Hadyn’s slow frown, brows pulling low, mirrored his own reaction at the time.
He continued before she could ask. “I accepted it at first but kept looking into it in secret as much as was possible.”
“Until you had proof, right?”
He shook his head. “I never found definitive proof.”
Her mouth dropped open slightly. “You went rogue on a hunch?”
The sudden urge to shuffle his feet only made him sit more still.
She wasn’t done. “Then you took all those mates to keep them safe.”
Not a question, but a statement. The tone in her voice—a quiet respect—had him scowling, mostly as he tried to control his own body’s response which was an instant, driving urge to claim all that trust with kisses that would lead to a hell of a lot more. “I’m no saint.”
Hadyn snorted. “Who said you were, hot shot?”
“I’m no hot shot either,” he insisted darkly.
She barked a laugh at that. “Have you looked in the mirror?”
She found him attractive?
That piece of information hit him with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball to the face. What would she do if he stopped this boat and took the opportunity to lose himself in her body, see what noises she made when she came, bleed off the tension of the last few days?
“Don’t worry,” she teased, laughter lining the words. “I won’t jump you or anything. You’re not my type.”
An odd sort of calm settled over Rune, and a sense of knowing quieted his mind. When that happened—almost like a tic—he knew the words coming at him were lies. Which meant he was her type, but she didn’t want to admit it. Maybe even to herself. Dark satisfaction surged into that quiet of knowing.
Because he wanted this woman.
In a primitive, need to go up in flames together, kind of way. Not forever, just fucking.
“But you do find me attractive,” he said in a slow, deliberate cadence.
“I guess most women find tall, dark, and ripped hideous,” she said almost conversationally. “I’m an odd duck that way.”
Her bright sarcasm only made him want this more. “So if I offered fucking—a no strings, make you come until you see stars situation—what would you say?”
He backed the throttle off, letting the boat coast to a stop on its own. No worries about them hitting anything out here. Then he turned to face her, letting her see the flames in his eyes at the mere thought of her saying yes.
She stared back, lips parted slightly, cheeks flushed, and damned if her reaction didn’t send more need pulsing through him. She squeaked a sound that might have been an attempt at a word, and he grinned.
“You did not just say that.” She’d probably meant it to come out firm, but mostly she’d sounded irritated with herself for being interested.
“I want you,” he stated categorically. No hesitation. No embellishment. No equivocation. She didn’t mind hammers? Well…that suited him fine.
Her body told him she was interested, color surging into her cheeks and the sweet scent of lust drifting to him in the air. He wouldn’t force anything. This had to be her choice.
“You don’t even know me,” she said.
Such a female point of view. “I know enough to enjoy myself with you. Like I said… fucking only.”
After all, that was all that was available to them.
Hadyn swallowed. “We’re running from dragons,” she pointed out with a glance upward.
“We’re safer here than just about anywhere else.”
Her eyes shot wide. “Here. You want to throw down and…” She waved an ineffectual hand in the air.
“Fuck,” he supplied.
She swallowed, pupils dilating. She liked that word. “You want to do this right here?”
“Fuck?” he asked, and smiled with utter, primitive satisfaction at the way she shivered. She definitely liked that word. “Yes.”
He didn’t remove his gaze from her, hiding nothing of the desire building inside him, no longer holding it back. Gods let her say yes, because a hard, uncompromising need had come on him fast. Merciless. Only one thing would assuage what his body was screaming for. Only Hadyn.
He ignored the possessiveness that wanted to curl around her name in his mind. This wasn’t about possessing or connecting. Just…chemistry.
“You said you don’t do this to the mates you encounter,” she said slowly.
Not an accusation, but almost like a little girl saying he wouldn’t hurt her because she trusted him. Her mind was fighting this even as her body was screaming at her, hopefully in the same fever pitch as his.
“Only the ones who don’t have a mate out there waiting for them.” Which had only ever been her.
He tried to couch the words gently. Though, to be honest, the last thing he wanted her thinking about right now was her dead mate. However, he also didn’t want her thinking he went around casually screwing all these women. He hadn’t touched a single one who belonged to another man.
But Hadyn…
“I promise,” he said. “No fire. No claiming. Just…pleasure.”
…
Hadyn exhaled in a harsh burst.
No fire, he’d said. She knew what that meant. Her adoptive parents had warned her constantly. No sex with dragons because they’d only want her for one thing—to try to claim her. Any fire during sex, and she’d burn up in it.
Except what Rune was offering wasn’t that. What’s more…she trusted him to keep his word.
That probably made her an idiot. A lust-driven fuzzy-brained idiot whose body had perked up the second she’d laid eyes on him. Hard not to with a face like that. She’d always had a thing for the chiseled broody types.
So what’s the problem?
Part of her was screaming at her to take him up on his offer, hop right into his lap and get things started. She’d had a few human lovers through the years. Nothing all that spectacular. Her vibrator did a better job more often than not. But a chance to see what it could be like with a dragon? With what she was supposed to have become. Especially one who already pushed her “hell yes” buttons…
“I can’t believe I’m considering this,” she whispered to herself.
Wrong thing to say. Or maybe the exact right thing, because Rune surged out of his chair, crowding her. He leaned over, placing his hands on the console behind her, caging her in, but not touching.