Chapter Six
Bryant
It took a lot of self-control not to say anything else in the elevator. His fingers drummed on the little railing that circled the room. Words pushed at his lips but he was determined he wasn’t going to say anything until they were assured of privacy. Her rudeness notwithstanding, he didn’t want to embarrass her more than she had already embarrassed herself. Not an easy task when he was inwardly seething.
How dare she?
How dare she come running after him and start babbling about STDs when a simple ‘we need to talk’ would have cleared up everything. What must Camille be thinking of him right now? Shaya’s sister, and like a little sister to him. Clearly, Esther thought that he had been planning to have a night of passion.
Part of him wanted to pump his fist in the air and shout hallelujah. It was clear that she was jealous and that shouldn’t have been making him feel as happy as he did about it.
Everything else that Esther had done, however, was combatting that ill-timed happiness with the simmering rage that he knew he should feel. How dare she presume that all he was was a skirt-chasing jackass that would betray his wife, however much the marriage wasn’t real. Would she even believe him if he told her who Camille was? No, he decided. She had already made up her mind and didn’t want to change it. And like he had told her, they weren’t really married. Legally, sure, but that wasn’t binding in the sense that mattered. Just words on a piece of paper. Nothing about the feelings of the heart.
He led her to the roof and turned to her. His heart lurched when he saw tears glimmering on her face. Was she really so hurt by what she thought he had been doing? He reached for her, almost unconscious of the movement, wanting to ease her pain.
She stepped back and glared at him. “Well?”
“Well… what?”
It was the wrong thing to say. Her eyes hardened. “Well, are you going to give me my annulment?”
I don’t want to annul it. “Our relationship is complicated—"
“No. It’s really not.”
“Yes, it is.”
Esther scowled at him as her glasses slipped down her nose. Apparently, she needed new ones that actually fit. “Exactly how is it complicated other than your reason not to seek an annulment which, by the way, still makes no sense to me.”
He stepped in a little closer. “It's complicated because whether or not you want to admit it, there was a reason why you married me that night. You want me. You want my hands in places no man has ever touched and you want the taste of me on your lips and the soft sounds of your moans to fill my ears as I lap at you. And your cry of pleasure as I take your virginity.”
She gaped at him. A red flush rose up her neck to stain her cheeks as she just stared as though she had never been so shocked-and aroused-in her life. Bryant almost apologized. He hadn’t meant to be so crude. In truth, he had just named what he wanted from her. But the look on her face and the faint aroma of arousal that wafted towards him was too much. He seized her around the waist and crushed his lips to hers.
For a split second she melted into his embrace. Then she went rigid and pulled herself sharply away. As he opened his mouth to apologize, her hand whipped across his face.
“Oh!” Esther clapped both hands over her mouth. Then she dropped them and pointed accusingly at him. “N-no! You don’t get to just grab me like that. I don’t care what sort of sick game you think this is, but I’m not playing!
Bryant rubbed his face. “You hit me.”
“Defending myself against an unwanted kiss.”
“You wanted it.”
Esther put some distance between them. “Do you know how much like a rapist that makes you sound?”
Bryant opened his mouth to tell her that she had wanted it and he could smell her heightened arousal but stopped himself. She was right. There was clearly a mind/body division going on with her and he had no right to just grab her like that. “I’m sorry.”
Esther hmphed and looked away. “I don’t want you. Well, maybe I do, but my hormones don’t control me. I’m not throwing away something so precious on a guy like you. Hit ‘em and quit ‘em. You’re only looking at me as a challenge, aren't you?”
Bryant shook his head.
“You are. Dragons only have one mate and yours died, so there is no way you want anything permanent with me.”
Bryant tensed. His flames scorched his belly as they flared higher, both at the accusation and the reminder. He wasn’t so sure why these feelings kept crowding into his body, but one thing was certain. This had to end. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something that he was going to continue with. His chance at real love had died and he wasn’t going to let himself get sucked into a shallow, hollow replacement.
“I did have my mate,” Bryant said. His voice was low and furious. “I had her, and I loved her, and I thought she was going to be with me for the rest of my life. Every time I am with a woman, I see her face. I pretend that they’re her and for a moment it doesn’t feel like my heart was ripped from my chest. But then the moment is gone and so is she.”
Esther’s eyes widened.
He’d said too much. Revealed too much of himself. “And you’re nothing but a prickly virgin who denies what you want because you, what, think that sex is special? Think that having more than one partner makes it less enjoyable? Give me an experienced girl any day of the week over a nervous, uptight virgin.”
Her face darkened again. Her hands clenched and she shook her head. “You think you’re the first guy to insult me over what I decide I do with my own body? Your grief doesn’t give you an excuse to be an utter asshole to everybody else. Do I think sex is special? I think it can be. I think that an emotional bond is far more important than anything else, and I’ll have that when I marry. I’ll know it’s real and not just some guy trying to get me into bed. Like you, wanting to pretend that I’m someone else.”
Only he didn’t. He didn’t want to pretend that she was Shaya, he wanted to look into her beautiful dark eyes as he made love to her, he wanted to whisper her name over and over and be with her. And that frightened him as much as anything else.
“Whatever,” he said gruffly. “We’re done talking.”’
The door to the roof opened. A curvy, strong-bodied woman charged into the space between them and held up a canister of bear spray, pointing it towards Bryant. He fell back a step. He might be a dragon with a good tolerance for heat, but that didn’t mean he wanted to get an eyeful of that stuff.
“Get back!” the woman shouted. “You can’t go around threatening people like that!”
“He’s not threatening me, Kayla.” Esther snapped and forced her to lower her arm. “He and I were talking. And what are you doing pointing bear spray at people? You know that’s illegal, right?”
Kayla grimaced. “It’s not illegal if he was actually threatening you.”
“I can handle this on my own. Just… go back downstairs and I’ll come down in a little bit.”
Kayla stepped toward the door, then hesitated. “Maybe you should both come and talk in public.”
Bryant rolled his eyes. What did she think he was going to do, hurl Esther off the side of the building? He wanted to snap at her to mind her own business, but the truth was that they were done talking. There was nothing else to say. He couldn’t give Esther her annulment and she wouldn’t understand why. Any further discussions would just end up in a bigger fight.
“I have to go,” he said, stepping for the door. “I’ll talk to you later, Esther.”
“No, you can talk to me now. And Kayla, just go back downstairs!”
Before any of them could say anything else, there was a rush of wings. A dragon sprang over the edge of the building. He shifted mid-flight and landed lightly on the building. He brushed shaggy black hair from his eyes and grinned at Bryant.
“Shit. Dunn.” Bryant rolled to the balls of his feet, glowering at his rival.
The two women made choking noises. Kayla burst out. “Put some clothes on!”
The dragons ignored her as they started to circle each other. The last time they had met, Dunn had nearly ripped one of his wings off. He wasn’t going to let himself get caught off-guard like that again. Dunn grinned at him, as if they were old friends instead of the bitterest of enemies. Bryant’s flames rose higher, yearning to be released into the face of this son of a jackal’s hind leg.
“I was at the justice of the peace the other day,” Dunn said. “Guess what I saw? It was the darnedest thing. There was you and there was her.” He gestured with his chin at Esther. “She was all dressed in white and you were kissing. Such a cute couple… and then I thought, hmmm… this could be fun. I let it stew a couple days but I haven’t seen you go back to annul your marriage… do you love her, Chandler? What would Shaya think? Oh, well… maybe you’ll be able to protect this one.”
That did it. Bryant didn’t care about what sort of plot he had or what he was doing here. He just wanted to rip that smug smile off his face and burn Dunn to the ground. He threw himself forward with a howl. He was never going to get his hands on Esther, never going to hurt another person that Bryant lo—
The scent of hot peppers and oil burst into the air as Dunn dodged to his left, charging at the women. A blast of spray hit him in the eyes and he wheeled back, howling with pain. Bryant drove a fist into the other dragon’s stomach, but even that brief moment was enough for him to get his mind back in its right spot.
Dunn was a stronger dragon than he was. There was no point in arguing that fact. And if they fought, in this limited space, the chances that one of the women would get hurt was too high. Bryant shifted and grabbed the two women. He held them close to his chest as he sprang from the rooftop.
It was only after he became aware of Kayla screaming that they were being kidnapped that he realized he’d made another mistake.
Too late now, he thought grimly. His career was over, Dunn would see to that. So, in the meantime? He held the women tighter and just flew.