Page 52 of How to Flirt with a Hellhound
Even though it was only a little bit on fire.
Which brought me back to my flame. My flame didn’t hurt me or other hellhounds, but it sure as hell burned anyone it touched. I could control it, of course, only Ihadn’tbeen in control of it during sex. And Toby was definitelynota hellhound. I would have known immediately if he had been.
Theoretically, it should have burned Toby. Only it hadn’t. It had been covering both of us, and he obviously hadn’t felt a thing.
The sheets… well, they were another matter. They didn’t get most of the flame, since it was on us, but they obviously got a bit. I took one hand and nonchalantly patted a slightly smoldering spot next to us on the sheet. Yeah, these sheets were done.
But… why was Toby immune to hellfire? Was he immune to all hellfire, or just mine? Or was it something I controlled without even knowing it during sex? I had no idea, and I was hesitant to test it. I didn’t want to hurt him if itwasjust a sex thing.
“Dex?” he finally asked after a few moments.
“Hmm?” I answered, kissing his neck, then giving it a little nibble where I had bitten down. He shivered underneath me. Maybe I could distract him…
“No distracting me,” he murmured.
Shit.
“It’s your fault,” I muttered. Which also probably wasn’t the best thing to say, considering I felt him get stiff. I hastily added, “I can’t control myself with you. You’re too fucking sexy, Toby.”
He relaxed against me again, smelling more content. I kept running my hand along his back. Maybe I could distract him—if not with sex, then with something else? He didn’t seem terribly panicked or anything. Maybe hewouldchalk it up to stress.
“Would you like me to make you something to eat?” I asked. “I can cook for you,” I added.
“Ok,” he said, lifting his head and looking into my eyes.
I blinked slowly again. Were my eyes normal? I didn’t even know.
Toby started to extricate himself from my grip. I knew I had suggested the whole getting food thing, but really I just wanted to snuggle up with him and hold onto him forever.
That wasn’t exactly practical, though, and after a tiny tug of war on his arm I finally let him go and stood up as well. He grabbed sweatpants to put on, and I couldn’t help the growl that escaped me. He only looked over, amused, and gave me a wink.
I sighed and put my own pants on, not bothering with a shirt. Then we sort of stood there until he mumbled, “Ok, food,” and opened the door and made an after you gesture.
I walked downstairs, and he followed, so that was good. We sort of… watched each other as we went. I kept looking back to make sure he wasn’t going to run for it. He seemed to be watching me intently at the same time, and it was almost like he was blocking my exit in case I decided to run for it, although why he would think I would leave, I don’t know.
We got to the kitchen and I started rifling around in the fridge. Toby didn’t have much, so I checked the freezer next. There were some frozen burgers that still smelled good over theicy smell. I’d seen bagels on his counter, so they would work for rolls.
“Burgers ok?” I asked.
He nodded, and I started searching his cabinets and drawers for pans and spatulas and stuff. He climbed onto the kitchen island stool and just watched me.
Maybe he wouldn’t ask questions. Maybe we could just chalk it up to sex weirdness. Surely humans had odd things happen during sex, right? What was a little flame, after all? And some tail play and a dick that had a knot? Those were probably the type of things that humans just ignored and didn’t talk about. That was fine with me. I could definitely do that.
I turned around and smiled, and Toby smiled back. Good. Everything was normal. Perfectly fine. I was totally human and the flames were just… a little misunderstanding. And the tail and the knot weren’t even noticeable. Just good sex.
Yup.
By the time the burgers were almost done, Toby was up and grabbing plates, the bagels (we obviously thought alike), and condiments from the fridge. He put it all at the table, and I brought the pan with the burgers over.
He had one bagel on his plate, and the remaining five from the pack on mine. Was six burgers too many? Was that weird?
One didn’t seem enough for him, so I slid the burgers onto the baels and moved a second one over to his plate. He smiled at me.
We could do this. All perfectly normal. Yes, definitely. We had sex and I was feeding him and we wouldn’t talk about flames or anything odd like that.
It wasn’t until I took my first bite that Toby asked, “Dragon?”
I choked a little bit on my burger before swallowing my bite. “What?” I asked.
