Her lips tasted of roses. The warmth of her body next to him was like autumn sunshine, warm and refreshing.

  When he dipped his tongue into her mouth this time, she opened, wanting more. And as he stroked, as he tested her and found the most sensuous spots, her body tensed beneath him, curling into the bed from the arousal of it.

  When he finally ended the kiss, she practically had to gasp to catch her breath.

  “I just… I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she murmured excitedly.

  “Yet here we are,” Citrine said, his mouth coming to the base of her neck and sucking on the soft skin there, making her let out a light squeak as the sensation overtook her.

  Citrine had seen her thoughts. He’d known ever since he came how badly she wanted him. Had she felt that way when they worked together in Seattle? If so, how had he missed it?

  Regardless, he wasn’t going to miss a single thing about her now.

  His hands found the curves at her sides, teasing him beneath the oversized shirt she wore. Then, as he continued to kiss her neck, moving in widening circles as he reached the base of her ear, he reached higher, squeezing her breasts softly through her bra.

  “Oh, yes. More.” She sighed, sounding carried away with satisfaction.

  Resisting the urge to use his claw to cut through the buttons of her shirt, he instead tore it apart, sending buttons flying every which way into the far reaches of her room.

  But Robbie didn’t even seem to mind as he pulled the shirt away from her, almost in a trancelike state of arousal, accepting everything he gave. He quickly undid the clasp of her bra, then pulled it and her shirt off around her shoulders, and immediately kissed one nipple, already peaked and wanting.

  She moaned more loudly at that, writhing beneath him as he straddled her on the bed. When he seized the other nipple between his lips, she did it again, hands grasping desperately into the sheets beside her as if she had nothing to hold on to.

  That wouldn’t do.

  Pausing for a second, he plucked her hands in his and wrapped them around the back of his neck, and she looked up at him, surprised.

  “Hold me. Only me,” Citrine said. Then kissed her breasts, this time squeezing them with his hands as he did.

  As she tightened, her fingers dug into his skin, urging him, pulling him closer, deeper into their pleasure.

  But he was already in over his head. And with each passing second, it only became more apparent.

  While he rubbed one thumb over a nipple, pressing into it lightly and making her back arch from pleasure, his other hand found the button of her jeans, flicking it open and pulling the zipper down. His hand dipped beneath her silky panties, and he felt delicious wetness as he explored her soft folds.

  It wasn’t until his finger found her center, stroking it lightly with a few small motions, that he truly felt Robbie’s strength, her nails raking his back and shoulders with surprising force.

  But Citrine wasn’t at all worried she’d break skin. His natural toughness would protect him. But even if it didn’t, it was only evidence of how badly she wanted him. How well they matched, how perfectly made for him she was. The missing piece to his jigsaw puzzle.

  He stroked once more, and she came for the first time in his arms, grasping as she cried out in overwhelming pleasure and release. She was so beautiful, so unfettered and unrestrained, that it transcended anything he’d experienced before.

  For several long seconds, it overtook her. But when it finally passed, he started once again, determined to see his woman in that beautiful state as much as possible.

  Even as an eternal dragon, there was but one life to live. And he intended to use it in service of his mate.

  He went into a steady rhythm against the tiny nub with his finger, flicking then pressing lightly, then making small circles in reversing directions as she tried desperately to hold back however she could.

  But it was no use. And when she came again, this time his name was on her lips, muttered between oaths and sharp gasps of air as she lost all control of her body momentarily.

  Weeks of searching. A lifetime of waiting. This made everything worth it.

  When she was able to relax, he looked into his mate’s eyes. Deep, velvety brown, and so beautiful. Her cheeks were flushed, her expression aroused and uncertain.

  “Should we stop?” she asked.

  “Do you want to stop?”

  There was a momentary pause. Then she shook her head, a slight smile curling at the corner of her lips as she looked up at him in anticipation.

  “Then hold on,” Citrine said, pulling off her jeans and underwear in one smooth motion, then spreading her legs as he began to lower his head between her hips.

  White sensation brighter than the sun shot through Robbie’s body as Citrine’s tongue covered her clit. She almost came right there, forcing her eyes open to look down at him. Everything, from his gorgeous, thick dark hair to his symmetrical features to his burning amber eyes, made her arousal that much hotter.

  He radiated dominance, controlling her pleasure, giving her everything she could have never dreamed of having, showing her things she didn’t even know about herself.

  Like with the wood chopping earlier, he was poetry in motion, masculine body controlled and positioned solely for her.

  Robbie tried to hold off, tried to think unsexy thoughts to last a little bit longer. But how could she focus on anything but the electricity coursing through her and the overwhelmingly sexy man now giving her everything her heart desired?

  Orgasm ripped through her again, and this time her fingers gripped his hair as tight pleasure culminated in an explosion of release to every finger, every toe, every far reach of her body.

  “Citrine, I…” She trailed off, stuck between wanting to go further, go all the way with this man, and the niggling fear that she would ruin everything if she jumped the gun on this. Responsibility and want had never been more at odds in her entire life.

  “Just one more,” Citrine said—no, more like commanded. The wolf in her responded to him unlike anyone else she’d ever met. She was an alpha, the top of the food chain, beholden to no one.

  Yet when she was around him like this, when she felt the raw masculine passion he kept hidden behind the veneer of self-control and pleasant smiles, it made the wolf inside her want to howl.

  Yet she knew he would stop if she wanted. Knew that he was only reading her desires, giving her what her body wanted, even when her mind tried to logic its way out of so much goodness it felt her heart could burst.

  Robbie finally just nodded in response, and Citrine came down between her hips once more. She was so sensitive now, so taut that even the warmth of his breath lightly coursing over her threatened to tip her over the edge.

  But she’d never known so much desire since the day Citrine had walked into her life. And now the gate was open. It was like an open dam spilling forth with limitless need that could only be sated by the man himself.

  She felt his tongue lightly flick against her clit. Then he moved slightly and looked at up at her, wanting her attention.

  “Can I?” he asked, stroking her entrance.

  “Oh, hell yes,” she said.

  She then felt another sensation deep inside as he entered her with one, then two fingers. The feeling was as arousing as it was exciting, setting off tiny sparks and awakening her to a new kind of want. A want to be joined with him, body to body.

  Robbie’s wolf howled at that, and she tried to ignore it as, with its last ounce of strength, her body resisted the waves of pleasure that were fast approaching.

  But Citrine was unrelenting as his warm, wet tongue covered her and his fingers thrust inside her at the same time. Friction and motion working in tandem that felt so good it would be confusing if it wasn’t also so clarifying.

  There could be no worries about the future, fretting about the past when all she could focus on was this moment between the two of them.

  Citrine hooked a finger within her, stroking somewhere that made her spine jolt from the sheer sensitivity of it, and she came. This time, Citrine came above her, holding her as she held him so tightly it was as if her life depended on it.

  The only word on her lips was his name, over and over. But it felt natural, even right, as she drowned in the depths of her release for what felt like an eternity, then came back up for air, still in his arms when she surfaced, surrounded by his embrace.

  For what felt like minutes, she just held him, not wanting to let go of this fantasy that she’d somehow been swept up in instantly. Outside the door to her room lay the world, the reality of what her life was and her destiny as an alpha responsible for her pack. In her, she was just a woman, a woman with wants and needs and a man who showed he could fulfill all of those if she only let him.

  But perhaps that was the point. Tomorrow was going to come whether she wanted it to or not. And the next day. It was much better to stand and face it head on than simply dreading it.

  There was an opportunity in front of her if she could just get up the gumption and simply reach out and take it.

  Chapter 8

  Citrine looked down at his mate, pleased with everything about her, as her dark, sensual eyes glowed with satisfaction and she bit her lower lip.

  He’d taken care of the she-wolf inside her, and he hoped to be able to do it for the rest of their lives.

  Thunder sounded overhead, and he heard light rain pattering on the window outside her bedroom.

  “I love rain,” Robbie said, looking wistfully out the window.

  Citrine stood up and gathered her clothes up, handing them to her. “Let’s go enjoy it, then.”

  “Where?”

  “The back deck,” he said.

  “We’ll get wet,” she said. He gave her a smirk, and she flushed rapidly. “Stop that! Besides, someone might see us out there.”

  “Your parents?” he asked. “I’m pretty sure anyone who sees us knows I want you. They may as well start getting used to the sight of us together.” He squinted. “I may be imagining it, but I think they’re actually on my side about this.”

  She sighed. “You may be right.” She pulled on her clothing reluctantly as Citrine did the same. “But I do love the rain. We can go talk out there.

  They crept downstairs, and Citrine was relieved to not see any sign of her parents.

  He still wanted to be alone with her for now.

  She led him to the back door, and as they walked out onto the deck, he took in the scents of a beautiful, wet garden and lots of clean grass.

  Rain was only falling lightly overhead, and they took two cushioned deck chairs next to one another.

  He looked up at the cloudy sky with a grin. “Ah, rain. Nature’s showering alternative.” A raindrop landed in his eye, and he grimaced, shaking his head.

  “You look like a dog when you do that,” she said with a grin. “Maybe you’re actually a wolf? Some kind I can’t scent?”

  He shook his head. “Anyway…”

  “Right,” she said. “New topic.”

  “New topic.” He agreed.

  “Weather like this reminds me of Seattle,” she said.

  “Is that a good thing?” he asked, lying back on the chair and looking over at her.

  She nodded. Her creamy brown skin was still softly glowing, her dark eyes like shimmering velvet. Beautiful, curled lashes rested on her cheeks as she closed her eyes to think. When she opened them, her eyes were shimmering slightly. “Reminds me of freedom. Some of the best times of my life. Meeting you and the others as well. You were my favorite company to work for. I’m glad you were my last happy memory.”

  He frowned. “Surely not the last happy memory ever.”

  She curled up on her side on the cushions, tucking her hand under her head. Her hair was forming tighter curls as the rain dampened it. “No. I just meant with my work. With my time in the outside world.”

  “If you truly love it there, I don’t see why you should have to leave.”

  “I have responsibilities. Like you did at Date-A-Dragon. You understand.”

  “No,” he said. “Not like this.”

  “It was nice being out in the world, though. Living without huge, weighty decisions like the safety of my pack or myself. In Seattle, I could just be myself, do what I wanted, help people in whatever way I wanted to. I don’t think I was more selfish, but I was more myself.” She smiled at him wistfully. “But my parents have done everything for me. Raised me with responsibility for my pack. I’m happy to do just this for them.”

  “What if they don’t want you to do this anymore?” he asked, feeling a tension headache forming between his brows at how inevitable she was making this sound, even when they’d just made love.

  Didn’t she know he could make this all better? Was there something about Bryson he wasn’t understanding? He rolled onto his back in frustration, hating the resignation in Robbie’s voice. He’d liked it better when she was bossing him around, asserting her will, making what she wanted happen.

  “When I saw Bryson at the mall when I was with Kelsey, I knew it was a sign that I had to come back. That I couldn’t run from destiny anymore.”

  “Destiny?” he asked, cocking his head. “I don’t think so. You aren’t destined for Bryson. I can tell you that much for sure.”

  “Then I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.

  “Sometimes that’s not a bad thing,” he said. “Sometimes destiny turns out different than you planned. Sometimes what you think is destined isn’t destined at all.”

  “Then couldn’t you be wrong in thinking I’m your destiny?”

  He touched his chest seriously, staring into her eyes. “No. I know it in a much deeper place than any logic or reason or responsibility can reach. I know it at the core of me, the base. I know it more than I know rain is wet or grass grows with water.” Her eyes glistened as she watched him. “I just know it.”

  “I wish I did, too,” she said. “But that just isn’t how it works with wolves. Most of us can’t have some romantic idea of mates. Alpha females especially.”

  He threw his hands up in the air. “I just don’t get it. To me, it’s simple. No one in this world should do what they don’t have to.”

  “You haven’t ever done something you didn’t want to?” she asked. “Seriously?”

  “Of course I’ve done things for others. Fought for things I wanted to happen. But this is different. We are talking about love, about something that changes someone’s experience for the better for their entire lifetime. That should never be forced.”

  “Aren’t you forcing it?” she asked.

  “No,” he said. “I’m being open with you about what I think, but I’m always aware of your choices. I think you want me. I see you watching me, like a kid with their face pressed to the glass of a store that holds something they can’t have. I’m determined to make all this possible. I’m just trying to introduce to your mind the idea that maybe things can work out all right.”

  He left his chair to kneel in front of hers, stroking her face, and she closed her eyes, expression slightly pained. “I want to believe it.”

  “Then do,” he said. He released her face and went to take one of her hands in his. “I like the part of you that always thinks of others. I admire it. But I don’t want to see it tell you that anyone else is more important. Robbie matters, too.”

  She sighed and opened her eyes to look at him. “How are you so wise about things like this?”

  He pulled his chair over so he could sit on the side of it and keep her hand in his. “I guess I have some experience in disappointing people.”

  “How so?” she asked, sitting up to face him. Her curls were drawing up in tight, wet ringlets, and he wanted badly to pull on them, watch them bounce back into place. Resilient like she was.

  “Just growing up,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. I had good parents. But my mother and father were expecting something… different. I wasn’t as… masculine as my father wanted.”

  “You? Not masculine?” she asked with a scoff. “You’re one of the most masculine people I know.”

  “Not by the standards in my culture.”

  “In New York?” she asked.

  “I’m not really from New York. I just lived there. I can’t talk a lot about where I’m from because I can’t give away what I am, so I’m sorry, but I’ll have to speak in general terms.”

  “That’s fine,” she said. “But I really look forward to the day when you can tell me anything.”

  His heart skipped because her words, even if she didn’t realize it, meant there was a part of her that hoped for a day when they could be mates and share things like that. “Anyway, I was more into plants and gardening than the kinds of things other kids like me were supposed to be into.”

  “Gardening is a great hobby,” she said.

  “Well, I wasn’t considered to be fulfilling my potential,” he said. “My parents had… lofty goals for me.”

  He closed his eyes, hating facing the truth even now. At first, his mother had treasured his gentleness, the way he preferred to help things grow rather than kill them.

  But both his parents had thought he would grow out of it, become the powerful sun dragon that was expected of him. Dragons with powers like his could turn the tide of a war, destroy an entire nation… blind the world.

  Yet Citrine had been born with an inexplicable peacemaking nature. Perhaps it was the deep-down knowledge there was something powerful inside him that had to be controlled. That great power brought great risks. That if he ever lost control, the consequences could be great. And growing up, he’d heard frequently just how strong his powers were.

  But if his parents had expected him to turn into a despot, they’d been disappointed. Their constant bragging about his powers had only made him want to lock himself up that much more.

  And he’d always been fine locked up. That was until Robbie had left. Now he supposed it was probably good he had a collar on, because he didn’t want to risk losing control of anything inside him.