14. Paige
Paige
T he spray of the shower is hotter than I typically care for, but after a day like today, mind-numbing heat is exactly what I need. Already, the scalding water is loosening the stiffness in my body and draining the tension from walking on eggshells all day.
Speaking of heat. I can make out Aries’ shadow in the gap between the floor and the bathroom door, lingering dutifully should my peeping tom show up again. My fingers tighten around the loofa as he shifts his weight, his back coming into view in the small opening I left.
He’s mere feet away, shirtless, while I’m naked.
The thought brings a wave of lust burning through my veins as I imagine him opening the door and coming inside. I can picture it clearly, him pulling back the shower curtain and capturing my lips with his.
His hands on my body. His tongue in my mouth. My arousal is near-instant, and I clamp my thighs together to ease the throbbing. All it does, though, is make it worse.
What would he look like hot and soapy?
Cut it out, Paige.
But even as I try to shut it down—try to remind myself what’s at stake if I don’t send him away—I recall the way he felt pressed against my back this morning. The hardness of his arousal straining against me.
Desire pummels the walls I erected between us until only rubble remains. “Dammit.” I shut the shower off and take a deep breath.
He’s a dragon.
Not just any dragon, either. The king of dragons. In a world far from my own.
And he has to go home.
Or both of us might be killed.
“Paige? Are you all right?” his voice wraps around me like a thick blanket.
“I...” I climb out and dry off.
“Paige?” Aries calls out when I don’t answer.
“Sorry. Yeah. Fine.” But when I reach for my clothes—I realize with great frustration that they’re not there. Shit. The shorts and tank I plan on wearing are still sitting nestled in my dresser drawers.
“Dammit, Paige,” I murmur. With no other option, I secure the towel around my chest then push the door open.
Aries moves back until he’s nearly on top of the bed.
His lips part slightly, his eyes burning with hunger.
“I forgot my clothes,” I say, though the words are half-hearted at best.
Aries doesn’t move.
Honestly, he could be made of stone for the way he stands there watching me. Frozen. Sculpted muscle on full display and freshly clean from the shower he took before me.
What would his flesh feel like beneath my fingertips?
My lips?
Aries’s nostrils flare. “Paige.” My name on his lips is a warning. “What are you thinking about?” He takes a step toward me, the look in his eye matching perfectly with the direction of my thoughts.
Startled, I throw up a hand. “No. You can’t come any closer.”
Aries stops, eyes narrowing. “Why not?”
“You know why. This—we—it would be a mistake. You’re going home soon, and my place is here. In the library.”
Ignoring my warning, Aries prowls forward, and my nipples strain beneath the towel at the way he looks at me. “Your arousal is driving me fucking wild,” he growls, eyes flashing brightly with power. “I can sense it, and I want to fucking taste it.”
“Yeah. Well. Your erection this morning was no help.” I may be inexperienced, but I’ve read enough to know his was a hell of a lot larger than what’s considered normal. Even by supernatural standards.
His gaze burns with challenge. “I want my hands on you.”
My breath hitches.
“Want to hear you cry out as you come.” Aries steps closer as the blood in my ears begins to thunder so loudly I can hardly think straight.
This is bad.
So, so, so bad.
And so freaking good.
Aries stops a few inches from me then reaches up and trails a finger along my jaw. I tilt my head, giving him access to my throat. “I haven’t been able to forget the way you tasted.” He leans in.
“I—we—this is bad, Aries.”
“Is it?” he questions as he leans in, his breath hot on my flesh. The throbbing between my legs becomes unbearable.
One light breeze.
That’s all it would take, and I’d come undone.
“You smell so fucking delectable.” His lips trace over my jaw, searing my flesh in their wake. “Tell me to stop,” he whispers. “I know you don’t want me to, Paige. But if you ask, I will respect the lie.”
“I—” My brain short circuits because what I should say is ‘stop.’ What comes out, though, is a defeated sigh before I cup his face with both hands and yank him down to me. I press my lips to his, pinning him against me as I feed the fire burning within me.
A fire that didn’t exist until this dragon emerged from the pages.
Aries wraps his arms around me and lifts, crushing me against his body as his tongue plunges into my mouth. It slides against mine as he backs me up and presses me against the wall.
My hip aches in protest, but the ache is nothing compared to the desire burning me from the inside out. I want him. Want this. I’ve wanted it since the moment he showed up in the library.
Wet.
Naked.
Just like I am now.
My body comes to life in his hands as he reaches down and trails calloused palms beneath my towel and over my thighs. He grips my ass and lifts me off my feet.
I wrap my legs around his waist then bury my hands in his hair as he carries me. My mattress is soft beneath my back, his body hard at my front. The barrier of his shorts is too much, so I reach down between us with trembling fingers.
Aries pulls back and takes my hands. “Are you afraid?” he questions.
“I—Yes. I’ve never—” Embarrassment flushes my cheeks.
His eyes widen. “You’ve never been with a man?”
“No. Solo play only over here,” I say then instantly wish I could disappear. Seriously. Can I not have one sexually tense moment where I don’t put my foot in my mouth?
Aries is silent, so I try to wriggle away without losing the towel that’s somehow still attached to my body. “Listen, I get it. I’m not experienced, you don’t—”
In a blur of movement, he crushes his lips to mine, hands tightening around my wrists as his tongue dances with mine. Passion. Heat. It burns through me, incinerating my embarrassment.
“Will you let me be your first?” he whispers against my lips. “Let me show you how you deserve to be worshiped?”
I swallow hard. This is going to end horribly. But how many times does a girl get the opportunity to be ravished by the king of all book boyfriends? “Okay,” I whisper.
Aries’s smile is blinding. He grips the top of my towel and opens it. I close my eyes, and he growls. When I open my eyes again, I see that scales have appeared along his shoulders and upper arms. They gleam in the light, a shimmering obsidian that steals my breath.
“Fucking perfection.” He leans down, and his scruff scrapes against my breast as his lips close around my nipple. I gasp. Wet heat scorches me as he draws the taut peak into his mouth. Pleasure unlike anything I’ve ever imagined possible shoots through my body like lightning.
Reflexively, I arch my back, desperate for more.
“Yes,” I whisper, reaching up to run my hands over the scales still coating his shoulders. He shivers, barely suppressing a groan, and I revel in the power I hold over such a mighty creature.
Aries’ hands slide down my body to my thighs. His lips trail down my body, over my belly, my hip, until he settles between my legs.
My breath catches in my chest when he looks up at me, eyes blazing blue fire. “I’ve dreamt of laying you out like this,” he says quietly. “Of feasting on you until you come.” His breath is hot against my core as the throbbing between my legs becomes unbearable.
I’m completely bare to him in a way I’ve never been to any man before, yet when he looks at me, I’ve never felt more confident. And when he leans down and runs his tongue over my clit, my release combusts.
“Yes,” I scream, arching up as his mouth closes around me.
Aries moans, the hum of his low voice vibrating against my sensitive skin, and I see freaking stars.
I come undone.
Broken.
Shattered.
Even after I’ve lost it, Aries continues running his tongue over my clit. Sucking, tasting, devouring, until my second release builds. He slides that talented tongue inside of me, plunging it deep into my body and stroking the tender flesh inside.
I call out his name, “Aries!” as I come for the second time in as many minutes.
Seriously. His mouth must be magic.
Because never, in my entire life, have I ever felt like this.
“Please, Aries,” I whisper. “I want to feel you.”
In a blur, he climbs off the bed and shoves his pants down. His dick springs free, and my mouth goes dry. I knew it was huge.
Hell, I’ve seen proof of it for myself.
Felt it pressed against me.
But knowing where it’s about to go—The mattress dips with his weight as he kneels between my legs.
“If it’s too much, tell me,” he says as he leans down and presses his lips to mine.
“O-okay,” I stammer, my body trembling as his massive hand goes to my thigh and he positions himself at my entrance.
Aries’s gaze locks on mine, and he presses slowly inside me.
The pain hits first. A stinging pressure that expands the more he fills me. I grip his biceps, squeezing as I struggle to breathe.
Aries stills inside of me, dropping his head down toward my throat. His breathing is ragged, his heart hammering so loudly even I can hear it.
“Are you okay?” he rasps.
“Yes.”
He rocks against me, so slowly I can barely feel the thrust of his hips. Sensations pummel me. Pain then pleasure then pain again. After a moment, the pain begins to subside, making way for a feeling of pleasure and a sense of connection I’ve only ever dreamed of.
Then, he begins to move.
And pleasure takes over completely. A delicious friction that builds when he pulls back and reaches down to lift one of my legs up so he can get deeper.
“You’re so fucking tight. So wet.” Aries draws away then pushes back in, thrusting into me with a rhythm that matches the beating of my racing heart.
“Faster,” I whisper, wanting more. All of him.