A smile warms his expression. “Deal.” He spreads a blanket from his pack on the ground beside the fire and sits cross-legged. He shuffles the cards.
“The use of luck is strictly prohibited,” I clarify.
He hands me the cards. “Agreed. You deal.”
His gaze holds an edge as I shuffle the cards a few more times and then deal. I place the deck in the space between us.
Everything about this situation reminds me of the poker lessons Seven used to give me. They started when I was around eleven, I think, with him showing me the different poker hands and their rankings. Over the years, our lessons turned into games, and those games turned into dates.
I look at my cards. I’m one short of a straight flush, queen through nine of clubs. He tosses two cards and draws. I toss one and grin when the king of clubs fills my hand. Our eyes lock and I tip my hand. He whistles and shows me his full house.
I’ve won.
His smile fades as he stares at my winning hand. “All my luck is worthless when it comes to you,” he mumbles.
“What?” I heard him well enough, but my mind replays my dream. Hadn’t he said something similar? A chill runs along my spine.
“Nothing.” He pulls his knees into his chest and turns toward the fire. “You win. I owe you a favor. Joke’s on you, I would have given one to you anyway.”
He looks vulnerable, so vulnerable I can picture his heart on the ground between us. Was that what my dream was about? On some level, did my subconscious see what’s been in front of me all along, since the moment I returned to Dragonfly? The boy who once was my best friend and then my first love, the man with all the luck in the world, was still unable to win against his circumstances.
I stack the cards between us but can’t stop looking at him. What happens in Shadowvale stays in Shadowvale. There are no cameras here. No prying eyes. If there’s one place I can safely explore my feelings for Seven, it’s here and now.
I’m probably going to regret this.
Crawling forward on my hands and knees, I press my lips to his.
ChapterTwenty-Six
Luck has nothing to do with success. —Diego Maradona
Seven kisses me back without question, and he drags me onto his lap, supporting my back with a firm hand. My eyes close. This feels right. His kiss is soft and warm, a thorough worshipping of my lips within the fire’s crackling glow.
My hands move to his face, the prickle of his stubble fascinating me. I trace my fingers behind his ears, drag my nails through the short hair at the back of his neck. The touch seems to ignite something within him. His fingers wrap around my neck, his thumb stroking the front of my throat. I open wider for him, welcoming him in. He growls his pleasure into my mouth.
That’s when I feel that dragon he carries within him come to life. Luck rises in the air around us, a hot coiling purr that makes me tremble as it brushes my skin.
“Is this okay?” he asks softly.
“Yes.” I can’t deny this any longer. His kiss holds the promise of intense pleasure. It’s been so long since I’ve been with anyone. So long since I’ve been touched. It’s time we had the night we were supposed to have all those years ago. “I need you, Seven, please.”
When his lips meet mine again, they bring a current of luck like I’ve never felt before. My blood bubbles in my veins, hot and light. Tingles slide between my breasts and out to the tips of my nipples, tightening the sensitive flesh. Effervescent heat rushes between my legs, teasing the bundle of nerves there until I ache with need for more. I gasp and he moves his kiss to my neck. I can’t catch my breath. His hands work under my shirt and find my breasts, rolling their tips between his thumb and forefinger, even as his luck fizzes electric under the skin there.
“Breathe, Sophia,” he says, and I realize I’m holding my breath. I blow out a shaky sigh and meld into his chest.
“This won’t do.” His hands circle my waist, and then I’m being lifted. My legs wrap around his waist of their own accord. Gods, in this position, his hard cock rubs against my center in a way that draws that hot tingle south, eliciting a moan that he captures in his mouth. With a grace no human man could accomplish, he gets to his feet, carries me into the cave and through the mouth of our tent, where he kneels on the pallet he’s made there. A small lantern he’s hung from the ceiling of the tent casts the space in a dim light.
“Up.” I lift my arms. His hands are under my shirt again, and he tugs it over my head and off me. I arch into the heat of his mouth as it finds where his hands left off, teasing my nipple through the lace of my bra. Anticipation shoots through me, the tight grip of his fingers stoking my internal fire. Any attempt my thoughts make to surface are forced down by a primal instinct to give myself over to him.
A firm touch traces along the center of my back, and he unhooks my bra, casting it aside. His eyes are a hot, molten green, as if someone had melted down emeralds and mixed them with moonlight. Luck sizzles against my skin, that invisible, purring dragon winding around my neck, around my arms, between my thighs.
“Show them to me,” he commands in a deep voice, all grit, that reverberates at my core, leaving me breathless. My wings unfurl. Ah, the feeling is heavenly, like letting go, like falling. He strokes each wing appreciatively, gentle and teasing at the tips, adjusting to a deep massage when he reaches the sensitive area of my back where they join the rest of my body. I lean into his touch and he sucks one of my nipples hard. Oh gods, my body hums for him like a musical instrument.
He draws back and places a hand between my breasts, pushing gently. I lean back onto my elbows so he can see me, and his fingers trace slowly over my stomach. His luck follows his gaze as he takes me in, luck, like effervescent velvet, teasing my flesh lower and lower until the ache between my legs is an exquisite torture. I tip my head back and pant. If he keeps this up, I’m going to come before he even touches me below the waist.
“Not yet. Not before I taste you.” It’s a command, and his luck draws back. I desperately want to chase after the feeling, but he casts a wicked grin in my direction. “Have a little patience, Sophia.”
He pulls my boots off one by one, then makes short work of my zipper. My pants and everything underneath come off next. He’s still fully dressed, and I reach for his fly, but he dodges my touch. “Not yet. Lean back.”
