Chapter 21 - Lex

When I put on the condom and turn around, Nic is on her side with her head supported on her outstretched hand. Her gaze is dark and her eyes are hungrily roaming all over my body. This is a side of Nic I have never seen before. When she came back to the party after meeting her ex, she just seemed very different. The Nic I made love to in Paris was sweet, innocent, shy. The Nic who is now in my bed is bold, confident, naughty. Either way, I can't seem to get enough of her.

I couldn't believe it when she almost pulled out my dick in the car with Chuck right there. It's as if she's just discovered how sexy she truly is.

"You should listen to your boss, Nic," I whisper in her ear, pushing her back on the bed so that she's lying on her stomach again. She sucks in a sharp breath.

The incredibly sexy view of her back partially covered by her long red hair, her narrow waist, the sweet, delicious curve of her ass, the tiny scrap of fabric of her thong disappearing in the crevice between her ass cheeks is making saliva pool in my mouth. I push her hair away to one side and run my hands all over the soft skin of her back. When I squeeze the milky white cheeks of her ass, she moans deeply. Without warning, I land two sharp smacks on each of her cheeks. She gasps and looks back at me over her shoulder wide-eyed.

Just as I'm wondering if perhaps I read the signals wrong, she says, "Do it again."

I let out a breath and grin. Nic is full of surprises. When I spank her again, she moans. My fingers wander down her ass, to her very tempting, very hot, very moist pussy lips. I shove her thong aside and run my forefinger up and down her slit.

"My my, Nic. You really like being spanked," I say, dipping my finger into her tight, wet channel. She thrusts her hips back, embedding my finger deeper inside her.

"No!" she protests when I remove my finger.

"Yes," I say, replacing my finger with my dick as I pull her up on all fours. I feel her walls clench around me instantly. It is all I can do not to come right away. Beads of sweat are dotting my forehead from the control I'm exercising. Dragon shifters have a remarkable staying capacity, so it comes as a surprise to me when I feel as if I'm losing control. Other than Nic, nobody has ever made me feel like I was losing control. Perhaps that should tell me something, but my brain is enveloped in a fog of pure lust.

When I begin to move inside her, it feels as if I have died and gone to heaven. It hasn't been all that long since Paris, but every night without Nic in my bed has been one night too long. She begins to move as well, matching my rhythm perfectly.

She shouts my name when she comes. Her walls are squeezing me tight.

"Nic, you're making me lose control," I say, grinding my teeth. She just looks over her shoulder and smiles. The sultry smile pushes me over the edge.

"You know what you are? A temptress. A siren," I say, collapsing on top of her, but supporting most of my weight on my elbows.

Her face is buried in the pillow, but I can see the corner of her mouth lift. I kiss her cheek, pull myself out, and head to the bathroom to get rid of the condom.

To my surprise, Nic joins me in the bathroom after a few seconds. She is still wearing her lacy thong and her golden stilettos. I feel myself going hard again.

"I thought you might do that," she says, grinning at my rapidly hardening dick. She turns around and bends over to remove her stilettos, giving me a fine view of her gorgeous ass and her long, long legs. Once she's gotten rid of her stilettos, she turns to face me again. Very deliberately, she slides her thongs down her hips and steps out of them. Then she picks up her thongs and twirling them around her finger, walks to me till our toes are touching.

"Will you wash my back?" she whispers against my lips, smiling.

"Gladly," I say before claiming her mouth.

Soon, I turn the shower on, drenching us both in hot water. My dick hardens painfully as I watch Nic turn her head up towards the shower, letting the water cascade over her naked body. I squeeze a large dollop of the body wash on my palms, then let my hands run all over Nic's gorgeous curves. She does the same. Our bodies are rubbing against each other as we wash the soap off.

I have to have her now. I lift one of her legs up and wrap it around my waist. When I push her back against the wall, she wraps the other leg around my waist.

"You're making me lose my mind," I say, supporting her weight on my forearms. "Let me get a condom," I say trying to step away.

"I'm on birth control," she says, holding on tighter to me. "And I'm clean. Had myself tested after Manuel. And you're the only one I've been with since. Take me, Lex," she says, nipping my jaw.

"I'm clean too. I don't really sleep around much, but get myself tested every three months nonetheless," I assure her. "You sure you want to do this?" I ask, licking my lips. She nods.

I need no further urging. I have never had sex with a woman without using a condom. It blows my mind to make love to Nic this way. I can't imagine doing this with anybody else. My dragon is growling inside me, trying to make me claim her as my mate. But despite the haze of lust, I'm still able to exercise restraint. I feel as if Nic can see that I'm holding back, but what choice do I have?

After long moments, we reach our peaks simultaneously and slide bonelessly to the floor. I turn the shower off. Nic puts her arms around me. I hold her close, unwilling to be away from her even for a second. I might not claim her as a mate, but I can't pretend that I'm doing this to get her out of my system. But how far am I willing to take it?

"So how do you do it?" Nic asks, tracing circles with her fingers on my wet chest. Her question breaks my train of thought. Hot steam from the shower is all around us.

"Do what?"

"How do you recover so fast? I admit that I haven't dated a lot of guys, but I asked Penny and she swears that no guy can recover within literally seconds like you do."

"You talk to Penny about our sex life?" I ask in order to divert her attention from the question. There's no way I can tell her what I am.

"Well, girls talk. I'm sure guys do, too," she asks, grinning up at me. But I noticed the brief clouding of her eyes before she forced the light back into them. She's seen through my ruse.

"Guys do talk, but we never go into the minutiae. Let's get you dry so I can devour you again."

"No!" she says on a laugh. "You keep your hands away from me for the next hour."

I only grin and scoop her up into my arms. I wrap her up in a soft terry cloth robe and wrap one around myself as well, then carry her back to the bedroom. Nic feels so right in my arms.

Just as I am putting her down on the bed, I hear a growling noise emanating from her stomach. She presses her hand to her stomach and giggles even as her cheeks are tinged with rose.

"Did you have anything to eat at the party at all?" I ask.

"Some hors d'oeuvres from the passing trays," she shrugs.

"We have to remedy that."

I lead her by the arm out of the bedroom, down the stairs, into the living room, and then into the kitchen. Her head keeps swiveling right and left as we move through the penthouse.

"You've got a great place here," she says, sitting on one of the tall stools on the kitchen island. I walk to the refrigerator and pull out a couple of eggs, a stick of butter, some cheese.

"First let's get some food into you. Then I'll give you a tour." Within a few minutes, I whip up a decent cheese omelet. I slide the plate in front of her

"That's what you said before you carried me off to your bedroom and ravished me," she pouts. "Not that I minded it very much. I might have even liked it. A lot. I like having sex with you, Lex. I don't want us to stop having sex," she says, suddenly looking vulnerable. I want to gather her up in my arms and promise her the world. But I can't.

"I like having sex with you a lot too. So I guess we'll keep doing it," I grin, trying to keep the conversation lighthearted.

She nods, running her fingers over the gleaming walnut wood top of the kitchen island. I bite back a sigh, wishing I could tell her everything.

"Nic, I like you a lot. If things were different, we could have tried our hand at a real relationship. But I can't have a relationship. I have never had a relationship."

"Why?"

"It is too risky."

"You've said that before."

I take her hands in mine and look deeply into her eyes.

"It's true. I'm doing it for the both of us," I say emphatically, but I realize that I'm trying to convince myself more than her. The talk with Mom and Dad has me questioning whether I am doing the right thing after all.

You're not doing the right thing. She belongs to you. You belong to her, my dragon pleads. I shake my head subtly. I can't have him influencing my decisions right now.

"What I'm trying to say is you mean a lot to me. I have never felt so emotionally close or physically attracted to any woman before. But I absolutely cannot let you believe that we might have any sort of future together. I never intend to get married."

Her shoulders slump and the corners of her mouth turn down for a microsecond. Then she looks up at me with a bright smile, sitting up straighter on the stool.

"You know, I'm the exact opposite. I want to get married. I want to have kids. I want to be in a committed relationship."

I sigh and rub a hand over my face. I guess I'm never having sex with Nic again.

"But, I can't keep myself away from you, Lex. And the sex is phenomenal. So I say we keep doing this till one of us horribly breaks the other person's heart and we can't stand the sight of each other," she says with a wry smile.

"Sounds like a plan! Now eat up."

Although it seems as if we have come to an arrangement that suits both of us, it doesn't sit well with me at all. I know Nic was only joking when she said we'd come to hate each other, but I feel my stomach churn uncomfortably. Could it really happen? Could Nic begin to hate me? Just thinking about the possibility is making my dragon go berserk. His fear is affecting me as well. My heart begins to beat faster and my palms have gone sweaty.

"Are you alright?" Nic says, looking at me with concern.

"Yes. Yes. I think I'm hungry as well," I say weakly. "Do you mind sharing?"