“No, lie to me. I love that.”
I rubbed my thumb across her knuckles. “I’m trying really hard not to ask if you’d let me track down your ex and drop him in a lake from about ten thousand feet.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. “I appreciate the offer, but Scott’s not worth the fuel.”
She was probably right. She was definitely right. My dragon disagreed.
The RV came into view through the trees, the porch light casting a warm circle on the gravel. We slowed as we reached the steps. She turned to face me, our hands still linked.
“Thank you for today.” She tilted her head up to meet my eyes. “The car, the kayaking, the dinner, the part where you didn’t let me drown.”
“You weren’t going to drown.”
“I almost flipped the kayak twice, Lucan.”
“In three feet of water. You were fine.” I grinned. “Very dramatic, though. Good form.”
She shook her head, and a smile tugged at her lips. The light caught her eyes and the fine lines around them, and I cataloged every detail. I wanted to trace her features with my fingertips.
She didn’t move toward the door, and I didn’t let go of her hand. The space between us shrank. I could smell her warm skin and a faint trace of campfire smoke clinging to her. I wanted to bury my face in her neck and inhale her scent.
I reached up and cupped the back of her neck, my thumb resting against the soft skin behind her ear. Her breath hitched.
“Can I kiss you?” My voice came out low and hushed.
Her eyes searched my face for a beat. “Yes.”
I closed the distance and pressed my lips to hers.
I kept it slow, giving her time to change her mind. She didn’t.
Her fingers curled into my shirt and pulled me closer, and the bond in my chest lit up like a flare.
I tilted her head gently with my hand, deepening the angle, and she made a soft sound against my mouth that nearly unraveled every thread of restraint I had.
I pulled back before I couldn’t. My forehead rested against hers, and her fingers were still knotted in my shirt.
“Okay?” I whispered.
She opened her eyes. They were dark and a little dazed.
“Okay.” A slow smile spread across her face. “Yeah. Okay.”
I grinned and probably looked like a goofy teenager getting his first kiss, but I didn’t care.
I stayed there for a moment longer, my hand still warm from where it had been resting against her neck. My dragon was not settling. If anything, the kiss had woken him up in a way I hadn’t felt in years.
Before Liz, my dragon mostly stayed quiet. He surfaced when I shifted, or when something threatened the quad, or when instinct demanded it. The rest of the time, he was just there, a steady hum in the background.
Now he pressed close all the time. He reacted to everything. The way Liz smelled when she stood near me. The sound of her voice when she laughed. The change in her expression when she looked at me across the fire. He wanted more. He wanted everything.
I forced myself to step back, letting my hand slide from her neck to her shoulder. If I didn’t put distance between us now, my dragon was going to make suggestions I couldn’t follow.
Liz watched me with a look that said she saw straight through every thought I was trying to bury. When her fingers finally uncurled from my shirt, she smoothed the fabric as if she hadn’t just pulled me into the best kiss I’d ever had.
I cleared my throat. “You should get some rest.”
She turned toward the steps, then paused halfway up them and glanced back. “Lucan?”
