Dragon's Melody (18 page)

She heaved a sigh and stood, shaking her head and tossing her handbag onto the bathroom counter. “You guys are exhausting. Even old memories of men like you wear me down.” She walked to the deep sunken tub and nudged the hot water lever with her foot, starting the tub filling.

“We can be a challenge, I grant you that,” he said. “But if you give us a chance, we’re worth it.”

She let out a soft snort. “I’m beginning to wonder. You keep saying I’m going to be Skye’s, but after the other day, I worry all he’s good for is making me come. Maybe it would be better if I just see the contract through, get my money, and don’t look back. Leave your
nature
a mystery and move on. Then Skye won’t have to worry about my trust at all.”

“That’s one option,” Garen said, frowning. Maybe she was right, but the idea of losing her entirely caused a tight knot to form in his belly. If she came to the end of the contract and still felt that way, he’d have to try to change her mind. Damn Skye for making this more challenging for her than necessary. His ultimatum wasn’t having the effect he’d probably hoped for.

She turned and gave him a small smile. “Well, until I decide, I might as well enjoy myself. I think a bath is safe enough for us. I’m like a lobster in a cooking pot in a bath—don’t even realize I’m ready to eat until you’re dipping me in butter. Join me?”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

M
elody wasn’t waiting for Skye by the window like the first night, yet the tendrils of her bond were clearly visible when he walked through the door.

Garen’s face was flushed when he crossed the front room to the entryway, his pale aura bright with evidence of his efforts that afternoon. Skye had hoped he’d see more evidence of a bond between the two of them, but their energy was disappointingly devoid of fresh infusions of each other. They were still adhering to that rule at least.

“She’s in the dining room waiting for you,” Garen said. “I should warn you she’s being difficult this afternoon, so I hope you’re in a patient mood.”

Skye frowned. “Not particularly. Is she not ready for me? You look like you’ve had an eventful afternoon yourself.” He eyed Garen, raising an eyebrow at the erection bulging against the front of his pants. “She’s affecting you more than before, it seems.”

“She’s an incredibly enticing woman. I’d love another taste of her but I’m happy to prepare her for you instead. She’s most definitely ready. I suppose profoundly frustrated might be the right phrase to describe her, though. You shouldn’t make her wait so long if you intend to mate her.”

Garen’s irritation with him made it apparent that Melody wasn’t the only one that phrase applied to. He felt a small pang of guilt about abstaining from helping Garen find his release since they’d begun this endeavor, but if he did, they would dilute the potential bond between Skye and Melody. So Skye’s only hope was for Garen to give in. He wished he could simply tell his friend to try with her without betraying his desire for Garen to mate her—their increasing closeness gave him hope, however. Perhaps they only needed more time together. Or perhaps Melody needed a stronger push.

He stepped toward his friend and rested a palm on his cheek. “I will try to be here more often for her, but I have to ask, is there a more personal reason why you’d like me to require her to be prepped more frequently? You seem very taken with her.”

“You know I wouldn’t step in the way of the two of you, even if I thought I could have a satisfying union with her.” Garen’s words came in a gruff whisper as he gazed intently back into Skye’s eyes. Skye nodded and leaned in to press his lips against Garen’s, letting the tiniest breath escape when Garen opened his mouth. Skye had requested loyalty and now regretted the ruse, so he’d have to try a subtler tactic to get Garen to stray, and perhaps do the same with Melody. It was only the tiniest seed of suggestion that would play on their already burgeoning feelings for each other, and in Garen’s aroused state he was unlikely to detect the presence of another dragon’s magic messing with his self-control.

“Go and find sustenance, friend. You’ve earned it. I’ll accept whatever mood I deserve from Melody.”

He wasn’t quite prepared to find her naked and sitting cross-legged in the high-backed chair at the head of the long dining table. She’d turned the chair around to face the arched entry and looked tiny compared to the massive hand-carved piece of furniture. Her aura pulsed in a cloud around her, teasing him with its promise. He’d spent the last few days flying between several major cities on business for Kol and was severely depleted of energy. The final leg of his trip was spent anticipating her first infusion of energy after they made love, but he was also anticipating the change of tactic he would have to use when he was with her. He’d been far too attentive and gentle the first night they spent together. Today would be a test to find out how well Garen had convinced her to rebel so far, and whether the plan was working to break her of Kol’s bond.

“You look like shit,” she said.

He brushed a hand through his hair and sighed, tugging off his jacket and throwing it over the back of another chair when he walked by her, forcing himself to avoid looking. His mouth watered at the scent of her pussy and his cock came alive at the mere sight of her insolent posture. Was she challenging him to reprimand her?

He walked back around to stand facing her, rolling up his shirt sleeves and staring down at her upturned face gazing back at him with a stubborn set to her jaw. He had to restrain himself from bending to gather her in his arms and kiss her. If he was going to push her into Garen’s arms, he couldn’t be as sweet a lover as he knew Garen was. “It’s been a long week and your purpose here is to satisfy me. I’m not in the mood for preamble so turn around and spread your legs.”

She didn’t hesitate, but moved languidly in the huge chair, tucking her feet under her and rising up onto her knees on the cushioned seat. She turned slowly, watching him over her shoulder as she gripped the back of the chair and spread her thighs.

He had trouble being disappointed in her compliance. Even though he’d hoped for even a glimmer of resistance, he was entranced by the lovely swell of her hips outward from her narrow waist, the curving sweep of her buttocks, and the way her sweet core parted its pink folds as though beckoning to him.

If she were to be his, he would have taken his time, touched her—tasted her—made her come on his tongue twice over before even fucking her. Abruptness was necessary.

He unzipped his trousers, tugged out his erection, and slammed into her with one quick, brutal thrust. She cried out and clamped down around him, her hips surging back to meet his urgent fucking. Sweet Mother, he wouldn’t last, but regardless of his ploy, he still needed her to find her Nirvana first.

Reaching around her with both hands, he slid one up her torso to squeeze roughly at her breasts, pinching her nipples while he pressed the other between her thighs and rubbed mercilessly at her clit. Her panting moans grew harsher and her muscles gripped him ever tighter.

“You really wanted to just fuck me today, didn’t you?” she said in an amused, hitching voice. “No sweet, attentive Skye anymore? Are you still pissed at me for coming all over Garen’s fingers? Jealous little Skye needs my pussy all to himself, huh?”

Her words caught him off guard and he paused mid-stroke, his mind so lost to pleasure he almost didn’t process what she’d said. When they finally clicked, he growled and tangled the fingers of one hand into the long hair at the base of her skull and gripped, pulling her back toward him. His mouth tight against her ear, he said, “I might forgive you if you hurry up and come on my cock right now.” Yet he was secretly elated at her needling. Something was working.

Her throat rippled with a slight laugh and she turned her head so that her lips brushed against his.

“I fucked Garen today,” she said before grabbing at his mouth with hers and plunging her tongue between his lips.

He was too far gone to argue or even process the confession, only aware of its implications. She was trying to hurt him for some reason, and the idea of the pair of them entwined and moving together did precisely that. He moaned into her mouth, surprised at the confusion of anger that shot through him. He pressed his fingers harder against her clit, and fucked deeper into her, moving faster and faster as her aura swelled close to bursting with her pleasure. She was enjoying this, too, he realized. Perhaps a little too much, if the rush of emotion that met his senses were any indication. She had wanted to hurt him, and felt vindicated, but only because she truly craved his attention.

She broke away from their kiss, tilting her head back against his shoulder and grabbing the back of his neck with one hand for stability. He released her hair and clutched at her breast again with the free hand while the other brought her fully to a loud and enthusiastic climax. The flood of her delicious energy pushed him across and he pistoned hard into her slick depths with a violent final stroke as his cock pulsed and exploded, his seed filling her.

“Are you trying to piss me off today?” he asked, grinning secretly into the soft, damp skin of her neck. The sweet, needy Melody from the other day was lovely enough, but this angry, defiant, and very sexy woman in his arms right now was more than he’d bargained for. The confusion of emotions she incited in him made his head spin trying to pin down whether he was thrilled or angry. Both, perhaps.

“Trying to make it clear to you that you’re playing with fire, leaving us alone together for so long. Contract or no contract, everyone has their limits. If you want to help me fulfill the damn thing, don’t leave for so long.” A hint of petulance threaded through her words, and he had to damp down the elation at the idea that she had actually missed him.

“You might have fucked him, but you didn’t break the contract. I would know. And I
do
know you left the penthouse earlier this week, despite my order that you stay put.”

“His idea. Do you know he carried me out over his shoulder naked?”

Skye frowned. He hadn’t been aware of that detail, only that he’d left a request for the concierge to let him know if she passed through the front doors of his building while he was gone. He pulled out of her and stepped back a pace while she sat facing him. The fact that Garen had withheld that detail from him troubled him, but he couldn’t object to it—he had told the Guardian explicitly to encourage her rebellion and it seemed to be working.

He shifted his mental focus to her emotional state again, surprised to find as much conflict warring in her as he felt in himself. It couldn’t just be her own will overcoming the influence of the bond. She still stared at him in challenge, but something inside her clearly wanted more of
something
.

“Lie back on the table,” he said, determined to test the limits of that particular inclination of hers. She continued to comply without protest, standing without a word and hopping up onto the shining polished wood and sliding back.

He could sense her question as well as her eager anticipation of what he would do next. She lay there, legs spread and knees bent, propped up on her elbows watching him intently while he stripped.

“When do you think you’ll make love to me in your bed?” she asked.

“If you had met me in my bed, we could be there now, but you chose to make a meal of yourself and so you’re getting devoured like one.” He flipped the chair she’d sat in around and sat. She yelped when he gripped the backs of her knees and pulled her toward him, wasting no time burying his face and tongue between her thighs. She came twice more from his relentless attention. When she heaved a harsh sigh, he still refused to give her a reprieve.

He climbed up onto the table, hovering over her and pushing her knees to her chest. She was still gloriously sodden from his attention as well as her own arousal, and her aura filled again as surely as his cock filled her clenching pussy. Sweet Mother, he would miss this when she finally turned to Garen. No other human woman had ever incited such a level of raw, hungry need in him. Precisely the same need he’d seen in Garen’s eyes—and in his overflowing aura—earlier.

“Oh God, Skye. You fucking bastard,” she said amid harsh panting just before her entire body writhed and bucked with another orgasm.

He came hard inside her, just barely aware enough to perceive the glimmer of tears in her eyes when he pulled back from sucking hard on her nipples. A torrent of strong emotion washed over him along with her energy when he absorbed it. Confusion, desperation, anger … and something deeper and more confounding that he could
not
abide. And it was completely pure and free of any influence, including the power of her blessing that he could still sense somewhere deep within her.

Shit.
She was in love with him.
Leave now. Leave now and let Garen take over entirely. Tell him the truth. Make him agree. Anything but this—he needs her more than I do.

Yet he couldn’t bring himself to stop. He fell above her, bracing his hands on either side of her head. Even though she’d just climaxed and was breathing heavily, she wrapped her legs around his hips and urged him deeper into her again. He kissed her in an attempt to avoid the confusion of emotions in her eyes, but it was still there, clear in his mind, and her mouth accepted him with a whimper of surrender as he fucked her with renewed vigor.

“Melody …” he said gruffly against her lips.

“Shut up,” she bit out. “I hate this … hate you … fuck you both … oh God, don’t stop.”

As if he ever could now that it had started—it wasn’t just the need he had to please her and find his release within her depths, but the need to believe his mother’s puzzle box opening for her had meant something more than the beginning of a bond. Even though he’d given up that dream, he wanted desperately to believe she really had been the one.

But Garen … His friend meant the world to him and Melody might be his only chance at true happiness apart from Skye. He couldn’t let himself love her. Not if he meant to let Garen have her.

The wash of her energy soaked into him, leaving him replete but hating himself for how much he loved the feel of it—for how much he never wanted it to end.

Without a word he pulled away from her, dressed, and left. Cursing himself for his need to stay as much as his need to leave as quickly as he could before he betrayed his promise to himself.

It was, thankfully, still full dark and he headed to the roof, stripped by the side of the rooftop swimming pool, and launched himself off the lip of the building. He shifted as the air rushed past, beating his wings violently against the panicked well of emotions.