. He presses his mouth against the material of my T-shirt and then reaches under it, grabbing the waist of my panties and jerking them down. Oh. I’m startled by that sudden motion, and my hands go back to his shoulders as I steady myself.

He groans again, the sound full of hungry need, and then presses a kiss to my lower belly, just above the curls of my pubic mound. “No wonder you smell so gorgeous,” he murmurs. “Look at all this beauty.”

I hold my breath, waiting to see what he’s going to do. It’s been a long time since I’ve had fun, playful sex, and I feel completely out of my league at the moment. Heck, I almost do feel like a virgin.

“Your scent.” He groans again, his hand stealing up to twist my shirt and hold it up, revealing my waist and everything below it to his gaze. “I don’t know which is better—the sight of you like this or the scent of you.” Before I can make some nervous crack, he looks up at me, his eyes liquid with heat. “I bet it’s the taste.”

With that, he leans in and presses his mouth to my pussy.

I jerk in surprise, clinging to him as he drags his tongue over my slit. His tongue is slightly textured, like a cat’s, and it’s the most startling thing I’ve ever felt. A cry dies in my throat, but he only murmurs something under his breath and then gently eases my thighs further apart with a nudge of his hands. I do it, spreading without thinking. He locks an arm around my upper thigh, anchoring himself, and then nuzzles deeper, burying his mouth in the folds of my pussy.

It’s absolutely obscene…and so damn good. I cry out, hands clenching, as he gives me an aggressive, deep lick that brushes over my clit.

“Oh no,” I moan, even as I hold him closer.

“Tell me to stop, then,” he murmurs, rubbing his mouth back and forth before he drags his tongue over me again. “Tell me you don’t like me tasting your cunt. Tell me you don’t like me hungry for you and I’ll stop.”

“Don’t you dare fucking stop.” I put a hand atop his head, on that wild hair, and grab a fistful when he chuckles.

“I love the taste of this cunt,” he murmurs, and one hand slides up to drag a blunted finger through my folds. “Look at how fucking wet you are, Andrea. It’s like you know this is mine. You’re mine.” He looks up at me, and his eyes are swirling both dark and gold. “Mine.”

He says it so strongly it makes me wet all over again. New slickness coats my folds and I shudder against him. “Is that what I am? Yours?”

“You shouldn’t be.” Liam’s voice is a low, angry growl. “But I can’t help myself. This taste…I’m going to need this every day now. Now that I know how sweet you are? How wet? Every day, Andrea. In my bed, your thighs over my shoulders, me licking every drop of sweetness from your cunt until you’re screaming for me.”

Oh god. He’s going to make come just from the filthy things he’s saying. I’m panting, clinging to his hair—and the horns that are in just the right spot to grasp onto. He pushes backward, and then my upper back’s against the wall. He pulls my hips forward just slightly, and it’s like I’m practically thrusting up against his mouth as he tongues over my folds. Dirty-talking Liam has vanished, and now he’s just utterly ravenous, his mouth moving over me with such hungry intensity that it doesn’t matter that he’s not hitting my clit. He’s devouring me with every hungry stroke of his tongue, seeking out any hint of wetness and claiming it for himself.

And god, it’s sexy.

His furious tongue strikes across my clit, and my entire body jerks in response. “Oh!”

Liam pauses, looking up at me. It steals my breath away, looking down at his flushed, deep-gold mouth as his tongue flicks over his lips, tasting me. “Too sensitive?”

“No,” I breathe, pressing a hand to my forehead because I feel like I’m about to come apart. “Good. Too good.”

“No such thing,” he murmurs, and swipes his tongue over my clit again.

I cry out, arching up against that damned textured tongue, and then when he does it again, I follow. He licks and sucks at my clit, and I shamelessly grind against his face, all the while panting his name. He works his tongue over me, and when I think I can’t take any more, he pushes a finger deep inside me and then I come, release exploding through me. Another gush of fluid soaks my pussy and he laps it up, even as I rock my hips against his face.

I let out a little mew of protest when he releases me, sliding bonelessly down the wall to collapse in his arms.

“Andrea,” he murmurs. “My Andrea.” He lightly kisses my face a dozen times, and I taste myself on his lips.

“Oh,” I breathe, and when he drags me into his lap and strokes my hair, I curl up against him. “Just…give me a minute to catch my breath.”

He chuckles. “Take all the time you need, my sweet human.”

“Then it’s your turn,” I tell him, stroking my hand down the front of his shirt. It has big, stretched-out handfuls where I got a little too enthusiastic with my gripping. Whoops. I’m so distracted by the fact that I’ve practically ruined his shirt that I almost miss his response.

“No,” he says quietly.

It takes a moment to register, and then I look up at him. “No?” I’m so dazed that the word doesn’t quite sink in. “Why not?”

He presses a kiss to my brow, ever tender. “Let me just enjoy you for now.”

I bite back my frown, since he’s still kissing and petting me. Doesn’t he want me to touch him? But he’s not acting like there’s a problem, so I settle in against him and try not to let his refusal bother me.