Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dela
I hummed a tune without thought as I shook my hair free from the bun I’d tossed it in to keep it as dry as possible.
The shower had called my name, with its big, square walk-in enclosure and massive spray head, but I didn’t feel like going through the effort of drying the wet mop that my hair would become.
Now, with a giant, fluffy towel infused with some sort of lavender scent wrapped under my armpits, I inspected myself in the mirror.
The before and after wasn’t overly dramatic, but it certainly was an improvement.
The bags under my eyes were smaller, and my skin was tighter throughout.
I felt reinvigorated. The selection of body washes, scrubs, and lotions was impeccable, and I’d made thorough use of them.
I knew the dragons had money to replace it easily, so I didn’t cheap out.
The song on my lips came to an end, and I smiled briefly at the person in the mirror. There was a hint of sadness to it, though, because we were back on Earth, which meant my adventure among the dragons was ending. It had been wild and dangerous but also exhilarating and mind-opening.
And I couldn’t tell anyone about it. Not a soul. Not even Chelsea, my best friend. I hadn’t spoken to Ember yet, but I had fears. Fears that I wouldn’t be able to keep my mouth shut. Whether excitement, or alcohol, at some point, I worried I would slip up and say something that I couldn’t explain.
Who could blame me? Dragons! Creatures that didn’t exist outside of books and movies were apparently real.
Even though I’d ridden one, I couldn’t figure out how to wrap my head around that reality.
Not just once either, but several times, and even been in battle with them.
Things had progressed so fast that I hadn’t had time to appreciate everything or let it sink in.
However, I’d started to, and I was beginning to wonder if I could keep Ember’s secret.
“It’s not yours to tell,” I told the person in the mirror. “And you have to remember that.”
I nodded to myself, then went to get dressed. It felt a bit grubby to put the same clothes back on, but I had little choice. I was headed home in less than half a day. I could suck it up.
However, before I could put anything on, there was a pounding knock at the door. It came so hard and swiftly without warning that I jumped, gasping in surprise.
“Dela?” Ember spoke through the thick wooden panel.
I went to the door and opened it. He was standing there, tall and martial in his uniform, his blue eyes shining bright as always, but something was off. Not his clothes or his gaze.
It was his hair, I realized, after giving him a once-over. Some of it was out of place. That was unlike him.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Fine,” he said, a bit hoarsely as he stared at me. “I’m fine. How are you?”
The sudden tightness of his tone and the way his eyes opened wide, drinking me in, reminded me that I was clad in nothing but a towel that didn’t even go halfway to my knees. My shoulders were completely bare to him, along with much of my legs.
“I’m good,” I said, licking lips that went abruptly dry when I saw the bulge in his pants. He was rock hard, standing in front of me, and he didn’t care if I saw it.
My knees trembled slightly. I’d never felt so vulnerable with Ember before. One tug from him, and the towel would fall, leaving me exposed to not just his eyes but his hands and that hard cock between his legs. A cock that was hard for me.
Even his chest strained against his clothing as he breathed deep. He loomed over me. I felt small but not insignificant. It was impossible when I had every ounce of attention of someone as powerful as Ember. In a way, I was the one who was in control because he saw nothing but me.
“Dela,” he said.
“Yes?” I whispered, not trusting myself to speak at my full volume as nerves and tension wreaked havoc on my nervous system, sending it haywire.
“I …” he trailed off, but fire began to glow in his eyes, sending a shiver down my spine.
“I know,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure what I knew, but at that moment, my brain wasn’t fully functioning. “It’s okay.”
“It is?”
I nodded, but I had no idea what I was nodding to. I just wanted—
Ember was suddenly there, the distance between us gone before I could blink. His mouth covered mine in a powerful, searching kiss that drove all the breath from my lungs. Hands twice the size of my own grabbed my waist, pulling me tight to him, pressing his cock against my stomach.
He wasn’t clean like I was. In fact, he was warm to the touch, and I could taste a hint of sweat on him.
For whatever reason, at that moment, I found the contrast to be arousing.
My fresh, clean skin, his heated, sweaty embrace, it was so manly that I craved it.
I longed for that hint of salt on my lips, the unnoticed but powerful scent of his pheromones clogging my nostrils, overwhelming my brain.
With the smell of him came a hint of burning that always accompanied the fire dragon, but at that moment, it smelled like campfire, and I drank it in while he kissed me hard, his tongue burning the inside my mouth like hot sauce, leaving me aching and needing more.
Always more, with him. It was like an addiction I didn’t want to stop.
I kissed him back, wrapping my hands around his neck, pulling him close to me, willing him never to stop.
His touch scorched my skin like a blowtorch that followed wherever he put his hands, melting away any resistance I might have possessed.
When he went for the towel, I didn’t pull away or stop him, like the sane part of my mind knew I should.
It was too overwhelmed by lust, desire, and an aching, flaming need that filled my body.
There was more than just the throbbing need between my legs for his touch, for him to fill me with that thick bulge I could feel under his pants.
It was the need to be wanted, to be desired.
I hadn’t initiated it. Ember had come to me because he wanted me, and that was an aphrodisiac I couldn’t deny.
He'd won, and it was only a matter of time for him to claim his prize. In thirty seconds, it was over. He’d turned me from calm, cool, and refreshed post-shower, with a clarity I hadn’t had in two days, to a ball of nerves that was quite literally dripping with desire for his hard cock.
I didn’t care how he gave it to me. Push me to my knees, bend me over, hold me against the wall, pull me down on top of him.
It didn’t matter as long as I felt him inside me at the end.
I would do whatever this man told me to, however he told me to do it.
In his hands, I was putty, and while it wasn’t fair, perhaps, or even the smartest choice, I didn’t care.
He kissed down my neck, and I shivered, moaning in his ear as he teased my neck, that ultra-sensitive spot that weakened the knees and shook the spine.
He grabbed my hips and casually lifted me into the air, spinning around and holding me against the wall next to the door. His tongue parted my lips, playfully teasing me with promises of what it could do to the rest of my body.
At that point, I would have begged him to follow through if he’d told me to. He found his way back to my mouth and kissed me again, with a strength that was firm but not hard.
Despite everything about his exterior and how he usually acted, I sensed Ember was actually quite the passionate lover.
That he took his time and cared for the woman he was with.
It was rare to find that in a man, and it only made me want him more.
I found myself mentally urging him to pull the towel away.
By lifting me to the wall, forcing his way between my legs, I’d inadvertently exposed myself below the waist to him, but he was pressed so tight to me that I doubted he could see anything.
But his cock was right against me, and I longed for him to take his uniform off and plunge his rock-hard shaft deep inside me.
I was beyond wet. He would slide right in, spreading me apart, filling me with his length.
It would be easy. All he had to do was take advantage of my exposure. Make me his.
His tongue flicked against mine, and I went from visions of him fucking me to dreams of his face pressed against my crotch while he made that same move to my clit. I inhaled sharply at the idea, something I hadn’t had in a long time. Paolo had been good with many things, but he never did that.
Ember, though, Ember was different, and I couldn’t help but think he was an excellent lover. And I longed to find out. It even seemed that I was going to. His fingers drifted across my collarbone, one gently snagging the edge of the towel and pulling on it tentatively, waiting for me to say no.
I didn’t. I arched my chest toward him, tacitly giving him permission to disrobe me.
He pulled a little harder.
“This is fun,” I breathed heavily in his ear, teasing his lobe with my tongue.
In response, he pulled the towel from my body with one savage yank, exposing me fully.
I gasped at the roughness of it all. He didn’t stop there.
He pushed me up harder against the wall and leaned into me.
His weight held me, his muscles tensing slightly in his shoulders and arms, but it was obvious I was no real burden to him.
His mouth tasted my neck some more. Then he sank lower.
I groaned as he took one nipple into his mouth, swirling it around gently, teasing the tip until it was rock hard.
The other rose to match, and his fingers teased it, even pulling on it slightly, which surprised me with how much I enjoyed it.
I moaned and pulled him into me, feeling more at ease being naked in front of him than I had any man before.
He made me feel sexy and attractive, leaving no room for doubt.
His every move emphasized that point, making me drip for him further.
So when his hands cupped my ass as he squatted lower and held me in the air against the wall while kissing the inside of my thighs, I just about died.
The warmth of his tongue and breath, the power of his muscles, kept me rock steady while I squirmed and tried to thrust my clit toward his hungry mouth.
He drove me wild. I was breathing in short gasps and struggling even before he ran his tongue over my clit for the first time.
Then I melted. He had me, I was his, and the more he stroked me, adding his wetness to my own, the further detached I became from reality.
I lived in the moment, on his tongue, and nothing else mattered.
It was just Ember and me and this new world I’d discovered.
A world where I was destined to be the center of his attention, it seemed.
I liked knowing that I was his focus, despite all the other women he could have. I’d seen Ari, and she was a smoke show, fit, hard body, good boobs, beautiful almost elfin-like face with its high-swept look. But he didn’t want her. He’d denied her in front of me. And he was choosing me.
I reached down, pulling him closer to me, silently urging him to use more pressure, to which he obliged.
He pressed his tongue harder, took longer laps, tasted all I had to offer, and buried his face between my legs without hesitation.
I all but rode his face, trying to get him to speed up, but he didn’t.
His hands gripped my hips tightly, forcing me to slow.
He gave me no option but to play to his tune.
I whimpered and moaned, even begged slightly, anything to get him to go faster, but he didn’t. My hands tugged at his hair, ran across my stomach, and grabbed my breasts, playing with them mindlessly, adding a slightly new dimension of pleasure to the raging maelstrom between my legs.
Then he slid a finger down around the curve of my ass and teased my tight little hole. Then the other one. I gasped as he fingered me and played with my asshole. Nobody had ever done that before. There was no penetration, just sensation, and I no longer needed him to hold back.
I came in seconds from that combo of new and familiar sensations.
My stomach contracted, my core tightening swiftly while my legs squeezed his head, holding on for dear life as my gasps became one long, protracted moan that filled the room.
I’d completely forgotten that the door was open, and anyone could hear or see me as I came harder than I’ve ever done before, all over Ember’s face.
Fresh wetness poured from me, and he lapped it up, licking me clean, not stopping until all my aftershocks and tremors had faded and I was little more than a limp rag held against the wall.
Then he casually swooped me into both arms and carried me to the bed, where he lay me back. I grinned as he got on top, reaching up to undo his buttons.
“Let me,” I whispered. “You’ve done all the work so far. Let me do this. It’s the least I can do if we’re going to do the rest of this together.”
He growled.
I grinned excitedly. “I don’t know what brought this on,” I murmured, “but I’m okay with it.”
Ember hesitated, the fire going out in his eyes.
My mouth dropped open. What had I done wrong?
“Dela,” he said, leaning back, pushing off the bed with one knee until he stood above me. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I said, reaching for him. “Just come back down here. Down to me.”
He grimaced and leaned out of my reach. “I can’t.”
I licked my lips, wondering what to do now as I lay completely naked in front of him, my sex still on his lips.