Page 35 of Charming the Dragon
The water soon became shallow enough for his dragon to stand and walk onto land. He found a safe place to lie down and then plucked Hayley from his back with his tail and set her down. Circling a talon in the air, he motioned for her to turn around.
“Oh, you want to shift back. But won’t you be naked?”
Part of him wanted to feel her eyes roaming his bare human form. However, Nathan had come prepared, plucked a small parcel he’d wrapped around his wing right after shifting, and shook his head.
“Oh.”
Was that disappointment in her voice?
His beast spoke up.We could just remain naked. Maybe she’ll even want to run her hands over our skin, lean in, and we could kiss her.
No, for so many reasons. We’re stranded in a strange place, with no provisions to take care of her.
So now you want to kiss her too?
Shut it, dragon. I don’t like Hayley being in the cold, so let’s hurry and shift back so we can look around and go back to the bunker.
Once Hayley finally faced away from him, Nathan imagined his wings retreating into his back, his limbs shrinking to human ones, and his snout morphing into a nose. Once he was in his human form again, he quickly tossed on the trousers he’d packed.
“I’m decent again.”
She spun, stopped, and her jaw fell open. Her eyes roamed his bare chest, his arms, and lingered on his dragon-shifter tattoo. It took everything he had to keep his cock from hardening at her admiring gaze, and he grunted. “Let’s go check out the light source.”
“Oh, of course.”
She spun around and dashed toward the beams of sunshine. Once she stood in them, she closed her eyes and lifted her face. The lighter brown strands in her hair glowed as the sun glinted off her glasses and revealed a freckle on her cheek. One he’d never noticed before.
Then she sighed and spread her arms, trying to soak up more of the light.
She looked so free, so content, so happy. Right then and there, Nathan was determined to get them up to the surface as soon as possible.
His beast spoke up.Imagine her lying on the ground, the sun dancing across her naked body, and us kissing every inch of it.
The thought of his lips brushing the curve of her breast, down her belly, and finally licking between her thighs, made blood rush south.
He quickly thought about some boring code from his last project and tamed his erection. He said to his beast,Stop it. I need to concentrate.
Again, that was all you.
Not wanting to dwell on that, Nathan walked closer to Hayley and looked at the ceiling until he spotted the two small openings. Thanks to his keen eyesight, he could just make out the sky.
If only there was a way to fly up there, but unless he could clear all the jagged rocks, it would be impossible.
A cloud must’ve covered the sun because the light dimmed. Hayley opened her eyes and sighed. “Well, it was too good to last.”
His first instinct was to wrap his arms around her and vow that she would feel the sun against her skin again.
Instead, he turned away from her and surveyed the area. There were four exits out of the enormous cavern, and two of them had signs. One read, “Compost Area,” and the other said, “Non-biodegradable.”
He pointed with his forefinger. “Look over there.”
Hayley twirled around, pushed up her glasses, and walked closer to the openings until she could read the wooden sign. “Well, that answers my rubbish collection question.” She glanced at him. “Any of these might lead to an exit, Nathan. We should check them out.”
“I agree, but not until we’re better prepared. I only brought the most necessary of items in the small pack around my wing joint. In fact, we should probably head back soon.”
Hayley’s face fell. “Do we really have to return straight away? As much as I enjoy riding on your dragon’s back, I want to see if the sun comes out again.”
He really should say no. But as her eyes pleaded with him, Nathan didn’t think he could deny her request. Hell, he probably couldn’t deny her anything.
