Haunted By Her Dragon (The Dragon Guard Series) (21 page)

“What’s the matter? Did the little girl kick
your ass, Grandpa?”
Lance
chuckled.

“I think the child cheats,”
the elder guardsman grumbled, and Lance was
sure he heard an agreement from the younger Guardsman.

“You guys are such wimps,”
he laughed outright, and was rewarded with two
disgusted scoffs in return.

“Just wait until she plays with you and then
tell me that she isn’t a shark,”
Royce retaliated.
“Now get your ass
outta
bed and get down here before the Commander gets here, or I’ll send the little
one up to roust you.”

“We’ll be down in a bit, Old Man. Just keep
your shirt on,”
Lance said,
appreciating all that his long time friend was doing for him by keeping Sydney
busy so he could spend time alone with Sam.
“Oh and
Royce?”

“What now, pain in my ass?”
Royce almost growled through their connection.

“Thanks for everything,”
he said with all sincerity, and then rushed on
before Royce could recover from his unfamiliar show of affection,
“See
ya
in a few.”

He promptly cut their connection to concentrate
on waking the beautiful woman that was to be his for all time.

After thirty minutes of kissing and cajoling,
he finally had her out of bed and in the shower, but was sporting another
impressive erection. He wanted to follow her into the bath and quench their
desire, but was sure that would take hours, because once he started making love
to his mate again, he had no plans of stopping until he was unable to walk.
Unfortunately, their time was short. Making sure to not get sidetracked, he had
showered prior to waking her, giving him no excuse, but that didn’t mean he
didn’t want her with every fiber of his being. 

Dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed, he
thought about the months since he had rescued Sam, and recognized her as his
mate. He wondered if she had any idea how much she had come to mean to him, and
how hard he would work to give her the life she deserved. It was going to be a
battle keeping her out of harm’s way until Andrew and ‘The Auctioneer’
were
caught, but if he had the last few days to do over
again, he knew he wouldn’t change one damn thing. It had been foolish to think
he could resist her. Every time he looked into her eyes he saw their future,
and for the first time in a very long time, he looked forward to living a
thousand years. There was no doubt he could do anything with Sam at his side.
It was time that he laid all his cards on the table.

Royce had been right when he’d told him that
she was no dummy. His mate was going to have a lot of questions, and the more
of his Force that she met, the more questions there would be. With Rayne on the
way, and a fight sure to happen, he knew there would not be time to explain
until he returned. He would have to hope for everyone’s discretion. One thing
was for sure, Grace had already filled
Kyndel
in on
everything, and Devon and the old man’s inability to keep their mouths shut
made sure that everyone knew Sam was his mate and didn’t know anything about
dragons, or the men that turned into them. She was sure to be pissed that he’d
kept secrets. Of course, that was if she didn’t call the men in the white
jackets to lock him in a padded room before he could get it all out.

The bathroom door opened, and as the steam
cleared, his brain turned to mush. There, standing in the doorway was his mate,
dripping from the shower, and relaxed from their lovemaking. Her long curly
mane was wet, making it appear darker, and causing the curls to hang long and
loose. She had a towel wrapped around her curves, but thankfully she was tall,
so it just barely covered her breasts and fell right at the top of her thighs.
He knew if she raised her arms he would see the short curly hairs that covered
her mound. His mouth watered remembering her taste, and his cock jumped in his
jeans wanting to sink into the heaven that was his mate, and forget about
everyone and everything. “Damn, Doc, you look…wow…you’re just…you’re everything
good and right and wonderful. I changed my mind. I’m not sharing you with
anybody.” He loved the way she blushed, and gripped the towel a little tighter.
Her pupils dilated, and her lips opened just a bit. He could smell the alluring
scent of jasmine and honeysuckle that told him he affected her the same way she
did him. “
Whatcha
say we just stay up here for a
while? I can have one of the guys bring us some food, you can lose the towel,
and ….”

She took two steps towards him and stopped. The
way she smiled tied him up in knots. There was nothing he would not do for this
woman, all she had to do was ask. Then she spoke, and the smoky, low tone of
her voice rolled over him, and he wondered how he had survived as long as he
had without her. “I thought you said we had to discuss a way to find Andrew? As
much as I want to stay here with you and trust me, I
really
want to stay
here with you,” she winked, and for just a flash the dreamy look that filled
her dark eyes told him she was being completely honest, “I have to make sure
that Sydney is safe. But I’ll make a deal with you. We get this Andrew guy
taken care of and we can spend as much time
together
as you like.”

The little wiggle of her eyebrows at the end of
her proposed compromise made him laugh out loud. He stood and closed the
distance between them, unable to stay away from her any longer. His arm
automatically went around her waist, while the thumb and forefinger of his
other hand gently lifted her perfect chin. Looking deep into her dark brown
eyes, he was lost. “Do you know how great you are?
That just
seeing you, even when you don’t see me, makes all the worries of the day just
float away.
I have come awake every morning since I met you, wanting to
see you, making sure that I could at least catch a glimpse so that my day would
be complete. To have you here in my arms is a dream come true.” She tried to
lower her eyes but he held her chin firm, “Please don’t look away. I know I’m
not the most romantic guy, and I tend to joke instead of talk about anything close
to my feelings. But know this Doc, I think you’re
amazing
and I
pray
you give this thing between us a chance.”

He hoped he was being direct enough to let her
know he had no intention of ever letting her go, while being vague enough to
keep her from running away from him. Never had he imagined he would feel like
he did about Sam. Every time the subject of love or mates came up, he was
always the first to say there was no such thing as love or that it would never
happen to him. Sure, he’d heard all the stories about ‘the one the Universe
made’ for each Dragon shifter, but had decided at a very young age to make sure
that shit did
not
happen to him. He had been
so
wrong. Every
sappy little thing all the Elders had told him was true. The sun, moon, and stars
rose and set in her, and he would do everything in his considerable power to
keep her right where she was…in his arms.

“Lance…” before he could hear what she was
about to say, Rayne’s voice sounded in his head
. “We’re here, you crazy pain
in the ass. I hear
there’s
someone we need to meet,
and a fucking traitor to catch once and for all. So haul your ass down here.”

“Be right there,
your
Highness,”
he laughed,
realizing he had missed his Commander and friend. This being in love shit
really was making him a sentimental bastard.

“Yeah, you better be or I’m sending
Kyndel
and Grace up to get you.”
 He could hear the smile in his friend’s
voice.

“See
ya
in a minute.”

His focus returned to Sam, but now her brows
were furrowed, her lips pursed in a frown, and her body stiff. When she spoke
he could hear her anger, but also that she was hurt by his inattention. “Were
you just ignoring me?”

He dropped his hand from her chin as she used
both hands to push away from him. Doing the only thing he could think of, he pulled
her close, locking her hands between them, and slammed his mouth to hers. He
slid the tip of his tongue along the seam of her lips begging for entrance. She
did her damndest to keep them closed, and never one to give up, he decided to
try nipping and tasting in an effort to soften her up. There was absolutely no
time to explain that he was in no way ignoring her, but was actually talking to
his Commander
in his mind
. Yeah that would go over like a fart in
church, and have her ordering a straight jacket in XXL. So he distracted her
until the time was right to share all his secrets.

He left no part of her scrumptious mouth
untouched. There was no way he would ever get enough of the woman he held in
his arms. Helpless to do anything but continue kissing her, he moved along her
jaw, only stopping to whisper, “
Damn
, Doc, you taste amazing,” before
working his way down her neck. It was only when her head fell
backward,
allowing him greater access, that he knew the
tension was over, at least for the moment. When she grabbed the front of his
shirt, and her well manicured nails bit into his chest, he thought about
throwing caution to the wind and taking her back to bed. But he didn’t want his
mate to meet a pissed off Rayne
MacLendon
, so he
summoned his incredible restraint and pulled his lips from her neck.

Taking her hands from his shirt, and putting
them back on the knot that kept her towel from hitting the floor, he placed his
hands on her shoulders and took one step back. He knew the only way they were
going to make it out of the room in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours
was if he limited his contact to her fabulous curves. When she finally opened
her eyes, the sleepy, lustful look she gave him threatened his resolve. His
woman packed a powerful punch. She was
temptation
in a very sexy
package. There was just no other way to think of her. Clearing his throat, and
hoping he sounded like he had his shit together, he said, “Doc, there’s another
of my brothers downstairs and he’s ready to get the plan for tonight underway.
There’s nothing I want more than to strip that towel off your body and kiss
every damn inch, but I like my ass where it is, so that’ll have to wait.” He
would have laughed out loud at the look of disappointment in her eyes if his
cock wasn’t so hard he was sure he could pound nails with it. “Now, get your
pretty little ass dressed, and I’ll be sitting over by the door,” he wiggled
his eyebrows for effect, “enjoying the view.”

She grabbed his hand as he turned to head to
his seat, “On one condition.”

“And that is?”

“We talk as soon as we’re done with whatever
planning has to be done to catch this guy. I have more questions than answers,
and you have to promise not to kiss me to shut me up.”

He barked out a laugh that he was sure they
heard even through the soundproofing. “Yes, mo
chroi
,
I’ll answer all your questions, but I make no promises about the kissing.’

“Yeah, we’ll see about that, tough guy,” she
said in a sassy voice that made the tiny bit of blood that was powering his
brain beeline for his cock.

He watched the hypnotic sway of her curvy hips
as she headed for the bathroom, grabbing the clothes Grace had left outside the
door while they had been otherwise occupied, and all he could think was that
Samantha Malone was the best thing in the world, and she was all his.

Four hours spent listening to six of the biggest, most
Alpha men she’d seen in her entire life bicker about the best strategy for
almost everything, and she needed a break. Sydney had offered a bit of a
distraction, but these men were a force unto themselves, and there was no way
the child could compete. Sam had met the dark-haired man with striking violet
eyes, his gorgeous red-headed wife, and their absolutely adorable son, before
she had even stepped off the last step. It was obvious Rayne was the leader of
group, and she recognized military training in the way they discussed their
plans. Not for the first time, she wondered why
they
were handling this
Andrew asshole, and not bringing in the cops. Lance had told her the kidnapper
had been one of his brothers before he did something awful, and was basically
disowned. She just added the Andrew situation to the list of questions she
already had for Lance.

Right before she was sure she would go insane
from testosterone overload, Grace and
Kyndel
returned
from their trip to the grocery store.
Simply having other
females that were taller than four feet made things easier.
It was not
that she had truly suffered. Lance had been incredibly attentive the entire
time, making sure she was comfortable, asking if there was anything he could
get her, and stealing kisses when he thought his brothers weren’t looking.
There was never a time when she couldn’t feel him either looking at her or
thinking about her. Not sure how she knew what he was thinking, but there it
was, just another weird occurrence since Lance had appeared in her world. She
had to laugh at the looks the other guys gave him. Apparently he didn’t bring
many women around, and that simple fact made her
way
happier than it
should have. When she wasn’t listening to the men, she and Sydney were playing
Candyland
and
Shoots
and Ladders.
The little girl was such a doll, and so incredibly intelligent.
A real joy to be around and quite the game player.