Page 22 of The Dragon's Perfect Omega
“It’s okay,” I said, brushing the thought aside. “I was just teasing. I know you were there for themusic.” I waggled my eyebrows at him.
He looked like he wanted to make some sort of retort, but then he didn’t. Instead, he simply shook his head. “Do you flirt like that with everyone?”
“Nope. Not everyone.” My lips quirked up. “Only special people.”
“There you go, calling me special again.”
“That’s because you are.”
“I’m sure you say that to all the boys,” he waved me off, and then we reached the top of the hill.
“I can see why you like coming here,” I said, looking around myself. The view couldn’t compare to the one we’d had at Treasure Island, but it was still nice, seeing the city spread out below us. There was something inherently relaxing about standing on this hill and looking at the city and the broken swing that dangled from a tree to our side.
Zim licked his lips, his eyes darting to me for only a second before he focused on the view in front of us again. “I guess it's not as great as what you see when you're flying. But I like it."
Was he nervous? His colors, usually so bright, dimmed a little. I hated that. He was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. He should always shine brightly. Before I could even think about what I was doing, I took his hand in my own. His head snapped to me, a wild look on his face and his aura almost as red as the tone of his skin. He was going to run or tell me to get my hands off him, I was sure of it. But he did neither of those things. His eyes still fixed on me, he bit his lower lip. "What are you doing?" he asked.
“Trying to make you see how special I think you are?” How special Iknewhe was. The small point of contact was enough to assure me that he was the one. Mymate.It was hard to believe that I'd found him, but I had. I'd let go of his hand if he wanted me to, but he was mine, I could feel it.
Or rather, I was his.
Zim glanced at our hands and then around us, but we were alone up here. A stroke of luck. I was sure he would have pulled away from me if there'd been witnesses. "Your hand is warm," he said, and a small smile graced his lips. I had no idea it was possible for him to be even more beautiful than he already was, but with that smile, he pulled it off. I wanted to change into my dragon form, hold him close and take him back to the island with me as my greatest treasure.
I stopped myself from doing that, but I couldn't stop myself from leaning in and kissing him. His first reaction was to squeeze my hand, sending a little shiver through me as I breathed in the scent of his cologne—had he put that on for our date today? His lips were soft against mine. So soft. I yearned to pull him closer, run my hand through the locks of his hair, ravage his mouth with my tongue.
It took every ounce of willpower I had to break away.
Zim looked dazed. His hand left mine and went to his lips as if he couldn't comprehend what had just happened. His colors were glowing brilliantly, though, as if they were about to turn into fireworks any moment. "You shouldn't have," he mumbled.
"I know, I'm sorry for surprising you." Not sorry for the kiss, though. That had been amazing. "Don't worry. I won't do it again if you don't want me to." I didn't want to do anything to hurt Zim or drive him away. An instinct had told me it was okay to kiss Zim and I'd followed it. Now I wasn't so sure. He clearly wasn't ready for this.
That was okay. It wasn't going to be easy, but I could wait. Probably.
"I don't know," Zim said. "I... I'm not... I can't just..."
"It's all right," I stopped him. "I'm not going to pressure you into anything." I glanced at the brilliant blue sky again while I let those words sink in, wishing I could shift into my dragon form and soar through it with Zim on my back.
But I had to be patient.
I was never going to ask for more than Zim could give. My dragon nature screamed at me to claim him, but I could keep it under control. It was something every civilized dragon shifter had to learn while growing up or we'd all still be living in caves hoarding shiny things.
Speaking of shiny things...
My eyes wandered back to Zim as if compelled by some sort of magnetic force.
"Take me back to your hotel," he said.
Yesss."Are you sure?" As much as I wanted to take him wherever he wanted me to take him, I had to make certain. The doubt that seemed to hang over him like a cloud following him around hadn't disappeared.
"I'm sure," he claimed.
I squinted at him. Something about him was different from last night. But different enough?
He squeezed my hand and a pleasant shiver raced down my spine.
"Please," he said. "I need to know what it's like."
He looked at me a fire in his eyes that couldn't be denied.
