4. Dragon
Chapter Four
DRAGON
Maternity shopping was exhausting, and not just because I had to sit down when I got dizzy.
Shopping was always exhausting, and Horse had endless energy for costume.
It made me realize how good he was at managing his show image.
He’d been a brander in another life. Nix should take him on board.
Horse could really streamline the Death-Hammer aesthetic.
It would be hilarious to watch him overhaul Jezabel’s image.
She deserved traumatizing after she threatened Horse.
He wasn’t one of the bad guys she usually targeted.
He was practically harmless, although the way he looked in the helicopter with that big gun made me wonder if he’d actually shot anyone before.
“Are you feeling all right?” Horse asked, brows furrowed in concern as he looked down at me where I was slumped on the dressing room bench with fabric strewn over my knees.
He had two sizes of leggings with a special stretch belly for me to try on, but I was wiped out.
Also, they were polka dot. It was in the same color story as the floral dress over his shoulder.
He was literally covered in maternity clothes, a clothes horse, if you will.
And I was clearly getting loopy. What would it take to get him into another suit?
I shook my head. “I’m done. Anything else I need, I’ll order online. I’ve got enough pants to last me the rest of the pregnancy if I don’t catch on fire.”
He looked horrified. “As if catching on fire is likely. Is it? It is. Let’s make a point of not catching on fire.”
“Absolutely. Or I’d have to go pants shopping again. And that is a fate worse than death, particularly when the only remaining options have a terrible disease.”
Horse looked down at the pants and then smiled at me, all warm and twinkly. “The disease is cuteness, and you’re dangerously close to catching it.” He wiggled his brows while I grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards the door with me.
“The pox. The plague. But that’s the timeline for all those knights and dragons.”
“Are you sure you don’t want something that isn’t black, denim, or leather?”
I gave him a look, and then someone took a photo of us, and I realized how I looked, dragging him out of the store like a caveman. I let him go and gave the tourist a nice smile. She whimpered and ran away.
“Are you trying to scare people?” Horse asked, sounding more curious than accusatory.
“No,” I said, baring my smile at him. “This is my nice face.”
He squinted at me and then beamed broadly, showing off his gorgeous grin that looked so warm and welcoming, the entire strip was welcome. “It’s very nice. But I think I see a trace of hunger and exhaustion beneath the beauty.”
“It’s a good thing that we only have to walk across the hotel. I’m almost too tired to drive.”
The next thing I knew, Horse had swooped me up into his strong arms, my body sliding against his chest and molding against him like I was born to be there.
“Put me down,” I growled, but I didn’t actually knee his face and get out of his arms. That would take so much work.
And he felt so good. And I’d been shopping for hours.
After bedrest. Clearly not the best idea.
It was so much less restful to look at endless pairs of pants than to ride a motorbike across the desert.
He shook his head. “If you are too tired to drive, you are too tired to walk. Everyone knows that. We can sit down on that bench next to the popcorn guy until you’re rested up, or I can carry you.
People already think stupid things we don’t need to worry about.
You tell me: rest, or let me keep carrying you. ”
The last time he’d held me like that, we’d been in his office at his compound. I’d woken up in a hospital, tied to an IV.
I kicked out of his arms and headed for the bench. “You can buy me popcorn while I sit.”
He wrinkled his nose at me and then headed for the popcorn guy without asking what flavor I wanted.
They were all medieval-themed, with the names of plagues and other weird things, ‘the case of the Sicilian donkey’ being the name of this cheesy popcorn delight that I usually avoided.
Show people had to watch carbs. But not anymore.
I was a pregnant woman. Forget that I’d have to work twice as hard to take off any extra weight I put on afterwards if I wanted to get back into the spotlight.
Did I? What else would I do? I really had no idea.
The idea of doing something other than fighting and racing was terrifying.
If Jezabel retired, she could do something with animals.
But me? I could always be a mechanic. Right.
Or do more jewelry making. Make a business out of it.
Or I could open up the only restaurant in Vegas with half-decent spaghetti.
The shopping concourse was next to a casino with slots and tables. A large, bald man in a Hawaiian shirt came running out of the casino, his arms full of cash as he looked over his shoulder at the guards chasing him.
Horse was standing at the popcorn counter when he looked over, saw the situation, and then looked at me, a storm on his face.
I started to rise, ready to intercept the man and take him down, but before I could, Horse picked up the register and hurled it at the man, hitting him solid in the body, and taking him down before I could so much as blink.
The thing about Horse is that he was looking at me the entire time, eyes burning, like he was daring me to fight some guy when I was supposed to be resting. Anger. Heat. Protectiveness.
On the one hand, how dare he look at me like that, like I was a weak woman who needed a man? On the other hand, a fire started in my belly, spreading up through my chest and out my arms until my fingertips tingled, aching to grab that man and show him exactly how I needed to be protected.
I needed to drown all of my fears and frustrations in his skin, to drag him to my cave and chain him to the wall.
To mark him as my own so that woman, and that woman, and that man, didn’t look at him like he was available.
Mine. He was mine. And I wanted him now.
And tomorrow. And the day after that. Forever. Mine.
The heat kept growing until I felt nauseous with it.
The urge to take him and devour him was stronger than any of the feelings that had led me on drunken sprees.
This is what need felt like. I needed to take him, and I needed his hands to wrap around me and crush me into him like he’d crushed his phone.
I dropped my eyes and stared at the floor while I tried to get it together.
My pulse beat against my eyeballs, aching to look at him again.
This was not okay. Except, wasn’t it okay to want the man you were marrying?
Not if it was destructive. He wasn’t okay with us having an unhealthy, obsessive relationship.
He was nice, stable, and healthy. His name was Nate.
And Nate didn’t deserve to be subjugated to my unhealthy instincts.
But he was mine. So I’d take him, but gently, so I didn’t scare him away.
What did gentle mean? Wooing. Giving him what he wanted.
What would be good for his team? For him?
Not a drive thru wedding. Not a live ceremony in the middle of a fight, however good that would be for ratings.
Small. Sincere. Private, like his star parties.
Star themed? When was the next constellation shower?
Would it make sense to have a wedding in the dark?
First thing first. I needed to make rings, and I wasn’t going to do that if we were alone in his place together. I wouldn’t be able to help myself.
I raised my head to see Horse’s worrying frown where he stood directly in front of me, tense from the lines of his shoulders down to his strong hands. I wanted those hands so much.
“Trix? You okay?”
Okay wasn’t the word. I cleared my throat. “I just remembered something I need to do at the compound. I’m going to go do that now. I’ll see you later.”
I started past him, but he grabbed my hand, holding me back. And he felt so good. Strong, capable, reliable.
“You’re not okay.”
I gave him a look. “I’ve been in a hospital for a week.
But now I’m out, so that makes me okay. Also…
” I wanted so much to grab him and kiss him until his taste was branded into my soul.
I yanked my hand out of his. “I need to work on some stuff at the compound. You know, planning the future, things like that.”
He blinked his dark lashes at me, a dark frown creasing his forehead before it vanished and he flashed his most available smirk.
“Sure. If you need a hand, let me know.” He took a step away from me, making my stomach lurch, because how could I exist in a space that was further from this creature who was devouring everything else until there was nothing left? Mine. Need. Burning.
I turned and walked away, ignoring the guards rushing to the man on the ground, because they weren’t anywhere close to Horse in order of importance. Horse was everything. And he would be the best father.
I was taking him. I was keeping him. But gently.