Mica (5 page)

Everything was spinning. Getting enough breath into her lungs was a monumental task. She might have laughed, but she couldn’t be sure. All she knew was here, now, was warmth, and safety, and…love?

Yeah.

Love.

Chapter Six

The picture was of her. It was taken through the shop’s window, but it was still a nice picture for all that. She was smiling – probably at a customer – and the sunlight lit her hair and glowed around her, making a halo effect.

Sophie was still processing as she took in the picture, and it took a few moments to place the pieces together. She was with Mica. After he’d given her the most explosive orgasm of her life, he picked her up, carried her to his bed, stripped her out of her clothes, and proceeded to make her orgasm two more times before utter exhaustion utterly claimed her.

Her body
ached
, her thighs experiencing that slight jelly feeling, the same type as a day after a particularly hard workout.

No one could say Mica hadn’t worked her over, that was for sure.

Turning so she could see him, she couldn’t prevent the smile at his less the angelic visage, his mouth open and soft snores coming from his mouth. Not exactly daydream material there, but he shifted, and now his face – well, Mica would never be called boyish, ever. Nor innocent. She’d noticed that on him. Something in his eyes, in the planes of his face, were too hard to ever let anyone forget he was a man who life had thrown some curveballs at. She might not know what they were, but she could tell they existed.

Still, right now, there was a happy relaxation about him, and she had the feeling this was not a usual expression.

Maybe she could make sure it happened a little more from now on.

As quiet as she could, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand where she had dropped it after texting Jo she was on the hook for opening the shop alone today. And if she took a secret picture of Mica, it wasn’t like he could complain – not after she saw the picture of her on the nightstand.

Her hands began shaking, because it hit her, what her picture on his nightstand meant. It wasn’t like he had a shrine dedicated to her – that would make her nervous, no matter how fabulous the sex. It was a simple picture, and she wasn’t particularly sexy in it. It was just her happy, and it was set a place where it would be the first thing he saw when he woke up.

She wasn’t alone in this crazy influx of feelings. She wasn’t crazy in this connection she had felt the first day a lumberjack blundered into her little shop, too big for the space and eyes wide as he took everything in – especially her. It was more than sexual appreciation. It was a spark that could change everything in their lives, if they let it.

Grandma had been a firm believer in love at first sight. Sophie couldn’t quite claim at first sight, but it hit her hard and it hit her fast, and she couldn’t bring herself to care what anyone else would think if she told them that right now, this exact moment in time, she knew she was lying next to the love of her life, and she never wanted to be further than an arm’s reach from him for the rest of her life.

Feelings were racing through her, her heart near bursting, and she had to touch him. She had to share with him what was in her, communicate her love through her touch.

She rolled over on top of him, their bodies pressing together chest to chest, belly to belly, as she began to kiss him, small gentle meetings of her lips to his skin, which began at his neck, the bristles of his beard soft against her tongue.

His chest had a nice smattering of hair. Not a bear, but he wasn’t one of those waxed fitness models either. She undulated against him, letting her nipples harden at the sensation of being stroked against that chest hair, before she scooted down to continue her kissing. She wanted his nipples in her mouth as he’d had her nipples in his.

The hair here was coarser and was springy against her tongue, the sensation only adding to the pleasure of her kisses. She gently bit until his nipples hardened, and she sucked harder.

His breathing was getting more strained, but unless he was a great actor, he was still asleep. Now her mouth followed the trail of hair down the middle of his stomach, taking care to follow the detours his muscles made, the indents so deep she could almost curve her palms around them.

Now further down, to where his hair was coarsest and springiest. She pushed against it with her tongue, the texture actually tickling a little where it hit under her nose. She breathed deep, the smell of their combined sex strong here, and the reminder of the night before was stoking her own desire higher. Her pussy was damp, damp enough that if he put his fingers there, it would come back glistening.

She wanted his fingers there. Thick and calloused, they weren’t quite as nice as his cock, but hey could spark amazing feelings.

Now was the part which had led her to unimaginable heights last night, places no man had ever gotten her close to before.

He was nice and thick, long, not scary sized, but he filled her up perfectly last night. Now her mouth wanted to experience what her pussy had.

She mouthed at the head, licking the tip, reveling in the deep groan she pulled from the still sleeping man. Even that small stimulus had his hips moving, pushing to her.

Opening wide, she brought him in before he was fully hard. She wanted to push him into complete hardness. She wanted it to be her mouth that brought him off.

He was warm, delicious in a way she’d never associated before with blowjobs. No, here and now, she
wanted
him deeper. She
wanted
him harder. She couldn’t wait to experience every stage, to feel his cock fill up and harden, for his balls to swell.

She worked his cock, her mouth so wet spit dribbled out as she worked him, using her tongue and cheeks and her throat as he lengthened, using them together to bring him pleasure.

Then his fingers were fisted in her hair, and he was pushing her so lightly, but the guidance was unmistakable. “Suck the head. Pull on it.”

She did, and was rewarded with a low groan. Her head twisted under his hand, and while her mouth was working over his dick, her other hand was massaging his balls, squeezing the firm globes and making him spread his legs so she had a better reach.

She looked up to see his burning eyes intent on her, watching her every move. “Good girl, taking me so deep. You like it? You like sucking my cock?”

She moaned her answer, hoping he knew she did. She loved every part of him. She loved she had the ability to turn him on this badly, make a strong man tremble beneath her.

“Suck on only the head,” he instructed, pulling her hair up to emphasize the words. With his other hand he began pumping his own shaft, using her spit as lubricant. She swirled her tongue around him, then moved it to flick at the sensitive tip, both actions making his hand move faster, making his fingers tighten in her hair.

Then he pulled her away. “Open your mouth.
Open your mouth.
”

She did, reveling in the desperation he displayed, the pure desire, no more blue in those eyes that were fixed on her mouth as though he’d die if she left him right now.

She stuck out her tongue, opening wider, and a shocked, low groan fell from his lips, his hips giving involuntary jerks as long streams of come hit her face, stripes of it running over her mouth, and her cheeks, and yes, over her tongue.

He came endlessly, his body seemingly helpless under the force of his orgasm, and never once did his eyes leave her face.

Chapter Seven

“You’re hiding something from me.”

Those words, uttered with such studied indifference, had Mica’s head shooting up to glance at Sophie, to see if anything about her gave him a clue what she was looking for.

She was cleaning out the display case. Jo had the day off, since Sophie felt that Jo had been going above and beyond in covering for her these last two weeks, and since the entire staff consisted of her and Jo and one part time person, it meant Jo had been racking up the hours lately.

So maybe Sophie had been late a few times. He could guarantee she was in a great mood all day because he kept her in bed that extra hour.

Hell, the entire two weeks they’d been together had been as perfect as if they’d been plucked from his fantasies. She’d accepted his explanation of security when she asked what he did without pushing to know anything more. The sex was incredible, but being with her was even more so. He enjoyed being around her so much. He hadn’t laughed as much in the last two years as he had the last two weeks.

He learned about her less than ideal family, where she was labelled the sweet one and her sister the pretty one. She held him tight when he told her he had no family left alive. Her face was deliberately neutral and turned away from his when she told him she hoped to one day have kids. If he had been more demanding in bed with her that night, if he had filled her again and again until her body had been pushed to its limits, she didn’t mention it the next day.

In short, he thought everything was perfect. Well, except for the fact his dragon was perpetually prowling inside him, demanding that he claim their mate. He’d woken almost ever day with his nose buried in her neck, right where his bite would go, the dragon snarling with impatience at him.

But every time he thought to bring it up, another tidbit of Jacobson crossed their path, another evil deed foiled…more women found, or also, discovered missing too late to help them.

Granite’s mate snarling as they entered that hellhole, not knowing they were there to rescue her.

Against every instinct and desire and every wish he’d had since he learned about Only’s, even against his own dragon, he was not going to put her into that situation. He’d keep her safe and away from his world until Jacobson could be dealt with.

“Only the parts of my work that are classified, but you said you understood that.”

“I do, but it’s not that.”

His face gave him away.

Sophie turned from Mica and back to cleaning, disappointment a gnawing sensation through her gut. He might think he was stoic and emotionless, but these last two weeks had given her insight to him, the ability to see through him in ways she’d bet money no one else could claim.

And right now, she knew he was hiding something from her.

She didn’t think it was another woman. She had faith he’d never go down that path with her. Still, it was something big, something that left his eyes hollow as he stared at the walls, seeing nothing until she brought him out of it. That, or it left him with breathtaking anger – not directed at her, but directed to an enemy he wanted to fight but couldn’t yet, someone he wanted with everything in him.

She felt it, that this
whatever
was the final barrier to them truly committing to each other. If she could get him to acknowledge it, then they could get past it, but he hadn’t yet. He’d smile and wave it off, pretend like it didn’t matter.

But it did.

She didn’t like silences. Silences could grow to quickly, multiply at a frightening rate. Too many times she’d witnessed how the small missed connections went wildfire, destroying families and leaving ruin in their wake.

Even in their short time together, already the silence was expanding, and it terrified her. She couldn’t lose him, but she couldn’t hold onto him if he wouldn’t trust her.

The bell jingled that signaled a customer. “Sorry, we’re closed,” she called out automatically, but a chair crashed to the floor, and Mica was
growling
at the man who was in her shop. He was pale. Dark greasy hair and empty eyes, and she shivered when those eyes turned to her.

“Sophie, get out,” Mica said.

The other man laughed. “Sophie. What a cute name. What a cute shop.”

There was nothing of goodness about that man, and Sophie backed away to grab the gun under register, fighting to keep her voice steady. “You need to leave now. The shop is closed, and you are not welcome.”

The stranger laughed, a high, hysterical, frightening sound. “A gun. How sweet. You’ve told her nothing, Horde dragon?”

“Sophie,
run!
”

It was impossible. It was a bad dream…no, a nightmare, because the stranger let out a high-pitched scream and where he once stood, a creature that looked like a
dragon
now resided.

It was the size of an elephant or larger, and was a sickly acid green, but in all ways in looked exactly like it came from a drawing of a medieval manuscript.

And Micah had to get away, but there was no Micah. There was only another dragon, this one a deep blue, the shade of the sky at sunset.

The creatures were fighting, and Sophie ran out the back, away from the crashes, away from the nightmare, the destruction of her beautiful little shop, the one that took five years of savings to open.

She stayed near, helpless. She didn’t call the police because…this. How could she explain this?  But she couldn’t leave, because Mica was there, and she’d never leave him. He’d told her nothing, and so she had no one to turn to, who might understand or might help. She had no weapons. She had nothing, and she stood where she was, waiting in pathetic uselessness.

The noise stop. The crashes stopped. The door opened, and it was Mica, not a man with eyes full of nightmares, not a dragon of acid green or a dragon the beautiful blue of a night sky.

It was Mica, covered in blood, and she ran to him.
“Mica.”

He held up a hand, everything about him now closed off and warning her away. “I’m fine.”

Before her, he was a stranger, as he’d never been before, not even the first moment they’d met. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“What did your eyes see?”

What they saw and what had to be the truth was two different things, because what they saw was impossible.

But it wasn’t impossible. If nothing else, the pure misery Micah projected told her that. The air of a man going to his own execution, and the final appeal had been denied.

“What was that?”

“It was a battle between enemies, part of something that started a long time ago.” He looked away, drawing in a deep breath, his body stiffening with resolve. “I’m sorry it touched you, Sophie. Please believe me that I never meant it to. I did everything I could to keep you away. I’ll pay to make sure your shop is repaired and back running as soon as possible-”

“
Fuck the shop!
Are you okay? You…killed…another being in there.”

His eyes warmed for a fraction of a moment before going back to the previous indifference. “Believe me when I say he deserved to die, and I don’t feel a moment’s remorse that I was the one who caused it to happen.”

“So what now?”

“Now, it’s time for me to leave.”

“What?”
He couldn’t have said that. He couldn’t
mean
that. “Look, I don’t care what happened-”

“It was a territorial dispute. Even in these modern times, it is common for my kind.”

“Okay, still, that doesn’t mean you can leave me.”

“You’ve seen what I am.” All the warmth she associated with him was gone, leaving behind this perfect warrior, someone who would dominate the battlefield, not letting any emotion touch him while he battled through the enemy ranks.

“Yes, I see what you are. Which means that you’ve been it all the time I’ve known you. Why would I not care for you now just because another facet has been revealed?”

Now emotion shown on his face, in his widened eyes and dazed expression. He never expected her to say those words, that much was apparent. She suspected they weren’t the first couple to have this conversation, many probably under similar circumstances, and she could see how it often might have gone the other way.

But with how completely her heart was his, she would never be able to walk away from him. No, the only thing she wanted from this night was information on how she could fight back if this ever happened again. She never wanted to be standing on the sidelines again, waiting to see if he appeared alive.

But the emotion from him was short-lived. He shook it off like a dog shaking water from its fur, and the expressionless warrior stood there once again. “I don’t care about you, not in any way that matters. Do you understand that?”

Sophie stepped back like he slapped her. “That’s not true.”

“You were a good fuck,” he pressed on, every line of his body looming over her, but for the first time she didn’t feel protected – she felt stifled. She felt used, and manipulated. “I wasn’t lying when I said you were the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen. I hope you’ve enjoyed our time together as well. But I need to leave and I don’t want you around anymore.”

With that, he turned and walked away, and her world crumbled around her.