Chapter 10

10

Yellow oval leaves rained down on Simon from above, like sparks dancing before a fire. He grinned and rolled to his back, letting them tickle his face.

In the light of day, with the fire fully extinguished, the forest worked to reclaim itself. The sky was clear of clouds and smoke, and birds chirped in the beech trees overhead.

Beech? In the Pine Barrens?

No. This was another forest entirely. He held up his hand to shield his eyes and sucked in a breath at the deep tan of his skin.

I’m dreaming. But where am I?

Before he could search his memory to see what location his brain coughed up, a dark shadow blocked the sunlight filtering through the treetops, and the beech closest to him swayed wildly.

“Took you long enough!” The words left Simon’s mouth before he had a chance to understand their meaning.

The beast landed hard on the ground next to him, sending up a shower of amber, orange, and crimson leaves. His heart pounded, but not with fear.

With anticipation.

Simon couldn’t deny any longer how badly he wanted Lilis. Wanted to kiss her until her grumbles turned into moans, to nibble on her until she shook, and then spend the rest of the day finding out what other sounds he could wring from her. And here, in his dream, he intended to see how far he could take those fantasies.

He stacked his arms behind his head, watching her shift smoothly from enormous predator to raven-haired beauty. His mouth watered at the sight of all her soft, bare skin over her lithe body.

She stood over him, hands on hips, and he let his gaze travel up her shapely legs, past the juncture of her thighs and her navel, to where the tips of her wavy midnight hair tickled her pale pink nipples. And when he met her eyes, he found his hunger for her reflected in them.

His body hardened even more, but he made no move to touch her, sensing that would drive her wild.

“You’re late,” he declared with a smile.

Late for what?

“And you’re empty-handed,” she retorted.

Simon stood and drew her into his arms. With a startled squeak, she fitted herself to him, and he slid his hands down to squeeze her shapely rear. “No, I’m not,” he whispered darkly in her ear before nipping it. She whimpered.

Since his body seemed to know what it was doing, he let it guide his actions.

“You were supposed to bring me a tunic this time,” she panted.

“Was I?” he asked with faux innocence, his mouth speaking for him again when his brain stalled. “That doesn’t seem like something I would do. It’s not in my best interest.”

A tunic? Where the hell would I get one of those?

But he knew. He knew with certainty that he’d brought a brand-new soft crimson linen tunic for her and hidden it under some leaves nearby.

He stroked his hands up and down her sides, teasing the outsides of her breasts, drawing small sounds of frustrated pleasure from her. She moved in his arms, trying to place her nipples in his path, but he continued to evade her.

“Maybe I’ll wear yours instead,” she breathed with a sexy smile that lit up his insides.

Simon laughed. “Earn it.”

Tilting her face up with one hand, he studied her lips. Her mouth parted on a whimper, and he ran his thumb across her lower lip.

She rubbed herself against his fully clothed body fretfully, and Simon’s control slipped a notch. He brushed his lips back and forth against hers, that first touch like a shock through his system. She tasted like honey and sweet fruits, and he was lost.

He deepened the kiss, drinking her in like nectar, and she adjusted her legs so that his erection was nestled between them.

She reached for his belt, and Simon gripped her wrists, draping her hands around his neck as he had when he’d helped her out of her clothes the night before. He pulled her tightly to him, fitting each of her curves against the hard planes of his body.

“Let me…” she begged.

“Not yet.” He slid his fingers across the muscles of her stomach, past her dark curls, and through her folds. The wetness there made him want to shed all his clothes and sheathe himself inside her. But he held back, enjoying her frustration. “I want to hear you first.”

She cried out in his arms as he slid one finger inside her. “You are. ”

He withdrew his finger and slipped it back inside her. In and out, mimicking the motion he desperately wanted to do with his throbbing cock. “You can do better than that,” he taunted between kisses. He needed with every fiber of his being to kneel before her and taste her, but his dream self wouldn’t obey.

And then her body contracted around his finger, and she cried out. Simon pulled back to watch the flush creep along her light brown skin, her chest heaving as she breathed, eyes squeezed shut. He almost finished then and there.

She opened her eyes again, the emerald pools shining at him with hunger and love. A love that he felt a sudden need to declare to her. The emotions were so strong they overwhelmed him, surrounded him, and threatened to drown him. He loved this woman more than he thought possible.

Where did that come from?

Before he could open his mouth, she pressed him gently backward and to the ground, straddling him. Simon’s clothing was now far more of an annoyance than before, and he arched under her. He could feel the heat of her core through the cloth of his tunic, and he yanked upward on it, releasing his thick erection. It slid against her wetness, and they moaned together.

She wrapped her hands around him, and Simon thrust helplessly into her hand.

“I won’t last today, carissima. ” He pulled her hand away. Why had he chosen that endearment? Where had he gotten it from?

Lilis smirked. She dragged herself along his length until just his head touched her. And then she sank, inch by excruciating inch, until she was fully impaled on him. Simon gripped her hips, but she lifted herself off him before he could move, laughing darkly at his protesting moan.

“You get to ride me all the time,” she pointed out. She sank down before lifting off him again. “My turn.”

She planted her hands on his chest and leaned over him, letting her hair fan around them. Cupping the back of her head, he brought her down for another scorching kiss and held still as she took her pleasure from him.

Without warning, she pulled back roughly and gazed down at him. But Simon knew she wasn’t really seeing him. Something flashed in the depths of her hunter-green eyes and her pupils slitted for an instant.

Hope bloomed in his chest, but for what, he didn’t know. Bracing her hands on his thighs, she moved faster and harder, and Simon swallowed his disappointment, focusing on Lilis and the feel of her surrounding him.

She threw back her head and cried out again, her body spasming around him with her orgasm, and Simon ground his teeth to hold off his release, thrusting upward to intensify her pleasure.

When her tremors finally subsided, Simon rolled her onto her back and took over. He plunged into her again and again, unable to hold back, unable to slow down. Her cries grew louder, music to his ears. At the junction of her neck and shoulder, he found a small half-moon-shaped wound, the angry red skin standing out against her tan complexion, and he kissed it tenderly.

With one last thrust, he came inside her, the ecstasy rocketing through his entire body.

As he came down from the pleasure, he rolled them over, still inside her, to let her lay across his chest.

“So callous,” she said, and Simon puzzled at her insult. She lifted her head to look at him, but he felt as though he were being pulled backward down a dark tunnel with her face in the only spot of light. He blinked, trying to clear his vision…

And opened his eyes to find himself lying on the ground beneath the pine trees, mere feet away from Lilis, who still slumbered in her dragon form.

It had felt so real. His whole body burned with the memory of holding her, exploring her, thrusting inside her?—

Simon scrambled to his feet, trying to think about something else so he wouldn’t be sporting a Cirque du Soleil tent pole when she woke up. His only hope was a freak freezing rainstorm for a quick cold shower.

And then there was the weird flood of emotions he’d felt near the end of the dream. Where the hell had those come from?

You haven’t slept in three days. She saved your life and then you had a wet dream about her. Don’t confuse lust and gratitude with love.

Gratitude. He certainly owed her that and more. Last night in the hospital, he’d teetered on the precipice of shock, trying to hang onto one thought at a time as his mind had alternated between racing thoughts and total blankness. He could feel her watching him throughout their exam, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to respond or engage in any way.

Until he’d seen how much pain she was in. His need to care for someone—to care for her —had risen to the surface, suffocating his fear like a blanket extinguishing a fire.

Knowledge brought him strength. The more he knew Lilis, the less he feared her. And while she still slept, Simon wanted to use the opportunity to get to know her dragon side.

He approached her slowly, careful not to wake her. He wanted her to continue resting… and he figured the phrase let sleeping dogs lie probably applied double when dealing with a fire-breathing dragon.

Her sides rose and fell gently with her breathing, dark metallic scales glistening in the morning light. Ranging in size from as big as his hand to as small as a quarter, they shimmered with an iridescent, oily quality, which shifted from pure obsidian to hints of Egyptian blues and deep purples.

Simon smiled. He’d been drowning in dragons as a child. Born in the Chinese year of the dragon, people were constantly giving him dragon-related gifts. Somewhere along the way, he’d seen an all-black dragon with a few white scales on its tail, reminding him of an all-black cat with a few white hairs. The designer could’ve used Lilis as a model.

Her wings, tucked against her back, seemed to be made of a soft, rubbery material covered in fine hairs, and she was incredibly muscular. He remembered the ease with which she’d scooped him up despite how injured she’d been. With muscles that powerful and wings that large, she had to be an extremely fast flyer.

He circled around to where her long, thick tail curled around her body, again reminding him of a cat. Her scales were smaller here.

And right along the middle of her tail were a few ivory scales in exactly the same place as the image he remembered.

His breathing sped up, tiny sparks of panic building into larger flames. How could it be that she was identical to something he’d seen as a child? And where had he seen it?

The more he tried to remember, the more distant the memory became, receding from him like the dream. Simon shivered, drenched in a cold sweat. How could she be so familiar?

Those who know do not speak, and those who speak do not know.

Simon recited the Chinese saying and took several deep breaths, reminding himself that he still didn’t know enough about her to really fear her.

He completed his circuit of her, searching for clues, anything else that might jog his memory. Her head, a little bigger than a large watermelon, rested on one front leg, folded under her, sporting four bone-like horns the color of a burlap sack over emerald eyes that?—

Emerald eyes?

Shit, she’s awake!

She watched him, breathing slowly through her nose, her unblinking stare unsettling him.

When she didn’t move, he took a cautious step forward. Then another. And?—

Her nostrils flared, and her eyes widened. She let out a puff of steam through her nose, and Simon jumped back far enough to qualify for the Olympics.

She stood upright on two legs and flapped her wings several times. Simon lifted one arm over his face to shield it from the leaves and twigs that blew toward him.

He shook his head with self-reproach. She saved you when she looked like this. She’s not going to eat you now. She’s no scarier now than she was as Patient ? —

Realization struck Simon at the same time a stick smacked him in the chest, blown from her demonstration. Lilis was just as prickly in her dragon form as in her human form. She was trying to intimidate him.

She flopped back down with a heavy thud that sent vibrations through the ground before letting out a monstrous roar.

Simon crossed his arms over his chest. “You about finished, Patient Twelve?”

Lilis roared again and opened her mouth, revealing a red-golden glow.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. He didn’t want to end up a roasted marshmallow. His pulse spiked, but he tried to calm it, masked his uneven breaths with a yawn. “Chinese. Grandmother,” he reminded her.

She turned and blew a stream of fire at the nearest pine. When she cut the flow, only a stalk of ashes remained, balancing precariously before crumbling to dust.

She tipped her head back for another roar, then slowly shrank. Black wings tucked against her back as the oily black paled to her fawn skin, arms and legs thinned and took on more human features, and the deadly talons receded into her hands and feet.

Fully human, she stood glaring at him. He was impressed with how intimidating she could be without any clothes on. From her supple body and toned muscles to her stance, Lilis was clearly not to be fucked with in any shape, dragon or human.

But he still couldn’t help glancing at the tree behind her and imagining pressing her up against it, reenacting parts of his dream. He wanted to feel her cling to him as he rode her?—

“Why are you still here?”

Simon pulled his thoughts away from his fantasies with some difficulty. He grinned. “Couldn’t sleep without my therapy dragon.”

“I can see that.” She gazed pointedly to where his erection was testing the tensile strength of his scrubs. “Not that I’m complaining.”

Simon didn’t hesitate.

Four strides, and he had his arms around her. She let out a startled squeak, and Simon waited until her eyes met his. “Are you sure?”

She pressed her lips to his, her scent of frankincense and flowers flooding him.

Yes.

His body tightened against her. She was just the type of woman he craved—confident in her own body and sexuality. Simon slid his tongue against hers, groaning at his first real taste of her. She was so much sweeter than in his dream.

And so much more demanding.

She tugged at his hair with one hand, cupping the back of his neck with the other, her little sounds of approval telling him what she enjoyed. What she wanted more of.

He cupped her backside, pressing her to his hardened length, letting her feel his desire for her, and she lifted one leg, wrapping it around his waist.

And grunted.

Something about it hadn’t sounded right. Simon pulled back to search her face, concern for her dousing his arousal when he saw her features scrunched in pain.

“Lilis?” Apprehension churned in his gut.

“Mm.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, shook her head, and let out an embarrassed laugh. “I… uh… I’m sorry, Simon. I can’t right now.”

She shivered, and he slid his hands back up her body and wrapped his arms around her. Just holding her, with no demands. “You don’t have to.”

She opened her eyes, and he smiled reassuringly and kissed the tip of her nose before retrieving her clothes. She glared at the pink scrubs with such disgust, Simon wondered how they didn’t combust on the spot.

“Are you okay?”

She braced her weight on his forearm while she bent to put on the pants. “I’ll be better when I don’t have to wear these anymore. The second I have my clothes again, I’m burning these.”

Simon covered the hand on his arm and squeezed gently. “I didn’t ask Patient Twelve. I asked Lilis.”

She tossed her hair over her shoulder, revealing the white half-moon scar from her wound. What could possibly have caused it when the rest of her seemed to heal so well?

She pulled the shirt over her head, refusing to meet his gaze. Finally, she blew out a breath, her posture crumpling. “I’m hungry.”

“We can fix that. Since you’re dressed, I’m assuming you won’t be flying anywhere. How about I buy us breakfast?”

Her brow furrowed, and Simon’s heart clenched at her rare uncertainty. He pressed a kiss to her temple and bent his head to whisper in her ear. “After we get some food, I’m happy to go back to nibbling on you .”