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“You… You’ve been watching me?”
“I have.”
“Why?”
“Because you are beautiful, Kristen. So beautiful. And I’ve been waiting a long time. So long.”
“For what?”
“For this.” He brushed his thumb lightly over her bottom lip and then lowered his mouth to hers and nibbled where his thumb had been. His tongue darted out, and he traced an outline around her lips and then probed for entrance along the seam.
Kristen’s skin erupted in tiny bumps. Tingles surged into every pore, every cell. She quivered and her legs turned to jelly as Aidan made love to her mouth. Oh, she wanted to kiss him, wanted to so badly. But could she? She had little experience. Her body rippled with energy. Sexual, sensual energy. Finally, the entrancing friction coerced her lips to part.
And she was lost. He swept his tongue into her mouth and took possession. He kissed her frantically, with purpose and intent, although she didn’t know why. She didn’t particularly care why at the moment. She melted farther into his embrace as he continued to ravish her mouth. Little moans escaped her. Sounds she had never heard from herself before. In her mind she whispered his name.
Aidan. Aidan. Oh, Aidan.
When he removed his lips from hers and pressed small sucking kisses to her neck and throat, Kristen whimpered, her self-control nearly annihilated. He reached her ear and forced his tongue into the shallow cove.
“Touch me,” he whispered.
“Wh-What?”
“Touch me. Put your hands on me. Please.”
Kristen’s arms hung at her sides. So surprised had she been at his embrace, she had left them dangling. A passive participant.
Timidly she reached up and touched his stubbled cheek she pressed her other hand into his chest.
Rock hard man. He was warm to her touch. So warm.
More, her mind shouted at her. More. More!
With a wave of courage she didn’t know she possessed, she grasped his shirt, tugged it out of his jeans, and ran her palms over the naked skin of his chest. The hair covering him was soft, like the down of a newborn kitten. When she fingered a nipple she was surprised when it pebbled under her touch. Then a low groan rumbled from his chest.
He was turned on. Aidan Butler, stud extraordinaire, was turned on.
By her!
She let her hands wander upward, caressing his neck and then smoothing over his taut shoulders. Then down, along his upper arms, his triceps flexed—
A spark! Out of the corner of her eye Kristen saw the flicker of a flame. Fire! She broke away quickly.
“Love?” Aidan’s eyes, blue now, shone in confusion.
“A spark. I saw a spark. Wh-When I touched you.” She reached for him and saw his tattoo. “Your dragon. There was a spark when I touched your dragon.” Kristen breathed deeply and tried to steady herself. “You must think I’m a complete idiot. It’s just that…I… I’m deathly afraid of fire.”
Aidan gathered her into his arms. “It’s okay. I promised you I wouldn’t let you get hurt, and I meant it.”
“Silly, isn’t it? I must have been seeing things. It’s just a tattoo, after all.”
He cleared his throat. “Right.”
Kristen laughed shakily. “I suppose I’ve ruined the mood now, haven’t I?”
Aidan’s lips curved upward, his grin denting a small dimple in his right cheek. So tousled and sexy. “I’m always in the mood.”
“I suppose most men are.” Kristen broke away again, needing some distance. “I really need to get back to the shop. It’s not like me to close during the day like this.”
“Sure. I understand.” He kissed her cheek lightly. “But I’d like to see you again. Could I?”
“Well, yes, I suppose so. If you want to, that is.”
“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t want to.”
“O-Of course.” Could she ever stop stammering?
He scooped her into his arms and began descending toward his bike. “What time do you close the shop tonight?”
“Six.”
“I’ll pick you up then.”
“For what?”
“What do you think? For dinner.”
Kristen nodded, unable to speak.
7
She was afraid of fire.
Kristen. His mate. Soon to be his completely bonded mate.
Kristen was afraid of fire…
And he was a fire breathing dragon.
Christ.
He had waited so long for her. The joy of finding her. Of touching her. Of kissing her. And he’d found her before Micah had…
He pulled his Harley in front of her bookshop at six sharp. He would simply have to ease her fright. To show her fire was nothing to fear, especially not from him. The bonding depended on it.
But how? Micah came closer every minute. Aidan’s skin pulsed with the nearness of his half-brother.
If Kristen couldn’t trust Aidan as her mate—
He couldn’t go there.
Kristen was turning the sign from open to closed when he entered.
“Evening,” he said.
She looked at him and then looked away quickly. So shy, his Kristen.
“I’ll just be a minute,” she said. “I have to close the register.”
“Take your time.”
How was she more beautiful now than she had been that morning? When she turned her back to him, her chestnut hair fell into bouncy waves against her white blouse. Highlights of redwood and mahogany glimmered as she moved briskly behind the counter.
