His muscles weren’t the only thing bulging.
“Don’t be scared.” He brushed some hair out of my face. His fingers dragged across my skin exquisitely, leaving every nerve ending twitching in their path and sending a matching shockwave zipping between my legs.
“I’m not scared,” I said breathlessly, staring up into his perfect face, lost in the azure seas of his eyes as they rippled and swirled with clouds of silver from his dragon. “Not with you.”
“Good.”
He stepped closer and I gasped as his hard cock pressed against my stomach through his shorts.
“You do that to me,” he growled into one ear, nipping gently on the lobe until my head fell back.
“I do?”
The rumble of his dragon more than answered that question.
Nervously, unsure of myself and my motions, I slid one hand down his pec, over the mate mark I had somehow left, and toward his waistband.
Fingers as strong as steel wrapped around my wrist with all the softness of silk, holding me firm without hurting. “No,” he commanded, my fingertip a fraction of an inch from his thick shaft.
“Why not?” I asked, disappointment mixing with fear. Was I not skilled enough to pleasure him?
“Because,” he said, one hand shimmering, shifting, until his fingers were replaced with claws. “I am going to pleasure you first. I will show you what you deserve. The way your body ismeantto be treated. The way you have forgotten.”
I shivered as the claws gently sliced the sleeves of my shirt and down the side until it peeled away from my skin, landing on top of shorts that he had shredded as well.
Dirk’s eyes widened, filling with more silvery light as he looked at my body. I wanted to run away as all my imperfections were bared for him. The scars were invisible to the eye. The innate healing of dragon blood had taken care of that. But I felt them. I knew where they were and what they represented.
My hands came up of their own accord, covering my nudity from his devouring stare.
“No.” He stepped forward, my mate, and took my hands in his. “Not this time, Ella, my darling. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I want to see every line, every curve, every inch ofyour skin. I want to know it, touch it, taste it. You aremine, mate.”
I shivered as he grabbed his shorts and dropped them to the ground, his dick springing free, thick, hard, and magnificent. I stared at it until he stepped close to me once more.
“And I am yours,” he rumbled, lifting me into the air and carrying me several steps until I fell back into thick, plush covers.
Where had the bed come from?
The cavernous ceiling of Hollow Earth was far above me now, a gauzy haze of clouds partially obscuring it.
What happened to the roof and the citadel tower?
Then Dirk was over me, kissing me hard and then soft. I arched up against him without thinking, the small tufts of chest hair brushing against my nipples unexpectedly.
I moaned, and Dirk went rigid.
“What?” I asked, stiffening and moving so I could see his face. “Did I do something wrong?”
He shook his head. “My mate, there’s nothing you could do in this moment that is wrong. You are perfection. I only wish I could get you to see what I do. To know it the way I know it. I might fail, but I will try.”
And then he kissed my neck and didn’t stop. He moved to my collarbone and the soft skin of my upper chest. He kissed, licked, sucked on my breasts and nipples until I was a squirming pile of liquid under him, panting and rubbing my thighs together greedily.
Thick fingers slid over my upper legs, grasping just above the knee and gently pushing outward, parting them until I was completely exposed. I shivered. I hadn’t been this vulnerablewith someone since I was a teenager. And it wasn’t like this. Dirk was slow, and tender, andgood.
I cried out wordlessly with pleasure as he kissed my inner thighs, one and then the other, alternating as he moved upward, his tongue exploring and teasing all at once. Until he found me soaked and ready for him. Not just ready. Desperate.
The cry of pleasure when he licked me for the first time echoed in the night for any to hear. His tongue was warm and firm as it parted my lips and easily found my throbbing peak. I drove my fists deep into the covers as I ground against his face.
I didn’t realize how badly I needed this. Wanted it. Wanted him.
