“Small? Like, how small?” Emory asked.
“About the size of a horse,” he replied. “Which is puny in dragon standards. I find it easier to stick within the human side of things. They are… surprisingly less judgmental when it comes to these matters.”
“I don’t get it, honestly,” Tegan said. “Dragons are cool. I always wanted to ride one growing up. And I mean in the flying in the air sense, not the other sense.” Though she’d done a bit of that as well.
Kieran grinned, and it was the first genuine smile he’d given in their interactions. Enough to make Tegan pause, and then get irritated with Emory again.
“Seriously, this is awkward, Em. Like I don’t want to refuse your gift or anything, but I’m not—I don’t think I’m there for what he’s expecting.”
Emory sobered up her excitement a little. “You’ve talked about it before.”
“I have,” Tegan conceded. Kieran watched them intently, with those wild, fey eyes. “I just… didn’t expect something to happen right in this moment.”
“Let me be blunt,” Kieran said, putting his drink aside. “I am not here to waste time. I’m here because I want to settle down with someone eventually, and I’ll keep looking for as long as it’s needed. If you have no interest, then we’ll call this done. I’ll refund Emory. No harm done. That’s my stance.”
Oh. So, they were going here, then. Straight to the heart of the matter, instead of giving it some time to be danced over and deliberated. That kind of bluntness felt like a fire stripping away all the invisible layers and walls over Tegan’s emotions that she wasn’t even aware she had.
“Okay, then. Uh…” Though Tegan wasn’t exactly mentally prepared for the shifter drop on her doorstep late at night, she also knew with certainty that she didn’t want Kieran to suddenly go away either. Seemed like a big waste of an opportunity, of Emory trying to be thoughtful and doing something for Tegan. “Um, sure. I don’t mind trying things out. Seeing if we can work. No hard feelings if it doesn’t work, though.”
“None at all,” Kieran said, wearing a pleased smile. “I look forward to getting to know you better.”
Oh, but wasn’t that a promise. Tegan gave a little shiver of delight.
Chapter Two – Kieran
He honestly wasn’t sure about the way Emory shoved him off on Tegan. He had doubts for the entire venture, but the way she described her friend merited at least a look.
Even if the friend turned out to be completely unaccepting of considering a trial relationship. Kieran tried a few trials over the years, some lasting longer than expected, but always inevitably breaking down and just not working out. Still, it was always worth the trying. Nothing happened if you sat in one place and did nothing. Nothing at all. Using Date Monsters turned out to be a blessing in disguise. A way for him to escape his family, the treatment of other dragons, and to be accepted as someone worthy.
Humans didn’t care about that kind of hierarchy. Sure, they could be petty, squabbling, and mean, but when it just came to the pure transaction of shifting to the beast within, they remained remarkably judgment-free. Or at least reserved a higher respect. He studied Tegan curiously in moments where her attention was focused more on Emory, taking in everything about her. Short, light brown hair. High cheekbones, a pleasing, almost fey aesthetic to her face, like she’d grown up in the wilderness. Eyes were a fascinating color, too, dipping between brown and gray, not quite sure where to settle. Relationships were far more about personality than the physical, but starting off beautiful from the outside didn’t exactly hurt either. And she had beauty in spades.
The awareness that she hired people from Date Monsters also made him quite enthusiastic to explore certain things a lot further. When they wrapped up, Tegan asked if he had somewhere to stay.
“Emory offered to hole me up for the night,” he said. “Especially in case this didn’t work out.”
“Stay with me. There’s room. Got a pull-out sofa bed here.” Tegan indicated the blue, extended sofa that looked as if it had a compartment beneath it.
“Really hope you guys hit it off,” Emory said with an evil little grin, skipping off into the night, her mission accomplished. Now Kieran faced the sofa, watching Tegan pull it out into a reasonable-sized bed. She patted it down, stood there awkwardly for a moment, and then faced Kieran with a curious, wanting expression. Oh, he knew that.
He definitely knew that.
“Eh, fuck it,” she said. “Let’s see what I’m getting myself into.” She approached him with a delicious kind of boldness, right up into his personal space, then hovered.
He took the invitation, reached across the last of the space, and kissed her. He inhaled her scent sharply, enjoyed the texture of her lips, the small huff of air expelling from her nose. She sank into the contact, and he pulled her hips into his, taking swift command of the situation. He opened his lips enough for her to part hers, and his tongue brushed hers. Electric and warm, new and exciting.
Some of the women preferred waiting longer, letting the dance draw out, but Tegan—she didn’t seem to be someone particularly fond of waiting. Oh, he liked that. Her skin was soft, her body hot to the touch. He felt her melt into his touch, give control to him, and he took the opportunity to lift her up and dump her on the bed, crawling on top in a furious passion.
Yes… let’s see what I’m getting into as well. He pulled off her top, slid down her pants, letting his mouth trail over the bare skin there. She let out a kind of strangled groan and her eyes opened, wide and lustful.
“That’s good,” she groaned, bucking up into his touch. So delightful. So responsive. He could do a lot of things with someone like this, who reacted so quickly, so eager for more. God, he could think of so many things.
He started, first, even as excitement prickled through his skin, with kissing every exposed surface of her. Down to her jawline, her neck with the pulse point visible, clear, and excited. Down to her collarbone, and the tantalizing tease of breast still concealed under a clean, white bra. One hand groped at her side, raised upward to her arm, and he marveled at the smoothness of her skin, of the way her breath hitched, and a little gasp left her throat. Yes.
Passion burned in him like dragon flame, and he loved the way her skin visibly flushed, stimulated by every touch, from the thoughts running rampant in her brain. He’d give her a lot more to think about for sure.
“You sure you want all the goods, or keep it just to this?”
She let out an almost offended growl. “What do you think?”
He grinned. “I think you’ll let me do anything I want.”
She bared her teeth in a vicious grin. “That sounds about right. Show me what you’ve got.”
A hiss of pleasure left her when he pressed himself hard against her, just so she could feel his growing erection, masked by his pants. Not for long. Greedy hands unzipped him, pushed down his pants just enough, and when she rubbed along the underwear, he let out a hiss of his own. Oh, she wanted this. She reeked of desire, cooking up an invigorating scent all over her body. She found a gap, touched him there with skin, and he kissed her neck hard, teeth scraping.