Chapter 9
SILVER
Seeing Hart once a day had been nerve-racking enough. Now, he stopped by each morning and afternoon. By Friday, he looked drawn and haggard from the long days and even longer nights.
"Are you all right?" I handed him a cup of coffee when he reached for my hand. He dragged his feet, scuffing the tiles as we approached our usual break spot in the corner by the window.
"This morning's review of the route was brutal," he said. "I almost fell asleep twice. At least I have tomorrow to recuperate." He frowned across the table at me. "This was your early week. How do you still look …" he gestured with his hands.
I flinched. "How do I look?" I tried to keep the warning growl from my tone, but my dragon did not want to hear a single snide comment come from any Comet's mouth, not even my mate's.
"Like the sexiest omega I've ever seen in my life, while I'm over here looking like milk someone accidentally left on the counter four days ago."
My dragon relaxed, and I puffed my chest out at the compliment, but it was short-lived.
When Hart muttered the disparaging comment about himself, I cracked my knuckles and leaned over the table.
"You look tired, and there's nothing wrong with that.
You've been working hard for Santa 30. He said to send you home with an extra loaf of bread, our treat. "
Hart frowned. "I can pay for—"
"Santa already did." I patted his hand where it rested around the base of his cup. "Let us take care of you." I'd packed a jar of raspberry jam and the day-old chocolate-filled croissant I squirreled away from our first Thursday collaboration with Laurie before they completely sold out.
"I'd like to take care of you." Hart sighed. "I don't get home until around two, and you start at three, so this weekend is out."
"Not necessarily," I said. "Are you going to the tree-lighting ceremony tonight?"
"Santa's giving us the hour off, but—"
"I'll see you there."
He laughed. "I'm intrigued. What can we do in an hour?"
"It's a secret." One I'd been daydreaming about all week.
Unfortunately, real-life problems came crashing in on me once Hart left. "We're almost out of salt," Gold lamented. "I've tried everywhere at the North Pole, but they say there won't be any new shipments until the new year."
"That's almost two months without salt! What are we supposed to do?" I asked. None of our recipes required large amounts of salt, but we used it in practically everything.
"The grocery store told me to try Christmas Village, but they're the reason everyone is out. They had two separate incidents of elves using salt instead of sugar to bake huge batches of cookies for the tree-lighting ceremony."
"They should have picked us," I grumbled. We'd negotiated for the contract, but the Santas had chosen three bakeries in Christmas Village, instead.
"I called Santa 30 to let him know. I don't have enough salt to make the mini quiches he likes. I even asked Laurie, but she's having the same trouble. She's down to using the sea salt she sprinkles on top of her caramels to substitute."
"This is terrible," I said. Salt was a key ingredient for taste. Without it, we ran the risk of alienating our customers.
After work, I forgot all about the salt dilemma.
I had more important daydreams to turn into reality.
I had just enough time to shower and dress in my favorite midnight blue jeans and darkest sweater, a charcoal gray cable knit.
Then I caught the bus into Santa's Village for the tree-lighting ceremony.
It was standing room only around the tree. I found Hart lounging against the snow fence, warily watching the crowd. "My cousins will be here somewhere," he said.
I nodded. "Sorry your Sunday dinner didn't go well."
"I'm not." He grinned. "Less stress. I might sleep in this weekend."
I glanced behind him, into the thick woods. "Want to get out of here for a bit?"
"The ceremony starts—"
I grabbed both of his hands and tugged him toward the woods. "If you've seen one tree-lighting, you've seen them all." That wasn't exactly true. The Santas made each ceremony unique and memorable, but Hart's hour off had already started, and I wanted to make the most of the time we had left.
Hart followed, still looking over his shoulder at the brightly lit city center beneath the city's tallest tree, a Douglas fir hundreds of years old. Darkness washed over us in stages until my dragon was certain we were alone. I didn't stop until I reached the small cave in the heart of the woods.
Hart laughed when he saw where we were. "I had my first kiss here."
I dropped to my knees on the damp stone and shoved him against the wall. "I missed you."
He whimpered. "Kiss me first?"
How could I resist when he asked so sweetly?
I pushed myself to my feet and wrapped my arms around him, my dragon so close to the surface, I could taste smoke in my mouth.
I kissed him long and deep, sucking on his tongue and savoring the taste of his arousal.
It was almost too much. I rubbed my hard cock against his through our pants and groaned. "Need you in my mouth."
"Mm-hmm." Hart caressed my cheek, following me down as I resumed my kneeling position before him.
I licked my lips as I unbuttoned his fly and dropped the zipper.
In the dark, his underwear appeared to be light gray, but they were probably white.
I kissed the dark spot near the head, and he bit down on his palm to stifle a moan.
Grinning up at him, I opened my mouth over the spot and sucked him in, cloth and all.
He tried to shove his underwear down, but I grabbed his wrists, holding him in place while I worked my mouth over his covered cock until his underwear was damp with my saliva.
"Mine." My dragon rose to the surface again, inhaling our mingled scents and exhaling smoke.
"Fuck, please," Hart whined.
I wanted to make him beg, but we didn't have time. I released his hands and helped him shove his pants to his knees. His cock bobbed free of his underwear, and I sucked it down to the root.
Hart made a strangled sound in his throat as he thrust against me. I relaxed my throat and worked my tongue along the bumps and ridges on the underside of his cock. It was the perfect size for me to hold in my mouth while I rolled his furry balls in my palm.
The scent of his arousal was too much. I released his cock with a pop and lipped my way down with open-mouthed kisses until I reached my destination.
Thumbing his taint, I pulled his testicle into my mouth.
I loved the rough texture of his wiry hair on my tongue, and the crease of bare skin between the two balls.
So it wasn't left out, I sucked the other one into my mouth, too.
Hart tugged on my shoulders. "I'm close."
I wanted to keep going, to see if I could make him come from sucking on his balls, but he sounded desperate. Slipping my hand around them, I tugged on both together. He gasped and fell forward, impaling my throat with his cock. I swallowed around him, and his cock kicked, shooting down my throat.
In no time, his knot filled my mouth, cutting off my air. Thankfully, my dragon took over, shifting just enough to widen my jaw so I could hold him, knot and all, between my teeth and still breathe around him at the back of my throat.
Hart moaned above me, and I met his gaze. "You look amazing like that." He petted my scaled cheek. "I'm going to fantasize about this for the rest of my life."
I chuckled around him, and his cock jerked again.
"What else can you do partially shifted?" he asked.
I winked at him, since I couldn't exactly talk sense with his knot still in my mouth. After a few minutes, his breath returned to normal and his knot deflated. I licked him clean and then released him, returning to my completely human form.
"That was so fucking hot," he said. "I didn't know you could partially shift like that."
"All shifters can, but dragons have more time to perfect it." I rubbed my jaw, and it popped.
"Did I hurt you?"
I grinned. "Not a chance. That was fun."
He tried to step past me, but I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back against the wall.
"I want to return the favor," he whined.
"You have to go back to work," I reminded him. "I've wanted to do this all week. Thank you for making my little daydream come true."
"I'll find a way to pay you back." He yawned, proving my point. "In January."
"You never have to pay me back." I leaned in but hesitated, not sure if he would want to taste himself.
He gripped the collar of my sweater and pulled me down until our mouths collided.
There was the passion that had been missing after our first date.
It hadn't dimmed. If anything, it had grown since we'd started seeing each other twice a day.
Sounds of an orchestra playing Christmas songs drifted to us through the trees, marking the ceremony's last act.
"I need to get back," he said. "Thank you for this.
I wasn't sure I could get through the rest of tonight's practice.
" He chuckled. "Now I have too much energy.
All I want to do is take you home and repeat what we did two Fridays ago. "
I shook my head. "Go to work, or Santa 30 will never forgive me for corrupting his favorite Comet."
He pressed his lips to mine for one last kiss, and I stepped back to give him room to walk past me onto the snow packed trail back to reality.
"I'm nobody's favorite Comet," he tossed over his shoulder.
That wasn't true at all. He was my favorite, if no one else's.