Page 49 of Daring the Drakarn Warrior Lord
"Stop apologizing with words."
I blinked. "What?"
"You keep saying you're sorry. Prove it." His eyes darkened, the gold taking on a deeper hue. "Show me you understand what you put me through."
The challenge hung between us, electric and weighted. He wanted me to make amends like a Drakarn. With action.
I could work with that.
I moved closer, straddling his lap in one smooth motion. The water displaced around us, sloshing against the pool's edges. His hands came to my hips automatically, steadying me, and I felt the flex of his claws against my skin.
"Like this?" I asked, my voice dropping lower.
His breath hitched. Just slightly, but I caught it. "That's a start."
I kissed him.
Not gentle. Not apologetic. I kissed him with all the pent-up emotion from the day, all the fear and triumph and desperate need to prove I was still there, still his, still alive despite everything. His mouth opened under mine, and I tasted heat and want and something darker that made my pulse spike.
His claws pricked against my hips. He pulled me closer until there was no space between us, just water and skin and scalesand the building pressure of the mate-bond flaring hot in my chest.
I broke the kiss to trail my lips along his jaw, feeling the slight roughness where I'd cut him during our fight. The wound had already healed, but I kissed it anyway. An apology for drawing his blood. An acknowledgment of how far I'd pushed.
He made a sound low in his throat, somewhere between a growl and a groan. The vibration of it traveled through his chest into mine, making me shiver despite the heat of the water.
"Terra." My name again, but different this time. Rougher. Needier.
"I'm here." I kissed down his neck, finding the spot where his pulse beat strong beneath his scales. "I'm safe. I'm yours."
His tail tightened around my leg, the tip sliding higher up my thigh. The sensation made me gasp against his skin.
He knew exactly what he was doing, knew every spot that made me melt.
Two could play that game.
I let my hands wander, tracing the hard planes of his chest, feeling the way his muscles jumped under my touch. Down his sides, careful of his wings where they spread in the water. Lower, until I found what I was looking for.
His cock was already hard, the tip just breaking the surface of the water. I wrapped my hand around it, feeling the heat of him even through the hot water, and stroked slowly from base to tip.
Darrokar's head fell back, exposing the long line of his throat. A rumble started deep in his chest, primal and pleased. His hips jerked slightly, pushing into my grip.
"Fuck," he breathed.
I loved that I could do this to him. Reduce the Warrior Lord of Scalvaris to cursing and desperate movements with just my hand. The power of it sang through me, heady and intoxicating.
I stroked him again, learning the feel of him. The ridges along his length that became more pronounced when he was aroused. The way the flexible tip moved independently, seeking and curling. The slickness that his body produced, mixing with the water and making my hand glide smoothly.
His claws dug into my hips, not quite breaking skin but close. A warning or a plea, I couldn't tell which.
"You're trying to kill me," he said, voice strained.
"Just trying to apologize properly." I twisted my wrist on the upstroke, watching his face for his reaction. "Am I doing it right?"
"You're doing it perfectly and you know it."
I grinned and did it again. His tail responded by sliding higher, the tip finding the junction of my thighs and pressing there with seductive intent. I gasped, my rhythm faltering.
"That's cheating," I managed.
