Page 7 of Thrilled By Her Protector

Usually, it was easy for him and his Wyvern to determine how someone felt, but not her. She never made anything easy, and he’d been studying the woman for years. Maybe that was part of the attraction. Jennifer was this huge unsolved mystery to him. He wanted to know everything about her.

What made her tick? Why did she prefer ‘80s rock to alternative even though he was pretty sure she went to school with Caro and that female could not get off the Pearl Jam train? Why did she sometimes whimper in the middle of the night? What would it be like if she told him she loved him?

Fuck. He had to stop. He couldn’t afford to go there right now.

“What are you doing, Conny? Why are you starting with me?”

“Starting with you? Jennifer, I never finished with you,” he growled, and couldn’t keep that spark of emotion from lacing his words.

The air between them sizzled with electricity. The truck’s cabin was fraught with sexual tension, and Zircon was hanging on by a thread. Everything inside him demanded he grab the female and pull her onto his lap. Even his beast wanted him to take what she was holding just out of his reach.

Crap. This was not what he wanted. He and Jenn had been playing this tug of war for years now, but he was quickly losing this round, and he knew it. He would have to bide his time. Another thing he’d gotten really good at over the years was knowing when to pull out—metaphorically speaking.

Then again, why not?

“Fuck it,” he growled, giving in to his baser instincts.

Jennifer gasped as he pulled her on top of him, cupping her face with his hands as he yanked her down for a kiss. She tasted even better than he imagined. Like crisp Autumn leaves and hot tea by a warm fire. Kissing her was a drug, leaving him addle-brained and panting, always needing more.

Zircon was no better than an addict. Too little of her, and he might just die, but if he had to pick a way to go, dining on Jennifer’s sublime kisses was the only way he’d choose.

“I thought we had a truce,” she said once he let her up for air.

“A truce? Is that what you call it? Fuck, Jenn, you’re killing me.”

“You only want what you can’t have, Conny. We both know it.”

“I have had you, Jenn, and I want you more than ever.”

“It will pass. It’s just sexual?—”

“You’re wrong. How can you still be so wrong about me?”

“No, I’m not. You’re just stubborn,” she said, stopping when her phone buzzed. “Food’s ready. I’ll get it.”

Then she slid out of the truck, leaving him there to deal with his frustration and his hard on. Zircon pinched the latter, willing it down as he stewed in his seat. He was furious at both himself and her.

Why was she being so damn stubborn? Didn’t she know he worshipped the ground she walked on, for fuck’s sake? One thing was obvious, Zircon needed help. He needed to come up with a new plan to win the willful Owl’s heart.

“It’s just a matter of time, baby,” he whispered, before exiting the truck to grab the box of food from her.

Oh, she was plenty strong enough, but nothing in the world would make him just sit there while she did the work. He simply wasn’t wired that way. Yeah, he trusted her to be able to handle a whole lot of shit, but why should she do something as mundane as that when he could take the burden from her?

“I had it,” she grumbled.

Zircon ignored her and tossed a few hundos at the cashier, winking at the teenager and telling her to keep the change. Then, he hefted the box loaded with delicious smelling fries and burgers and started towards the exit.

Jennifer moved faster than him, opening the door as he passed by. He caught her sniffing him, and that just made his Wyvern want to roar out loud. She was attracted to him, that was the only certainty he knew.

He just had to figure out a way to use that attraction to his advantage. Jennifer was the smartest person he knew, and he was no match for her brains. But he knew plenty about her body. Hell, he’d had years to study it. He just needed a strategy to go about making her his.

Mine.

ChapterThree

Three days. That was all that had passed. Only seventy-two hours on this crap assignment and Jennifer was liable to lose her freaking mind.

She was not a teacher. Certainly not a kindergarten teacher. But that was what she felt like, trying to teach this ornery bunch of hoity toity brats how to behave in society. Every time she gave them a lesson she was met with resistance at best, and at worst, she was treated to a seminar on how Drakeinan was a better planet in all ways than Earth. It was a damn shame the inhabitants destroyed it then, wasn’t it?

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