Chapter Eleven
Kayla
The student beside her didn’t look too bad but Kayla wasn’t going to take any chances. It was extra hot that day, and this particular student had accidentally cut themselves on a shard of metal in the dirt. It wasn’t a big cut. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to take him to the hospital to get it cleaned up. Tetanus was too serious an issue to play around with.
“Keep that hand up,” she said as she pulled the ATV up to the camp. She took another look at the wound and shook her head. “I’ll just grab the keys to the car and we can get out of here.”
The student nodded, looking pale. Kayla passed him a water bottle and headed for the camper. When she got closer, she heard… groans and grunts. And the camper rocked every once in a while. She froze just outside the door, hearing Bernie call out Tyler’s name. A grimace crossed her face. Then came a wave of anger and she knocked hard on the door.
“Oh, shit!” That was Bernie. “Put your clothes on.”
“But we haven’t finished yet.”
“You two had better be finished,” Kayla spat. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, having sex in the middle of the day when there is work to be done?”
There was the noise of people scrambling, and then Bernie opened the door. Her hair was tousled, cheeks flushed. The smell left nothing to the imagination. Kayla’s fists clenched.
“Look, I don’t care if you have sex but it’s gotta be on your own time,” she hissed, glaring at Bernie. “I’m going crazy trying to keep everything going and you’re just sitting around here having fun? God, Bernice. I need backup here. One of the students got hurt and I have to take him into town.”
Bernie had looked embarrassed but as Kayla spoke that embarrassment had melted away. Tyler sneaked past the two of them and headed away. He carried a shirt on his arm. He had a tattoo of angel’s wings taking up both shoulder blades and half of his back. Where, Kayla didn’t care. He did help out quite a bit but this was inexcusable. How much time had they wasted doing that when they could have been working? How much more work did she have to do because they decided to have sex?
“We’re all a little overworked and stressed, so I’m not going to hold that against you,” Bernie spat at her. “But the next time you decide to get mad at me for having sex on my day off, I suggest you stop and think about what you’re really mad about.”
“There’s only the two of us, we don’t get days off.”
Bernie shook her head. “If we don’t then we’ll both go as crazy as you are right now. You’re not mad at me, Kayla. You’re sexually frustrated and overworked and stressed and you want to break out the pots and pans with Shane but you’re too ashamed of your own sexuality.”
Kayla opened her mouth then closed it, uncertain how to respond to that.
“You like him. You liked banging him. But you’re telling yourself exactly what Freida flung at you.”
“That’s not true,” Kayla protested.
Bernie put her hands on her hips. “No? Then why isn’t that big hunk of delicious dragon flesh sleeping in your bed every night? I’m sorry if I’m being crude about it,” she added, her expression softening, “I’m a little overworked and stressed too. And embarrassed that you caught me and Tyler. But that doesn’t change it. You and Shane are like a couple out of a romcom. You refuse to admit that you like each other except when the passion burns your clothes off.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means that you’re slut-shaming yourself. Don’t be an idiot, Kayla.”
Kayla shook her head. “I’m not slut-shaming myself.”
Bernie put her hands on her hips and popped out a hip while narrowing her eyes. “Then what are you doing?”
Maybe Bernie was right but she didn’t want to think about that right now. Emotion was just one of those things that made everything more confusing. Kayla shook her head again and grabbed the keys to the car.
“I need you to go out to the dig to keep an eye on things while I go into town.”
Without another word, she went back to the student. Taking him to the hospital took longer than she anticipated. By the time he was taken care of and they had returned to camp, everybody else had come in for the day. Kayla adjusted the duties for the next couple days to allow the injured student enough time to heal, then ate dinner and helped wash up.
By the time she returned to the camper, she had almost forgotten about what had happened inside. Fortunately, it had aired out and smelled only of a hot summer’s day. Nothing else was too rosy, though, and Kayla sighed as she searched through her clothes, trying to find something that wasn’t too dirty.
There was a note on the desk in Bernie’s handwriting. Think about it.
Think about what? Kayla stared at the note for a moment before she slowly allowed her mind to turn back to what Bernie had told her earlier. Now that she had had some rest and got some food, it made more sense. She had never considered herself overly puritan, certainly not when it came to other people’s relationships. She was always harder on herself, though. Always.
And didn’t she think about Shane every night before she went to sleep? Didn’t she crave to have him near her? Not just for sex. No, she wanted to cuddle, to whisper secrets to him, to hear his secrets in return. She wanted to get to know him better than she had known anybody before. And she wanted him to know her, too. He was always there, so close, and yet there was a distance between them. She wasn’t certain if it was just her or not.
The camper was suddenly too small. Too constricting. Kayla left it quickly. She walked past the tents and the students sitting around the firepit with their flashlights and beers. She wasn’t entirely certain what she was going to say when she found him but she made a beeline for Shane’s tent. There, she found him lying in the hammock, a book flat on his chest.
“Hey.” She smiled softly, her heart skipping a beat as the taste of his lips ghosted over her mouth. “Do you have a moment? I think we need to talk.”
Tyler’s voice came from the tent. “Hey, don’t ‘talk’ where I can hear, okay?”
Kayla rolled her eyes but Shane was already out of the hammock. He jerked his head and they walked a little ways outside of camp. The night was cool and clear, a relief after the extreme heat of the day.
“So… so we need to talk,” Kayla said again.
Shane nodded.
“We need to figure out what this is between us. We had sex and it was explosive. And we kissed and it was explosive. But I hardly see you anymore. You come out to the dig occasionally but you just spend so much time away from camp. I know you have business, and everything but it feels like… it feels like you’re hiding from me.”
Shane shook his head. “I’m not.”
“Well… we need to figure this out. It’s awkward and I don’t want it to be awkward.”
“Right.” His gaze dropped to the forest floor. “I understand that sex is different for humans. That you’re much more casual about it than most dragon cultures. So I don’t want you to feel like you’re under any pressure here.”
Kayla opened her mouth to ask him what he meant, then her eyes widened. She had completely forgotten that most dragons only had sex with one person. Their mate. And that if two dragons coupled, then they would be together forever.
“Oh… Shane… was that… was that your first time with a girl?”
His head shot up and his eyes widened. “Did it seem like my first time?”
“No!” Kayla shook her head. “No, it didn’t. It seemed like you were really experienced. You knew exactly what to do, at least. It was good,” she added. “Explosive. I’m not saying that it was like you had a lot of girls but I’m just saying… it was good…”
She trailed off, her face on fire.
“I’ve never been with ‘girls’,” Shane said, grinning. “Only women. But now that you’ve mentioned it… was that your first time? I’m not saying that it was like your first time, it was good for me, too. Like, really good. Explosive good. But if it was your first time, then I…”
Kayla giggled as Shane’s face went red as well. They were quite a pair, stumbling over this. She took his hand in hers and squeezed gently. “No. I’ve had men before. I only asked because, well, I know about how many dragons believe that sex is only for one’s mate and that what we had… I guess I’m a bit embarrassed by letting passion overwhelm me, and I just want to know… what you feel. What you’re hoping to get out of this. If anything at all.”
Shane looked at her for a long moment, silent. Eventually, he licked his lips and opened his mouth but said nothing. He turned away and ran a hand through his hair.
“It’s okay if you don’t,” she said awkwardly. “I mean, our lives, our cultures, are so different. Not to say that people from different cultures can’t make relationships work. Or that we have to have a relationship. I just want to get this figured out. You know?”
“I do know.” His voice was low. “I told you I don’t have a clan. That my mother was ejected from hers for keeping me. Well, she never made Tyler and me think that sex had to be only between mates. The clan she was from, it’s not part of their culture. It’s not something I ever thought.”
“Oh.” Why did hearing that disappoint her? She dropped her gaze and tried to laugh it off. “Well, I guess that’s a good thing. No pressure on either of us, right? I mean, it’s not like sex has to mean that we’ll be together forever and—”
“I want you.”
Kayla swallowed hard as she peeked up through her lashes. “You want me?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He moved a little closer, his eyes locked on hers. “I want you like I’ve never wanted a woman before. I want you in my arms, in my bed, in my life. I want to go to sleep every night with you beside me and wake up to you snoring in my ear.”
“I don’t snore.” Kayla’s heart fluttered regardless. She reached for him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“I want you,” Shane repeated, then kissed her.
Kayla was all too happy to throw herself into the kiss. Everything else faded away until it was just the two of them in that moment. And it was all she wanted.