I shrugged, lowering my shirt. “I don’t know.”
She scrambled to pull at her shirt, tugging the neckline down instead of lifting it up, much to my dragon’s disappointment.
That thought evaporated swifter than ice in fire when I saw green on her chest.
A simple verdant line, much thinner than mine was etched onto her skin, looping up and around itself before fading as it headed downward toward the curves of her breasts.
“Oh, shit.”
The growl in my throat was unmistakable.
“Caz,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not … I don’t think I’m ready for this.”
Not ready. She wasn’t ready. Not “I don’twantthis.” She just needed more time—time to understand, to comprehend what washappening. I could do that. We would have centuries together. What was a little more time now?
“I understand,” I said, forcing myself back a step while trying to shove the sweetness of vanilla and cinnamon from my nose before I buried myself in her.
“Do you?”
“Of course. Understanding isn’t the same as agreeing or liking. But I understand.” I shuddered as she let go of her shirt, one hand still pressed to the spot my mate marks had appeared.
“Thank you.”
I shook my head. “But I don’t know if I can resist you for long,”
“Try,” she whimpered, fighting the same pull I was. “Please.”
Oh, fuck. Hearing her say that, practically begging me, nearly broke my restraint right then and there.
“I’ll try,” I ground out, clenching my jaw as my eyes locked on her neck, my fangs sharp and ready.
This wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d thought. Centuries together or not, I wanted to startnow.
“Please do.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I need you focused on finding my friends. Not my G-spot.”
I chuckled deeply. “I wouldn’t haveany trouble with that. Though I might have to spend quite some time pretending.”
Just because I hadn’t been with a woman didn’t mean I was ignorant. The citadel had a massive library and a very extensive section for women. Teenage me had learned all about sex from the perspective of women. Bawdy tales in the depths of drunken nights from the other men couldn’t hold a candle to what those womenreallyliked.
And soon I would get to put that knowledge to good use on Anna.
“Easy there,” Anna teased. “You haven’t even kissed me yet.”
I stepped forward without thinking, taking her chin in my hand and gently tilting it upward toward me. “A mistake I intend to rectify,” I growled, stroking her jaw with my thumb.
The pulse in her neck quickened under my touch. Her eyes grew large, and she shuddered with a breath.
I leaned down, inches away from her face. The fresh infusion of vanilla had my mouth near watering at the thought of finally,finallytasting her. Holding back wasn’t an option. My dragon, this close to its mate, sank its claws in and drove us forward.
Our mouths met, lips sealing tightly as she arched up into me, her hands sliding up around my neck. I lifted her free of the ground, twirlingher slowly as we kissed. We melted into one another with the perfection of the moment. The glorious press of her body to mine was nothing short of ecstasy. I could feel every curve, the firm roundness of her breasts, and everything else.
Her mouth parted under my insistence, and we explored each other more thoroughly, letting the intensity of the moment linger.
It was perfect, and I didn’t want to let it go.
So when she suddenly pulled back, I nearly dropped her in surprise.
“Wait,” she said, breathing harder than before. “Caz, wait. Put me down.”
