Nic sucked in oxygen. Deus, making love with Cassidy was even better than he recalled.

Beneath him, she sank onto her forearms on the mattress, reminding him that she wasn’t completely recovered from her ordeal. Pressing a kiss to her spine, he rolled onto his back and fit her into the hollow of his shoulder. He snagged the sheet with his foot and tucked it around them both.

Cassidy’s sun-streaked red hair was mussed, her creamy skin damp with sweat. He nuzzled her temple, taking her scent on him and marking her in turn as his. She gave a satisfied hum that made his lips curve.

“You can make me beg anytime,” he said.

“I’m not sure you begged at all.” Her tone had an amused lilt.

“I said por favor, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

“Next time,” he muttered against her hair, “it’s my turn.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to tie you to the bed and tease you for an hour or two.”

“And why would I let you do that?” But he scented the spike in her arousal.

He gave her breast a soft squeeze. “Because I’ll make you come harder than you ever have before.”

Turning so she faced him, she set her hand on his chest. “Will you now?”

“It’s a promise.” His gaze fixed on her mouth. Soft and rosy from their lovemaking, and so damn kissable.

He leaned forward, unable to resist, and gave her a leisurely kiss. His cock moved between them, already half-hard.

Her mouth curved against his. “Again?”

“Again.”

He’d tried to go slowly the first time, but they’d both been in a frenzy. This time, he truly went slow, spending long minutes pleasuring every part of her. Tasting her pretty pink nipples. Kissing his way down to her toes and then back up again. Teasing the sensitive skin on her inner thighs and the backs of her knees. Stroking the abdomen that had carried their daughter.

There was a thin, slightly darker line up the center and the skin was a little looser, but that only made her more beautiful to him. He brushed his lips over her navel and down the line, finishing at the slick, flowerlike folds between her legs.

“Or,” he murmured, “maybe I’ll tease you here…”

Her breath caught. Her knees bent up on either side of his head, and her hands reached for him.

“No.” Keeping his mouth near her clit, he caught her hands and pressed them back to the bed. “I’m in charge this time. Compreendes?”

Her chest jerked in short, aroused gasps. “Okay.”

He spread her folds with his thumbs. Her aroma was the ocean on a stormy day, wild and salty and alive. He swiped his tongue up the middle and then slid the tip around the outside. Her thighs tensed, quivering with need.

He licked her again…and again. Wallowing in the taste and smell and feel of his woman.

When she started to make sexy sounds of desire, he moved to her plump little clit, sucking it into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it, even giving a soft nip that made her hips jerk.

He raised his head. “Too much?”

She inhaled. “No. More.”

He drew her clit into his mouth and sucked, slow and soft, and was rewarded by another indrawn breath.

“Holy blue seas, that feels good.”

He played with her, learning anew what she liked, enjoying her cries of delight.

Her hands came to his head again, trying to hold him against her clit. “Please, Nic. I’m so close.”

He smiled to himself. He loved that he could make his woman so needy. It was only fair that she begged—because he’d go to his knees for her.

“Do you like this?” He swirled his tongue through her folds again.

Her whole body went taut. “Yes, that—anything.”

“How about this?” He slid a couple of fingers into her while he worked on her tender bud.

She was so ready that it just took a few hard sucks before her hips rocked up and her sex clenched around his fingers. He stayed with her, licking and sucking, until she sank back to the bed.

Then he came up on top of her and thrust inside. Slow and deep.

She was passive for the first few strokes and then she wrapped her arms and legs around him. “How can I still want you?” she asked wonderingly.

“It’s the same for me.” He thrust into her again. His balls drew up tight, and he stilled. He wanted this to last.

“Nic.” A soft rasp.

“What, baby?” He stroked in and out of her, harder this time. “Is this what you want? Me deep inside you? Tell me.”

“Please…I want you—there.”

“Where?”

“Deep inside—like that.” She moaned as he thrust hard again.

He cupped her firm buttocks in his hands and started fucking her in earnest. She slipped her hand between them and teased both of them by playing with her clit and the base of his cock. He slowed to accommodate her, loving the feeling of her silky fingers stroking him there at his root.

She was half-sobbing, half-moaning. Then she groaned his name and her sex clasped around him like a hot, wet fist. She took her hand from between them and sharp nails dug into his back as her sex pulsed rhythmically around his cock, blinding him to anything but the pleasure of being buried balls-deep in her beautiful body.

Sensation punched up his spine and he thrust, slow and hard until he emptied himself into her.

When he could think again, he was on his back, Cassidy’s head on his chest. For a few minutes he couldn’t think or move.

When his breath settled down, he lifted her the rest of the way on top of him so that they touched everywhere—her breasts flattened against his chest, his cock nestled into her belly—and cupped her face.

“Stay with me—forever. Please.”

Something flickered deep in her eyes. Disappointment twisted through him. What did she want from him?

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t answer right now,” he begged her. “Just promise me you’ll think about it.”

“I will, but…” Her eyes slid to the side. “I need to know you want me for me. Not just because of Rianna.”

His mouth slackened. “Is that what you think?”

“You left. You didn’t want anything to do with me until you realized we had a daughter—a sea dragon daughter. What am I supposed to think?”

“Oh, my love.” He brought his mouth to hers, throwing his whole heart into the kiss. She kissed him back, and yet he felt her holding back.

“I want you.” He set his forehead against hers. “Never doubt that. I wanted you four years ago, and I want you now. Hell, I’ll want you five hundred years from now when we’re both old and gray.”

She pushed off his chest so she could meet his eyes. “Then why is the mate bond so tentative? I can barely sense it most of the time.”

“Do you think it’s just me? Because it’s not—it’s you, too. I could mate-claim you now, but you’re not ready.”

When she just shook her head, he said, “It’s true.”

She blew out a breath. “Maybe you’re right. This has all happened so quickly.”

He swallowed his disappointment. “Take your time—I’m in no hurry. I’ll win your trust back. All I ask is that you give me a chance. Please, querida. I need you. A chance is all I ask.”

She scrutinized him another few seconds and then said, “All right.”

Relief filled him. “Thank you.”

She hesitated, and then slowly, slowly, brought her mouth to his. They kissed again, and he was stunned and relieved to feel the barrier thin.

She moved her mouth to his throat. “Nic?”

He caressed her back. “Mm?”

“Show me your dragon.”

He stilled. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“Don’t I?” She lifted her head, her blue eyes knowing and a little sad. “The dragon is your true animal, and I’ve never seen it.”

“To your dolphin, I’m a predator.”

“And our mate,” she returned. She tried to roll off him, but he tightened his grip, keeping her where she was. She scowled but laid her head on his chest again. “Don’t forget, I’ve seen Rianna.”

He snorted. “She’s a cute little creature. I’m five or six times her size with teeth the length of your hand.”

“Rianna saw you, and she wasn’t afraid.”

“No. But she’s a dragon herself.”

“And the men have seen you too, right?”

He winced. She had him there.

“Yes,” he admitted. “They’re sworn to secrecy, but I was damned if I was going to hide my true form anymore.”

“So it’s only me.”

He grunted.

She didn’t keep arguing, but he sensed her withdrawal. He felt chilled and a bit panicky. He’d never shown himself to a lover. Too many fada had looked at him with revulsion for him to want to chance it. To them, he was a reptile, although he was warm-blooded.

“Try to understand,” he pleaded. “To see you afraid of me—it would wreck me.”

Cassidy pushed off him again. This time he let her go.

She sat up and gave him a clear-eyed look. “I can’t promise I won’t be…wary, but I need to see you. If we’re truly mates, then we can’t be hiding from each other, can we?”

He sat on the edge of the mattress. His sea dragon nudged him impatiently, eager to preen itself for Cassidy. It agreed with her—if she was his mate, she had the right to see his animal’s true form.

And the sea dragon thought itself beautiful. Why wouldn’t Cassidy love it?

Nic squeezed his nape. “All right.”

“Thank you.” She gave him a pleased smile and sat tailor-style on the bed, still naked…a soft, white-skinned morsel to a sea dragon, although of course his dragon would never harm a single hair on her head.

“I hope this isn’t a mistake,” he muttered.

Moving to the edge of the pool so that he had room to shift, he took a deep breath—and let the change take him.

Magic swept over his skin, a familiar electric thrill. For a few seconds, he was in-between, neither man nor dragon…and then he crouched on the stone floor and swung his head toward Cassidy.

His reptilian eyes didn’t see with the same clarity as his human eyes, but he saw colors and light and shadows. His other senses kicked in at the same time—infra-red vision that allowed him to “see” Cassidy’s warm body still on the bed, and a heightened sense of smell and hearing.

His stomach sank. She’d gone still, her heart beating rapidly, her breath coming in short, frightened gasps.

Disappointed, his dragon let out a poignant wail and dropped its head onto its paws.

Nic was about to shift back to man when Cassidy got off the bed. He tensed, waiting to see what she would do.

Her lips curved into a smile. A smile that trembled, but a smile all the same. “May I touch you?”

* * *

Cassidy froze, the primitive part of her brain gripped with terror.

The sea dragon was terrible—and yet beautiful.

It crouched on the stone floor, its hide a deep gold touched with blue and green. Leathery wings were folded tight against its body, and its head was large, with bony eyebrows and a mouth as long as her arm.

The head swung toward her, and she had to fight not to run out of the room.

As if guessing her thoughts, a mournful sound came from the dragon’s throat, an unearthly howl that was half-wolf, half-whale. It crouched even lower, its belly on the floor, and set its head on its front paws. Large amber eyes with a serpent’s vertical pupils stared unblinkingly at her.

This is Nic. You can do this.

Cassidy’s fingers had dug into her thighs. She relaxed them and got off the bed. “May I touch you?”

Nic-the-dragon’s large lids lowered.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

She crossed the cavern and stood next to the big creature. Even crouched low with its head on its paws, the dragon was almost as tall as her. She set her hand on its hide.

“You’re warm,” she murmured. “I remember the first time I touched Rianna, I thought she’d be cold.” And slimy.

But like Rianna, Nic’s hide was smooth and supple as expensive leather.

“Mm,” Nic-the-dragon rumbled.

“You’re beautiful. Gorgeous, in fact.”

The dragon liked hearing that. It rumbled again, an oddly comforting sound that reminded her of a cat’s purr—a very large, very toothy cat.

She stroked its hide. Powerful muscles relaxed under her touch.

“You’ll have to spend time with Rianna as your dragon. It would be good for her.”

A ponderous nod.

She gave the dragon’s neck a last stroke and then moved down its body. “I want to see the rest of you.” She touched one leathery wing. It was a long, pleated appendage that wouldn’t slow a swimming dragon but was also clearly strong enough to fly.

“I wish I could fly,” she said in honest admiration.

Its shoulder moved in a dragon-size shrug.

She crouched to examine a huge gold-and-green paw. The claws were retracted with just the wicked black tips visible. She was beginning to see why Nic believed he could take on four fae.

She finished at the tail. It was frankly reptilian—like the end of a huge gold snake—but like the rest of the dragon, warm and supple.

She walked back to the dragon’s head and slid her arms around its big neck. “You’re gorgeous. Thank you for showing me.” She kissed its leathery cheek.

The dragon rumbled and gently rubbed its head against hers. They stood there for a long moment, and then lights danced over its hide. She stepped back to watch the shift—and then Nic-the-man stood in front of her, lean and olive-skinned, his eyes a mix of green and gold.

“Thank you for asking. You really think I’m gorgeous?” The hint of bashfulness in his smile made her heart squeeze.

She cupped his face. “I do. Scary, but gorgeous. I can’t believe I birthed one of you.”

He chuckled and then set his forehead against hers. “Amo-te. I love you.”

Tell him you love him, too.

But she couldn’t force the words past her lips. Nic had made himself vulnerable to her, and that went a long way toward restoring her trust in him. But a part of her couldn’t bring herself to be so vulnerable to him…not yet.

She gave him a hard hug, and then released him when they heard Rianna’s happy voice in the dining hall.

“I’d better give poor Ben a break.”

“Okay.” He nipped her lip. “You’ll say it,” he said with all of his old confidence. “Because you do.”