Page 13 of Dragon Thief of New York
“Where’s your bubble bath?” he asks.
“Don’t have any.” I hop off the counter, going over to the tub and testing the water. It’s perfect. “I don’t take a lot of baths.”
“That’s a shame. Hot baths are one of the great joys of life.” He smiles. “I’ll just use some shampoo. That should work.”
He pours in a generous amount of my eucalyptus shampoo. Bubbles immediately form on the surface of the water, the fresh scent permeating the air.
“I guess I understand why you wouldn’t take a lot of baths with a tub like this.” He taps the edge with his foot. “You should see Damian’s bathtub. It’s a Japanese soaking tub, and it’s amazing.”
I’m not sure how the bathtub of some friend of his is any of my concern, but I smile and nod. The water is almost to the top of the shallow tub and will get cold if I don’t get in soon.
I clear my throat. He stares at the popping bubbles.
“Otto?”
“Hmm?”
“Get lost.”
“Oh, oh. Yeah, okay. Sorry.” He blushes an adorable scarlet. “Thanks for letting me… just…” He pauses, closes his eyes and inhales, then opens them and takes my hands in his. “Thank you for talking with me. I’m really looking forward to getting to know you better.”
He kisses my cheek, a smidge too close to my lips to be friendly, and it’s like I’ve been plugged into a socket, electric energy pumping through every nerve ending. I’m more aware of my body than ever before, and yet oddly detached from it as well.
How can this man elicit such a powerful response in me so quickly? It’s probably just this mating bond shit, or maybe because I haven’t had a good lay in far too long, but I’m ready to jump his bones from just that simple proximity. Am I really that easy? A kiss on the cheek, a few questions, a bit of cleaning, and I’m ready to go? Actually, that’s a pretty high bar. Most of the guys I know don’t take the time to really listen, and they’d never clean my bathtub for me.
“Is that how you end most dates?” I ask, breathless. “A kiss on the cheek?”
“I don’t date much.” His lips tilt up in a smile. “How do you end your dates?”
“I don’t date at all. Remember.”
When Lincoln was young, it was because I didn’t have the time. And then when he got older, it didn’t seem fair to bring someone into our lives if they might just leave. He already had abandonment issues from his dad and all that strangeness. So, call me what you will, but on the rare occasions I went out, it was with one purpose, and one purpose only. To get laid. Which meant the few dates I went on ended with a quick fuck in a bathroom stall more often than not.
Before I do something I probably shouldn’t, I pull back. “You’re over eighteen, right?”
He looks a little offended, mouth turning down in something like a pout. “I’m twenty-three. Today, actually.”
“It’s your birthday?”
“Yeah.” He laughs awkwardly and leans back against the counter, putting space between us. “Not exactly how I expected my birthday to go.”
“What did you expect?”
His gaze flits to the bathroom door. “It doesn’t matter.”
I step closer to him, crowding him the way he crowded me in the kitchen earlier. “Do you want to know what I do at the end of a good date?”
He nods his head slowly, his gaze dropping to my lips.
“Do you want to know what I like to do on my birthdays?” I trail a finger across his collarbone, loving the way he shivers at my touch.
Another slow nod answers my question. I’m playing with fire, but that’s what dragons do, right? And I can’t seem to control myself now that we’re alone and he’s been better to me than any man ever has before. Sure, it could just be an act, but he seems so genuine and earnest. Innocent, even. Innocent in a way I’d really like to corrupt.
I lean so close my breasts brush his chest. I’m still naked under the blanket they gave me at the temple. My cheek nearly touches his as I bring my lips to his ear. “I like to come on my birthday.”
He inhales sharply, pulling back as much as he can with the counter behind him, just enough to look me in the eye. His gaze is a searching question.
“This doesn’t mean I condone what you did,” I add quickly. “And it sure as hell doesn’t mean we’re together or anything, but… fuck, I’m horny, and everyone deserves an orgasm on their birthday.”
