Page 25 of Claim the Dragon
“I’ll give you whatever you need to keep you safe.Your terms aren’t a problem,” he said over the tug of war currently taking place inside of him.
“And once you give me the money you’ll be gone?I won’t have to look over my shoulder and see you following me again?”
He opened his mouth, about to tell her yes, then closed it quickly.What if the power of the cursed dagger was what had landed her on the Reaper’s collection list in the first place?Just a while ago he’d been thinking she had two death threats against her, but now he wondered if it was still only one—the Reaper.In which case, providing a substitute soul wouldn’t help, because as long as she kept the dagger she was either under the full moon curse, or still on the Reaper’s list.
And there was still the newer issue of why he couldn’t pick up the dagger.He could have taken it and gotten out of the room before she returned, but something had stopped him.Something stronger than him or his Drakon magick.
“Is there somebody who might not like me hanging around you?”Where had that come from?He didn’t care if she was with someone, he only cared about the dagger...another push and angry scrape from the beast against the man’s skin, answered the question.
She blinked quickly before shaking her head.“What?No.No, I just don’t like being followed.”
“How do you feel about being pleasured?”
“I’m down,” she replied a lot quicker than he’d thought she would.
What the hell was he doing?This wasn’t part of the plan.He had to get that dagger away from her before the next full moon and make sure that doing so would get her off the Reaper’s list permanently.
“You sure?I don’t poach, nor do I play games.When I want something I ask for it, no strings, no tricks.”
“I don’t do this, or rather I haven’t in a long time.So yeah, if we’re doing some type of exchange, you buy the dagger and I’ll have sex with you.”
He appreciated her candor more than she could ever know.It wasn’t easy being who he was and dealing with the things he had to deal with.Straight talk always worked best for him, but in all his life, on all the realms, he’d had more than one occasion where that wasn’t what he’d received.
“It’s not an exchange.I’m buying a dagger.And we’re going to have sex.That’s it.”
She nodded.“That’s it.”
That wasn’t it.Not by a long shot.
He was beautiful naked and she must be out of her damn mind for staring at him like a hungry teenager.
Was she really going to have sex with this guy she barely even knew, after he agreed to pay her a half million dollars?Yes, she was.She’d chosen celibacy these past years because it was simpler—no men to remind her of her father or of those enforcers.She didn’t want anyone degrading or controlling her ever again.Men had a tendency to do one, if not the other.She didn’t really know Steele, but what she did know was making a huge impact—no man had ever made her feel the way he did.And for her, in this moment, that was enough.
“Come here,” he said and grabbed her waist, pulling her up to his naked body.
His dick was long and thick and pressed eagerly against the bottom of her stomach.She was not only going to have sex with him, she was going to enjoy the hell out of it.
“These have to go,” she said and reached up to snatch the sunglasses from his eyes.
Just because she didn’t know anything about this guy didn’t mean she couldn’t at least see his eyes when they got down to the real business at hand.They were closed when she removed the glasses and tossed them onto the table beside her bed.For a moment she was alarmed, thinking maybe he had prosthetics like Cree did in the one eye.But that was impossible, she was certain Steele had good vision, even something like night vision since he always seemed to show up when it was darkest outside or even in her room tonight where she still hadn’t turned on a lamp.
He opened them slowly, revealing what she thought might be root-beer colored irises, but she wasn’t totally sure.It didn’t matter, she liked them.
“And this.”
She reached around and pulled the band from his hair free, running her fingers along the soft locks with a gentleness, as if she were touching pure gold.
“This has to go,” he said, mimicking her tone.
He ripped the nightshirt off her with a few strategic tears before it fell to the floor.Her panties were next.
“I’m adding that to your bill,” she said breathlessly.
He smiled.It was quick and landed a punch to her chest with its intensity.
“Condoms,” she said before she lost the last pieces of sense she had being around him.
“I’m clean,” he answered, but looked like he wanted to say something else.
