Thorne
“That was delicious,” he sighed, pushing his foam container away and leaning back. “You win this round.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize we were keeping score.”
“We are. You’re down about five so far,” he teased.
Carla mock-glared at him, her eyebrows coming down until they nearly covered her eyes. “Is that so? Well, just a forewarning, but I’m ultra-competitive. You’re going down, bud.”
He laughed easily. “I doubt it. Though I must admit, if all your ideas are as good as this one, well…you might make it close.”
“Ha!” she exclaimed. “We’ll see. Chinese food is okay with you then?”
“Yes. Very.”
“Good. It was a staple growing up,” she said, her eyes looking away, at something only she could see. “My mom wasn’t around much. No father to speak of, besides a man or two who would stay over for several months before disappearing forever. I later learned my mom was a psycho and those men actually escaped, but that’s a different story. Anyway, she never had food, or if she did, it wasn’t any good. So I had to fend for myself. I learned at an early age that you could get a lot of Chinese food for cheap. I got real good at stealing money and then surviving off of leftovers for days on end.”
She smiled. “Boy was basic training an eye-opener. I think I was the most malnourished person there. The first few weeks…well, let’s just say my body had a lot of adjusting to do to normal food.”
Thorne did his best not to make a declaration that she would never go unfed or improperly fed again, but it was tough. He wanted nothing more than to give his mate everything, to sit her down at the table and feed her with meal after meal, keeping her permanently satisfied. No one should have to grow up that way, and his mate deserved better than everyone else in his eyes.
“It seems you’ve adapted well to a new life,” he remarked, resting one foot on his knee.
Carla leaned into the corner of the couch next to him. “Yes,” she said softly. “I suppose I have.”
“I understand now why they’re so important to you. I’m sorry to have dragged you away from them. I would have made less of a deal of it if you’d told me before.”
She looked thoughtful. “I’m glad you understand my drive a bit better now. But Thorne, I don’t talk about my family much. It’s a painful memory, one that I’m perfectly glad to have left behind me now. It takes time to trust someone enough to talk about it.”
The revelation that she trusted him now rocked his mind. He carefully kept his body still, not wanting to even risk moving the wrong way, in case it broke the spell being cast over them now. He could feel it coming. That moment. The one that could change the entire course of their relationship.
Or break it.
He needed to be careful and not proceed with too heavy a hand. Carla was clearly used to depending on herself, and he would need to respect that. She wasn’t ready to depend on him, not yet. But in time, she might come to believe him when he said he would be there for her. Always.
“Thank you for sharing with me,” he said softly, reaching out to gently squeeze her thigh in reassurance.
Thorne would never have thought of Carla as soft or delicate, but the way her hand laid itself upon his argued otherwise. Her palms were rough from working with her suit, and he’d seen more than one pale white scar marking her body, but just then she was as delicate as a flower.
With aching slowness, his chest thundering from the hammer blows of his heart, he turned his hand over until they were palm to palm. Memories of their walk through the park came tumbling back, like the water through the artificial rivers, bouncing and splashing through his brain. It was like spreading his wings for the first time and taking to the sky, an experience he would never forget. Ever.
And one he wished to recreate over and over again, reliving the memories with Carla each and every time. Mouth dry, he could feel his palms growing clammy as Carla’s hand stayed still, her fingers still pressed together.
This was it, he realized. Right here and now. If she was willing to let him in, to explore where things might take them, it was going to be with the tiny action of spreading her fingers and locking them with his. Everything else would follow from there, a waterfall of events and emotions that would, hopefully, lock their lives together like their fingers.
If.
Everything hinged on that one word. If she took his hand. If she was willing.
He saw her chest rise and fall as she looked at her left leg where his hand rested under hers. The muscles of her throat worked, revealing her own nervousness at the situation. Thorne longed to speak, to tell her of the unconditional caring within him, of how he would always remain faithful and dependable, the sturdy rock that she’d never had in her life. He not only could be that man, he would be, and more. A provider, a lover, and a confidant. A best friend and protector, a partner in crime and a shoulder to cry upon. All that and more he would provide to her until his dying days.
All that he could offer would be hers, and more. He would never stop improving, never stop working to be better for her. Thorne would offer wealth and a life free of sickness, disease, and full of richness and love, thick with laughter and inside jokes.
It could be hers, if she wanted it.
But as much as he wished to tell her this, he didn’t. Not yet at least. Carla needed to make this decision herself, untouched by outside influence. This was the light touch he knew was necessary, that he would have to provide until she was more comfortable with him.
Even if she did accept him, Thorne knew it wasn’t the end of the courtship. Not at all. Humans were fickle and needed time to come to believe in things that he and his dragon knew to be the utter, unalterable truth. This, in fact, would just be the start of his journey, and there would be plenty more tense situations to come.
But this was the one that would let them start that journey, and he silently urged her to take it. To cast herself free of reservation, and explore his world.
Blood roared through his system as he felt her move, accompanied by a flood of bitter disappointment as she lifted her hand from his.
No. He couldn’t believe it. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. They were—
One finger of hers remained behind. As he watched, his chest neither rising nor falling, she began to trace imaginary lines across his palm. Her touch was both a tickle and the most pleasant sensation he’d experienced wrapped up into one.
“I don’t know what to make of you,” she said softly. “You’re kind, gentle, charming, and well-mannered. Yet you also get me drunk and into situations I’m not happy about.” Her index finger continued to swirl around his upraised palm. “So which Thorne are you?”
“Mostly the first. But I am a dragon, and even I can’t predict just what that means I will do sometimes,” he admitted.
“A dragon. Yes of course. Big, black, and capable of taking me to new heights. Something like that?” she teased.
“Something like that,” he agreed distractedly, mesmerized instead by the swirling, dancing lines of her finger against his skin.
“Do you promise?”
Dragging his eyes away from her swooping finger, he stared at her face, once again admiring the soft lines, slightly downturned eyes of hard blue, and the still somewhat-shockingly short hair. He’d learned it was called a “pixie cut,” and thought the term somewhat hilarious when applied to Carla. Her height and thick build, curvaceous sides, and full figure were the complete opposite, and it was more than okay with him.
“Yes,” he told her, putting every ounce of truth into his voice that he could muster, trying to ensure she heard him loud and clear.
“Thorne?”
“Yes?” he asked, surprised to hear his voice sound slightly hoarse.
“Take me to the bedroom.”
It was the command he’d waited for, hoped for, and dreamt of. He snatched her up into his arms and carried her through the door, not bothering to shut it behind him.
While he’d intended to strip her as sensually as possible, Carla had other ideas. Greedy fingers slid up his sides and divested him of a shirt before fumbling briefly with his belt. He stood there somewhat stunned, and yet incredibly turned on by just how badly she wanted him. His mate was eager to have him, to be taken by him.
Casting all caution to the wind, he tore her clothes free from her body in a display of strength that shocked her and elicited a gasp of surprise. Momentary fear was visible in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by lust as he picked her up and pushed her down onto the bed as if she weighed nothing.
Any objections she might have been thinking of voicing over the ruined clothing were washed away by soft kisses as his lips worked their way from one of her knees to the peak of her hips and the soft skin that lay between. Fingers pushed through his hair and pulled him in tighter as he explored her, tasting her sex for the first time.
It was hot and uncontrollable. He covered her with his mouth and let his warm tongue slip over and around her in slow circles. The more Carla relaxed into his touch, the faster his tongue worked. Her eyes rolled back into her head as he slipped first one, then a second finger inside her as well, not holding back. They curled up and worked back and forth, amplifying the pleasure he was giving to his mate.
Breaths shortened and gasps became mindless cries of pleasure until her body rocked hard once and then muscles went into spastic fury as her entire body contracted and relaxed rapidly, pummeled by the sensations he had unleashed from between her legs. Thorne instinctively knew when to touch harder, when to slow down, and when to speed up. He could tell that she wasn’t done, and minutes later her cries reached his ears again, contributing to the throbbing between his legs.
Unable to take it any longer, he stood up, placing himself between her legs as she hung off the edge of the bed. At a nod of confirmation that she was okay, Thorne entered his mate for the first time.
Both of them hissed and bit their lips, the sensations near overwhelming as their brains struggled to come to grips with what was happening between them. Sweat broke out across his chest and forehead as the intensity of it all washed over him. Her tightness wrought sensations from his shaft he’d never before experienced, and Thorne knew that despite the titanic effort, his mate would get the best of him in a very short time.
“Just do it,” Carla gasped as he rocked against her, both hands sliding up her sides to cup her breasts, thumbs circling around her nipples, making them even harder than before. “Don’t hold back, Thorne. I want you so badly.”
He growled with animalistic pride as he claimed his mate, thrusting hard against her delicious body, eyes memorizing every curve as he watched her arch and writhe from the feeling of being penetrated. Thorne didn’t need to go hard; their bodies worked together naturally, and with each crush of their hips together, they moaned and cried out.
It wasn’t long before he felt himself begin to tighten. Carla could feel it too, and when he tried to back away she clamped her legs tight around his waist and leaned forward, pulling on his shoulders with her hands, nails digging into his flesh.
“Don’t you dare stop,” she said through short gasps of air. “I’m so close. Just do it.”
Knowing that his mate was nearing climax as well nearly pushed Thorne over the cliff, but he held on just long enough, and with an agonized shout they came together. Carla hooked his neck and pulled his face to her, burying her screams as she kissed him, skin to skin as he filled her with molten liquid.
His lungs heaved, driven wild by their shared passion, and he wanted nothing more than to just collapse onto his side and recover. But the feral need to please his mate overwhelmed any other desire, and he continued to thrust into her until her muscles went limp and she fell back onto the bed. Thorne wasted no time joining her, and the two spent the next few minutes competing for oxygen.
Carla was the first to recover, much to his chagrin.
“That was fun,” she said, the first words either of them had said in ages.
“Fun?” he managed to get out. “That’s how you remember it?”
She rolled onto her side, and his eyes were immediately drawn to her large breasts, the pale nipples still erect and pointed at him. “Yes,” she said lazily. “Though feel free to give me another sample. Maybe seconds will change my mind.”
He growled happily and lunged at her, never one to back down from a challenge. No matter how…hard.