Chapter Nineteen
For the first part of the drive, Connor sat quietly, ordering his raging dragon to calm the hell down. But the beast was spitting fire and roaring, intent on setting off on a rampage. His dragon didn’t even specify what it wanted to destroy — Draig? His deadbeat father? The entire dragon world?
Anger was nothing new, and neither was frustration. Yearning was often part of that testy cocktail too. But having them mixed with hope and desire — that was totally new. New and dangerous, because he could not — would not — get any closer to Jenna without getting himself under control.
If only it were as easy as she had said. To make the bad parts disappear and hang on to the rest.
“Not far now,” Jenna murmured, shifting into fourth gear.
Connor put his hand over hers on the gearshift and closed his eyes, focusing on her smooth, warm skin, trying to calm down.
“Hang on,” Jenna said, slipping her hand out from under his and placing it on top. “How about this?” She massaged his fingers with her thumb.
“Nice,” Connor whispered.
Her contact had a way of pulling the plug on his dragon’s rage. Instead of vowing death and destruction to all the evil in the world, his dragon slowly shifted its focus to positive thoughts. Jenna…love…kiss…
“Driveway coming up,” she said quietly, as if to check whether he needed more time.
He took a deep breath. How was it possible to be that tuned in to someone in such a short time?
Destiny, an earthy voice rumbled in the back of his mind.
Which was all well and good, but did destiny have something good in store for him, or just a miserable, crashing end?
Good or bad is for you to decide, the voice rumbled. For you to deserve.
He scowled. What was the point of destiny, then?
The voice growled ominously. Destiny steered your mate onto your life’s path. Shall I take her away again?
Connor just about thrust his hands up in surrender. God, no. He didn’t want that. I just have no clue how this works, he wanted to plead. No one ever explained.
The voice laughed remorselessly. All the better. You can learn for yourself.
The hard way, he figured. But okay. He was a master at that.
Just don’t let her get hurt, he pleaded. Please.
The deep voice snorted. She must do her part as well. Perhaps even more than you.
Connor raked his fingers through his hair at the warning in those words. No, no, no! He was supposed to keep Jenna out of danger, not drag her down.
He waited for an answer. Even a cryptic hint would do. But destiny had wandered away again, off to torture some other soul.
“Koa Point,” Jenna said softly, tapping his hand as she waited for the gate to open. “Hey. Time to reboot.”
Connor blinked a couple of times. “Reboot?”
“Yep.” She motioned around. “A clear, starry night. Peace and quiet. And just smell those flowers.”
He sniffed, tentatively at first, then more deeply. He didn’t care about the flowers, but Jenna’s sweet fragrance brought the last bit of calm to his soul.
She shifted into first gear, moving his hand with hers, and rolled down the drive. “Yep. You and I are coming back from our very nice night out. We’re in a very nice car.” She patted the sleek dashboard. “In a very nice place.”
The woman was a master of shedding the bad and hoarding the good.
And a master of distraction, his dragon cooed in its first intelligible words of the evening when she moved her hand to his thigh. Not too high, not too low. Just right. When she parked the car in a bay of the estate’s long garage, she set the hand brake and leaned over for a kiss, all in the same move. As if they had a weekly evening out that always ended in a kiss.
Not ending yet, his dragon rumbled. And not just with a kiss.
Her tongue swept over his, assuring him it wouldn’t end there. Then she pulled back, smiled, and nodded to the door. “It is a nice car, but considering our options…”
He broke into a smile and followed her out, then met her at the threshold to the garage, where he backed her gently against the wall. Her arms slid right into place around his waist, and she raised her chin for a kiss. He squeezed closer, pressing every inch of his body against her.
“And what exactly are our options?” he growled between kisses. The good kind of growl for a change.
She tipped her head up, cooing while he kissed his way down her neck.
“Lots of options…” Her voice was light and dreamy, like she wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere fast. “There’s the guesthouse…the beach…and your place.”
He worked his way back up to her mouth, delving deeper, holding her tighter. “My place.”
His dragon gave a firm nod, like he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Jenna smiled into his kiss, then slowly pushed him away and took his hand. “Then show me the way, mister, before I strip you naked right here.” She giggled, and the sound was as soothing as that of the ocean in the distance. “Not sure I can wait that long.”
Connor didn’t think he could wait either, and he nearly detoured to the guesthouse. But the long walk along the beach worked wonders for clearing the last clouds from his mind. It was only when they walked past the fish pond where Jenna had been spooked earlier that his muscles tensed.
“Up there, right?” Jenna whispered, a woman on a mission.
He nodded, leading the way, sniffing as he went. His brother Timber had been by recently, patrolling the grounds. Cynthia had done a quick flyover too, it seemed, before settling down to watch over the area from the top floor of the plantation house. He could tell as much from the tiny zephyrs of lavender scent she left in the air. But Jenna’s saltwater-and-sunshine scent filled his senses and emptied his mind. The closer they got to his clifftop house, the harder his heart beat. Would she like the place?
“It’s kind of a work in progress,” he warned. Like me, he nearly sighed.
“I can’t wait to see it,” she said, swinging his hand as they went.
The sea breeze increased as they climbed, tossing her hair with each light step she took. When they crested the hill, Jenna stopped in her tracks.
“Wow.”
Connor looked out too. The view was amazing, encompassing everything from the dark silhouettes of neighboring islands to the lights of the West Maui coast. The ocean sparkled with moonlight, and the swell dashed against rocks far, far below.
“Perfect place for a dragon,” she whispered.
Connor nodded and gulped. That Timber had suggested the location to him made sense because his brother knew him better than anyone else. But Jenna immediately understood too. His need for a high lookout, a place to perch after a long night flight.
It was perfect, but he was painfully aware of how rough the actual living quarters were. All fine for a bachelor to make do with, but for Jenna?”
But her hands waved in excitement, and her voice rose high. “Oh my gosh, this is amazing. You get to live here?”
He grinned and pushed open the unlocked door. “It needs a lot of work, but…”
His eyes jumped from the unfinished cabinets and the tattered couch to Jenna, who went right to the wooden table he’d rescued from the barn the day before. She ran her hand over the surface, following the grain of the wood. “This is gorgeous.”
He exhaled a little. Maybe she wouldn’t mind the rough edges of his place, after all.
“This part of the house only has two rooms. The kitchen and a living room.” Both were laid out in a straight line, one after the other, with a roof that slanted upward toward the sea. He rolled open the patio doors, hoping she’d focus on the ocean view instead of the lack of curtains or the fact that one of the doors needed a good shove to move. The house opened onto a natural stone patio that hugged the edge of the cliff.
“Oh my God. You could dive right in from here,” Jenna said, stepping straight to the edge.
He snorted. “Not sure I’d recommend that.”
Jenna pointed out a spot amidst the frothy surf below. “I think if you hit that spot just right…”
He gaped, because she meant it. Maybe her mermaid side was closer to the surface than she knew.
“You mean, if you were nuts.”
“The old Hawaiian kings jumped off cliffs, you know. To prove themselves.” Her eyes sparkled.
“I’ll make a mental note of that for the next time I have to prove myself.”
It was a joke, but his soul grabbed hold of the idea and stored it in his personal library of just-in-case files. A big, messy place all the way in the back of his mind, because a guy like him had learned over time that just in case happened more often than he wished.
Jenna breezed back inside and flopped down on the couch. “Wow. Inside is like being outside.” A second later, she bounced up and explored the kitchen. “Amazing.”
“Well, it would be amazing if the cabinets were all in.”
“It will be amazing.” She nodded firmly, looking around.
He couldn’t tell what she was picturing, but clearly, she saw the promise of the place. The way she saw the promise in him — or so he hoped.
“Does the couch pull out?” she asked, looking around.
He laughed, loving that she seemed to have no problem with that at all. Maybe destiny knew what it was doing in bringing them together, after all.
“I think if you pulled on it, it would fall apart.” He motioned to the far side of the room. The roof extended a little farther, sheltering a set of outdoor stairs. “Keep going. We’re getting to the best part.”
“This isn’t the best part?” Jenna squeaked.
He hit a light and descended the set of spiral stairs. “This cliff was created by an ancient lava flow, and whoever set up this place used the old lava tubes for a series of cellars. This is the first one.” He motioned around the small space the stairs opened on to, then to a tunnel branching off to one side. “Check this out…”
Jenna followed right on his heels, not the least bit fazed by wandering through a low, narrow cave. The footing was good, with a smooth layer of cement laid over the raw rock underfoot, while the tunnel walls were rough.
“Watch your head,” he murmured, tapping an outcrop.
“You mean I can’t watch your ass?”
He laughed, and it echoed through the room they stepped into next.
“Oh…my…God…” Jenna stammered, looking up and around.
“It was a lava bubble, but it makes a pretty cool room, don’t you think? Skylight and everything.” He pointed up.
The room was perfectly round, and enough of the rocky roof and one wall had collapsed to create two openings — a wide skylight and a window to the ocean, filling the space with fresh air and light.
“Right now, it’s just shelves around the edges…” he started.
“But you could build a circular couch to fit right in. Put a table there… Use it at the hottest parts of the day…” Jenna filled in, describing exactly what he had pictured creating someday.
Hope welled up in him. Hope he didn’t dare hold on to too tightly, because who knew what the future could bring?
“What’s through there?” she asked, indicating the next tunnel.
“Have a look,” he said, hanging back to watch her discover it for herself. His heart thumped even harder than when he’d first explored the place for himself and saw how perfect it could be. If Jenna liked it then maybe…
“Holy shit,” she said, stepping out into the open.
“Cool, huh?” He grinned.
“This is beyond cool.” She turned in a slow circle.
They’d stepped out onto a scooped-out step in the cliff — a huge, open area with a natural ceiling that ranged halfway out to the ledge, offering shelter from the elements as well as an open space.
“Oh my gosh. You can barbecue here. You could throw a massive party here. God, you could just about run laps here,” Jenna gushed.
I can take off and land here too, his dragon rumbled, showing off.
The space was that big — big enough for him to spread his wings. Big enough for two dragons to spread their wings, in fact, which only got his heart beating faster.
She motioned to an alcove off to one side. “Let me guess. That’s your lair.”
He laughed. “That’s the bathroom.”
“Ha. So, no treasure?” Her voice was a tease.
Just one, his dragon murmured, looking straight at her.
He shook his head. “No gold or silver, if that’s what you mean.”
Jenna looked around, not showing the slightest disappointment. On the contrary, her eyes shone with wonder. “So in the mornings, you can sit up in the kitchen and enjoy the light…”
He could picture it exactly. Her sipping coffee from a mug on the couch, her hair mussed from sleep, wearing nothing but one of his shirts.
“… and in the middle of the day, you can cool off on the couch there…” Jenna pointed to the lava bubble living room he had planned.
He instantly imagined Jenna calling him over and patting the spot next to her. She’d hand him a lemonade with a swirly straw and smile the way only she could.
That couch that hadn’t even been built yet, but what the heck. Just dreaming about it felt good.
“…And you could finish up with the sunset here,” Jenna concluded, spreading her arms wide as wings.
We could teach her to fly, you know, his dragon said.
He held back a snort. That meant mating with Jenna, and he had no idea if she wanted that.
But if we did mate…
No matter how he tried to reel in such thoughts, they ran away from him. If Jenna did let him claim her with a mating bite, she would become a dragon shifter too. They could fly into the sunset together, swoop around a few times, and land back right here. They could start and end every day together and settle into the kind of easy rhythm his soul yearned for.
Home, his dragon whispered. We could finally feel at home.
Jenna took his hand and looked out over the sparkling sea. Was she thinking the same thing? She took a deep breath, not giving away a thing. But when she turned to him, her eyes were as sparkly as the sea.
They both moved at the same time — her looping her arms around his neck, him taking firm hold of her waist. When their lips met, his pulse skipped and warmed.
“Only one thing missing from this tour,” Jenna whispered between kisses.
“What’s that?” he whispered, tilting her head to one side to kiss deeper.
Her lips danced over his, going from playful to hungry in the space of a few heartbeats.
“A bed. Or don’t dragons need those?”
He slid his hands over her rear, pressing her hips against his. “Dragons, no,” he whispered, pushing back a stray lock of hair, then covering her mouth with his before forcing himself to finish the sentence. “Humans, yes. Right over there.”
“Over where?” Her voice was husky, though her eyes didn’t leave his.
His dragon side was ready to pick her up and carry her to that section of the patio, but he forced himself to release her and lead the way.
“There — the bed.”
He motioned to a platform built above the natural stone, curtained off on three sides like a room. Well, it was, in his imagination. Right now, it was just a big four-poster bed set in the middle of an open platform, sheltered by the natural roof. “Give me one second. I’ll be right there.”
“You need a second? For what?”
“It’ll be worth it. I promise.”
She folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. “Let me guess. Mood music? Lava lamps?”
He chuckled and stepped to a dim corner where the cliff wall sloped down. “Better than that.”
There’d been a lot of junk around the place when he discovered it, and he’d stacked the old boxes and pallets to one side. Not the nicest kind of wood for a fire, but somehow, it seemed important to light one just now. Jenna would think him crazy, so he did his best to explain as he set it up in a circle of rocks.
“My grandmother — my mother’s mother — was born in Switzerland,” he said in response to Jenna’s unspoken question. “Yeah, there used to be bears and bear shifters there.”
“Wait — bears?” Jenna asked as she slipped off her shoes.
He did his best to keep his eyes on the wood and not on those amazing legs. “Yeah, bears. My mother’s side of the family is all bear shifters. But my father was a myriad shifter who could change into different forms…”
“Neat,” Jenna murmured, looking at him with dreamy eyes.
If only she knew about not fitting in. “Anyway, my grandmother used to tell us all kinds of stories about old times back there.”
“What kinds of stories?” Jenna asked, leaning back on the bed.
He stacked the wood in a teepee shape, setting smaller bits of kindling between the bigger pieces. “They had all kinds of old customs, and the one she kept up had something to do with an end-of-winter ritual.”
Jenna, to her credit, didn’t bolt at the word ritual. On the contrary, she seemed to hang on every word. Of course, the starry backdrop and grayscale palette of night over the ocean helped set the mood.
“They would build big bonfires, and some people would dress up in ugly masks. Then they’d go around and make a ruckus, scaring the bad spirits away.”
“Bad spirits, huh?”
He almost didn’t dare look at her, but he had to check if she understood. He didn’t want to dwell on Draig, vampires, or any other form of evil tonight. But he sure as hell wasn’t going to spend a night with Jenna without a few precautions, even if they were the superstitious kind.
“Yeah. Scare them all away,” he murmured into the wind. “Make sure they left everyone alone.”
Jenna didn’t say anything for a second, but then she nodded. “So, light that sucker up and come to bed.”
How she managed to mix sweet, sultry, and innocent together, he had no clue. Only that he’d never met a woman anything like her before.
“Need a match?” she asked when he hesitated.
“Match is the slow way.”
“What’s the fast way?”
He motioned to his chest and gave a little cough, wondering how she would react. “Dragon, remember?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Holy crap. You must have the best party tricks.”
His laugh echoed into the night. “I can use a match if you want.”
She shook her head and leaned forward, resting her chin on her elbows. “This, I have to see.”
His nostrils flared as he considered. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. Stunts like this got him in trouble every time.
“What are you waiting for?”
“Trying to think before I act,” he admitted.
Jenna waved the notion away. “Now what fun is that?”
He grinned then leaned back, huffed a few times, and released just enough of his dragon side to spit fire. Just a small, foot-long flame, enough to get the bonfire crackling. But for a brief instant, his teeth extended and his jaw hung wide, giving Jenna a glimpse of the first stage of a shift.
That part, he hadn’t been counting on, and he looked up, worried at how she would react.
Her eyes were wide, and her hands clutched the sheets. Her mouth popped open, but she didn’t say a word — at first. Then she pushed her lower lip out, exhaled, and murmured, “Cool.”
He stared. Was she really okay with the dragon part?
She crooked a finger, beckoning him closer. “You know, that is a dangerous move.”
He stepped away from the fire, closing the distance between them fast. “In what way?”
She leaned back on her elbows, leaving just enough space between her knees for him to step into. “That’s a hard act to follow. What if you don’t live up to expectations?”
He leaned over her, feeling every inch a powerful dragon, even though he kept that body safely locked away. Behind them, the bonfire crackled higher, egging him on.
He came down on his elbows, making her sink back into the mattress. “I promise not to let you down.”
He meant it in more ways than one, and his dragon quietly made a vow. To pleasure her. To protect her. To make her proud.
She grinned and scooted back, reaching for his shirt at the same time. The second she got it over his head, he came down with a hard, open kiss that made her whimper. Within seconds, she was writhing and panting for more.
“Yes,” she moaned as his hands swept over her glorious body. “Yes…”