Courage and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 9) Page 6

  Zoe, happy that he was entertained, made her way deeper into the house. She passed through the kitchen and the small dining room, and found the stairs that led to the second level. She climbed, not bothering to read all the information posted on the walls. She had glanced at a few of the plaques downstairs, but none of them told her anything that she didn’t already know. She had read every book there was to read on Shafer’s life. She knew his story like the back of her own hand. It was a bit silly, perhaps. But he had been one of her childhood heroes, and the nostalgia of that had carried into her adulthood. And he was a damn good poet, after all. There was no denying that. His poems of love lost, death, redemption, and love found all hit on deep, universal themes that had been appreciated by so many. Such a pity he’d died of cancer relatively young. Sixty-two years had not been enough for a man like Erich Shafer. A hundred wouldn’t have been enough either, but it might have at least given Zoe a chance to meet him before he passed.

  With a sad sigh, she looked into the bedroom which had once been Shafer’s. A full sized bed and a simple four-drawer chest were the only pieces of furniture in the room. She moved on to the second bedroom, which had been Shafer’s writing room. This room had large floor to ceiling windows through which the moonlight was now streaming. One wall was completely lined by bookshelves, with books stuffed into every available space and then piled on top as well. A small writing desk was up against the wall opposite the window, and a large, bearskin rug covered the open space in the middle of the room. Zoe went to sit on the rug.

  “Lucis terminantur,” she said. The light from her magic ring instantly disappeared, and the light in the room became softer now that it only consisted of moonbeams. Zoe looked around the room, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that she was there. She felt somehow at home and at peace here, like the spirit of Erich Shafer was somehow telling her that everything was going to be alright. Maybe she was crazy. Maybe it was all in her head. But she was going to enjoy the sensation as long as it lasted. It turned out it didn’t last long. Grayson chose that moment to break into her reverie.

  “I thought you hated people who chase after celebrities,” he said.

  She looked up at him, ready for a fight, but the look in his eyes wasn’t challenging. It was soft, and slightly amused. She relaxed a bit.

  “No I hate people who treat me like a celebrity, when I haven’t done anything to deserve it,” she said. Grayson seemed pleased by this answer. He crossed the room and sat next to her on the rug. The moonlight lit up the chiseled edges of his face in an enormously pleasing way, and Zoe had to remind herself not to stare. She forced herself to look up at the moon instead of at Grayson, whom she’d just decided was infinitely more beautiful than anything else in this room.

  “This guy was really something, huh?” Grayson said.

  “Shafer, you mean?”

  “Yeah. I was reading all those plaques downstairs. He did a lot of shit.”

  Zoe laughed. “I’m not sure he’d appreciate you calling his work shit.”

  “You know what I mean,” Grayson said.

  Zoe glanced over at him, allowing herself another chance to look in his direction. He smiled at her, and she felt her stomach do a funny flip-flop. She looked away again, confused. She couldn’t feel for him the things she was feeling right now. They were on a mission together, for crying out loud. She hadn’t asked for him to come along because of his good looks. But here he was, sitting next to her with his undeniably good looks, and his smile creating little ripples of happiness in her chest. Her stomach. Lower.

  Grayson didn’t seem to notice the internal turmoil she was feeling. He continued to speak, oblivious to the pounding in her chest. “I think I misjudged you a bit.”

  Zoe looked back at him in surprise. He wasn’t looking at her anymore. He was also staring up at the moon, perhaps dealing with a bit of inner turmoil of his own.

  “Misjudged me?”

  “Yeah. I thought you were just some silly girl who got lucky with your extraordinary ability to do magic. I thought there wasn’t much more to you than someone who happened to be born the right way. But I was wrong. I can see now that you do work hard, and there is some depth to you. I mean, you have a favorite poet for crying out loud. Most of the girls I’ve dated probably didn’t even read poetry.”

  Zoe was silent for a moment. Most of the girls he’d dated? Was he trying to say that he wanted to date her? The ripples of pleasure within her core intensified. She tried to think of what the appropriate thing to say would be in this moment.

  “I don’t think of myself as someone extra special. I just live my life the way that seems best to me. I work hard. I enjoy good poetry. I like good food. What else can I say? All this recognition and fanfare surrounding me lately has been tiring. I know I shouldn’t complain. But I don’t need to be treated like some sort of goddess. I don’t need medals of honor, or extra stripes on my uniform. I just want to serve my clan and do what’s best for my people.”

  Grayson frowned. “Recognition and medals can open doors for you though. The more people respect you, the more you have chances to do work that really matters.”

  Zoe shrugged. “All of it matters. Everything that every soldier in Falcon Cross does to stop Saul is important. All of it is helping to save people’s lives and push back evil.”

  Grayson did not reply for a few moments. Finally, he looked over at her and smiled, then put his hand on her knee. Fire shot from his hand into her knee, spreading like an explosion through Zoe’s whole body. Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest, and she struggled to keep her expression neutral.

  “You’re really something, Zoe. All this time, because of what everyone else in Falcon Cross says about you, I thought you were full of yourself. But it’s actually the opposite. You don’t realize yourself how special you are. How ironic is that?”

  Zoe stared at Grayson, at a loss for words. He stared back at her, his green eyes twinkling with merriment and burning with passion at the same time. And then, he asked her a question that took her completely by surprise.

  “Zoe, may I kiss you?”

  Zoe’s eyes widened. The ripples of happiness had turned into tidal waves, and her heart was beating so hard it might as well have been trying to force its way out of her chest. There was nothing in the world she would have liked more in that moment than for Grayson to kiss her. But she felt shy about straight up telling him yes.

  “No one has ever asked for permission before kissing me,” she said, her voice trembling despite her best efforts to calm it. “And you don’t seem like the kind of person who asks for permission to do things.”

  “Normally, I don’t. But I know you’ve been overrun with unwanted attention lately, and the last thing I want to do is to contribute to that. So I’m asking you, Zoe: is it okay to kiss you?”

  Zoe still hesitated. “Here? In the middle of Shafer’s writing room? It seems a little sacrilegious.”

  “Does it?” Grayson moved his face closer to hers. His nose was almost touching hers. His hand was still on her knee, sending waves of heat through her entire being.

  “I mean…we’re not even supposed to be in here,” Zoe said weakly. “And it was his writing room. Where he worked. It seems a bit juvenile to make out in a place like this.”

  “Au contraire, Zoe,” Grayson said. “I think it makes perfect sense to share a kiss in a place where such a great poet penned so many lines about love and passion. So, let me ask you again. May I kiss you? I’m still waiting on an answer.”

  Zoe looked into Grayson’s eyes, and knew in that moment that she was lost. There was no resisting the heat, the energy, the soul in those perfect green orbs.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  And then his lips met with hers.

  Chapter Seven

  Zoe had completely lost track of time. It might have been five minutes since Grayson first kissed her, or it might have been fifty. All she knew for sure was that she had never felt more alive in her
life. There was something exhilarating about being in a house she shouldn’t have been in, taking off piece after piece of clothing even though there was always the possibility of being caught.

  Zoe had looked around for security cameras when she first came in, but hadn’t seen any. She was still under an invisibility spell, although Grayson had been moving around the house without her, so he would have shown up on any cameras that were around. Zoe was finding it hard to care anymore about being seen, though. Her thoughts had become fuzzy, and the only clear thing she could think was Grayson wants me.

  There had been something between them since the start. She had tried to ignore it, but now that she was here, lying under him on the bearskin rug as he moved his tongue in a perfect symphony with her tongue, it was hard to deny that what she’d felt had been more than just a friendly interest. She had also given up trying to convince herself that making love in Shafer’s house was a bad idea. If Grayson made a move, she would let him. And even though her mind screamed at her that she was crazy, she hoped with everything in her that Grayson would make a move.

  Perhaps he could read her mind, because no sooner had this thought crossed it than Grayson sat up and reached to pull his t-shirt up and over his head. Neither of them was wearing their military uniforms anymore—to do so in the middle of a human town would have been far too conspicuous. Instead, they’d both changed into the nondescript outfits of t-shirts and jeans. And now, Grayson was missing the t-shirt portion of that outfit. Zoe couldn’t keep from staring at the outline of his abs. His broad chest gave way to a perfectly sculpted six pack, and the v-shape of the muscles that disappeared below the hem of his jeans drew her eyes low.

  She didn’t have long to gaze at his half-naked body before he was reaching to make her body naked as well. He pulled her t-shirt off, and then reached behind her back to unclasp her bra. He slid it off her shoulders and tossed it aside, then moved his mouth to her nipples. Zoe was powerless to resist. She hoped that her invisibility spell was still working well, and that there were no security cameras in here. The thought of some sleepy security guard somewhere watching her and Grayson get hot and heavy made her cheeks burn red. But the potential of being caught only intensified the thrill she was feeling. Grayson nibbled at her nipples, taking each hard nub in his mouth to suck and bite with the perfect amount of pressure. He stopped just short of true pain, but the pressure he applied left no doubt that he was in control. She was his now. She’d agreed to a kiss, and he was stepping up to take more.

  And she was letting him. She knew she could have told him to stop at any time and he would have, albeit reluctantly. Grayson might have a bit of a temper and a stubborn streak, but he was nothing if not a perfect gentleman. But Zoe didn’t want him to stop. She wanted him to keep going, to move his tongue and teeth further down her body. She wanted his hands to continue caressing the curves of her stomach and hips as they were doing right now. Her back pressed against the soft fur of the bearskin rug as she lay there, drinking in every touch and stroke that Grayson had to offer.

  The ripples of happiness she’d felt had become a wetness that seeped out between her legs. Her body was preparing itself for him, begging for him to be inside her. Zoe could feel her simple beige panties growing more soaked by the moment. She almost wanted to laugh at the strangeness of the situation. She’d asked Grayson on this mission to avoid having anyone pay too much attention to her. She’d never expected the kind of attention she was getting right now. But she wasn’t complaining.

  It had been a long time since she’d felt such pure, primal passion. And that’s what this was, after all. A physical need, a deep lust. She had no delusions that Grayson was in love with her. They barely knew each other, and Grayson was so rough around the edges. He wasn’t the kind of man who easily let someone in, or fell head over heels for a girl. Especially not a girl whom everyone else was constantly fawning over. Grayson was the type of person who wanted to swim against the current. He would never have wanted to fall in love with the woman who was currently the most sought after person in Falcon Cross. Zoe knew enough of him to know that that just wasn’t his style.

  But, she supposed, passion was harder to resist than love. And there was definitely a spark of passion between her and Grayson. She’d tried to ignore that spark in the beginning, but now, that spark had turned into a blaze, and she was lost in the inferno. She gave in to the irresistible pull, closing her eyes and letting the sensations of Grayson’s hands and lips on her bare skin take over her thoughts.

  When he stopped for a moment, she opened her eyes again, worried that the moment was over. She didn’t want this to end yet. She wanted to keep going, to give in to the overwhelming urge to let Grayson inside, and to give him her body completely. She needn’t have worried. Grayson wasn’t stopping. He was merely pausing to unzip his jeans, pushing them off so that only his underwear remained. His erection pushed against his dark black briefs, and Zoe’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of how large he was. When he pushed his underwear off completely, and she could see his manhood on full display, she only became more breathless. Without a doubt, she had never seen anyone larger. His shaft was long and thick, and it pointed proudly toward her with the stiffness of a steel rod.

  “Grayson,” she murmured, unsure of what else to say.

  His eyes blazed as he looked down at her, swirling with an otherworldly look. She’d heard that shifter eyes could do strange things, especially when a shifter male was turned on. But nothing could have prepared her for the intensity of Grayson’s gaze right now. He was something other than human, that was certain.

  He moved toward her slowly, like an animal after his prey. The hunger in his eyes made Zoe shudder with pleasure. With deft fingers, he unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, then started tugging them down. Zoe wanted nothing more than to finish what they’d started, but the wetness of her underwear made her suddenly reach up and stop Grayson with a gasp. Sex was a messy affair, and, although Zoe had long since given up feeling that making out in Shafer’s office was sacrilegious, she wasn’t about to ruin his bearskin rug by making love on it.

  “The rug,” she gasped out to Grayson. “We’ll make a mess.”

  Grayson furrowed his brow for a moment, then caught her meaning. He looked around for his t-shirt, grabbed it, and motioned to Zoe to move aside. When she did, he laid the shirt down, forming a barrier between them and the rug.

  “Now,” he grunted, his voice deep and husky. “Where were we?”

  He pushed Zoe back down onto the rug, her ass directly over the middle of his t-shirt. This time, as he pulled off her jeans and underwear, she did not resist. Her shoes had already been kicked off at some point, although she couldn’t for the life of her remember when. Everything was a blur.

  A wonderful, burning, tingle-filled blur.

  Grayson moved his naked body so that it was directly over hers. He’d been moving fairly slowly up to this point, but the sight of her completely naked seemed to be almost more than he could take. He wanted her, and he wanted her now. His chest brushed against her breasts, and she felt his stiff dick poking at the area below her navel, moving lower and lower, searching.

  When he found what he was looking for, he slid right in. Zoe thought with some amusement how strange it was that he had asked her permission for a kiss, but had not so much as paused for a beat before putting his dick inside her. She supposed they’d long since passed the point of no return, and he knew it. If she was going to stop him, she’d had plenty of opportunities to do so before now. And he had the right of it: she had no interest in stopping him.

  She closed her eyes and let him fill her. He pushed against her, touching places within her that she hadn’t even known existed. She felt a burning in her very core, and she wondered how she could feel so hot without literally bursting into flames. She felt like a thousand fireworks were going off inside of her, and all of her worries and fears were burned away. There was nothing in the world except Grayson, moving insi
de of her, making her feel like a woman in ways no one ever had.

  It didn’t take long at all for his smooth thrusts to push her over the edge. The pressure that had been rapidly building since he first kissed her finally exploded, and Zoe threw back her head and screamed as her release came. She didn’t care that they were in a forbidden place, and she didn’t worry that someone might hear her. She had no space in her mind for thoughts like that. All she could think was that this was heaven. Grayson inside of her was the best feeling in the world, and she never wanted the moment to end.

  Grayson must have had similar thoughts. He roared, a sound even louder than Zoe’s scream had been. He thrust harder, and with a greater urgency. And then, he stiffened, and roared again as he came. His throbbing, and Zoe’s pulsing muscles, continued for at least a full minute. Zoe hadn’t thought such an intense feeling of ecstasy was possible. Perhaps it was the fact that she was making love with a dragon. Perhaps it was because she was here, in a room where so many poems about love had been written, and romance hung heavy in the air. Or perhaps, it was just the intoxication of knowing she was far, far away from anyone who would chase her down and treat her like someone who belonged on the cover of People magazine.

  Whatever the reasons, that time she spent on the bearskin rug was the most extraordinary experience of Zoe’s life. As she dressed, she thought wryly that insisting on having Grayson as her partner on this mission had been the best choice she could have possibly made. She hadn’t realized why until now, of course. But damn if it didn’t feel good to be away from the prying eyes that were everywhere in Falcon Cross, and to be a little naughty in the process, too.