Horny?
Excited?
Nervous?
All three?
“I paid attention in art lessons at school,” he said, before gently brushing his lips over hers.
A rush of pleasure rolled through her. She sighed into the kiss, eyes closing.
He smoothed his hand over her hip, tugging her a little closer to his body. Her mind—overwrought and strung out—reacted, reminding her with startling urgency that he wore no clothes, and only a few short minutes ago, he’d been a creature she’d believed didn’t exist.
She pulled away, catching her bottom lip with her teeth even as she looked up at him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t…”
A tormented shadow fell over his face and he dipped his head. “I understand.”
“It’s not that I don’t think you’re sexy.” The words burst from her, harried and apologetic. “’Cause I do. You’re the sexiest freaking thing…I mean, guy, I’ve ever seen. I’ve been in lust with you since I first saw you riding past my apartment two weeks ago, and that was before you looked at me, before the mating…mating…”
“Fire,” he provided when she lost the term.
“Mating fire,” she continued, cheeks growing hotter. “But…but you’re…” She trailed off, gnawing on her bottom lip again.
“But I’m not human?” Ari nodded again. “I get it.” Jaw bunching, he flicked a glance toward where Derek still lay inert on the floor. “And now that the mating fire has been…extinguished, you don’t want us to—”
“I do,” Jilly blurted out. “I mean, who wouldn’t? Look at you. You’re gorgeous. And you…you changed into a dragon to protect me. A girl would have to be crazy to not want to, but…” She faded off again, unsure what to say.
Ari smiled. Jilly wished he hadn’t. It sent wicked, wanton licks of warmth into the pit of her belly.
“But you need to process everything?”
She let out a wobbly sigh at his understanding. “I need to think. I need to get my head around it all. I’m sorry.”
He nodded again. “Don’t apologize. It makes sense. There’s nothing rational or calm about the mating fire, and you got to experience it without knowing what it was. I’m surprised you’re still here talking to me, to be honest. If I were you, I’d be running far, far away from me.”
Jilly chuckled softly. “Maybe you could, I don’t know, take me to the movies next week? Or to dinner? Do you…I mean, do you eat normal food?”
He laughed. The good-natured sound echoed around the warehouse. “Nothing better than a human burger, I say.”
Jilly blinked.
Ari grinned. “Kidding. I eat normal food. And I’d like to pick you up next week and take you out for dinner. Do you own a helmet?”
“I’ll buy one.”
His grin turned warm. Jilly didn’t miss the sadness in his eyes, however. It tore at her. He’d done so much for her, he’d saved her. And yet, everything she’d discovered, everything she now knew to be reality…
Her brain reeled, struggling to deal with it all.
“Thursday sound okay?” he asked. “Eight o’clock?”
She gave him a smile, her heart racing. “Eight is wonderful.”
They stared at each other for a moment. Neither moved.
“What happens now?” Heat filled Jilly’s cheeks. God, had she ever been so stupid? Was she really walking away from the sexiest man on the planet? A man naked and muscly and who’d already proven more than capable of giving her the best orgasms of her life? Just because he could change into a dragon at will? Was she?
“You go home,” he said, folding his hands over his crotch, as if aware his rather impressive package made it difficult for her to concentrate. “I mean, somewhere safe, a friend’s place. I trashed yours. Sorry. I’ll deal with the druid…” He stopped, his jaw bunching again. “I’ll help Garrison find his way home. I won’t hurt him any more. I promise. Not unless he goes after you again.”
Jilly frowned. She glanced to where Derek lay breathing but still unconscious. “Tell him if he comes near me again, I’ll hurt him.”
Ari nodded. “I can do that.”
She studied him, unsure what to do or say.
Throw yourself at him. Ask him to make love to you. Fuck him senseless.
His jaw bunched. His Adam’s apple jerked up and down his throat. “Do you want me to call a taxi for you? An Uber?”
“No, I’m okay.” She shook her head. She needed to go. If she didn’t leave now, she never would. Not until she pressed herself to Ari’s incredible body. Not until she begged him to make love to her. Not until he did.
“See you Thursday, Ari,” she murmured, throat tight, before she turned and hurried from the warehouse, pausing only to grab Derek’s denim jacket on the way out.
Sucking in the warm midday air, she found a public phone that still actually worked a block from the building, called Nadine and asked her to come get her. Every second that passed, she waited for that raw sexual hunger she’d experienced with Ari to come back.
Ached for it to come back.
Willed it to come back.
It didn’t.
Whatever Derek had done to her, her mystical connection with Ari no longer existed.
Which meant the Viking hunk who’d told her they were destined mates had no reason to pick her up on Thursday at all.
No reason to ever see her again.
She turned and looked back toward the warehouse.
“Jillian Drake,” she whispered. “It has such an awesome ring to it.”
Go back to him. Go back now. Start the whole dating process now. This second. God, if nothing else, go back and ask him his favorite freaking movie. And then ask him to throw you on the ground and—
Nadine pulled to a halt beside the phone booth, gaping at her through the open window of her Jeep Wrangle. “What have you been up to?”
“A party,” Jilly answered, yanking open the passenger door. She climbed up onto the seat and fixed her stare on the road beyond the windshield. “A wild one. I’ll tell you all about it later. Now I want a shower more than anything.”
Nadine cast
