Chapter 12 #2
“Quite different, and you’ve had much longer than me to get used to being nude around people. Not to mention, you’re quite fit and have nothing to be ashamed of.”
My brow arched. “Neither do you.”
Her gaze dropped as she worked another button. “I’m a little plumper than I should be.”
“According to who?” She didn’t reply, but I found myself saying, “Let me guess, a past paramour.”
She gnawed her lower lip before nodding. “What’s odd about his complaint, though, was I didn’t gain weight during our relationship, and yet he used that as an excuse to avoid intimacy with me.”
“Then he was a fool,” my harsh reply, which I tempered with, “I think your curves are beautiful.”
“Oh.” All she said, yet I heard the pleasure in that single syllable. But more devastating? I could smell it, too. Apparently, a compliment was all it took to arouse my professor.
A third and fourth button loose allowed the shirt to part enough for me to see the gash. Or more correctly, shallow cut. It wouldn’t require stitches. I dabbed gently at it, wiping the blood.
She held her breath, and I murmured, “Sorry if it hurts. I just want to ensure it’s clean before we bandage to avoid an infection.”
“It’s fine,” her whispered reply, which came with an even stronger whiff of honey.
Her honey. It wasn’t pain making her suffer, and I was an idiot. How could I not notice how her nipples poked the fabric of her gaping shirt? How the flush in her cheeks spread to her entire body? Her pulse raced. Her flesh heated.
My hand paused, and I found myself using my free hand to lift her chin.
She stared at me.
I stared right back.
Mesmerized.
Head lowering.
Our lips about to—
“I brought the first aid kit.” Oliver’s sudden reappearance snapped my head—and I barely leashed a roar. An untimely interruption, or should I be thanking Oliver for his arrival before I did something monumentally stupid?
I’d already kissed Davina once. She’d kissed me, too.
A third embrace, plus a bed nearby, would have led to definite seduction.
Problem being, I’d yet to decide if that would be a good thing or not.
Usually when I slaked my lust, I did so with strangers.
Brief, one-night affairs that satisfied a carnal need.
But this time, I couldn’t just bed Davina.
For one, we’d yet to meet with Nessie. And if we both emerged from that unscathed, who knew what next?
Would Nessie send Davina on a quest? Would I join her?
Would I return to my isle alone? Did I want to?
I whirled and held out my hand to Oliver. “You have antiseptic, I assume.”
“Yes, along with gauze and medical-grade tape. Is it bad?” He sounded worried.
He should be. Hurting my professor like that.
Not mine. Fuck me. I really needed to stop being so possessive about her.
“She’ll be fine,” was my gruff reply.
“It’s just a scratch. Nothing to worry about. How are you doing?” I wanted to growl at Davina’s concern for the cunt who hurt her.
“Better now. Headache is gone.” Oliver glanced at me. “Guess that was Nessie trying to get in but only succeeding once I smoked my pipe and my mental shields lowered.”
“Seems like. At least now you know the warning sign.”
Oliver grimaced. “And no more accepting gift baskets. I should have known better. Anyhow, I’m off to bed with my door locked, but just in case, perhaps you should lock yours as well,” he suggested, looking at Davina.
“I’ll make sure she’s protected,” I promised.
Oliver left before she asked, “Are you planning to stand guard outside my door all night?”
“If I have to.”
“At least you’ll be close enough to hear me yell if something comes through the window or chimney,” she stated with a laugh.
Rather than join her in mirth, I glanced at both points of entry, spent about a half-second debating the wisdom, and still went with my dumb idea anyhow. “On second thought, I’ll sleep in here with you.”
Her eyes widened. “Is that necessary?”
“Call it a precaution.” Now I could have, at that point, reassured her that my intentions were honorable, that I’d sleep in the chair or on the floor, but being a man, with a lust for this woman, I said, “The bed has more than enough space for two.”
Her gaze went from me to the wide mattress. “It does, and as far as I know, I don’t snore, but I do steal blankets.”
“I run hot, so I don’t really need any.” I finished applying the gauze and tape before standing back. “Your wound is covered and should heal without issue, but that shirt needs to go.”
“I’m afraid I have nothing else to change into.”
“Take mine.” Before I even knew what I planned, off came my top and I held it out to her.
“Thank you.” A soft murmur that included her gaze fixated on my chest. Her cheeks turned pink before she fled to the bathroom. Not long after, she emerged wearing my shirt—and my scent.
I enjoyed it way too much.
She climbed into the bed, flashing the skin of her legs and the boxers covering her bottom. Oliver’s boxers!
I almost shucked my pants to hand over mine. I restrained myself mostly because the clean underpants Oliver had loaned smelled of laundry detergent and honey. A honey meant for me.
Yum.
No.
I wasn’t here to snuggle my face between her thighs and lick her to heaven but to protect, and that included guarding her from my lusty urges.
Although maybe I wouldn’t be so horny if—
No.
Oh no.
There would be none of that until after the meeting with Nessie because I had no interest in dealing with a clingy woman with moonstruck eyes and expectations that came from being intimate.
I lay on the bed, atop the covers, making sure I wouldn’t accidentally brush her skin, but I couldn’t ignore the soft noise of her breathing, the rapid pace of her pulse, the scent of her—that I swore got stronger—the mere fact of her presence, the—
“Can’t sleep either, hunh?” She rolled to her side and pillowed her cheek as she looked at me. The faint light from a streetlamp kept the room from being pitch-black.
“I wouldn’t be a very good guard if I did.”
“You’ll be tired if you don’t get some rest. I’m sure if someone enters the room, you’ll wake up.”
“I would.”
“Then what’s the real reason you can’t sleep? Are you nervous, like me, about meeting Nessie tomorrow?”
“A little.” And then so she wouldn’t think me a coward… “While I would prevail in a fight, I cannot be certain you’ll be safe.”
“You’re worried about me.” She smiled with pleasure.
Too late I realized what I’d said. “Am not.”
“It’s okay. I’m worried about you, too. I wouldn’t want you to come to harm because you’re accompanying me.”
“I’m not easy to hurt.”
“Maybe not physically, but you’re still suffering from the wound Tiamat left.”
“What did Oliver say?” I growled.
“Just that she used her mind tricks on you. I’m assuming she made you think you cared for her.”
“More like she made me ignore the negative aspects of her personality and only focus on the positive. You see, I might paint Tiamat as a monster, but in reality, she could be charming, was considered attractive, and her aura of power and wealth only added to her seductive attributes.”
“You loved her.”
“Dragons don’t love, not like humans do. We form alliances. We have respect.”
“No affection?”
“Affection is for humans.” Something I used to say with a sneer in my younger years, only to find myself envying those who felt it.
“Love, and other emotions, aren’t just for humans. There are many living things capable of caring. And I will add, you’re only half dragon. If that. Since we’ve met, you’ve been more man than beast.”
“Even in this shape, I am still a dragon.”
“Not entirely. You don’t hunt animals to eat raw meat while a man. You cook. You have hobbies. You sleep in a bed. Watch television. Use tools. Have sex. I’ll bet you pee in a toilet, too.”
“And this proves what?”
“Proves you have a human side.”
I said nothing, mostly because I’d be lying if I didn’t admit she had a point. “You talk too much.”
“So I’ve been told. I’m sorry. I’m probably keeping you awake.”
She was, but not for the reason she thought.
“Is Oliver going to join us tomorrow?” she asked.
“Why? Do you want him to come?” I growled, feeling a jealous serpent raising its head.
“Just wondering. He’s a nice man. I hope he can sleep and isn’t awake feeling guilty about what happened.”
“Fuck Oliver. He’s fine.”
“Goodness, you’re grouchy again all of a sudden.”
I was, but not entirely because of Oliver. I’d not accounted for the torture of lying so close to Davina and not touching her.
Not tasting her.
Not claiming her.
Fuck.
I didn’t realize I’d said it aloud until she said, “What’s wrong?”
“You need to stop talking.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“What’s wrong?”
I knew she wouldn’t stop, knew of only one way to silence her that didn’t involve becoming a dragon and swallowing her whole.
I dragged her close and kissed her.