“Actually, I was attempting to guilt you into doing the right thing.Is it working?”
“No.”
“You’re not the teensy tiniest interested in making a dragon friend?”
“No.”Because I still didn’t know if I’d have to kill them.
“What about being a mentor?Someone they could look up to.Someone to teach them right from wrong.Good versus evil.”
I exhaled noisily.“Again, no, and whatever your next question is, no as well.”
“So grouchy.You might not be so antisocial if you had someone to talk to.”
“I’m talking to you, and it’s just making me regret leaving my castle,” I growled, my complaint not entirely true.For all her pestering, I did surprisingly enjoy myself.
And she knew it!
“Oh, please.If you hated my company so much, you wouldn’t be here with me right now.”
“I wanted to get you off the isle.”
“You could have simply dropped me and flown off, but here we are.Together.Admit it, you’re keen for the company and adventure.”
“Am not.”Even a dragon my age could sound childish when caught in a lie.
She laughed.“Okay, Mr.Grumpy-pants.”
“You’re awfully sassy considering I could eat you.”
“It’s time for a better threat because that one is truly getting old.”
“Do you ever shut up?”
“No.So long as I can breathe, I shall question?—”
I couldn’t have said what possessed me—other than arousal.But I did the stupidest thing imaginable.I swung her around, curled an arm around her waist, and lifted her.
Lifted her high enough I could silence her with a kiss.
A kiss that was glorious.
And stupid.
That I couldn’t seem to stop.
I touched her and all sense and reason fled.Need.Carnal desire.Filled me.Consumed me.Perhaps I might have been able to control this unruly passion if she’d not kissed me back, her lips pressing and sliding just as passionately.The taste of her the most exquisite thing.Her scent, an aphrodisiac.It fed a hunger I’d not realized I’d had, one that only she could awaken.
Want.
I wanted her.More than any treasure.More than anything.
And that frightened me enough I broke away from her, set her on her feet, took a few steps back.
The distance did nothing to ease the ache in me.The roused longing.It didn’t help that her expression smoldered with a matching passion.
She licked her lips and smiled.“Well, that’s one way to shut me up.”
Indeed, it was, and that knowledge might be my downfall.
