Moments later, the surreal shock of everything that had just happened was finally starting to wear off as Bree sat on her bed, listening to the sounds of water while Titus took a shower in the adjoining bathroom.

Walking back to the house, they’d realized the combo of waiting outside for hours and fighting three on one with the other dragons had left him pretty dusty. So Titus had insisted on quickly washing off before they finished talking.

But between thinking about how hot Titus was right now, naked and covered in water, and all the things that had been brought up in so little time, she found it hard to wait for anything when she was so close to happiness.

She walked up to stand by the bathroom door. “So you really weren’t tricking me this whole time? You weren’t lying?” she asked, hopeful he’d be able to hear her over the rushing water.

A second later, Titus poked his head out, his long hair tied back in its braid again, dripping with water.

“I never meant to. I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, put it this way. What would you do if you found the person of your dreams, perfect in every way?”

“I guess I would try to be with them,” she admitted.

“But what would happen if you knew that the person didn’t want to know that you thought they were perfect? That if they heard your true feelings about them, it might make them run?”

She understood what he was saying. She’d been thinking about it during the entire fight with Aegis, knowing it had to be hard for him to have held it in so long.

“I wanted to put everything out in the open, but protecting you was more important than anything else. Even if it meant protecting you from the truth that could lead to both of us being happy.”

“I’m sorry I let my past get in the way,” she said.

“No,” he said. “Never be sorry about that. I was glad to get to know you, to see all the complexities you were dealing with. It’s all a part of who you are. I’m just glad it’s all out in the open now and I don’t have to pretend I’m not insanely in love with you.”

She flushed. “You are?”

“Of course,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been saying.”

“I know,” she said. “It’s just… so unexpected.”

“That I would fall in love with you?”

“No,” she said. “More that I would fall in love back.”

“You love me?” he asked, his cool, blue eyes made more vibrant by the sheen of water on his skin.

“Of course I do,” she said, stepping closer to him, unable to be apart from him any longer. “I was trying to go slowly, but I cared about what you thought from the moment I saw you back at the mansion. I just didn’t know what that meant.”

“Oh,” he said, his voice sounding tight. “I see.”

“But I’m so very glad you came into my life when you did. I’m lucky you made everything so wonderful for me that I couldn’t resist getting closer to you with each passing day.” She was standing right next to him now. When she noted the towel he’d loosely wrapped around his waist, she wanted to pull it off. He was so impossibly tall. But instead of intimidating, it made her feel safe, watched over.

“If you’ll be my mate, I can promise you that each day will just be better than the last. That I’ll only keep trying harder to make your life wonderful, so wonderful that it will erase everything that was ever bad until there’s nothing but good memories left in your heart.”

Pure joy began to well up inside her, and she couldn’t keep a smile off her face as she pressed against him, holding him as he held her.

“Yes, I want that,” she exclaimed.

Instantly, she was lifted off her feet as Titus picked her up in his arms, high above the ground, kissing her ravenously as she held tightly and kissed him back.

It was like skydiving. The second she let go, took the plunge, she felt free. Like soaring toward an inevitable and sublime destiny.

After several tender moments, he put her down on the ground again and knelt before her. But even kneeling, they were almost face to face, and she watched curiously as he unlatched the thin, titanium-colored necklace he wore.

“This is the mark of my clan. I made it when I was young, forged by my own two hands,” he said, threading it behind her neck. “With it, you’ll be my mate, and I’ll be yours forever,” he added tenderly.

“So this is how mating works for dragons?” she asked.

“It’s slightly different for each species. But for metal dragons, yes. Well, that, and sealing the deal,” he said, piercing gaze roving over her as he surveyed her with the necklace on.

A thrill of excitement tickled the nerves in her fingers and toes at that.

The necklace was so light she could barely feel it. Yet, as the clasp clicked into place, she felt an odd warmth course through her, like a warm drink on a cold day, but everywhere like a cosmic kind of energy.

She’d never been happier.

“If you want, we can arrange a formal ceremony, since I know it’s a common ritual for humans to undergo when committing,” Titus said, looking with satisfaction at the chain now resting on her.

Bree just shook her head. Maybe someday. But for now, as an artist and an introvert, she was never one for formalities. Titus was all she could ever want.

And as she looked down, she noticed the towel had slipped off of Titus’s hips, leaving him naked.

She looked up and down, all over him. Hers. Now. “About this ‘sealing the deal’ you spoke of. Can it be done in the shower?”

Titus laughed as he lifted her into the air again, helping her shed her clothing as she pulled off shirt, bra, pants, everything as fast as she could.

By the time she felt the hot water splash onto her back, she was already heated, ravenously wanting the man she was now ready to freely give herself to.

And time and time again, he had already shown her that he would freely give himself to her, too.

The warm, slick water only heightened the sensation of Titus all around her as he cupped her breasts, squeezing them hard while he kissed her neck, pressing her into the wall of the shower. Little shocks of pleasure went through her with each touch, each lick, as pressure quickly began to build at the center of her hips.

“I love you, Bree,” he said, voice deep and husky as his mouth found her breasts, a delicious sensation that made her weak in the knees.

“I love you, too, Titus,” she exclaimed, never wanting him to stop loving her like this.

Now that she was all in, there was nothing stopping her from experiencing everything Titus had to offer. No hesitation holding her back or fear of hurt and rejection to muddle the sweet pleasure he submerged her with.

She pressed her body to him, loving the feel of his hard pecs against her breasts, grinding herself into his taut, thick thigh as she lost any thought of past or future. He pushed his leg into her, rubbing her center even harder, and she dug her hands into his back, body racing with excitement.

He reached a finger down to flick her clit, and she came apart, surrounded by wetness and steam and Titus. She could make out his gaze watching her intently, holding her so she didn’t fall as white light flashed behind her eyes and hot pleasure nipped at her skin everywhere in release.

She came to with a long sigh, and Titus covered her mouth with his, stroking inside, gentle and slick and overwhelming in every way.

And then he lowered himself to her hips, kneeling in the shower as his huge hands squeezed her ass, and she felt her body tense in excitement.

When his tongue came over her clit, she almost came again right there. But he held her steady, forcing her to give in to the pleasure of it while she held on to his hair, his shoulders. Anything to anchor herself as he licked and flicked and teased her womanhood with perfection.

The water only intensified it, made the connection between them closer, more real. Titus’s hand found her breast, and he pressed his thumb into her nipple, making her arch back in pleasure, unable to escape Hurricane Titus as he swept over her body and soul.

Bree’s entire body was taut, drawn tight like a spring stretched to its limit, begging for freedom from the pressure. But the high was so good she was almost afraid to jump.

Titus didn’t give her any options, though, as his tongue lapped at her clit in a long, wet motion. Instantly, she orgasmed, curling around him while he held her steady once more.

All she could make out was the sound of rushing water, in the shower and in her ears, as all sensation faded into the background amidst the powerful spasms of pleasure forcing their way out of her. She cried out his name to the shower, over and over, wanting the universe to know the man, the dragon, before her was hers alone. And she was his.

When her body decided that was enough, she came to with Titus holding her. But she could still feel a deep need inside her. A want to be filled by him like before, but with the added knowledge that they were meant for eternity now.

“How about we take this to the bed?” he asked, powerful muscles glistening from the water.

“Definitely.”

* * *

Titus carried Bree once more as she tried to hastily towel off between the bathroom and the bedroom. But it was obvious neither of them cared as he laid her on the bed and came over her, both of them still thoroughly damp.

Nothing had made Titus happier than seeing the mark of his mate on Bree. Knowing that all his hard work paid off and now he could spend the rest of his life with her, making Bree happy.

He thrust a finger into her, testing her, then two, then three, making sure she was as ready as he believed she was. When he removed his fingers, he couldn’t help tasting her wetness, the raw sign of her arousal that made his cock twitch with excitement.

Bree blushed harder, her skin still pale and damp and beautiful and all his now. He just grinned back at her.

With care, Titus positioned himself at her hips, so warm and inviting. Then, with a smooth motion, he thrust inside her until they were joined all the way, hip to hip.

She moaned lightly as they came together, and he let her relax for a moment, just watching her beautiful turquoise eyes as she looked up at him. Her arms were at her sides, dampened hair splayed around her like a flower after rain. Her scent, rich and arousing, filled the air around him.

Titus had known from the start that he couldn’t have found a better mate in Bree. But now, being here with her, completing what was only the beginning of life’s greatest adventure with her, he could only be grateful that fate had brought him here, to this time and place, so he could find her and love her.

When she was ready, he pulled out and thrust into her again, and she gasped in pleasure, grasping the sheets at her sides.

“Here, hold on to me,” he said, lowering himself to her ear so he could whisper in it.

“Okay,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck as he slipped out of her, waiting a moment, teasing her, then pushing in harder than before.

Her grip tightened, and he knew they were in it together. Forever.

Titus moved into a heated rhythm, thrusting in as fast as he came out, and she shuddered beneath him, pressing her hips into him and quickening their pace. The slick heat between them only increased the incredible sensations as Titus felt every muscle in him tighten, holding back release until his mate was thoroughly satisfied.

She came, crying out in excitement as he held his breath, loving the way her nails raked over his back and shoulders as her body pulsed with release. The sound of his name on her lips, said with such reckless abandon, almost made him go right there.

But he held on, and before he could even start moving again, she beat him to the punch, thrusting onto his member as he saw resolve burn in her eyes, her cute heart-shaped face flushed with arousal.

Titus joined her as they raced toward completion. He pounded into her, watching her rock with excitement as she determinedly bit down on her lower lip, closing her eyes against the wave of sensation he knew they were both feeling right now.

With a harsh gasp, she came again, this time pulling Titus with her, and he thrust all the way into her, deeper than before, as reality slipped into bright sensation and inundating pleasure.

For a moment, Bree and himself felt like one person as erotic release overtook everything. Her sounds of pleasure only stoked his body harder as he came and came, the two of them together.

When it was finally all done, Titus could feel a tingling sense of rightness surrounding them. As if the universe itself were nodding its approval. And below him, Bree just smiled up at him, exhausted and sated and happy.

For several minutes, Titus didn’t leave. He cupped Bree’s cheek and lowered himself to kiss her, wanting to be one like this for as long as possible but knowing this was only the start. They would be together like this an infinite number of times.

She kissed him back, the feel of her lips on his as sweet as the first time they’d done it, when he heard Biff barking outside enthusiastically. Through the windows, he could make out the clouds beginning to break, revealing the last glimpse of the sun as it cast the entire sky in hues of orange and red and purple.

“Want to go outside and watch the sunset?” Titus asked, feeling more alive than he ever had in his entire life.

Bree nodded, and he came out of her and helped her gather comfortable clothes. When they were dressed, he carried her down the stairs, then outside onto the porch and sat her on the swing they’d sat in together so many times already.

Out on the lawn, Biff ran around in circles, chasing his tail and running after small birds as they pecked around for their evening meals.

Titus wanted to keep her close, so he pulled Bree onto his lap. She curled around him, and they both gazed into the sky as the sun disappeared behind the horizon and swallowed the land in gradual blue darkness.

Soon enough, they would go inside, eat dinner. Maybe watch a movie. Definitely repeat what they’d only just finished doing. But for now, it was enough to simply be there with his mate, enjoying life and all it offered to the fullest.