Page 18 of Tempt the Dragon
“What? Why?”
“Because I said no.”
“You’re being an ass, Aiken. I can’t wear your jacket because I won’t see the world through your narrow dragon vision.” And adopting his vision of who and what she should be meant giving up the person she’d been forcedto become on her own. Losing any piece of herself to be with him wasn’t a pill she’d ever been able to swallow.
“You’re not wearing my jacket because you’re not getting out of this car to walk two blocks to get a candy bar and soda. It’s freezing outside and you’ve buried all of your Drakon senses so deep your teeth have been chattering for the last ten minutes.”
He wasn’t wrong, but thatdidn’t mean she had to like any of what he’d said. “Okay, so that means the gentlemanly thing to do would be to give me your damn jacket. Or you get out of this truck and go buy me a candy bar and soda.”
Every word was spoken with the heat of anger building slowly within her. Aiken would know he was pissing her off and the idiot wouldn’t care. Still, when she turned to see him staring at herthrough the only eyes she’d ever seen like his, she wasn’t prepared for the jolt of desire that thumped in her chest. The brown of his eyes now appeared in slashes as a fiercely bright orange wavered through the orbs. What did he see when he looked at her through his dragon eyes now? Was it the same intense passion and longing he’d once told her he saw before? That thing that he’d sworn had beenhis first signal that she was the woman for him?
“You’re a dragon. That’s the equivalent of all the heat in all the realms. Damn, you’re stubborn!” Reaching back behind the seat, he yanked the zipper on that bag and pulled out a jacket.
When he tossed it at her, she caught it, accepting his agitated tone as a reason to discontinue thoughts about how Aiken felt about her now, because noneof that mattered anymore. She had no idea when or why he held on to the other end of the jacket, but when she went to put it on, he tugged at it so that her body leaned in partially over the console.
And just like that her thoughts were back to straddling him, kissing him, all the physical things they’d done together and how wonderful they’d made her feel back then. “What are you doing?”
“What are you doing, Mel? You’re irritating the fuck outta me and turning me on all at the same time and it’s driving me crazy. Why the hell can’t I stop wanting you?”
So, he did still see the passion between them, and from the irritated tone of his voice he didn’t like it any more than she did. Now, she was confused—did she want him to want her? Or was this entire situation a big-ass messthat was bound to eventually blow up in their faces? His mini tirade ended when he dropped the jacket and cupped her face with his hands.
“Do you know the answer to that? Or do you have some flippant remark that’ll make this burning deep inside me go away? Because I’m not cold, Mel. I’m hot. I’m fuckin’ burnin’ to be inside you.”
And she was speechless. Something that didn’t normally plagueher, but there was a first time for everything.
“I...” She cleared her throat. “I don’t know what to say.” That was the honest truth. She didn’t know what to say to the intensity of his words or the desire that streaked through her simply because his hands were on her face. It’d never felt this strong and potent before.
“Don’t say anything,” he snapped. “Just close your eyes.”
Shedidn’t immediately comply with his demand, and he frowned.
“Close your eyes, Mel.”
It was probably futile to keep fighting him, especially now that he was touching her, because for some odd reason, that touch was doing something to her. Dismissing that anomaly, she closed her eyes.
“I want you to focus on two things: my voice and what it makes you feel. Voice and feel, that’s all.”
Figuring he didn’t want her to speak since that hadn’t been specified, she only nodded. What he was trying to prove with this little exercise she didn’t know, but she couldn’t pull away. It was like something kept her rooted to that spot, in that position.
He waited what seemed like an eternity before he spoke again. “I miss kissing you awake in the morning.”
She wasn’t a morning person.Jumping up out of his bed at six this morning had been an act of preservation because she hadn’t wanted to face him in his bedroom again after their kiss. Now, a featherlight touch of his lips landed on her forehead. Another one on the tip of her nose and then one on her chin.
That’s exactly how he used to rouse her from sleep. It was what she remembered most about being with him, those hazysoft moments when his touch was all that she needed to remind herself that she was no longer alone.
“I miss arguing with you over what we were having for breakfast because you preferred omelets to oatmeal.”
Right again, but did the smooth timbre of his voice have to run along her skin like warm oil?
“He misses you too.” She stilled at those words. “There hasn’t been one night, notone in eighty years, Mel, that he hasn’t wanted you. The reminder some nights is the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt. To the point where I almost want to beg for death.”
Instinct told her to pull away. To grab that jacket and get out of this damn truck. Away from Aiken again, for good. That’s what she needed. Yet, she didn’t move a muscle.
It held her still. That foolish beast thatwas usually so good at obeying her “stay away” command was daring to make itself known as if answering to Aiken’s call. If she could just open her eyes and break whatever spell this was moving over her, all would be right again. But she couldn’t. She felt her eyes moving, trying desperately to open and to cut this connection, but it never happened.
“Do you feel that, Mel? Its urgency and determination.How can you continue to fight this?”
Because she had to. Heritage was just a word. It wasn’t a living part of her as it was with him and so it couldn’t rule her. It wouldn’t take all her choices away just because he said it could.
