Treasure Lane Dragons: Complete Series (BBW Paranormal Dragon Shapeshifter Romance) (59 page)

Just one date.
Fuck it. You’re doing this.

He grinned when he saw her and all the panic drifted away. The spark in his eyes told her she was going to be in for one
interesting
night. And now, she couldn’t wait.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ares

“You dressed up for me! I’m touched,” Ares said, grinning.

He was
this
close to licking his lips, but decided against it. Even though the thought of getting another angry scowl from her would have made it almost worth it. He loved that annoyed little face she made when things weren’t going her way. He’d seen it in the bar the first night and he’d seen it at the store when he showed up out of the blue. Then again, to be frank, there weren’t many things about her that he
didn’t
find completely compelling.

“Can’t a woman just look good for herself?” Pearl queried with an arched brow.

“Not when she’s going out with me, no,” Ares said, pushing himself off the side of the truck and taking a few steps towards her.

He had her in his arms before she could protest, which he was sure she was going to do. He pulled her into a tight embrace, enveloping her curvy frame in his arms and inhaling her sweet scent. Like gingerbread and cocoa butter – delicious. Ares fought the urge to let his hands wander over her, settling for just keeping her against him for a few moments.

To his surprise, she didn’t fight it. Far from it, her hands actually met behind his back and she was perfectly content in his arms. He could get used to this. He laid a small, butterfly of a kiss on the top of her head before pulling away from her. It was hard letting go of her, but he chose to see it as a mark of good things to come.

“So, where are we going?” she asked, letting him take her hand as he led her to his truck.

Ares opened the passenger side door and helped her in. Before he closed the door, he chuckled.

“How about you let me run this date, huh? Just sit back and relax, okay?”

The look on Pearl’s face didn’t really tell him whether she was okay with the thought or not. But it didn’t matter – he was still glowing from the hug and it was going to take more than a bit of evil eye to get him to shake it off. Ares jumped into the truck and as he took off, the entirety of Shifter Grove could hear his truck’s wheels dragging along the dirt road.

Pearl didn’t look impressed.

Ares took a beeline for a spot he had found while flying over the surrounding areas when he first arrived. He knew he wanted to take her there the moment he saw it. The drive passed in silence, but Ares didn’t mind, and Pearl didn’t seem to either. It was good to know that they could be quiet around each other without it feeling awkward. The gasp of surprise Pearl gave when he pulled up to their destination fifteen minutes later made up for the wordless drive.

“Wow,” she muttered, her gray eyes filled with wonder. “How in the hell did you find this place?”

“Dragon’s intuition. And aerial surveillance. Mostly the latter.”

It had taken a fine bit of off-roading to find a path that led to that particular outcrop. It overlooked a small waterfall and the hidden natural pool underneath. Lush vegetation grew around it and the scent of wildflowers was almost overwhelming. It was the height of summer and Ares had the feeling he’d found
just
the right time to use this little jewel of nature to his advantage.

He hopped out of the truck and helped Pearl out as well, grabbing a picnic blanket and a basket full of food from the bed of his truck.

“I took it upon myself to guess what you like,” he said, putting the checkered cloth down.

He had this all figured out. He also had a tent and some blankets in the truck in case they decided to stay for the night to do some star and each-other gazing. Or if, completely by accident, he happened to get a flat tire…

“It’s beautiful,” Pearl said.

She stood on the edge of the rocky lip, her hands wrapper around herself, looking down at the waterfall. The water from a mountain river flowed past them just a couple dozen feet away, before falling into the pool below. It wasn’t too long of a drop, just fifteen feet or so.

“Not as beautiful as you,” Ares said, stepping up behind her and putting his hands on her waist.

He felt her twitch and when she looked over her shoulder, he could see a smidgen of annoyance crinkling her pretty features. It melted away when she saw the way he was looking at her. It was hard to get angry at a genuine compliment that came from the heart. With another woman, it might have been just a line to use, but with her, he meant it.

His dragon meant it too. In fact, if his dragon had had its way, she’d have been naked and wailing out his name already. Ares pulled away from her when that most inviting thought hit him, the idea spreading through his body and becoming a bit, ahem, uncomfortable. He twirled her around and pointed her towards the blanket and the picnic basket.

“Dinner?”

“Don’t tell me you cooked.”

“Dragons above, no. That’s why we have people who do it professionally – so I wouldn’t have to. Though, I promise, I make a mean scrambled eggs for breakfast,” he said, winking at her.

He didn’t add that scrambled eggs were the only things he could make. Unless burnt toast counted, in which case he could prepare
at least
two dishes.

They sat down and he opened up the picnic basket. Ares had figured it’d be a lot weirder to try and have a proper date, but with Pearl, it all seemed to flow just right. Nothing stuck out to him as being off, and even though he could see she had her defenses up, she’d given him plenty of hope that he could break them down, if given enough time.

The first thing he did was pop open a bottle of champagne and pour her a glass. He handed the flute to her.

“Aren’t you going to get a glass?” she asked, smiling.

“Waste of a good glass,” he answered, tipping the bottle a bit. “To trusting others!” he said, raising the bottle.

“Why?”

“Because if you don’t trust me we can’t do this right and if I don’t trust you to not get annoyed at me, this will be one hell of an awkward night!” he said, clinking the bottle against her glass and taking a swig.

She laughed and it was balm to his soul. He watched a sip of champagne disappear behind her lips and, for a moment, he was jealous of the liquid, getting to know her mouth before he did. It felt unbelievable that he had known and chased her for months now and he was yet to even get a kiss. That had never happened to the dragon before.

And never will,
a self-confident voice in his head told him.

It couldn’t. She was the one. She had to be.

He didn’t mind the thought of this being his first, and last, first date.

“So, why me?” Pearl asked, kicking off her shoes.

She was wearing a sexy red dress that hugged her curves just right but wasn’t too dressy. And he appreciated that she had done her make-up and hair just for him. All that was missing was some of his gold on her and then his soul could rest easy. Until then, he would constantly feel like he had to protect her from the world around them, like another shifter might swoop in any minute and steal her from him. The thought alone unnerved him. A feeling he was not accustomed to at all.

“Why you?” he echoed, confusion drawing a line on his forehead.

“Yes. Why me? Why are you so adamant about taking me out? Why did you have to chase me down all the way to Idaho?”

He could feel Pearl’s insistent gaze on him as he took out the food – some sandwiches, fresh fruit and a cherry pie that Cerise had assured him was her favorite. When he looked up, she was still peering at him from over the rim of her glass.

“Easy. I saw you and I knew right away that there was something about you that I needed in my life. I couldn’t tell right away what it was exactly, but I knew I had to find out more. I didn’t get a chance to hunt you down the same night, and I regret that.”

“Why?”

She really seemed to like that word.

“Because I think we’ve wasted precious time that could have been spent getting to know one another better.”

His words were earnest and he assumed she could tell. There was no use in fronting with her in a situation like this – where it was just him and her and no one to overhear them. He’d already made her break down once, he didn’t want that to happen again. He’d never felt as damn vulnerable as he did when he saw her collapse in the store. Ares knew right then and there that he would do anything to never have her feel bad again.

He could spy a hint of a blush on her cheeks. It looked good on her, but then again, everything did.

“So tell me why I should trust you? Why should I go on another date with you?” she asked, leaning back and nibbling on a strawberry.

How he wished that her lips and teeth were on him instead! His chest constricted a little, looking at those inviting lips curl around the berry and become moist with its juices. Ares wondered what she tasted like and how heavenly she would look when he’d dip down between her legs for the first time and have a taste of her maddening wetness.

“You ask a lot of questions,” he said, smirking. “Good to know I’ve at least piqued your interest. I was beginning to think you were just doing this to appease me. I think you should trust me because I know I would never hurt you. Not willingly, not knowingly. Damn, I think I’d lose a limb instead of putting you in harm’s way. And I think you should go on more dates with me because you want to know what makes a man like me tick that way for a woman. I think you want to get it, to understand, and I respect that. But I think deep down inside, you feel it too. Whether or not you want to admit it is a whole other story, though.”

He took a big bite of one of the sandwiches, giving her a moment to digest his words. Ares had feared that he wouldn’t know what to tell her, how to answer her questions or make her feel at ease around him. But now, when they were talking, it all felt so easy. Just tell her the truth and that would be that. How hard was that?

His dragon knew what they felt for her better than the man ever could, but the words flowed through both of them. Dragons didn’t joke around about their mates, and when a dragon was sure of something, it was nearly impossible to convince them otherwise. Dragons above, Ares had tried reasoning with his dragon. All his rational, sensible protests that it just wasn’t the time to settle down yet and get a bride like everyone else around him had fallen on deaf ears. The dragon had decided.

Now, spending time with Pearl, Ares had to admit that his dragon had been completely right – he couldn’t get enough of her.

The sun was falling lower and lower and soon, it would disappear behind the treetops altogether. The rushing water filled the air with a happy babbling even when Ares and Pearl were silent. He couldn’t get enough of looking at her. She almost vibrated with energy. There was so much about her that he needed to learn, but what he already knew had him completely tied up.

She was a woman who wasn’t afraid of standing up for herself. Everything about her told him that she was the kind of woman who wouldn’t mind going on an adventure with him. He felt a note of hesitance about her and he wasn’t sure if it was because of him or something else, but it didn’t matter. She would see and she would understand that they were perfect for each other, at her own pace. All he could do was help her along.

“Those are fighting words,” she finally said, smirking.

He gave her a devilish look and hopped up on his feet. Ares kicked off his boots and was halfway through dragging off his shirt before she could say a word about it. He wasn’t too modest to assume it was because of his abs.

“What are you doing!?” she asked, laughing.

“I promised I’d get you out of those clothes and dammit, I’m gonna do it.”

He loved the way her eyes filled with surprise and how she laughed when he grabbed for her. As if he was picking up nothing at all, he hauled her into his arms and then over his shoulder.

Taking a page out of Devon’s book after all!
Ares thought to himself with a grin, running at full speed towards the ledge.