Chapter 10
Biting my lip,I studied him.
He was still the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen.
Strong, and sexy.
Rough, but still gentle.
Intense, but a little awkward too.
There was something complicated about him that I didn’t have words to describe. Complicated, and beautiful.
Not for the first time, I itched to sketch him.
Couldn’t do that in the tub, though.
And we needed to talk.
“I need you sane so we can have a rational, human discussion,” I said.
His jaw clenched.
A tremor rolled through his body.
He was still trying to fight his instincts. But I was pretty sure that he would have already conquered them, if they were something he could fight.
And the only way I knew how to make him sane was…
I bit my lip harder.
How was I still horny?
That, at least, had to be heat’s doing.
“The water hides your scent from me,” Jasper said, his voice low. “The shit in your hair, too.”
He was talking about my hairspray.
“I can wash it out, but I’d like some privacy,” I said.
He didn’t budge.
I sighed.
He was gorgeous—but a gorgeous pain in my ass was still a pain in my ass.
“Just turn around,” I said.
A moment passed, and he finally, stiffly, turned himself away from me.
Our eyes met in the mirror as soon as he did. Only the top of my head showed in it, so I didn’t mind that.
Knowing I probably hadn’t bought myself much time, I scrubbed clean quickly, without bothering to shave anything. Jasper didn’t know the difference, so he wouldn’t care if I was a little hairy. Or at least, I didn’t think he would.
His eyes took my body in hungrily when I stepped out of the tub and wrapped myself in a towel. “How do dragons feel about body hair?”
He rumbled.
I didn’t think he’d done it on purpose.
“Intensifies your scent,” he said.
That didn’t sound like a good thing to me, but he seemed to think it was, so I tried not to make a face.
Maybe I’d take the time to shave everything if we did decide to seal the bond.
It was difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that I was actually considering it, but Elodie’s little talk had worked. As much as I wanted to be the independent woman who could grit her teeth through weeks of hellish pain, that wasn’t me. I was the girl who smiled when the barista gave me the wrong coffee order, and put an extra tip in the jar to make her day better. When someone bumped into me, I apologized to them.
I loved who I was… but I also knew who I wasn’t.
And unfortunately for me, that didn’t bode well for my situation.
I padded out into the bedroom with my towel still wrapped around me, and Jasper followed me to the closet. He caught the door before I could close it all the way, but turned his back when I gestured for him to do so.
Since my clothes were still in the wash, I put on yet another of his shirts.
I was going to sweat through everything he owned at the rate I was using them.
Maybe that was going to change, though.
I wouldn’t really know until I talked to Jasper.
…But I couldn’t talk to Jasper unless I dragged him back to sanity.
And there was only one way I knew to bring him back to sanity. After what we’d already done, it didn’t make me nervous to consider it. Just warmer.
Much warmer.
I walked back to the couch in his shirt, and he followed behind me without touching me.
As soon as he was sitting down beside me, I lifted one of my legs over his lap, opening my legs up. The shirt still covered me, but Jasper growled all the same.
“Do you mind if I touch myself?” I asked. It felt like my entire body was blushing, but I didn’t let myself reconsider my plan.
I had to make him sane, after all.
And being with him like that was fun, honestly. The way he looked at me and touched me always took my breath away.
“No.” He pulled the hem of my t-shirt up higher, but managed to stop himself before he exposed me.
I slipped my hand between my thighs. My touch felt good, but it was nowhere near as amazing as the feel of his rough fingers had been.
Dragging a circle around my clit, I let my breath hitch. “Do you want to watch, Jas?”
He growled. “Fuck, yes.”
I tugged the shirt upward with my free hand, baring my lower half to him.
He pulled it higher, exposing more of my abdomen and dragging his hand over the soft flesh there. He left it over my pelvis, watching with hot eyes as I teased my clit.
Jasper had never had sex before, and I wasn’t sure how much he did or didn’t know about my anatomy. He was so beastly that I didn’t think he’d mind a lesson, even if he didn’t really need it.
“This is my clit,” I said, circling it again, slower. “I don’t like it fast here, but pressure is good.”
His nostrils flared.
His eyes burned.
His hand slid closer to my core.
“You like watching me?” I asked.
“You have no idea.”
“Can I touch you too?”
He clenched his jaw, and jerked his head.
I struggled with the button on his jeans with my free hand, and he popped it open for me. Then dragged the zipper down too, for good measure.
“Thanks, Jas.”
“Thank me by letting me touch you.” His voice was nearly feral.
“Alright.”
“Show me.”
I took his hand and guided it between my thighs, pressing one of his thick fingers to my clit before I moved it in a slow circle. “Like this.”
My breath hitched as he kept his finger moving.
He caught on quick.
“I can smell how much you like that, baby.” My body clenched at the sound of the classic nickname in that low, sexy voice of his.
I’d never been called baby before. Or even babe. Probably because I’d never had a steady boyfriend.
I liked it, though.
I liked it a lot.
My hips arched as he pressed a little harder. I freed his cock, and wrapped my hand around him.
His finger dug into my clit for a moment, and we both hissed together.
“That shouldn’t feel so good,” I managed.
“Not the first time you’ve said that,” he growled.
It wasn’t.
Probably wouldn’t be the last, either.
I dragged my hand up his silky length.
He swore.
His hips did the same thing mine had.
When I repeated the motion, he pressed my clit harder.
I nearly lost control just like that.
“Easy,” I panted.
The pressure lightened instantly. “Was that too—fucking hell, Miranda.” The words were snarled as I pumped my hand once again.
The start of his pleasure was already all over my hand, and still leaking.
He was fighting hard not to lose control.
I wanted to watch him get off, though. Wanted to see that I could make him feel good. That I had the same power over him that he had over me.
I worked him again, using his slickness to glide over his cock, and twisted my hand at his tip.
He came with a roar, his release soaking my hand and his balls. Some got on the couch too, but that only made everything hotter.
I’d made the strong, sexy man come undone.
I’d brought him to climax, something no one else had ever had the privilege of doing.
And even as he regained control of his instincts, he was staring at me with a hunger in his eyes that was so intense, I wanted to climb on top of him and never get off.
Never get offof him, that is.
There would be a hell of a lot of getting off in that fantasy.
Despite the control he’d regained, his first motion was to change the position of my leg on his lap.
To open me up wider.
His gaze was hot on my core as he took me in, and resumed touching me slowly.
I took in an unsteady breath, my hips moving lightly.
With his free hand, he slid my fingers off his erection and dragged my slick palm to my center.
Heat rolled through me when I realized what he was doing.
Putting his release on me.
Marking me in that way.
I laughed breathlessly. “Biting me wasn’t enough?”
“I could bite you every fucking day and it still wouldn’t be enough. My scent needs to be inside you.”
My body clenched.
He pulled my hand away from my core and started teasing my clit again, a little harder than before. His hand moved lower as he did, and he slid three fingers inside me without warning.
I choked on my breath.
On the feel of it.
On my pleasure.
“No soft and easy with you, huh?” I choked out.
“Not my style, Sweetheart.”
“Thought you were going with Baby.”
“Still deciding.” He dragged his knuckles over my g-spot, pressing harder on my clit. “Squeeze my fingers when you come. I want to feel every inch of you.”
My cries filled the air as my body jerked for him, my channel tightening with every wave of my pleasure.
“Fuck, Miranda.”
“Back to Miranda?” I panted. “I told you no one calls me that.”
“No one but me.”
He moved his knuckles over me lightly.
Slowly.
And my breath hitched as my pleasure swelled again.
“We need to talk,” I said.
“About?”
“The bond, baby.” I hit him with the nickname he’d thrown at me.
His lips curved upward, his gaze still hot. “Then talk.”
“Not while your fingers are inside me.”
“It’s my fingers or my cock at this point.”
I groaned, and tightened around him even more somehow. “Jas.”
“Miranda.”
“Fingers out,” I managed.
He grumbled, but slowly eased his fingers out of me. The slow, sensual motion nearly set off another climax for me, but left me panting instead.
And still needy, somehow.
Jasper left his slick hand on the top of my thigh, but I pulled his shirt down to cover me at least. He made no move to put his cock away, and I couldn’t stop myself from staring at it for a minute before I jerked my attention back to the man.
His gaze was even hotter when I looked at him.
“I think we need some space,” I said, still breathing quickly.
“We don’t need space to talk about our mate bond. Talk, and I’ll listen.”
I filled my cheeks with air and let out a long breath, forcing my mind away from the hot moments we’d just shared. “Alright. Elodie doesn’t think there’s any way we’re making it through heat without sealing the bond. Her reasoning was sound. And considering I was just minutes away from climbing on your cock myself, I’m inclined to agree with her.”
His cock jerked at the mention of it.
I had to clench my fists to stop myself from taking it in my hand again.
“You don’t want a mate bond.” His voice was strained.
“Neither do you, but here we are. I don’t think there’s a way out. Do you?”
He gave a sharp shake of his head. “I’m already struggling to hold back. When I can smell your pain on your skin, it’s going to be much, much harder.”
“Right. And if we’re not going to make it, my thought is, what’s the point of suffering? Or even just dragging it out?”
Jasper stared at me for a long, long moment.
I stared back.
“You want to seal it now?” he finally asked, his voice still straining.
“Maybe not right this second, but soon. After we’re moved in to the new place, maybe. So we can be more comfortable, and I can adjust to the change while we’re lost to heat or whatever.”
His hand tightened on my upper thigh with my words.
“Does that sound alright to you?” I checked.
“Yes.”
Good.
That was good.
I mean, it was insane, but it was probably the best call.
“We’re moving in tonight.”
My toes curled.
There was heat in the words.
“Then I guess we’re sealing the bond tonight.”
I’d let myself freak out about it and figure everything out later.
After heat was over and there was no turning back.
Maybe that was a little bit insane, but it seemed like the easiest option.
“Agreed. Let’s switch the laundry and start packing my things.”
I nodded, and we were off.
A few hours later,I was dressed in my own clothes, and our massive balcony was loaded with the old furniture and decorations that had filled Jasper’s parents’ living space. Dragons flew it all over to another landing pad, where it would be dispersed or stored, from what I understood.
Almost as soon as they were done, more arrived with the new furniture.
Jasper had asked me to stay inside and out of sight while the dragons were coming and going. Though Vi’s immediate reaction would have been an urge to flip him off and walk out there with everyone, I knew it was better to keep the peace. I didn’t want to cause a fight in his thunder. Especially if we really were going to be mated.
I still hadn’t wrapped my mind around that, and wasn’t really trying to.
It would take time. More time than I had in the moment.
So I settled for peeking out the edge of the window while a handful of dragons set massive pallets of boxed furniture and decorations down. The dragons came in all different colors, and were stunning.
That didn’t make me want to get on Jasper’s back again, of course.
As beautiful as his silvery scales were, the thought of flying with him once more made me shudder.
I’d probably have to wrap my mind around that too at some point, but it was tomorrow’s problem.
Or next week’s problem.
Maybe next month’s problem?
I would put it off as long as possible, truthfully.
When the last dragon put his pallet down, he shifted forms.
Jasper’s gaze jerked toward me, and I quickly stepped to the side, cutting off my view before I saw the other guy naked. I understood heat enough to be pretty damn sure that getting a frontal view of some other dude’s junk would send Jas into his beast mode again.
“Thanks for your help,” Jasper said, his voice neutral.
“Sure. Best way to send my condolences,” the other shifter drawled.
My chest tightened painfully.
That was just what I wanted—another reminder that Jasper didn’t want me. Or at least didn’t want to be mated to me. Which, considering our situation, seemed like the same thing.
Jasper chuckled. “Go home, asshole.”
The other dragon laughed, and I heard his wings flap when he took to the sky again a moment later.