Chapter Nine
He started to withdraw his hands, but Ashlyn seized them, held them against her breast. He could feel her heart pounding. “I must be crazy.”
“I think we’re done with lessons for now.” He tried to act calm. The coldest waterfall in Siberia wouldn’t cool down the fire spreading through him. Now who was the crazy one?
Her lids grew heavy with lust. “But there is still more I need to learn.”
He managed to shake his head. She was so willing, so arousing, he ached with a need to feel himself buried deep inside her. His dragon side demanded he claim her, the urge far greater than his control.
“We’ve done gone past lesson one. Skipped two, and if you want to go on, then you’ll know I will claim you and there is no going back on it.”
He registered the sweep of her lashes, her sweet scent filled with fear.
“What if I transform?” She looked at him with those large emerald eyes. “Does it hurt to… you know... to…”
“Shift?” He saw his frown in the mirror. “That’s what scares you?”
“You do it all the time.” She stammered. “It’s who you are, but not me. You have no idea what it feels like to think you know who you are then find out you’re not… well, who you think you are. Maybe I’m only part dragon. Maybe I can’t shift. Maybe that’s why…”
His heart couldn’t take the desperation in her voice any longer. He turned her to face him. He cupped her cheek, gently stroking her face with his thumb. “I want you.”
His answer took her by surprise. Her parted lips too inviting not to kiss. She drank from him, thirsty. He gave her what she sought, filling his thoughts full of adoration, reassurance, and what he felt she craved most—acceptance.
Her hands rested on his shoulder, he reached around her, unclasping her bra. He had no idea why she even put it back on.
“No one has ever,” she whispered between kisses.
“I want you.”
She raked her fingernails over his bare chest, enough to scratch, close to drawing blood. He didn’t mind. A flick of pain to elongate the pleasure.
“Then I’m yours.”
He would have pumped a fist in the air and done a happy dance if not to break the mood. “You accept you’re my mate?”
She had to say it. She had to say it.
“Yes.”
One simple word caused his world to stand still. He kissed her hard. Engaged in one long lip-lock, bumping against the corner of the table, past the couch, he managed to steer her back to her bed. Everything else could wait. This moment was all that mattered.
He slid his fingers up into her hair, soft and slick like strands of silk which never seemed to cease. She went for his jeans, playing with the button until it gave, and lowering the zipper. He hissed at the freedom. His tongue thrusting between her lips as his erection sprang forth.
She made little sounds in her throat, feral-like, sexy and he couldn’t stand it any longer. He broke away from her, made fast work of her cargo pants, that skimpy scrap of lace, and pushed her back on the bed. “Ash.”
She sat up, tugged at his jeans and purred with satisfaction when he kicked them aside. He tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and gave into the pleasure of her hand.
“It’s like a piece of hot steel.” She explored the length of him.
Sigurd groaned, her curiosity would kill him.
He laid her back, climbing over her on the bed. He nudged her legs apart, making her scoot those luscious curves of hers further onto the mattress. Skin on skin, he ran hot kisses the whole way down her neck. She pressed her breast into his chest, and little electric shocks burst through him. She gasped, and he knew she felt it, too.
His mouth crashed back over hers as his hand slid down between her legs to confirm her readiness. Beneath him Ash pulled her knees up and raised her hips.
Sigurd let out another groan, more of a roar, positioning himself against her entrance. She pressed her head back into the cover, biting down on her lip. He pushed to get deeper as her body fought him every inch of the way. He held there, letting her adjust to his girth, soaking up the feel of her - hot and wet and tight.
Ash rocked against him. He grabbed her hip, “Steady, baby. I don’t want to hurt you.” There was a wildness in her eyes, she rocked harder and he was lost in the sensation building between them. Slow and easy he set a rhythm, and her little cries and noises drove him into a frenzy. Thrust for thrust she met him, like a dance in which only they could hear the music. Every last part of her surrendered to him.
“Mine,” He growled, his body slamming into her, harder—faster. She clutched him, her body jerking under him, as she made sexy, heady, noises urging him on. His dragon uncoiled inside him, as he thrust more violently than the last. He braced himself on elbows, clamped his teeth against her shoulder and bit down. She jerked again beneath him, her nails biting into his back and her legs wrapped around his waist. He let out a throaty roar, stiffened, his seed spilling through her before his body shuddered.
Panting up a storm, he rested his head against her breast. Like molten fire, her heat radiated up against his sweat chilled skin. Together their hearts beat in unison. From this time forward, they would always be one.
She quivered beneath him, a tangle of trembling limbs, still clinging to him. His own muscles shook as he pushed himself off, then flopped over on his back. He’d never been so… on fire, fueled with desire. She curled over and nestled her head on his chest.
“I should go check on the hatchery. I’ve missed the morning rotation.” Her hand stroked him, trailing a finger down middle of his chest.
“We’ve still got lunch waiting.”
“Oh.” He felt her breath go in, go out. “I’d forgotten you’d cooked there for a minute. I hope you’re as good as a cook as you are at giving lessons.”
He kissed the top of Ashlyn’s head, eased himself away from her, and stood from the bed.
When he looked at her in the soft glow of the afternoon sun streaming in through the glass walls, he wanted to draw her close again. “Oh, I’m good, baby. Real good.”