Chapter Four
ChapteR
fOuR
BLACK FAbrIC WITH a complete lack of modesty currently outlined what I wanted next.
"Stand up," I said.
Thore rose. I had to tip my head back as he came to his full height, but the movement didn't feel like he'd taken control. His hands stayed at his sides. His mouth glistened with me.
I wiped my thumb across his lower lip and put it in my mouth.
His breath stopped.
"Take off your shirt."
He pulled it over his head.
The man had been hiding an unreasonable amount of muscle under his coat.
Broad chest, heavy shoulders, a narrow line of blond hair disappearing beneath his waistband.
Pale scars crossed his ribs, old and smooth.
One curved from his left side toward his back as if something with claws had tried to open him.
I touched the edge of it. "Occupational hazard?"
"Yes."
"What do you do when you're not breaking onto film sets or making women come in sex clubs?"
He shook his head. "I don't often break onto film sets and you are the only woman I've made come in a very, very long time." He waited while I absorbed that information, then added, "I guard places and objects people would misuse."
"Private security."
"Close enough."
"Guardian Risk."
His mouth twitched. "The name wasn't my choice."
I ran my palm down his stomach. The muscles tightened beneath my hand. "Did you choose to come here tonight?"
"Yes."
"Even though you told me not to?"
"I knew you'd ignore me."
"That sounds unhealthy."
"It's been a difficult two days."
I smiled and reached for his belt. "Pants."
Thore stripped without looking away from me.
His cock rose thick and hard. Very thick. I wrapped my hand around him and discovered my fingers didn't meet.
"Is this why the paperwork asked about stretching?"
"Would you like more time?"
"I would like you on the bed."
The bedroom occupied the far side of the suite behind a velvet curtain. Thore lay back across the black sheets, huge and naked and waiting for me to decide what came next.
I climbed over him. The dress pooled around my hips as I straddled his thighs. His cock pressed against my ass, leaving a hot line on my skin.
"Hands above your head," I said. The black iron headboard had a dozen places designed for restraints. I hadn't asked for any. I curled my fingers around both his wrists. There was no chance I could hold him if he changed his mind.
Thore watched me.
"Are you always this obedient?"
"No."
"Good."
"You like difficult things."
"I like earning them."
Heat spread under me when his hips shifted.
I tightened my grip. "Did I say you could move?"
His cock jerked against my ass. "No."
I leaned down until my breasts brushed his chest. "Then don't."
The red around his pupils flared. He stayed still.
I kissed the scar through his eyebrow, then his cheek, then the corner of his mouth. He turned his head to catch me. I pulled back.
"Impatient?"
"Very."
"You hide it well."
"I have had practice."
"Guarding dangerous things?"
"Among other duties."
"Do those duties include stalking women?"
"Only one."
The answer wiped the smile off my face.
"Why me?"
"I don't know why the weapon chose your set."
"That's not what I asked."
His wrists turned beneath my hands, not fighting me, just enough to press his palms against mine. "I followed the weapon. I stayed because of you."
I kissed him.
Thore met me hard enough to make my lips ache, but his hands remained above his head. I ground against him, coating the length of his cock with my wetness.
"Condom?" I asked.
"In the bedside drawer. The club prepares for its guests."
I checked the date and wrapper before I rolled it on. Then I guided him to my entrance. The head pushed inside with slow pressure. I sank another inch and stopped, breathing through the stretch.
Thore's fingers closed around the iron headboard. The metal groaned.
"You break that, you bought it," I said, my breath more of a pant than I'd like.
"I'll buy the building if necessary."
I lowered myself another inch. He filled me until my thighs shook, thick enough to make every small movement count. When I finally sat against his hips, sweat dampened the back of my neck.
"Okay?" he asked.
I rolled my hips.
His jaw clenched.
I did it again. "Yes."
Thore's chest rose beneath me. His hands stayed where I put them while I found a rhythm. His cock dragged against the right place on every stroke. The heat inside me built fast, turning the stretch into a deep, slippery ache.
I sat upright and rode him harder.
"Ariana."
My name sounded wrecked in his mouth.
"Not yet."
His head pressed back into the pillow. A low vibration rolled through his chest.
"Was that a growl?"
"No."
It happened again, deeper.
I laughed. "Terrible liar."
Thore's eyes opened. Red light burned through them.
My body clenched around him.
"May I touch you?" he asked.
"Yes."
His hands landed on my hips and held tight. He didn't take over. He met me when I came down, driving deeper, his strength following my pace.
The bed hit the wall. Once. Again. A leather book slid off the shelf in the other room.
"We're going to owe Julian a lot of money," I said.
"I can afford it."
I bent over him and bit his shoulder.
Thore thrust up hard.
My control snapped with the pleasure. I rode him faster, chasing the pressure building behind my clit. His thumb moved between us and found it without instruction.
"Come with me," I said.
His grip tightened.
The orgasm rolled through me, long and hard. Thore drove deep and came with a broken sound against my throat while his body locked beneath mine.
We stayed tangled until my heartbeat slowed.
Thore stroked one hand down my back. "Are you hurt?"
"Ask the headboard."
His chest shook me as he laughed.
I raised myself enough to look at him. His face had softened. Without the command in it, he looked younger.
The gold mark across my palm ignited. Pain ripped through my hand and up my arm. I cried out and fell forward.
Thore caught me. "Ariana."
The room tilted. Gold lines raced beneath my skin toward my elbow.
He grabbed my bicep with both hands.
Golden bronze scales pushed through his skin. They raced over his hands and forearms, each one locking into place with a metallic whisper. Claws curved from his fingertips. Heat burst through the room, snapping the velvet curtain toward the ceiling.
I stopped breathing.
Thore pressed one scaled palm over the mark on my hand. Red fire spilled between our hands. The pain vanished.
I ripped free and rolled off the bed. I snatched the heavy lamp from the bedside table and held it by the base. A little better than a rubber dagger, but I had no illusion of my chances.
Thore sat up slowly. Scales covered his shoulders now, bright against his bare chest. His eyes had gone completely red.
"Take out those contacts." I lifted the lamp. "Now."
"I can't."
My eyes darted around the room, panic at the edges of my vision. "Take off the prosthetics. Turn off the projector. However you're doing this, stop."
He shook his head. "I can't until the mark is quiet."
"What mark?"
"The blade marked you when you touched it."
"Blades don't mark people."
"That one does."
"And men don't grow scales."
His gaze stayed on mine and I saw the moment he decided.
"I'm not a man."
The lamp was inadequate. I threw it at him anyway.
Thore caught it before it hit his face and set it carefully on the bedside table. My vision dimmed and I took several steps back.
"I'm a dragon."
"No."
"Yes."
"No, you're a lunatic with very expensive body modifications."
A pair of bronze horns curled from his temples.
I backed into the wall.
He stopped changing. "I would've told you differently."
"Before or after I let you inside me?" I could hear panic laced in my voice.
His expression softened. "You chose me."
"A useful detail was missing."
"Yes."
Thore got off the bed but stayed on the other side. Naked, horned, scaled, and careful with his claws, he looked less like a costume than anything ever had.
My brain tried makeup, drugs, projection mapping, and a head injury. None survived the evidence in front of me.
"Breathe," he said.
"Don't tell me to breathe!" I breathed anyway. "What are you?"
"Thore Akyd. A guardian dragon."
"You said private security."
"That's close enough."
"And yet, again, missing a necessary detail."
"Yes."
The gold mark flared again. Every window in the suite went black.
Thore turned toward the hedge maze. His horns lengthened. Scales swept over his chest.
Something struck the exterior glass twice. A black chain punched through on the third hit and wrapped around my marked wrist.