“Come on,” I croaked.
His amusement faded, and he nodded, dropping his arms to his sides. As we headed for the palace, his knuckles brushed mine by accident, or not, and I groaned.
I whispered to us both, “Only five days left.”
Chapter
Sixteen
Do not allow singing unless it’s praise. Even then, only in tune.
-Humaning for Beginners: A Dragon’s Tale of Human Management
DAY THREE
The dragon used my brain like a mouse used a wheel, running, running, running. Restless, snarling, relentless. I tossed and turned for hours, sheets tangled around my legs, sleep an impossible dream. Across the room, Taron wasn’t faring any better. He lay on a floor-pallet and shifted constantly, exhaling frustrated huffs that kept the air thick and electric.
When the first streak of sunlight dared sneak between the curtains, he groaned.
“Can we stop pretending to rest now?” he muttered.
“Ja, please.” I flopped onto my back, exhausted by sheer consciousness. I rubbed at the tender space between my neck and shoulder. Whatdoyouknow, Iwassore from ourbit of sparring. “What do you want to do today?” I grumbled.
“Not thinking would be nice,” he said, tracking my movements.
“First problem: if we can’t think, we can’t come up with something to do to not think.”
“Thankfully, I already have an idea.” Taron rose, all disheveled and broody, his hair mussed, his stubble darker, his jaw tight. The effect? Devastating. He was fantasy breathed to sizzling life, furious at the world but ready for a kiss.
With a dramatic flare I might have laughed about any other day, he strode over and tore back the comforter from my side of the bed, as if I might not have the strength to do it on my own. Then he reached for my hand, hesitated halfway, and dropped his arm.
“You want that massage I offered or not?” he asked, voice sharp as a dragon claw.
I blinked, trying to remember how to breathe. “Ja. Even though you basically implied it’s a death sentence.” I mean, this didn’t have to signify anything. I was wearing a tank top and shorts. Perfectly normal, perfectly platonic. Utterly dangerous. “Do your conditions still stand? All business, only some of it funny?”
“I’ll behave even if it kills me.”
I shouldn’t. “I want it very much,” I rasped, betraying all sense of chill.
His stance softened as his amber irises flared, catching the light and resembling molten honey. “Turn over.”
I rolled onto my stomach slowly, trying not to think about the scandalous things his voice did to my weakening self-control.
“Tell me if the pressure is too much.” Shirtless—a warcrime if ever I’d seen one—he climbed onto the bed and straddled my thighs. His hands found my shoulders…and then I melted. “Or if you want more,” he said with a chuckle, the tension in him draining, too, as if he enjoyed my enjoyment.
“Just keep going,” I pleaded.
He was strong, ja, but deliberate. Focused. No seductive strokes. Just relentless, thorough pressure, digging into muscles that had been coiled for centuries. A moan escaped before I could stop it. My spine arched slightly. His thumbs swept along a knot in my lower back, and I felt something inside me sigh.
I never feared he might strike. No need for armor. Amid the intimacy of the moment, only peace lay between us. A vulnerable, perilous peace that did strange things to my emotions. Rearranging, erasing, building.
He could have given the act a sensual turn, and part of me might’ve begged for it. Instead, he kept his promise. Before I knew it, my eyelids drifted closed, and the ache in my soul quieted beneath his touch. All too soon, the massage stopped.
I didn’t move, didn’t let myself look back at him, just reached behind and grabbed his wrist as if it was a lifeline. Perhaps it was. “Stay,” I whispered, raw.
He hesitated. And then he stretched out beside me, wrapping his arms around me and becoming a barrier to the world. Heat radiated off him. His scent—cedar and sun—wrapped around me, too.
I nuzzled closer, burrowing into the crooks of his body as though I belonged there. He threaded his fingers gently through my hair, kissed my temple and released a breath with no hint of frustration. Only contentment.
