17
Ember
Dancing Dishes
“He’s outside.”
“Aww! He brought flowers.”
“Let me see.” Harper elbowed her mom and Riley so she could get to the blinds. “He didn’t bring us any chocolate.”
“You know he can probably hear you,” I whispered harshly, feeling my heart jump around my chest. They gave me a look saying they knew and didn’t care.
I rolled my eyes as I pulled open the door.
I was too old for this.
“Hey, stranger. What have you been up to the past few days?” Not that I was paying attention or anything.
I’m sure he had a life that didn’t involve saving women he barely knew and flirting with them on their front porches.
It was just odd not seeing my neighbor after seeing him every day since we arrived.
“I had some business to take care of.” There was a tightness around Kieran’s lips as he spoke that relaxed when his eyes trailed down my body .
I wasn’t dressed up or anything. It was so dang hot that I was wearing shorts and a tank top again, with a loose button-down shirt over it because my arms were getting scratched from pulling weeds.
But the way Kieran’s eyes lingered and the appreciation on his face had me feeling way too confident.
“I hope it was good.” I smiled, loving the way he forced his eyes back up where they belonged. “The business, I mean.”
“It was very enlightening.”
Shoot me now. How had I not noticed the little dimple on his right cheek when he grinned?
“Are those for me?” I placed my hand on my heart, trying to make it slow down. He followed the motion with his gaze.
The fire in those eyes was all man despite the beast he was hiding within.
“I hope you like them.” His sexy voice was huskier and he coughed to clear it as he held out the bouquet.
“I love them. Where are they from?” I sniffed the light floral scent. There wasn’t a florist shop when I used to live here, but maybe Kramer’s Grocery was selling bouquets now. I still needed to figure out if I could even go into town.
But that was a problem for another day.
“From my gardens. Catherine likes to tend the flowers.” Kieran stood up straight, seeming to get control of himself. I think I liked him better all smoldering and less businesslike, but I wasn’t going to complain.
“Thank you,” I said as I touched a soft pink petal on the tulip. “Catherine is the… your doctor? ”
“She’s more of a healer, but it’s been a long time since her services were necessary,” he explained.
I had so many questions, but I didn’t know where to start. “Is she a dragon too?”
“Everyone who lives with me is.” Kieran nodded. He suddenly looked nervous as he pulled at his collar.
It was the first time I’d seen it buttoned all the way up. He was a conundrum—like his bedroom and his office. Those rooms didn’t seem to belong to the rugged man who stood before me.
But I guess I didn’t fit all expectations of me either, and I liked it that way.
“Have dinner with me,” he blurted out.
“Was that a question?” I arched a brow as I lifted my face from the flowers. “It sounded more like a statement.”
“It was a request I’m hoping you can’t say no to.” His easy demeanor was back again as he leaned against the porch post. “Agatha is almost finished cooking.”
“I’m not sure if—”
“Go,” Willow and Riley said from inside the cabin, causing me to jump.
“Seriously, I can’t take any more of this mushy flirting.” Riley pushed me out of the doorway.
Harper reached up and stole my flowers. “I’ll take these.”
“Be safe.” Willow closed the door in my face.
I turned my back on my traitorous friends, not sure what to do with my empty hands. I hadn’t felt this nervous since I was trying to date again after Tony and I divorced. I shuddered, thinking of all those early mistakes .
“Shall we?” Kieran extended his arm like the perfect gentleman… Gentle-beast?
All the signs of the jerk I’d first met when I arrived were gone, but I hadn’t been on my best behavior then either.
I was woman enough to admit my mistakes.
We had a chance to start over on a better foot this time. I took Kieran’s arm, smiling.
“Guess I don’t have another choice.” Warmth coiled through me as I rested my hand in the crook of his elbow.
This felt right.
Like I was really home.
Together, we stepped down off the porch and into the fading sunset of the warm summer night.
∞
The dining hall, as Kieran called it, was bigger than any room I’d been in before.
Normally, I’d be scared of such a monstrous space, worried the whole thing would come crashing down at any minute, but Kieran assured me his home was earthquake-proof.
I didn’t know such a thing was possible.
Wood beams arched in a curved pattern across the ceiling. An oak table that could seat at least thirty took up the center of the room. Vases of flowers and tiered candles adorned the table as the centerpiece. A stone hearth took up the back wall.
Kieran was seated at one end of the table.
I was at the other.
Before I could complain about the distance, the elderly gentleman I’d met the other day, dressed in a black suit today, wheeled himself and a cart of silver-lidded trays into the room.
He introduced himself as Fredrick and I whispered my thanks, too nervous to speak louder and hear my own echo.
The grandeur in here made me feel out of place, even though Kieran was only wearing jeans. It seemed like the kind of dinner I’d at least wear a dress to. Not the dirty clothes I’d been working in all day.
I thought about stabbing him for not giving me time to get ready for a real dinner, but I was distracted by the soup.
Moaning softly, I sipped another spoonful of the rich seafood chowder with hot flaked salmon and thick creamy base. My stomach was going to kill me for this later, but I planned to live my best life now.
“Good?” Kieran asked as he raised his own spoon to his lips.
I was surprised I could hear him.
“Come again?” I cupped my hand over my ear anyway.
“I asked if you are enjoying your soup.” Kieran straightened in his chair as his deep, sexy voice echoed in the grand room.
I swallowed another spoonful, closing my eyes as I licked my lips. “Sorry. I still can’t hear you from all the way over there.”
His frown almost made me laugh.
This was a beautiful place to have dinner, but since I was dressed casual, I was going to act casual.
Now that I thought of it, I wasn’t sure I knew how to act another way .
“Do you want me to come sit closer to you?” I raised the spoon to my lips and pulled it out clean and slow.
“No need. I’m coming to you.” His breathy whisper sounded louder than he intended.
Kieran pushed back his chair and gathered up his napkin and dinnerware. He’d rolled up his sleeves and I tried not to drool over his biceps or the soup I kept eating as he made his way over to the chair nearest me.
He set down his bowl and place settings, giving me a crooked grin. “This is too much, isn’t it?”
I looked around the vast room.
Shadows gathered in the corners, becoming something real—like monsters watching—and a natural breeze drifted overhead, causing the candle flames to sway.
But it felt intimate with Kieran sitting down next to me. The amber light was more romantic, putting us in a glow of our own, and the heat of his leg mere inches from mine made the room much warmer.
“Not at all.” I reached for my wine, swallowing a little painfully as I watched Kieran lean back on his seat and drop his napkin over his lap.
The rough edges of his body and mannerisms coupled with this environment gave me all sorts of delicious chills.
I had a feeling he liked the finer things in life and he knew how to handle them.
Before I realized it, half my wine was gone. I put the glass back on the table so I didn’t do something stupid like climb onto his lap along with the napkin.
“You’ll have to forgive me. It’s been a while since I’ve done this.” Kieran returned to his soup .
Something like jealousy flared within me, and I touched my chest, wondering what that strange sensation was. Probably heartburn from the red wine.
“It’s been a while since you’ve eaten dinner?” I teased, trying to keep my tone light. I really didn’t want to hear about his past lovers. But I was curious enough to ask.
“In this room, yes.” He smiled again. “But it’s been a while since I’ve had any sort of date at all.”
I couldn’t imagine he’d struggle to find women who’d want to date him. Maybe way out here where the pickings were slim, but he was definitely easy on the eyes.
Heck, I wanted to climb him like a tree even though I’d hated the guy last week.
Crazy to think how fast that’d turned around.
It’s amazing what a pair of wings, a little kindness, and a dangerous smile could do for a woman’s libido.
Not like I was into wings or anything.
Is it getting hotter in here?
“How long has it been?” I blurted out, reaching for my wine before I started asking more questions I didn’t really want answered.
Kieran held his spoon poised over his bowl, turning it slowly as if lost in thought. “I’d imagine it was long before you were even born.”
I put down the wine before I choked on it.
“How old are you exactly?”
He leaned back in his chair, watching me with an amused expression. “I’ll be four-hundred and thirty-seven this fall.”
My eyes widened as I tried to un-math the math. English was my specialty, not numbers. “You’re like four hundred years my senior. Wait, how long do you live?”
“Around a millennium. A thousand years give or take.” His face fell.
I didn’t know why he was complaining. It must’ve had something to do with a midlife crisis.
Considering he still had like five-hundred years left to live and I only had fifty—if I was lucky—I didn’t see why he had reason to be upset.
But we all had our issues.
“You don’t look as old as you are,” I tried to make the subject lighter. He didn’t seem much older than me.
And I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be turned off by the age gap, but I found myself leaning closer, curious to know how historically experienced he was.
“Some days I feel ancient.” Kieran sighed as he set down his spoon. “I should be getting you home soon. It must be close to your bedtime.”
“It’s not…” I stilled, seeing the teasing glint in his eyes. “Ha ha. Very funny. Do you usually date girls this young?”
His brow furrowed. “Now that I think about it, no. I normally prefer to engage with females much older than you, but I do enjoy your company more than I thought possible.”
I sat up a bit straighter in my chair.
Truth be told, that made me feel a little better about the new wrinkles around my eyes and the sag in my chest. I might be nearing mid-thirties, but I was the hot young thing in this tryst.
How long had it been since I embraced that feeling? Too long, I decided .
“At least you aren’t dating eighteen-year-olds,” I teased as I pulled a piece of bread from the basket.
“They’re but babies.” Kieran shuddered. “Though you’re not much older.”
“I’ve had more life experience.” I winked, tearing off a bite of the soft roll and popping it into my mouth. I chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. “So, how does it work?”
“How does what work?” Kieran relaxed in his chair. I tried to read the lines of his face, to see the ancient wisdom he must be hiding. I’d bet he had some great stories in there.
And I did love a good book.
“You know…” I tore off another piece of bread. “Sex between a dragon and a human. Does everything anatomically fit?”
The flush on his cheeks was downright adorable. He recovered quickly, but I got a little kick out of knowing I could make this ancient being blush.
Kieran leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table as he smirked. “And why are you so interested in knowing that?”
“For research purposes of course,” I said, too quickly, as my heart started to beat faster.
The way he licked his lips.
The flex of his shoulders.
The heat of his leg as it brushed mine under the table.
Maybe I was out of my league here.
“And why would you want to study me?” Kieran arched a brow, smiling as his deep voice rumbled in the empty room. Oh, he knew exactly what he was doing .
I dropped the now-crushed bread on the empty plate and brushed the crumbs from my hands, looking away so he wouldn’t see the heat on my face. “Call me curious.”
“Okay, curious.” His words were a breath against my ear as he tucked my hair behind it. I froze, feeling my heart try to beat out of my chest.
“If you must know,” he continued softly, making me ache as shivers raced down my spine, “we’ll fit like humans, but it’ll be better for you than any human man can give.”
Oh.
My.
Need tightened my core, and I squeezed my thighs together, trying to steady my breath. I resisted the urge to pounce, to see exactly what he meant, as I slowly turned my head toward his.
“Is that so?”
Our faces were inches apart.
My eyes went to his lips as he spoke, “It’s a promise.”
I breathed out a girly little moan that I’d never made before in my life.
Kieran’s eyes flashed as his pupils slit into black diamonds. “I want to swallow that sound.”
“What’s stopping you?” I challenged.
“Such a smart mouth. With such pretty lips.” His thumb brushed over my lower lip, tugging it down before he released it to possessively cup my jaw. One little action and everything in me burst.
I was on fire.
Burning from the inside out .
I stared into his eyes, needy and breathless, not caring they were half human and half beast. “I want this.”
“I know.” There was a restraint in him I didn’t have. While his arms were steady and his hand firm on my cheek, my whole body trembled. He was waiting, fighting something.
I knew that feeling all too well.
But I wanted him to let go.
“Please,” I said, leaning into his touch.
A low growl sounded in his chest as his fingers slid around my neck, tangling themselves in the back of my hair.
He tilted my face up, angling it so I was bared before him as his mouth hovered a breath-space away from my mouth.
The taste of him was right there.
I licked my lips, aching to close that final distance.
“Remember that you wanted this.” His words were a ghost in that sliver of space between us.
Any sound of protest I could’ve made was stolen as his lips captured my lips. Fire burned and every part of me ignited at the first hint of his spicy, masculine taste.