Chapter Twelve
Rip
The light turned green, the hue filling the inside of the car.
Behind us, a car honked.
“Light’s green,” I pointed out.
“Huh?” Laurie mumbled a little dazedly.
“Well, usually that means go,” I teased. “But if you want to stay here all night, staring into each other’s eyes, we can do that, too.”
Laurie went beet red and whipped her head around, staring intently at the road as she drove. I refrained from letting out the chuckle that threatened to follow, realizing it wouldn’t help my case. Perhaps I’d been too forward.
“Left up here,” I said, directing her instead, though I continued to look over at her. “Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“This. Driving me home. It really wasn’t something you were in any way obligated to do. I appreciate it.”
“Oh, um, you’re welcome. As I said, I could use the drive. Clear my brain and all.” She still didn’t look over at me.
“It’s the first one past the lights on the right,” I told her, pointing it out, so we didn’t drive past.
“Nice place,” Laurie said, gazing up through the windshield at the condominium building. “My father must pay better than I thought.”
I laughed lightly at that, trying to duck the question, though she wasn’t wrong. It was a nice building, but that was the point. The Tidal Clan owned the top few floors’ worth of penthouses in the upscale building for a reason. It was where many of our older dragons were sent.
Constant warfare out in the Deeps didn’t exactly result in a lot of overly elderly dragons in my clan.
Rotations in the guard continued for all dragons until they physically couldn’t fight on the lines anymore.
Then they joined the reserves or the medical corps—places where they could still be of use but see limited combat.
Very few made it to old age, compared to the overall numbers of the clan as a whole, and to both honor and respect their efforts, most were assigned cushy jobs in the city, overseeing our presence on Earth.
The princes who had ruled before me and I weren’t about to force them to rough it. Hence the nice penthouses with beautiful views of the city.
“You okay?” she asked. “You look oddly relieved to be home. Not that you shouldn’t be. But after tonight, is everything okay? I’m sure I can get my dad to write you off work tomorrow once I tell him. You should take the day. Heck, take the week.”
“No, it’s not that,” I said, flashing her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. On the inside, I wondered how she’d picked up on my relief. I was positive I’d kept my face blank as we drove through the city, not giving away just how happy I was that I hadn’t ended up somewhere far away.
“Okay.” She shrugged, not pursuing the topic. “Well, here we are.”
“Indeed.” I made eye contact, enjoying how easy it was to lose myself in the golden depths of her gaze. “Would you like to come up?”
“What?” Laurie’s head whipped around, and she stared at me.
“For a drink,” I added swiftly.
She continued to stare.
“Like a coffee or tea,” I suggested. “To help with your drive back, maybe? Keep you awake. I’d feel awful if you fell asleep at the wheel after being so nice to bring me all this way.”
Laurie glanced at the clock. “It’s not that late, Rip. I don’t think I’m in any danger of falling asleep …”
I noticed she also didn’t say no. I noticed a lot of things as my eyes roamed over her face and upper body.
Such as the way her breathing sped up or the fact that her lips were ever so slightly parted.
A hint of redness in her cheeks, and though it was hard to tell with the rumble of the car, I was fairly certain her heart was thudding much faster than its resting pace.
“Then come have a real drink,” I rumbled, pushing but not too hard.
The last thing I wanted to do was drive her away by overwhelming her.
I could tell she wanted to say yes, and I knew I did.
My fingers were just about aching for the chance to explore her body, to roam freely across all its curves, the peaks and the valleys and everywhere in between.
I wanted to touch her, taste her, take her as my own, and I doubted I was doing a good job of keeping it a secret.
I could see the hesitation in her eyes, though.
The way her chin and the tiny little cleft at its base pulled upward as she mulled over the idea of coming inside.
She would say no, and truthfully, who could blame her?
It had been an exacting day, and just because there was undeniable tension between us didn’t mean that she was ready to—
“Okay,” she said abruptly.
I blinked once in surprise at the unexpected answer.
“Great,” I said, guiding her to the underground parking and using my code to get her in.
Not much was said between there and the elevator, both of us looking at one another with covert glances and tiny smiles but little else.
The elevator took us up to the penthouse reserved for the prince. It was, as I’d expected, empty. Since my visit was unplanned, however, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was in use.
“What kind of drink?” I asked, taking her jacket from her, trying not to get too lost in her smell.
“Not too strong,” she said. “I do have to drive.”
“Right.” I took stock of what was in the bar and, going with a gut instinct I couldn’t explain, made her a gin and tonic, simple and light on the gin.
“How did you know I was a gin girl?” she asked, looking up at me.
“I didn’t, actually,” I admitted. “Just went with a gut feeling. Glad it was right.”
I poured myself a double finger of scotch over a single spherical ice cube I fetched from the freezer below the bar, sipping at the liquid and smiling as it burned a warm trail down my throat.
“What should we cheers to?” she asked, holding out her glass.
“To good people,” I said. “May we know them. May we love them. May we be them.”
Laurie tilted her head. “That’s awfully profound.”
“Would you prefer vulgar?” I asked.
She giggled. “Maybe. What do you mean?”
“I could cheers to honor,” I suggested.
“What? How is that vulgar?”
“Well,” I said, purposefully clearing my throat. “Here’s to honor. Once you get on her, stay on her, and if you can’t come in her, come on her.”
Laurie stared at me.
“I …” I said, starting to plead a case I knew was a loser from the start. What the hell had I been thinking?
Then she lost her shit and started howling with laughter until tears streamed down her face. She was shaking so bad I had to take her drink from her, holding it for safekeeping while she recovered.
“Oh my god,” she muttered. “Thank you. That was—oh, goodness. That just hit the right funny bone tonight. I needed that.”
She wiped the tears away with the hem of her sweater, glancing up at me once she was done. I met her eyes and smiled back, reaching out to hand her the drink back.
As she took it, our fingers brushed one another, and energy coursed up my arm, a shockwave of lust and ardor that threatened to overwhelm the flimsy walls that separated respectful from feral inside me. I wanted it, and I knew I could have it. All I had to do was reach out and take it.
Take her.
She wouldn’t resist. Any hesitation she had would crumble away the moment I got her closer. I could feel it, smell it, and see it written on her face as she stared back at me, caught up in the wave of warm arousal that had blood stiffening my cock, making it throb for her.
Something like worry entered her eyes as she looked at me, and her hand withdrew from the glass with alacrity.
Cursing, I knew what had happened. In that one instance, she’d seen the beast inside me. I had let it come too close to the surface, and now, it would drive her away.
“I shouldn’t be here,” she said, pulling her gaze away from me. “I should go.”