Chapter 21

TWENTY-ONE

Samantha

I'm lying on Evander's chest tracing my name on his arm, trying not to look at the bruises on his face. Trying not to think about Aydan and the pained look on his face. Evander has his hands behind his head, lying back, satisfied as ever. The bastard had had me so many times this morning I'm pretty sure I'm going to be walking funny for days.

It's weird. I would say I've always had a higher-than-average sex drive, but with these dragons, it's like I've become a succubus, and there's no going back. Sex is now constantly on my mind.

Glancing at the time, I groan. "Dr. Duncan said he wanted us at the labs bright and early."

Evander kisses my head. "I own this place. We can show up any damn time we like."

I shake my head and slide out of the bed.

His hand snags my wrist and tries to pull me back to his side.

"I'm taking a shower," I tell him, heading for the bathroom.

His eyes are glued on me as I walk across the room. When I reach the door, I call back, "You're welcome to join me. If you want."

I'm grinning as I head in and turn on the shower, hearing the sound of him rapidly getting out of bed. That's all any woman ever really needs, to feel wanted, and these men sure as hell always make me feel wanted.

He slips into the shower behind me, making the decent-sized space feel small. Without a word, he gets my body wash on his hands and begins to scrub me down. He starts with my shoulders, then my lower back, my ass, my thighs, my legs, and my feet. I'm practically humming under his soft touch.

"Turn," he murmurs.

I do, and he works his way back up from my feet to my legs, my thighs. He lingers over my pussy, washing it with care. Then he lets the water wash away the soap before he puts his mouth over me and sucks.

My hands dig into his hair, and I sigh as I spread my legs. He continues with his careful administrations, licking and sucking as my body heats up and then becomes a blaze. I lift one leg and set it on the side of the tub, and he moves in deeper. I tighten my hold on his head and grind against him.

Time passes as I work myself on this incredible man's mouth. It gets harder to breathe. Harder to think. And then I come. My orgasm hits me in waves that send my legs tingling and my vision wavering. Every nerve is alive and every flick of his tongue is pure torture until my body slowly cools.

I lower my leg, and he pulls back, looking absolutely pleased with himself. I see he's come too, and the knowledge that just touching me was enough to get him off turns me on.

"Well, it looks like you've gotten dirty again," he says, his voice filled with amusement.

"You too," I tell him, using my foot to stroke his dick.

He finishes cleaning me, then washes my hair with shampoo and conditioner until the tangled strands go smoothly through his fingers. I'm impressed. He must have been a shampoo boy in another life.

"I should hire you to always help me in my showers," I tell him.

His smile is beautiful. "I'd accept that job, no questions asked."

We get out of the shower and dress and get ready. When we're done, we look ready to face the day. He's smiling, pleased as can be. Which is the perfect time to try to address things.

"You know you shouldn't have attacked Aydan last night."

His smile falters. "He deserved it."

"Why?"

He doesn't hesitate. "He was here with you."

"I let him be here with me."

"Doesn't matter," he says, as if that's the least important thing.

"It does matter. I'm with Aydan too. You need to accept that."

He laces his hand with mind. "Let's just go get breakfast."

"You don't want to talk about this." It's obvious, but I say it anyway.

He lifts a brow and smiles. "No, I don't want to talk about this."

I sigh. "Is there anything I can say to help your relationship with Aydan?"

"Not a thing," he tells me, and at least he's being honest.

We head out of my room, into the elevator, and to the cafeteria. As soon as the doors open, I see Aydan and Granger. I try to pull my hand away from Evander, but he keeps ahold of me as we start walking to get food.

Aydan's nostrils immediately flare. His gaze moves from me to Evander, and I see momentary pleasure that Evander's face is battered and bruised. It's short-lived though. His eyes narrow, and he zeroes in on our hands touching.

We reach the area to get our trays, and Evander finally lets me go. Then we both pile our plates full of eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, and biscuits. When we turn around, I hesitate, then head for Aydan and Granger's table.

"Morning," I say.

"Morning," Granger greets, giving me a nervous smile.

I sit, and Evander takes an extra second, but he sits down beside me. Tension sings between all of us, and we dig into our food in complete and utter silence. Granger opens his mouth several times, but nothing comes out.

Finally, Granger asks, "Anyone else's tattoo still hurt?"

I glance at his wrist, and see that it still looks a little tender. "Ours healed pretty quickly."

He sighs. "Damn dragon magic."

I smile. "Damn dragon magic is right!"

The elevator door opens, and Dr. Duncan comes out. His long beard has been braided in the front, and he's in an outfit I can only describe as meant for a work out. He has a cotton t-shirt with "One Tectonic Plate Crashed Into Another One and Said, ‘Sorry, My Fault.'" He has that paired with jeans and runners.

"Morning! Morning, Dragon Crew!" he calls cheerfully. "You guys ready to be run ragged today?"

I smile. "I guess so."

He starts piling up his plate with a reasonably sized portion of food, unlike the rest of us. "Everyone's in their workout gear. Good, good! It's going to be an exciting day!"

To my surprise, he grabs a chair and squeezes into our table. Speering a piece of grapefruit, he says, "I've been watching the map all morning. I think we're counting five male dragons around the world, and at least a dozen other ‘earthquake sites' that will likely end in more dragons awakening. These are exciting times."

"Five male dragons?" I repeat, imagining five dragons instead of one coming after me.

He gives me a sympathetic look. "It sounds like a lot, but it'll be okay. They're halfway across the world from here. We're going to figure out how to better hide your scent from them, and then we can just focus on how incredible it is that dragons are real." He starts eating, talking between bites. "Now that the president, and other important officials, are secure, there are world-wide discussions on how to keep us safe from the dragons. There's already been an agreement that no nukes are to be used."

"Nukes?" I ask in shock.

Dr. Duncan nods. "Some of these countries with nukes should not have nukes. They were talking about blowing up the dragons over other peoples' countries to ensure theirs stayed safe. It was a whole thing."

Granger looks upset. "The goal should be how to communicate with the dragons and come to peaceful solutions, not going straight to killing them."

The doctor gestures to Evander. "That's where he's come in handy. He hasn't yet told the government that he turns into a dragon, but he's made it clear to them that he's been talking to dragons, and that they're more human-like than animal-like. His testimony and reassurance was a huge part of the U.S. government changing their approach, and encouraging the other governments to do the same."

"So your main focus is figuring out how to keep things peaceful with the dragons?" I ask.

Dr. Duncan swallows the food in his mouth. "Well, our main focus is to watch for another female dragon, so we're able to offer her protection before all the males go after her. But, so far, we haven't seen an indication of another female." He wipes his mouth. "Evander's main focus is to keep everyone from going nuts and killing all the dragons before we've even tried to work with them.

I look at Evander.

He shrugs, but there's something sharp in his gaze. "I have a lot of money, and a lot of power. I've used that power many times in the past. I sure as hell intend on using that power now."

Aydan snorts, but says nothing else.

Dr. Duncan finishes polishing off his food. "But, for today, we'll be putting you three through the ringer to figure out your strengths, weaknesses, and limitations. This will help us not only to use that information to help you, but it'll also be useful information that we can use against any bad dragons, should we need it."

"Sounds good," I say, then grin at Aydan and Evander. "You guys think you can handle a little healthy competition?"

I'd meant with me , but they look at each other instead.

"Hell yeah." Evander stands.

"You bet," Aydan mutters, hands curling into fists.

Oh boy.