Chapter Twelve
Tor
Inviting her to dinner was a mistake. What the hell had I been thinking? My blood was aswirl, raging through my veins like the currents of the wind, creating a vortex at my center that could be filled by only one thing.
Her touch.
Even the way she wrapped her fingers around the slice of frozen pizza was driving me crazy.
More than once, I’d had to haul myself back from lunging across the table and bearing her to the floor.
Despite the delicious aroma of sauce, cheese, and dough, I could smell her.
Cinnamon and sweet flower mixed with that heady, deliciously pungent aroma of pussy.
There was no other way to describe it, and my mouth watered as it tickled my nostrils.
I wanted to rip those pants off and spread her legs wide, using my strength to hold them apart while devouring her.
The cries of pleasure as my tongue ran circles across her clit would satiate me more than a dozen pizzas could.
Because that was what every woman wanted. To have their sex associated with pizza.
“Everything okay?” she asked mid-bite, pausing her efforts to chew as the growl from my throat died away.
“Yes, just fine,” I said, vowing to never, ever mention my thoughts to her. She deserved better than that.
Which was when my brain decided to wonder what her nipples looked like.
“Fucking hell,” I snarled, getting out of my chair fast enough it tipped over backward.
I walked to the far side of the kitchen, planting both fists on the table as I leaned over it, breathing heavily.
Electricity flickered and died as I fought a war against the storm beating inside me. I was going crazy. Over a nobody!
It had to stop. I needed to maintain my composure around her. My mental lapses were getting worse, and that was unacceptable. I was better than that, stronger than that. I would not succumb to my cock’s desires. I would not.
“Tor?”
My lungs inflated, then slowly collapsed as I exhaled. Then I glanced over my shoulders, keeping my eyes hooded so that if there were still signs of my heritage in them, she would be less likely to see.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked in that same tiny voice, her smooth, round features filled with worry.
I stared into those eyes, so standard in color yet beautifully unique in shape and size. Her face was thick and round, like her hips and thighs. She was a little pale. Had I done that? Was she scared because of my actions?
That just made me angrier. I didn’t want her scared of anything, least of all me. It wasn’t her fault that I couldn’t get my mind off her body and what I wanted to do to it.
But I couldn’t let myself do anything. Not with finding my mate so close on the horizon. The last thing I wanted was for her to be mad that I’d gotten distracted by some random woman along the way. The mate of a dragon prince deserved better than that.
Even if Mia was something spectacularly unique. She wasn’t just “any other woman.” But she wasn’t my mate, and I had to remember that at all times to ensure it influenced my decisions.
The stupid Watching Mirror can’t get here fast enough, I thought, wishing I’d just looked into it after the Fire Prince had outlined how he’d found his mate to the rest of us.
“Yes,” I finally said, remembering to answer her question. “I’m fine. Just lots of stuff on my mind.”
“Do you … want to talk about it?” she asked, clearly hesitant, unsure if that was crossing any lines.
“No,” I said. “But thank you for asking. I will be fine.”
She nodded wordlessly. I doubted she believed me, but that was okay. As long as she accepted my answer. “On another topic, if I’m going to be eating dinner here, can we get some dipping sauce? Or maybe some breadsticks. Plain frozen pizza is a bit too ‘bachelor’ food for me.”
I knew she was teasing me, so I kept calm. Not at her for bringing it up—I wasn’t mad at that. I was angry that I hadn’t realized just how crappy a meal it must have been. Was that what I would feed my mate? I couldn’t let her think such plain fanfare would be acceptable. Only the finest!
“We’ll get some other food brought in,” I said, making a mental note of yet another thing I had to set up before my mate ever set foot at the Manerium. How was I supposed to win her over when I couldn’t even get things like food right?
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” she said.
“You didn’t offend me,” I told her. “Just reminded me that I need to have more options.”
She finished the slice she’d been working on, even eating the crust. I was glad to see she wasn’t a pizza-waster. Why that mattered, I wasn’t sure, but at that moment, it did.
“Anyway, I should probably get going,” she said. “I didn’t really plan to be here this late, though I do appreciate you feeding me. It’s a long drive back to the city.”
“You should stay here, then.” The words came out before my brain had a chance to think them over.
That was how I operated normally, but when it came to Mia, it always seemed to backfire.
Inviting her to dinner was supposed to be polite, feeding her because she’d been working so hard.
Instead, it had turned into … Well, I didn’t need to revisit those thoughts.
“What?”
I couldn’t back down after offering. “Stay here,” I said. “It will save you two hours a day of driving. Two hours of extra cleaning a day gets you that much closer to being done.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I’ll think about it. I can’t tonight. I didn’t bring anything with me.”
“Well, tomorrow, then. You come, bring your stuff, and stay until it’s done. It’ll be faster that way,” I said.
“I can’t, Tor. I have a job, remember? I can’t just leave that for a week. I’ll be here tomorrow, early, but then I have five days of work before I can come back.”
Clenching my jaw, I nodded. Of course, that was what she would do. Why had I thought she’d want to stay?
Because you want her to stay. So you’re projecting.
“Very well,” I made myself say. Having her stay would probably be even worse than inviting her to have dinner with me. I was crossing all sorts of boundaries I shouldn’t. I’d kissed her in the store, which had been stupid.
Not the kiss—that had been mind-blowingly hot.
But the decision to kiss her was stupid.
I was all over the place, and I needed to focus.
She was hot, the type of woman I would have pursued if I was free to do whatever I wanted.
But I was there for a mate, and I had to get my head back in that mindset before my guilt ate me alive.
It didn’t help that Mia clearly felt similar.
She hadn’t pulled away from our kiss. Nor had she stopped me from grabbing her hand to lead her to dinner.
Her body betrayed her desire, but I couldn’t read her mind.
If I tried to spread her out on the table, right there, right then, would she let me? Or would she resist?
“I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” she said, getting up from her seat and ending my thought experiment.
“Yes, tomorrow,” I replied, feeling like a dumb brute. Where had my ability to speak gone?
We walked in silence toward the front door, where her car was still parked from this morning.
“Tomorrow, park in the garage,” I said, desperate for something, anything, to say to keep the conversation going.
“Thank you,” she said with a tender smile.
I didn’t want her to go. But I couldn’t make her stay, that much I knew. The problem was that although I knew she would be back, I found I no longer cared for what reason. She would return because she wanted the car. Not because of me.
As we reached the front door, I found myself trying to figure out a way to hug her, to touch her just one last time.
“Have a good night, Tor,” she said and slipped through the door before I could come up with anything.
“You, too,” I said, watching as she descended the steps, my eyes tracking every sway of her hip, memorizing how her body moved. Was there extra swing, or did she always move like that? Was she putting on a show for me? Was I supposed to take that as a sign to go down and stop her? To kiss her?
Enough! I growled, promising my twitching cock that I would take care of it as soon as she was gone.
And then again in the morning. I would have to if I wanted to be able to think straight around her tomorrow. Maybe a good sparring session with Ty would help cut loose a bit of my frustration.
She got in the car. I watched her buckle up, the seatbelt emphasizing her breasts once more. Then she turned the car on and—
The car failed to turn on. As a matter of fact, nothing happened. She glanced over at me.
I frowned. Her car wasn’t new, but it looked to be in good shape. There should be no reason it didn’t work. I stepped outside, intent on going down to help her out.
As I did, the smell of freshly ionized air tickled my nose.
Immediately, I was on high alert. A storm dragon had been there, and recently. Either Ty was up to no good, or someone else was nearby …