~ TWENTY-FIVE ~

“I’ve never really given yoga much thought, but I sure do enjoy watching you do it.” Tobias smiled, tilting his head to the side to get a better look at her.

“Don’t you have something else to do?” Jessie asked.

“Nothing as entertaining as watching you. Does that pose have a name?”

“Charging scorpion.”

“It’s nice.”

She straightened her body into a handstand and flipped over onto her feet. “Did you finish your chores?”

“I did.” Nodding, he smiled. “Can you do another pose?”

“Nope.” She walked past him. “Get dressed.” She smacked his ass. “I don’t have any more time to play with you this morning.”

He turned to face her, holding his arms out to the side. “I know you’re not telling me that you don’t have time for this”

“I’m sorry. But, the sad truth is, I don’t. Not this morning. If your good today, I’ll schedule some quality time to play with you later this evening.”

“Really?” He frowned. “I don’t schedule time for you. I schedule everything else in my life around you.”

“That’s your choice,” she said. “I don’t make you do it.”

“Get naked,” he growled playfully.

“Why would I do that?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“You want to have hot, wild sex?”

“Yes. That’s a great idea.”

“Is it?” she asked.

“Yes.” He narrowed his gaze onto hers. “I love your way of thinking.”

“But we’ve already done it twice this morning.”

“That’s fine. I don’t mind.”

“You said that you did all your chores, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Did you empty the dishwasher?”

“Sure did.”

She pulled her tank top off. “What about the trash?”

“I took it out.”

She pushed her yoga pants down and stepped out of them. “Coffee?”

“Brewed.”

“And what about the bed?”

“I went in to make it, but then I started to remember how we went about messing it up.”

“And?”

 “I decided to ask if you would like to do it again. Just in case you said yes, I didn’t make the bed. I figured it would make more sense to wait until we’re done using it.”

“What’s wrong with doing it right here on the counter?”

“Are you serious?”

“Are you trying to get out of it?”

“Not at all.” He caught her waist, picked her up, and sat her down on the counter.

“Are you sure?” She wrapped her legs around his body and locked her fingers together behind his neck.

“I am positive.” He bent his head to claim her mouth with his.

She held nothing back. She kissed him deeply, passionately, pouring all of her love and desire for him into it. As always, their kiss started out gentle but quickly exploded into something much more heated and frantic. Her hands were everywhere, moving over his skin, exploring his body. Flames of lust, of desire, burned in him and in her.

“I need to be inside you.” He gripped her hips and pulled her closer, pressing the head of his throbbing erection against her hot entrance.

“That’s wonderful, Otaktay…”

“Excuse me.” Tobias leaned back to look in her eyes. “Damn it, Jessie. That was not okay,” he growled.

“Stop growling at me unless you want me to bite you.” She smacked his shoulder. “Otaktay thinks he has figured out where Allana is being kept.”

“You are not allowed to talk to him telepathically while were kissing or touching.” He paused. “Or doing anything. Especially, if we’re doing it naked.”

“Why not? I’m a great multitasker.”

“You’re not funny,” he growled. “You had better apologize.”

“To Otaktay? Why? I heard him. And I answered him right away.”

“Apologize to me for talking to him while we were kissing.”

“I like him.” She paused. “Quite a bit.”

“You want me to kill him, don’t you?”

“You’d better not. He has wonderful communication skills. I enjoy talking to him.”

“Apologize to me.”

“But I’m not sorry.” Her gaze drifted from his and moved over his solid, muscular body. “I love it when you unleash your dragon nature and go feral on me.” She took a breath and released it with a sigh. “I’ll likely do it again and again since talking to him makes you get all beasty and growl at me.” She took a deep breath and released it with an exaggerated sigh. “I wish I would’ve been around thousands of years ago when you were a stinky, hairy, club wielding, hair pulling caveman with a nasty habit of reaching beneath your loincloth to scratch your butt in public.”

“You’ve spent a great deal of time talking to Otaktay?”

“He has kept me informed concerning his search for Allana. And, as a huge bonus, he’s happy to share many fascinating stories about you.”

“He talks to you telepathically often.”

“Yes. We have great conversations.”

“He never bothered to tell me about your conversations with him. I don’t think I like the idea of you talking to him.”

“At all?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s too bad. I hate to make you feel all butt hurt, but I plan to continue chitchatting with him as often as possible. I really enjoy hearing about your adventurous life before we met.”

“You might never listen to me and obey me, but he’ll stop conversing with you if I tell him to back off.”

“Actually, proving he knows you as well as he claims, he told me you’d say something like that.”

“Did he?”

“Sure did.”

“And?” he asked.

“He politely asked me to relay a message to you.”

“I’m listening.”

“You can bite his furry ass. He’ll talk to whoever he damn well pleases. He doesn’t take orders from scaly reptiles.”

“I guess I’m going to have to kill him to shut him up.”

“Don’t get mad. I got into this knowing you’re much more than a butt scratching caveman.”

“That’s a relief. I would hate for you to be shocked and disappointed.”

“Coming to terms with it was difficult. What woman wants the sweetest, hottest, sexiest,” she reached down and gave his cock a squeeze, “best equipped and ablest cowboy she has ever dreamed of taking for a ride?”

“Your inners strength amazes me.”

She pulled him close and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Learning to be content has enabled me to keep my expectations low for as long as I can remember.”

“There will never again be a need for you to lower your expectations. As your mate it’s my responsibility and privilege to make sure you always have the best of the best. The thought of you being forced to work at being happy with less than the most excellent life is preposterous to me.”

“What do you plan to do about it?”

“I’m sure there is a club around here somewhere. I’ll find it before the sunsets. I’ve plenty of horses roaming around here. It’ll take no time to find something stinky to roll around in. A loincloth would be easy enough to conjure up. If the sight of me reaching beneath it to scratch in public turns you on, I’ll happily put it at the top of my list of chores. And, have no fear, I can cover my entire body from head to toe with hair with nothing more than a simple wave of my hand.”

“What about the hair pulling?” she asked.

“If you need it pulled every day until the end of time to make you smile, I’m the only male you will ever need to depend on. I plan to reenact a marvelous discovery I came across last night thanks to your wickedly awesome tongue and mouth. I’m sure you remember the moment I’m referring to. There’s no way I’ll ever forget it.”

“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“I was shaking and begging for mercy for what seemed an eternity and a half. Finally, sparing my life, you decided to open your beautiful mouth and wrap your lips around my cock. I’ll never know how you took me so deep and managed to breathe.” He took a slow and deep breath, and then released it with a sigh. He smiled and got a dreamy look in his eyes as if reminiscing. She couldn’t help but laugh. Then, as if suddenly snapping out of it, he shook his head. “Sorry. I totally lost my train of thought. The entire time I was caught up in a whirlwind of magnificent pleasure and, as I recall, my fingers were all tangled up in your hair and pulling it. Now do you remember?”

“Not at all. It certainly doesn’t sound like something I would ever do. To be entirely honest, the thought of doing something so naughty to you with my tongue and mouth doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest.”

It turned out, more than anything else, Jessie was thankful she no longer lived her life in a happy bubble of ignorant bliss. She never wanted to forget that monsters existed. She was glad she’d encountered vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters. She was even happier she’d met her demon. He was fully devoted to her. He loved her deeply, completely, eternally. He gave her everything she needed and wanted. And then, as a huge bonus, he gave her more by generously lasting longer and making every second a little hotter than the last.