“This seems dangerous.” He was having terrible visions of Josie hurting herself, and he didn’t like it. He held out his hand for her to take. “Let’s go somewhere else.”
She didn’t budge. “I’ve done this course a million times. It’s easy as pie. I’ve done much more difficult ones.” She grinned. “I’ve even done it in the real world. No courses, no harnesses, no security.”
He scowled. “You could break your neck.”
“I have jumped out of about twenty planes. I’ve gone free diving, bungee jumping, and I’ve swum with sharks and gators.”
He inhaled, his breath catching at the notion that she did all of those dangerous things.
“And that’s just the half of it. This is so tame. Besides, it’s not like you can get hurt. You’re magical.” She winked at him, referencing his shifter abilities in public.
“Josie, are you telling me you’re…” he couldn’t even say the word.
“A daredevil? An adrenaline junkie?” She wiggled her brows at him. “You bet your sexy ass that I am. Always have been.”
He gulped, and he was sure she had heard it. She closed the distance between them and gave him a soft kiss.
“Come on, old man. Can’t you keep up?” Josie’s eyes were burning with mischief. She turned and bent down to check that her shoes were tied. Seeing as she had already checked those, he knew that she was trying to entice him with her womanly wiles.
It wouldn’t work.
But of course, that wasn’t true. Of course it would work. His nostrils flared as the scent of it made his mouth water.
Mine, his dragon purred like a helpless kitty. We want her now.
York shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He wouldn’t look at Josie. Not her beautiful hazel eyes. Not her pretty mouth. And definitely not the curve of her ass. The material of her yoga pants was pulled tight around the firm globes, drawing all of his attention.
Bite her butt, his dragon cooed. You know you want to.
Lord help him, he did want to. That was exactly why he couldn’t. Not in public, anyway.
“Never thought a big man like you would be a chicken shit,” she goaded with a smirk that he could have wiped off her mouth with a searing kiss.
“I’m not a chicken shit,” he argued lamely. “I just don’t think this is the best idea.”
“Why not?” Josie pulled on her harness, winked at him, and turned back around to face the wall.
The obstacle course was dangerous.
From his vantage point, York could spot six different spots where Josie could break her pretty little neck. At least she was wearing sneakers and not those goddamn shoes that made him insane. That was an improvement. Before he could voice any more concerns, Josie was off like a shot. She climbed up the wall in no time at all. It was over twelve feet tall, with very few footholds in the brick. She had taken it at a run, scaling it as if she had done it a million times.
Which, if she had been honest, she had actually done that often. As he stood there, in absolute wonder at the way her body moved, she had kept on attacking the course with concentration, and a lightheartedness that reminded him of his dragon’s flight. Josie was over the wall and halfway through the next obstacle by the time York was able to roll his tongue back into his mouth. Watching her ass work as she had destroyed the wall with speed and agility had been entirely too distracting. He readjusted his pants. He couldn’t run across a Parkour obstacle course sporting an erection.
He took a run at the wall and launched himself over it, landing on his feet on a large, wide blue mat. He caught up to her just as Josie was scanning the jump from a very high steel beam. It was easily a twenty-foot drop. Sure she was wearing a harness, and yes, there was a mat at the bottom. Logically, he knew that nothing bad could happen to her. She was tied off, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
Josie blew him a kiss and winked at him before diving off. She curled her body into a tight ball, rolling onto the ground like a cat. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have thought she was a shifter to be able to pull off that leap.
He did the same, following behind. She was impressive to watch and delicious to follow. When Josie reached the end of the course, she was waiting for him. Her chest was moving with increased speed as she made her way to him. Her gold skin was covered with a thin sheen of sweat, making her look like a glowing princess.
“What did you think?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
“It was fine,” he answered, slightly winded.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine? Nope. You loved it.” She took a step around him, and he yelped, jumping up on his own feet in surprise.
The damn woman had smacked his ass.
In public.
And he had liked it.
“Your ass unclenched,” she teased with a wink. “You loosened up. You should let go more often. It looks good on you.”
York didn’t know what happened next. In fact, he would need the park’s security cameras to confirm just what took place.
But one thing was for sure.
Josie was in his arms, her legs wrapped around his waist, his hands were palming her ass, and they were kissing.
Kissing wasn’t the right word for what they were doing, though. York’s tongue was tangled with hers as their lips tried to fuse together. There was enough heat between them for it. Josie bit into his lower lip, licking the sting away before dipping her tongue in his mouth.
She was in control of the kiss.
It was insane. He should be the one to kiss her senseless. He reached up to cup her cheek, angling her mouth to his. He slowed the kiss, easing it down to a few swipes of tongue and moving lips.
When Josie was all but winding down, he struck.
He lavished her mouth with every ounce of passion that was coursing through his body. He pressed into her mouth, tasting every inch of her, biting her, taking the sting away. Her hair slipped out of its tie, and the mass of sweet-smelling hair covered them, locking them into their own private sanctuary.
“Hey, you two. This is a family place. No floor shows. Take it somewhere else.”
Josie pulled away from him before he could react. She eased down from his arms and traced her well-loved lips with her fingers.
“You sure know how to kiss, York Warwick.”
“Just wait until I show you what else I can do,” he whispered in her ear, making her shiver in anticipation.
Yes! We are going to mate her! York had to beat back his dragon. There was no way he was going to sleep with Josie.
Not yet.
He hadn’t had sex in over a hundred years. It wasn’t an exaggeration. He hadn’t bedded a woman since his wife, and now that there was a very real possibility that he would get intimate with Josie, he felt shy and new.
Like a fucking virginal teenager.
Josie did that to him. She was a cool breeze of happiness on his sad heart. She was a breath of fresh air against his defenses. York hadn’t felt this alive, this light, in a very long time. He hugged Josie close to him, inhaling her intoxicating scent. Parts of him, dark spots that had slowly been dying over the last hundred years, were coming back to life, like buds after a long, cold winter.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said to her. “I’ve got an idea as to what we can do for dinner.”