Mated by the Dragon (2 page)

“Yeah. Marcy is the gamer, and I’m the bookworm. She gets me to play every now and again though. The movie collection we both built up.”

Saul pulled a colorful case from the shelf. “My studio made this one.”

“We have a few, I think,” she said thoughtfully. “Oh, wipe that smug grin from your face. I had those long before I met you.”

“The fourth in the series is in production. When we return to California I will take you on set, if you like.”

“Really?” Chloe and Marcy frequently spent their Friday girl nights together on the sofa in front of scary movies, and with Saul present that was unlikely to change. It pleased her to no end that the dragon had an appreciation for American horror. “Marcy would be so jealous.”

“Then we shall fly her out to join us.”

His generosity touched her. With Saul, it wasn’t about flaunting his wealth or trying to impress her. He honestly wanted to make her happy, and that meant accepting and including her best friend.

“She’d love that. Me, too.” Chloe put the dvd back in place then dragged Saul into the bedroom, where he tossed the suitcases onto her bed. “God, I feel gross after that flight and standing around in the airport. It’s nice to see that even a dragon has to walk through TSA and stand in a few lines.” During the week spent in California, Saul had spoiled her beyond measure despite her efforts to resist his lavish gifts. She plucked a thin-strapped sundress and a thong from the neatly packed bag.

“Humans have an amazing idea for what constitutes as undergarments,” Saul commented. He pretended to inspect the remaining contents then held up a practically nonexistent pink scrap. “Wear this one.”

“So bossy.” Chloe grinned and accepted his offering, swapping nude cotton for rosy lace.

If she didn’t feel like a hot mess, stripping might have led to a playful round on her bed before the shower. Instead, Chloe tossed their clothes in the hamper and led the way to her personal bathroom.

Thank God it’s clean.
She owed Marcy a world of thanks, almost positive the shower had needed a quick scrub prior to her impromptu flight from California.

Shared showers and baths had become another memorable perk of her stay with Saul in his lavish home. Whether in his spacious walk-in shower, sunken tub, or personal hot-spring, her dragon loved the water.

“How do you shower in this?”

“Oh, come on. It isn’t that bad,” Chloe defended her bathroom.

Chloe and Saul maneuvered in the narrow tub until she reached the showerhead. Their close confines brought to mind sardines packed in a tin. Failing to silence her giggles at the mental image, she scooted back and tried to angle the water spray between them.

“Was it your intention to place me beyond the reach of the water?” he asked.

“Well, no, but I was freezing when I stood over there,” Chloe mumbled. “You’re so tall you blocked the spray.”

“And of course, you have also chosen the most frigid temperature.” Saul stretched one arm past her and twisted the knob toward the hottest setting. “That should—”

“Hot, hot, hot!” Chloe shrieked. She fumbled against him, practically knocking the glass door off of its track in her effort to escape. When that didn’t work, she leapt into the corner like a cat avoiding the bath as the scalding assault continued.

Saul swore. The foreign word was unfamiliar to her, but the intensity of the utterance made it recognizable. He immediately turned the hot water knob to the middle. “Forgive me, Chloe, I didn’t realize—”

It hurt like a bitch, but she played it off to assuage her boyfriend’s shame. “I’m okay. It’s all right,” she assured him despite the red splotches on her forearm. Everywhere the water had touched appeared to be lobster red.
Geez, the water heater must be set at boiling.

“You are not okay,” Saul disagreed.

His large hands glided over her wet skin, tracing her arms from shoulders to wrists. Beneath his touch, Chloe’s skin tingled like a thousand sparks danced over her body. As an odd sensation spread over her burns, not too unlike pins and needles, the pain diminished and the red scald marks gradually faded.

“What the hell was that?” Chloe demanded, divided between awe and unease.

“Magic,” Saul said. He wore a big smile to match the mysterious admission.

“You’re… a magical dragon?”
Thankfully not green and purple,
she thought.
Or named Puff.

“Healing happens to be of my many talents, yes.” Saul’s smile gradually faded and confusion firmly took its place. “Should I not use my magic to help you? I did not ask, I merely presumed it would please.”

“No, it’s fine.” Chloe examined her arm. The flesh appeared to be good as new again without the tenderness caused by her burns. “You did this once before in the cave, but you healed my ankle then.”

“I did.”

For some reason, the idea of having her own personal healer turned her on. Chloe stepped forward, against Saul’s chest, delivering an impulsive kiss to his lips while standing on tiptoe. Her wet skin slipped against his body and a bold nudge trapped his stiffening cock to her lower tummy. She trailed her fingers across his broad shoulders until her right hand eventually reached his soaking wet blond hair. She loved the golden shade. Beneath the water, it became the color of raw honey between her fingers.

“Fuck me,” she whispered against his lips.

“I thought you would never ask.”

Saul slid his hand beneath her thigh and hoisted Chloe up until her back hit the slick tile surface. After a week of mind-blowing sex that only seemed to improve with every coupling, a few hours without his dick in her seemed like eternity.

Mew. The patter of the shower failed to drown out the feline cries. A second later, two big paws touched the door and noisily scraped down the glass, interrupting them before Saul had the chance to join their bodies.

“Felix?”

“Who is Felix?” Saul’s voice rumbled against her throat.

The cat cried again, making a chirping sound.

“Mommy will be out in a minute.”

In a thrust, Saul filled her body with his cock. She writhed between his hard chest and the shower tiles, tilting her head back and vocalizing an impassioned plea for more.

Felix dragged his front claws over the shower door and leapt at the glass, scrambling with his hind legs to make it over the top. He tried again twice until his mewling cries urged Chloe to press one hand against Saul’s shoulder.

“Let me down, baby.”

“What?”

“He thinks you’re hurting me, I think.”

Saul gave her an incredulous look. One blond brow shot up before he glanced over his shoulder toward the shadow beyond the frosted glass. “Your feline can wait.” A slick backstroke and re-entry made Chloe’s needy snatch cling to his dick and involuntarily squeeze. He felt so damned good that it took another terrified call from Felix before she pushed at his shoulders.

“Saul, he’s
scared
.”

He didn’t protest again, but a heavy sigh indicated his displeasure. The separation of their bodies was pure misery as Saul grunted and set her down, ensuring she was steady before he released her from his hold.

Chloe stepped from the steaming shower and jerked a fresh towel from the rack. With it wrapped around her body and secured, she crouched down and received a fond nuzzle to her cheek from her whiskered friend. “I missed you, too,” she crooned to the large cat. Felix, an impulsive luxury purchase in the wake of her failed relationship with Malcolm, purred and rumbled with elation.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized to Saul.

He shook the water off his body and strode past her with a growled mutter that she couldn’t decipher. Felix raised his hackles and hissed at the retreating man.

It was the closest she’d ever come to actually aggravating her placid and cool dragon lover.
I’ll make it up to him later.
A niggling worm of guilt slithered into her thoughts only to be suppressed once Felix tickled her face with his whiskers.

“Marcy must be home now if Felix is back from the groomers.”

“Oh.”

Please don’t do the spoiled man-child thing and give me the silent treatment.
Of course, dragon or not, Saul was still male, and no less prone to the flaws that sometimes afflicted his sex. She hadn’t intended to leave him with a case of blue balls.

“He is a very handsome beast,” Saul offered without further prompting.

Chloe sighed in relief. As long as Saul spoke to her, it meant he wasn’t too upset. Mahasti had warned her that a quiet dragon was a brooding dragon. “He’s a Savannah.”

“Ah. House cats bred with their wilder kin.”

The spotted feline twined between her feet all the way from the bathroom to the bedroom, even head-butting her ankles in an attempt to direct her away from Saul. He hissed at Saul and raised his black-banded tail in the air.

“Felix, enough of that.” She nudged him away long enough to pull on the fresh clothes she’d laid out earlier. She shook her head when the protective feline took up a watchful post on the foot of the bed.

He’s acting awfully odd.
“You don’t eat cats, do you?”

Saul snorted and opened the bedroom door without waiting for her to finish dressing for their evening out. The dragon walked into the next room while tugging on his t-shirt, failing to honor her question with a response.

Note to self. An irritated Saul is definitely a quiet Saul. At least he isn’t pissed.

“Holy abs,” Marcy called from the hallway. “Chloe! You need to put a warning label on these!”

Chloe chuckled. After she ran a brush through her damp hair, she jogged out of the room in the chosen summer dress, its folds skimming her trim body. It suited her athletic frame, showcasing long legs and toned thighs with an ideal hem four inches above the knee. It was also as sexy as her casual clothing usually came, despite Marcy’s dedicated efforts to spicing up her wardrobe. Felix trotted out behind her with his tail raised in the air then he mewled for attention until Chloe lifted him from the floor.

“Missed you too, Felix.”
I hope dragons and cats aren’t natural born enemies or something.

“Damn, I hoped you’d take forever doing your hair so I could interrogate your boyfriend.”

“Didn’t you do enough of that in the car? Honestly. You know all of the highlights already. CEO and hot outdoorsman. There’s nothing else…”

A bit of a grin surfaced on Saul’s face. “It is true. I am afraid anything more would prove to be a severe disappointment, Marceline.”

Marcy groaned. “You told him my full name? I guess I’ll accept it. Coming from him it almost sounds sexy. Come on now, no time to waste. I made reservations as soon as you told me both of you were coming home, and I’ll be pissed if we’re late and they give our table away.”

Dinner at a local Brazilian grill allowed Saul to sample a varied selection of meat. He ate enough for three men his size while Marcy gawked in disbelief. As a dragon hiding in human form, he required frequent feedings and consumed enough meat to provide most of the sustenance needed by his magical other half.

The Latina twisted on her chair to face her friend. “Where is he putting it away?”

“No idea,” Chloe mumbled around a mouthful of food. She speared a rare piece of beef from Saul’s plate and popped it into her mouth before launching into an explanation. “Saul’s really into fitness. You know. Marathons, hiking. All that stuff.” It made a good cover story.

“I guess you two are a perfect match then… Chloe, wait, that’s still bloody inside,” Marcy tried to warn her, a few seconds too late to make a difference.

“It’s also delicious.” Chloe stole another cut of meat for emphasis. She’d never eaten a piece of steak that wasn’t thoroughly brown to its center in all of the time Marcy had known her.

“Geez, Saul, what did you feed her over there in LA?”

“I did nothing. Perhaps she has finally acquired the taste for proper cuisine.”

They ended the night with a tour of the local Houston area. Marcy had a day of work to look forward to in the morning, so she begged out and retired to bed early, abandoning the lovebirds in the living room on the sofa.

“I’m glad I got to meet you, Saul. Try not to eat us out of house and home until we can visit the grocery store.”

Saul chuckled. “I will try. It has been a true pleasure to make your acquaintance, dear Marceline. Rest well.”

“I plan to. Night, guys!”

Without Marcy’s company, Chloe and Saul retired to the bedroom where she gently shut the door to keep Felix at bay. The oversized cat had entered her life first, but she planned to allow Saul the chance to acclimate to having a bite-sized animal in his presence that wasn’t on the menu. To soften the blow and spare them from a night of plaintive cries at the door, she had emptied a can of tuna into the cat’s dish.

“Do you not intend to allow Felix inside?” Saul asked, concern coloring his voice.

“Tomorrow night. I missed him, but I wanna give him tomorrow to adjust to having you around. He can be a little mean sometimes to new people.”