Page 49 of Smoke and Mirrors
“Hello, sleepingsteluta,” he greeted with a kiss on my cheek.
“Hi,” I leaned my head on his shoulder. “How long have I been out?”
“Ten hours or so. You might be just as hard a sleeper as me,” he teased.
“I really needed that,” I murmured, running a hand through my hair. “I feel actually awake for the first time in days.”
“You needed the sleep or what happened before?”
“Both.” I pressed a kiss to his cocky grin, welcoming the caress of tongue on my lip. I would never get tired of feeling that.
“Where’s Hunter?” I asked.
“Checking on the kids.” His voice grew soft as he looked away from me and to the fire. “He’ll be back shortly.”
I wrestled with the thought of asking him about what I noticed between them. His lustful looks at Hunter, and the way they just seemed so comfortable with each other. Should I ask Hunter first? Maybe in my own lust-filled haze, I was just imagining things?
“What?” I said to Raz’s playful nudge to my elbow.
“I said,” he smirked, “when do you want to go see Connor?”
“As soon as possible,” I answered. “I just hope we don’t run into that bitch again.”
“I don’t think she’ll be a problem,” he offered. “And if she does show up, Hunter and I will take care of her.”
“That’s my boys,” I looped my arm through his, gazing at the flames which he undoubtedly created. I thought back to when he lit Connor’s campfire with just a quick exhale of breath. I thought it was a magic trick at first. Although no trick, my dragon was definitely magical.
“If you don’t mind waiting until nightfall,” Raz said. “I can fly us there if you’d like. It’ll be faster.”
“Really?” I lifted my head. “You want me to ride you?”
“Well, always, as long as you moan so pretty like you did.” He laughed when I smacked his arm. “Of course I do,steluta.I’d love to show you my perspective when I go on my night flights.”
“It just feels a little weird to me,” I admitted. “I mean if humans knew what you were, they’d exploit you for that. You’d be like those poor horses pulling carriages around for tourists.”
“I know,” he said solemnly. “They’d use me for that and much worse. Think of what the Pentagon would do if they got ahold of a dragon.”
“Jesus,” I muttered in disgust. “You’d be a perfect weapon to them.”
“Right,” he agreed. “But I don’t mind being your personal taxi. I trust you, steluta.”
“And I trust you,” I returned, lacing my fingers through his. “Completely. I won’t ask you about other women anymore and… I’m sorry I assumed so much about you.”
“You already apologized for that,” he kissed my forehead. “It’s in the past now. And…” He hesitated, his throat moving as he swallowed. The words seemed to fight their way from his mouth.
“Thank you for trusting me.”
I snuggled closer to him, pulling his arm around me so I could nestle into his side. Even through his leather vest I felt his heart racing. Trust was a big thing for him and I’d be sure to treasure it. I still didn’t know much about him, like why he had such a fragile relationship with trust and why he remained in the carnival at all. But with time, we’d get to know each other.
Just last night, even though it was sex, and hot sex at that, I could feel him open up to me on a deeper level. Some kind of channel opened between us, connecting us through the intimacy we shared and even now, just sitting together in front of a fire. It felt like the intangible parts of me and him molded together into some kind of one-ness.
“Hungry?” he murmured into my hair.
“Starving,” I admitted.
“You’re gonna have to wait for Hunter for that,” he cracked, poking me in the ribs. “He’s the master chef around here.”
“You ass,” I groaned, moving to jab him back before he caught my fingers with a lightning fast hand.
