TEN
“Holy crap!” Tiana continued to gaze at the dragon. She raised a hand and brushed the tips of her fingers over his scales. They were thick but smooth. His skin felt like the most expensive leather in the world. “You can talk to me in my head.”
“Yeah. I didn't know you'd be able to hear me, but you must be sensitive to my kind. Climb on, babe. There's a great place I want to show you.”
Tiana climbed on the dragon's paw and then up to his back. She gripped the horns curling backward at the top of its head.
“Okay. I'm ready.”
Soon they were high in the sky. He didn't fly fast. Probably because he was worried about her falling off. She should be scared about falling, but she wasn't. Strangely enough, being up in the sky felt...right. Like she belonged there. It was weird, but exhilarating.
The sensation of doing something she was meant to be doing was unusual.
They flew for a long while, but she didn't mind. She loved seeing the landscape from the air. They were not too high so the jacket worked great to ward off the chill. Ker flew closer to a mountain area she was familiar with.
She'd gone there a few times when she was in college. Camping. A silly ex-boyfriend tried to convince her to give him her virginity there. That it would be memorable for her. Right. Like her dream was to have sex for the first time with rocks poking at her back and bugs crawling on her legs. So damned romantic.
Up ahead, they went farther up the mountain, past the small town she'd once visited and continued climbing. He circled and lowered until she thought he might hit the trees. Then he dove for an opening among them, and in seconds, they were landing on a patch of grass near a waterfall. She slid down and got on her feet taking several steps away.
His dragon body shrunk and scales melted into flesh. And there he was. Holy fuck, there he was. Naked. So very naked. Her brain stopped processing. She couldn't think past the fact he was beautiful. His body was corded with muscles.
Not veiny like a body builder, but muscular like a man who worked out. Her gaze ran down his pecs, to his eight pack.
Oh, good god. He had more squares on his abs than she'd had boyfriends. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She almost fanned herself but decided against it. Her hormones did the mambo as she stared at him.
No man should look that good, naked or otherwise. And here he was, not just gorgeous and super intelligent, but looking at her like she was the naked one. Her nipples ached and her belly warmed like smooth melted chocolate.
“If you hand me the bag, I'll get dressed and we can keep going,” he said with a cheeky grin. Her first instinct was to kiss him and glide her hands over his body. To feel him and finally claim him. A frown took over her face. Claim? She wasn't an animal.
Her gaze shot down to his belly, just a little furry and damn was that sexy! And why did she make the mistake of looking farther south? Why? Now she knew he was well-endowed and her body was doing some crazy shit.
Hormones were sending weird messages to her brain to hump him here and now. If he wasn't dressed soon, she might be the one taking her clothes off. That thought process made her stop and clear her head.
She passed him the bag and turned away, walking toward the edge of a small hill full of wild flowers before reaching the waterfall.
It was beautiful. The different shades of blue in the sea of wildflowers made her smile. She'd never seen anything like it. Not that she'd traveled much. She'd wanted to, oh, she'd wanted to.
But Roberta needed her nursing home paid and her kids were not the most responsible people, so it fell on Tiana to do something. The best she could do with her teacher's salary and the inheritance from her mom. The money she used for emergencies only.
She wished her mom were alive. She could ask her about these emotions she had for Ker. They were so new and scary. Mom wasn't alive, though. So it was up to Tiana to figure out what to do about Ker and his effect on her.
Marrying hadn't been a thought. Not once. Not when men didn't seem to understand her. To see that she didn't want to be pressured to have sex. If a man would have just made an effort to get to know her before getting desperate for some ass, maybe then she'd have felt more willing to give it to him.
That didn't happen. So she was still a virgin and that was just something else she didn't want to think about telling the smoking hot dragon behind her.
Don't think of him naked. Don't think of him naked. That didn't work.
“Let's go.” His voice brushed the curve of her neck and she shivered. Bastard.
As if wondering what his hands on her skin would feel like wasn't enough torture. Or the feel of his lips over hers. She hated that she sounded like a sex-deprived nympho. It was as if suddenly she remembered she'd had no sex life and he was the man to fix everything.
She walked next to him, up stone steps. He took her hand in his and a feeling of rightness filled her. She was seriously losing her goddamned mind. Why was she feeling all these things with this man? This man that until the night before, she hadn’t met in person. They’d talked, though. A lot. That counted. He’d become a friend in those shared messages, emails, and texts.
He’d spent time not only listening to her complain on not doing things right on the training, but also talk about her students and their fundraisers. He was a nice man. She needed to remember that because things didn’t start the normal way of meeting in person first.
Seriously, though, who met anyone in person first in this day and age of online dating and social media apps? Ker was a sexy, intriguing man, and her body was trying to tell her to notice him. That was all. He led to a big trimmed backyard.
“Is that,” she frowned, unsure of what word to use for the castle-like building, “a house?”
“Something like that,” he stated and continued holding her hand. Not that she minded, but they weren’t going up steps anymore. He could have let go, but he didn’t. That part made her feel all school-girl giddy and bubbly. She was pathetic.
A bell sounded and a bunch of kids came running out of the back and side doors. There were all ages, but they all had a similar uniform in common. This was a school.
Children of all ages rushed out to the swings and playground on the opposite side of the house. He guided her toward the back entrance where a young woman stood, telling the kids to be careful.
“Hi, Sam,” Ker said to the woman.
“Ker!” Sam squealed and threw herself in his arms. “How are you?”
Tiana shouldn't be angry. He was a grown man and he and Sam were clearly good friends. But damn, why did she want to throat punch the other woman and tell her to get her filthy hands off him. Instead, she smiled and tried to tamp down the possessiveness that came over her. That was new and different. She wasn't sure she liked that effect.
It took Sam too many damn minutes to stop hugging Ker, not that Tiana counted or anything, and step back from them. Sam glanced from Ker to Tiana, her brows rising with curiosity.
“Sam, this is Tiana. Tiana, this is Sam, a good friend of mine.”
Tiana stopped her brows from drawing down into a deep frown. She pulled the smile tightly against her teeth and knew she probably looked pissed instead of happy. She wanted to turn to Ker and ask if she wasn't a good friend too, but manners kept her from embarrassing herself. “Hello, it's so nice to meet you.”
Sam nodded brightly. Her beautiful freckles contrasted against the red of her hair and the deep green eyes. Sam was gorgeous. Sam had a slim build under her leggings and long sweater. She wore no makeup, but she didn't need it. Her fresh face and happy personality only enhanced what was already there. “Nice to meet you, too, Tiana. Ker is such a great guy.”
Already knew that, Miss Congeniality, but thank you anyway. Why was she getting annoyed at Sam? She'd done nothing but be nice to her. This was ridiculous.
“I know.”
Sam turned back to Ker and motioned for them to come inside. “So, what brings you here today? It's not the end of the month for your usual visit.”
“I wanted to show the place to Tiana.”
There went that curious spark in Sam's eyes again. Nosy, bitch.