19
Ember
Here She Comes
I’d succumbed to sexy dragon magic.
Seriously. I didn’t even realize I could come from oral. Or maybe I’d never had it done right, because it sure hadn’t felt like this before.
Sex-drunk and boneless, I stared up at the decorative wood beams on the ceiling, and for once in my adult life, I wasn’t scared it’d all come crashing down.
I trusted Kieran to deliver on his promises—especially the ones in bed. As soon as I caught my breath, I was getting into those pants to see what other surprises awaited me.
I gathered my strength and pushed myself to my elbows.
Kieran’s darkened expression as he knelt between my legs had delightful shivers dancing over my body. It was a predator’s gaze. One that made my heart beat faster when I realized how bare and exposed I was, naked on his dining room table.
But I couldn’t find it in me to run.
Instead, I let my legs fall to the side .
His nostrils flared as his eyes lowered again. He wiped my juices from his chin.
I should’ve been embarrassed, but I couldn’t be. Not with the desire written all over his face.
“You taste so fucking sweet.” Kieran licked his lips as his hands latched onto my hips, drawing me to the edge of the table.
“Guess I’ll have to taste you to make it even.” My voice was hoarse and husky. I must’ve screamed while coming. Later, I’d be worried if anyone heard.
My gaze dropped to the thick bulge in his pants. I took a deep breath as excitement coursed through me, ready to drop to my knees and see what we were working with.
A knock came at the wood doors.
“Stay here,” Kieran commanded. His expression hardened as he grabbed his discarded shirt, wrapping it over my shoulders. “I’ll be right back.”
I shoved my arms into his long sleeves.
My brain took a second to shift from mind-blowing orgasm to emergency.
When I processed something was wrong, I was on my feet, running after Kieran and hurrying to button his shirt.
I was never good at taking orders.
“Sorry to disturb you, Master Kieran.” Fredrick kept his eyes averted as if he didn’t want to look at me.
I glanced down at my bare legs. Kieran’s shirt was long enough to cover all my lady-bits, but yeah… awkward.
“Why don’t you sit down and finish eating?” Kieran turned, stopping me in my tracks. “I want you fed and happy. Give me a minute to handle this. ”
The smile he gave sent all sorts of fluttering through my body. My toes curled and I buried deeper into his shirt, smelling his delicious scent.
The door closed, leaving me alone in the dining hall.
What is wrong with me? I shook my head to clear the cotton from my brain. You’d think I’d never had an orgasm in my life with the way I’d gone all dopey at his masculine, protective tone.
I wasn’t some impressionable little girl, and I was not about to be man—dragon—handled that way. If something was wrong on my property, I needed to know about it.
I shimmied into my shorts, leaving Kieran’s shirt on because I couldn’t find my bra. The fabric smelled too good to take it off anyway.
Barefoot, I marched across the cool stone tiles.
The wood doors were heavier than they looked. I broke a sweat pulling one open enough to slip through.
A high-pitched female voice echoed down the hall. My eyes narrowed at the sound. The past came crashing back in a flurry. A screaming cheerleader at Tony’s football games in high school. The junior homecoming queen our senior year and the speech she made at the dance.
Her moans in my apartment that day when I came home early from work.
Hillary-freaking-Hartford.
Or I guess it was Roberts now.
The last name I’d scrubbed from my accounts and social security card after degrading myself with it for almost three years.
She could have it .
But I wanted to know what the hell she was doing here at Kieran’s house right after we…
No .
The color drained from my face, but I kept my chin raised as I walked down the massive hall.
Hillary still looked the same. She hadn’t aged at all. Her long brown hair and her bony, slender body were the same as they had been when—I wasn’t going back there again.
She stood in the foyer of Kieran’s home, but my anger started to dissipate as I moved closer. Tear streaks lined her face. She was worried about something, begging Kieran to listen.
And she wasn’t here alone.
I passed a window, blinded by the row of truck lights shining at Kieran’s house.
Fergus and a few other men that used to be boys I knew stood on the front porch with rifles in their hands. My heart started beating hard again as anxiety squeezed my chest.
This couldn’t be happening.
I didn’t think they’d come all the way out here just to scare me off, but maybe I’d underestimated how much they hated me.
If this was a lynching party, Kieran’s house was the only thing standing between them and my cabin.
I needed to get out of here… to get back to my friends and make sure they were safe.
“Just tell me where he is,” Hillary cried. “Is he dead?”
I bumped into a large terracotta decorative floor vase in the hall, cursing the world as I stubbed my pinky toe. So much for escaping quietly.
“Ember?” Hillary gasped .
I forced myself to stand steady as I turned around, to not let the fear show on my face. But when Kieran’s gaze softened, I had to fight the urge to run to his embrace.
I needed to get laid more often or something because this was ridiculous.
“I knew you’d be here,” Hillary spat, growing redder by the minute. “They’d said you’d come back. Is this your doing? Did you sleep with the freak to get your revenge?”
I had no clue what she was talking about, so I blinked awkwardly as I processed her words. It didn’t sound like it was my fault she was here. That should’ve been a relief, but I was pretty sure she… “Did you, of all people, just try to slut shame me?”
“I knew you were low, but not this low.” Her eyes swept over Kieran as Fergus and the other men reached out, pulling her back to the open door.
Kieran stood stoically, letting the insult roll off him, but fire raged through my veins. I marched over to stand beside him, letting her see the promise of retribution in my eyes.
“You know, I’ve met a lot of women, but I’ve only ever met one whore,” I said. “How is my ex-husband anyway?”
“Why don’t you ask him?” Hillary snarled.
I glanced at Kieran, confused. “What?”
“Don’t you know?” she kept taunting. “This government asshole here showed up with some mutant lizard thing that flies around breathing fire. Martha seen it. So did Tommy. And Deputy Bryan ran into it the other day.”
“It’s not a lizard.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. It’d been a long time since I’d been home, and I almost forgot how fast rumors and ignorance spread. Even I wasn’t that thick. “Dragons breathe fire.”
“Whatever,” Hillary cried. “All I know is that this government freak’s pet took Tony!”
I took a step back so I could see Kieran’s full face. “What’s she talking about?”
“I’ll explain later,” Kieran said. There was a calming strength about him despite the commotion outside.
“He knows!”
“Told you he would.”
“Why?” I whispered, still not understanding how Kieran got mixed up with all of this.
“I wanted to tell you once I’d solved it all.” He shook his head. Sadness creased his features as he reached for my hand. Our fingers laced together and peace washed over me.
I trusted him.
“See,” Hillary was saying. “His mutant dragon thingy came to town and—”
“Enough.” Kieran turned toward her with no trace of the softness shown to me on his face. Even I wanted to jump at the bark in his tone.
“What I’d like to know,” he continued, “is why, as the town clerk, you signed off and deposited the checks Ember sent yearly for property tax when you knew damn well we’d taken over this ranch.”
It took two-point-five seconds, less than a decent bull ride, for the meaning of his words to sink in. Strong arms wrapped around my waist, catching me mid-lunge.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I screamed.
Hillary scrambled back into the crowd that caught her like she was one of them .
I refused to feel jealous. They could have her.
The whole damn town could kiss my—
“It’s time for you all to leave now.” Fredrick closed the door.
“Put me down.” I struggled against Kieran’s hold.
“Did you want to kill her?” He cocked an eyebrow, calmly setting me on my feet.
“I’m not going to…” I huffed, dragging my hands down my face as I tried to get control of my emotions. “I was just going to talk to her a bit.”
“My apologies.” Fredrick rolled himself back to the door. “Did I send our guests away prematurely?”
“Stop,” I said, watching the headlights flash through the window. They must’ve been scared of Kieran because I couldn’t believe they’d leave that easily without getting what they came here for.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
I nodded, blowing out a breath so long it vibrated my lips. “I need a minute.”
I started to pace. “That woman. How could she? After everything he did.”
Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not anymore. I wasn’t that hurt young girl picking up the pieces of my life.
“The worst part was that I paid off everything. All his debt. The apartment. The loans he took out in both our names. How could they do this?” I stopped pacing to look at Kieran, hating that he had to see this dark spot on my history.
Kieran had murder in his eyes but a gentle hand as he drew me toward him. “You weren’t supposed to find out this way.”
“You knew?” I pushed against his chest .
The sense of betrayal cut deeper than it should’ve. I barely knew this… dragon. He didn’t owe me anything.
It was so stupid of me to come back here.
Even though this was my home, those people weren’t my family. I’d always be the laughing-stock. The girl who’d been dumb enough to believe in love.
“Not until the other day.” Kieran caught me by the chin, forcing me to focus on the intensity of his eyes and the way it burned hotter than any other look I’d ever experienced. “I was going to tell you tonight at dinner, but I got pleasantly sidetracked.”
Mentioning dinner had heat rushing to my cheeks and softened the edges of the moment. “Oh.”
That made sense. I couldn’t fault him for being distracted. Especially when I’d been the one to instigate things.
“Let’s get you home and then I have something for you,” he said. “I’ll give it to you soon.”
My brow furrowed. “Something for me?”
Kieran’s smile was full of mischief, further pushing the chaos of the last few minutes out of my mind as the headlights from the trucks in the yard turned around, heading back to town.
But he wasn’t sparing them another glance. His attention was focused on me. “I promised you a gift and a dragon always keeps his word.”