Chapter Sixteen
Silas tried to remember the last time he’d roared, climaxed, and laughed himself silly all in the same night, and came up blank. And, hell. The night was still young.
Best night ever, his dragon puffed.
Of course, his inner beast had been declaring that every night for the past week. Not the night after the auction, maybe, but every other evening since he’d met Cassandra. Just having her nearby was a treat. Hearing her movements and little mutters in the library, sniffing her scent, and best of all, having her stop by his office to say goodnight. Every time she had, he’d fantasized about a night like this.
Not a fantasy any more. His dragon grinned.
The beast was oversimplifying, and he knew it. One night with Cassandra did not equal happily ever after. But, hell. He’d take it one step at a time.
“That tickles,” he laughed as she inched her fingers down his belly.
She snorted and imitated his voice, which had dropped several octaves. “That tickles.” Then she laughed and spoke in her normal voice. “Only a dragon could say it that way.”
He forced himself to lay still instead of rolling around. “Well, it does tickle.”
“Softy.” She sighed, pushing a finger against his abs.
He flexed. “Nothing soft down there.”
Cassandra’s eyes lit up with mischief. “Oh, no? I might have to verify that.”
She drew a box around every muscle of his abdomen then circled his navel, going torturously slowly. Her eyes, though, kept wandering to his cock. When she licked her lips and reached lower, his eyes rolled back. The second her delicate fingers touched his cock, he inhaled sharply.
“See? Nothing soft,” he said between clenched teeth.
She ran an index finger up his stiff cock, featherlight. The skin all over his body tingled as if she were touching him there too. The woman was magic.
She is part witch, his dragon murmured, pleased as punch.
Which really went to show how far gone his dragon was. Witches were supposed to be the enemy. To be avoided, at best.
His dragon huffed. See what dragons have been missing for centuries?
She tapped the tip of his straining cock then circled the head.
“Aha. Soft. I knew it.”
“That doesn’t count.”
She raised an eyebrow, obviously enjoying his indignation. “Soft is soft, mister.”
He was about to protest, but she licked her lips and looked at his cock, making his mind go blank. Well, almost blank.
Please, yes. Please, yes. Please… his dragon whispered inside.
Cassandra collected her hair in one hand and twisted it behind her neck. Just that move would have been enough to make him rock hard, but what really did him in were her eyes. Intent. Focused. Appraising.
“Velvety soft,” she whispered, dipping her head.
With her free hand, she circled his cock, barely applying pressure, making it all seem like a dream. Then she angled him slightly and exhaled over the tip.
Silas hid a groan. Barely.
“Hard,” he muttered, keeping up the game. “Definitely hard.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Cassandra said, pinning him with a naughty look.
She worked her lips against each other until they were as shiny as her hair in the candlelight. Her eyes held pricks of light, making it all too easy to fantasize about her being a dragon. Her being his.
Then he couldn’t imagine anything, because she opened her mouth and drew him in.
His head flopped back on the pillow, and his eyes slid shut as he succumbed to pleasure. Pure, gentle pleasure unlike anything he’d ever felt. Then she sucked, increasing the air pressure, and he groaned out loud.
“See?” he managed a second later. “Hard.”
She released him long enough to kiss the glistening tip of his cock. “Velvety. Now, hush.”
A good thing she couldn’t hear his dragon moaning inside. Roaring like the king of the world, ruler of the seven seas. He threaded his fingers through her hair, following her next moves. The downward bob, the upward slide. The side-to-side wiggle while her tongue circled him. She came up for a breath of air with a tiny gasp, and he peeked just in time to see her glazed eyes. His must have been the same, because everything he saw was out of focus, like those old-fashioned photos where only the center was clear. Then she inhaled and started moving over him more boldly, and his whole body went stiff.
Please don’t stop, his dragon murmured inside. Never stop. Please.
“Good?” she whispered between licks.
He didn’t answer. He couldn’t answer. He’d never felt anything so amazing in his life.
Cassandra chuckled and slid over his cock again, pumping faster. His hips jerked up at the same time, and his heels dug into the mattress. His lips moved, mouthing strings of nonsense that would have come out as sounds if he hadn’t bitten his lip — hard. He was about to lose it completely.
Finally, his dragon snipped. See how good it feels to let go sometimes?
Yes, he was starting to see that now. But damn it, he was not going to come yet. Not before he treated her to her own high.
Just as he was going to nudge her head back, she pulled away and looked at him with smoldering eyes. She’d read him perfectly, and a second later, her mouth was on his, wild and hungry.
“Just one more second,” she groaned as if she had the same vision of rolling and letting him pound into her with all his dragon might. “One more second…”
She reared back, straddling him, dragging her core over his cock.
He gripped her hips, guiding her into position. Then she thrust her hips down and cried out as he pushed up, penetrating deep.
“Yes…”
She leaned back, taking him deeper still, and started to dance over him. Her hair danced too, and a strand caught at the edge of her mouth. Her wide-open mouth that moved as she whispered in ecstasy.
“So good…”
He held her hips tight, pinning her in place as he drove upward. Watching her through half-lidded eyes. Her nipples barely moved, but the soft flesh around them swung gently, driving him wild. She threw her head back, showing him the smooth skin of her neck. His dragon immediately started calculating where he’d place his mating bite.
He stretched a thumb wide to press her clit, distracting himself from that idea.
No mating bites, he ordered his dragon.
For once, he was going to enjoy himself and not think too far ahead.
“Oh!” Cassandra cried, sliding against the pressure.
He circled her tight bud with his thumb, then pressed hard.
“So close…” she moaned, jerking over him.
He captured the view for that special place in his memory — the one with the best moments of his life, all of which seemed laughable compared to this. Cassandra, backlit by moonlight and the shadows of dancing palms. The ocean, sweeping up and down the shoreline, egging them on. The scent of her desire, filling the room like a bouquet.
“So good,” he croaked, letting her know what she did to him. Did she know how beautiful she was?
She arched backward for one more hot gyration, then hunched forward and kissed him again. “Turn. Please turn.”
Her voice was desperate, her eyes wild. They rolled in one perfectly synched move, bringing him to all fours over her body. Her legs hooked around his waist, and a split second later, he was buried deep, deep inside.
Cassandra threw her head back and cried out. Her nails raked his skin. “Harder. Please, harder.”
He withdrew, trying to control his rattling breath, and hammered in again.
“Harder,” she cried, digging her heels into his ass.
He pumped and thrust like never before. Wildly, blissfully out of control. A corner of the sheet tangled between them, and he ripped it away. The sound of tearing fabric mixed with Cassandra’s hungry pants and the creak of the bed, driving him wild. Clenching his teeth, he thrust harder and harder, chasing an invisible high. His blood rushed, and his balls tightened in one of those burning moments between pain and pleasure. Cassandra’s voice became a mindless chant as they both edged closer to the line between sheer ecstasy and—
Bliss. Utter bliss.
His vision went white as he emptied into her, powered by every aching muscle. Filling her, planting his seed deep. Vaguely aware that maybe that wasn’t the best idea, but not caring one whit.
Cassandra moaned and clamped down over him, milking every last drop from him. Either she didn’t care about the consequences, or she was as out of her mind as he was.
“Yes…” She shuddered through her orgasm, squeezing down hard on him. Her hands were tense on his rear, her legs wide, keeping him tight and deep.
Silas dropped to one elbow and stroked her collarbone as she shuddered through another few aftershocks. Watching her eyes begin to focus then glaze over again. Hearing her breath catch as each successive wave of pleasure steamrolled through her body. His cock ached as he held on, keeping her filled, giving her what she needed until, finally, they both went limp.
The sheets were a twisted mess. His breath came in wild pants. Sweat streaked his skin, but damn. He’d never felt as good in his life.
Cassandra smoothed her hand over his shoulder, and he pulled away to watch her. Her nostrils flared. Her chest rose and fell with every rushed breath. “Holy shit.”
He broke into a laugh. That pretty much hit the nail on the head.
“You mean that in the good way, right?”
She tried — and failed — to give him a stern look. “No, I’m wildly disappointed. Can’t you tell?” A second later, she play-smacked him on the back. “Insanely good, if you must know.”
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and drew him down for a kiss. A fairly messy kiss, but a delicious one that held a whole potpourri of flavors. He tasted himself along with her various essences. The sensual woman, the passionate lover, the thinker slowly going over what had just happened in her mind.
“Oops. No condom,” she murmured.
He nodded slowly. “Sorry.”
She thought it over for a moment then pulled him closer. “Not going to worry about that tonight.”
And just like that, she rolled, spooning up with him and pulling his hand into position over her breast.
He smoothed her hair to the side and kissed her shoulder. Did he really deserve a woman like this?
“Silas?” she murmured a second later.
“Hmm?”
“Stop thinking. Relax.” She pressed her fingers over his and guided them over her nipple. It was soft now and nearly flush with her breast. He circled slowly, exploring the tiny bumps.
She nestled closer with a sigh, and he marveled at how she always seemed to know exactly what he needed and when.
Of course, she does. She’s our mate, his dragon said, all matter-of-fact.
At that moment, it seemed so clear, so easy. And despite the muffled alarms sounding from the back of his mind, he let himself believe for a time. That the world was as small as the guesthouse and as simple as a man and a woman holding each other tight. He closed his eyes and counted the beats of her heart.
“Thank you,” she whispered, kissing his hand.
His mind turned in lazy circles like a bird in the breeze. “For what?”
“For everything. For tonight. For trusting me.”
He smiled ever so slightly. “Maybe I’m just hiding my evil side from you. Maybe I have a devious plan.”
She laughed. “Maybe I’m the one with a devious plan.”
“And what would that involve?”
She lifted her leg and hooked it over his, then slowly guided his hand lower.
“Oh, all kinds of dastardly, evil things.” Her voice was low and hoarse, half joke, half earnest. He could sense the lust well up in her all over again, just as it did in him.
The mating instinct, his dragon said. The urge to bond again and again.
He pulled her hips back against his, letting his hardening cock press against her back.
“Perfect,” he murmured, running his hand along her inner thigh as a second wind revived his weary body.
Third wind, his dragon joked, sounding ridiculously pleased with himself.
“I happen to have some dastardly deeds in mind too,” he finished, inching closer and closer to her core.
A second later, he was circling her slick heat and tugging her toward him. Cassandra rolled with a wicked smile. “I like the sound of that. But me first.”
He crooked an eyebrow, playing along. “And what exactly does the lady desire?”
She grinned, popped a kiss on his lips, and turned under him, her back to his chest. She rose up on all fours and wiggled her perfect ass under his hips. “This. Think you can oblige?”
The heat in his eyes grew, and the glow reflected on her glistening skin. She wanted it from behind, dragon style?
“Hard, Silas,” she murmured as if she’d read his mind. “Hard and deep.”
I’ll show you hard and deep, his dragon howled.
A little puff of steam escaped from his nostrils. Good thing Cassandra liked a wild ride.
He leaned over her from behind, twisting her hair to one side. He kept his hand fisted in it, tugging slightly. Then he puffed a hot breath into her neck, instinctively thinking of the mating brand. Finally, he kissed her creamy skin and coiled his muscles for a powerful thrust.
“Oh, I can definitely oblige.”