“My contract with Sampson is one year. I wasn’t planning on staying here.”
He reached over, but I stopped him.
“No, let me get this all out. Sampson needed someone to get things in the shop set up so he could have more time to himself and streamline things. My job is to work myself out of a job, and the terms were one year. I planned to work, save money, then figure out what came next. This was my escape plan. I needed to get away from my flight, to get away from where I knew I would never belong.”
This time when he reached over and put his hand on mine, I let him.
“A year is a long time,” he said, and I was confused. What did that even mean?
“It doesn’t feel like it.”
“A lot could happen in a year.” He gave my hand a squeeze.”You don’t have to leave then.”
Was he asking me to stay?
“Dragons mate differently, right? They don’t rush bonds.”
“Right,” I said again, and he believed me.
Or maybe he pretended to believe me.
We cleaned up, and I tried to pretend everything was fine, except it wasn’t. It was back to being awkward for me, but he didn't seem to mind. Maybe I was a better actor than I thought.
I made us some tea and brought out the cookies I bought.
“They’re good. I’ve had them before.”
“Ford, are we going to keep pretending like you don’t need to tell me something?”
I sucked in a deep breath and let it out.
“I don’t want to take you slow. I want it to go forward… with you. Thinking of leaving you physically hurts.”
“Are you sure? We don’t have to rush things. I will respect your timetable.”
“My timetable says now.”
11
ZACK
“Now?” I yanked him off the kitchen chair and held his gaze.
Ford batted his eyelashes and glanced down, but I needed a concrete answer. Marking was for life, and there could be no mistakes. Tilting his head up, I asked again. “Now as in I’m going to take you into the bedroom, rip of your clothes, fuck you hard, and we mark one another?”
He tugged at my collar. “That’s a pretty good summary, but we could add some hair-tugging and butt-slapping. What do you think?”
I rolled my eyes, whisked him over my shoulder, and smacked his beautiful ass. He squealed.
“I’ve been patient, but that’s in the past.” I squeezed his butt, wanting to have his bare flesh under my palm. “And besides, this is what you asked for.”
Dumping him on the bed, I tore off my shirt and jeans, leaving my briefs on. I put one knee on the bed, and it dipped. Damn, I never did get another mattress.
“Take off your pants.”
Ford wriggled his ass. “Don’t think I can.” He poked out his tongue and gave me a sultry look. “Why don’t you do it for me?”
“Oh yeah? That’s what you want?” I didn’t wait for an answer and undid his button before tearing the pants off.
