“How did you make it, then?” she asked, sitting back in her chair. “Don’t tell me this is also something to do with dragons. You’re cooks or something.”
“No,” he said with a chuckle, pushing his hair back over one shoulder. “I mean, it does have something to do with it, in that it’s a dragon friend who helped me. He’s gotten really into cooking.”
“That’s kind of a funny thought,” she said, smiling and resting her cheek in her hand as she twirled another bite of spaghetti onto her fork.
“We dragons of the modern era have to be multitalented,” he said. “If we want to win our mates.”
Her grin widened, and she took another bite to disguise how disgustingly happy she felt. Was she foolish for wanting to just go along with this? If anything, it should be even more unbelievable than things with Ed had been before.
But at the same time, it was Magnus. Honest, straightforward to a fault, ax-wielding, insisting-he-was-a-dragon Magnus.
And she had to admit she was falling for him. Just the way her heart had leapt when he’d saved her from Tommy had made that clear to her.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “So many things.”
“Good or bad?” he asked. He folded his arms on the table. “Did you know dragons can read thoughts if we want to?”
She blinked. “No. Shoot. Are you reading mine now?”
“We generally only talk with our crew. My kind, at least, aren’t really interested in intruding on the thoughts of humans. I believe if you want to tell me something, you should be able to say it.”
She nodded. “I guess that makes sense. Thank you.”
“Then again, if it was ever too hard to say it, you could just tell me, and I could read what you were thinking.”
She flushed, looking down at the spaghetti, thinking it had suddenly gotten too warm in there. If she looked up, she’d see his straight jaw that she just wanted to run her fingers along. His long, dark-auburn lashes shading those incredible irises, that straight nose and those high cheekbones.
A face that was as handsome for its objective beauty as it was because she had grown to really like him.
“If you look at me like that, I’m never going to be able to finish this spaghetti,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to have to get up and go in the other room to resist wanting to kiss you, wanting to take your beautiful curvy body in my arms.”
“Seriously?” she asked. “I’ve never been the type to tempt a man to distraction.”
He gave her a disapproving look. “You’re wrong. You drive me crazy constantly. But I said we’d be friends, and I’ll stick to that as long as you stop looking at me like you want to eat me and focus on your spaghetti.”
She laughed at the grumpy, slightly firm tone of his voice. “Hm. Right.” Then she dug into her food, and he did the same with his.
She was pretty sure he was going to be pleasantly surprised tonight, but she didn’t intend to tell him that, not until she was sure.
When dinner was finished and the dishes were washing in the dishwasher, she and Magnus went into the living room and cuddled on the couch with a movie on in front of them.
It was turned down quiet so they could talk. She still had so much to learn about him.
“Tell me more about your time,” she said, taking his hand in hers and turning it over, examining the calluses. “What life was like.”
He closed his eyes slightly and then opened them. “I don’t like to think about it much. After all, that’s over, and this is my life now.”
“Still, I feel like it’s something I don’t know about you.”
“Sometimes it was quiet. Visiting our home village and seeing friendly crews, having feasts and exploring the mountains. And then sometimes it was adventure, sailing to new places. I built our boats, and—” His gaze shuttered as if it were painful to think about. “Anyway. Things were simpler in a way, but it’s not like I wish to go back there.”
“No?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “Because you’re here.”
A warm feeling filled her chest. How did he always know how to make her heart melt into a puddle of goo? She entwined her fingers with his, and he eyed her curiously.
The tension between them rose as they locked gazes, and Lindy could feel herself poised at the edge, ready to fall off.
With him.
“I can’t hold back any longer,” she murmured, eyes dipping to his lips.
“What?” he asked, drawing back slightly in shock.
She pulled her hand away from his and put both hands on his chest, rubbing over his shoulders. “You were right. I can’t keep my hands off you. I tried.”
“Oh,” he said, still holding back as she moved her hands over him, feeling his warm biceps, silky skin, and hard muscle. “Are you sure?”
She appreciated the way he was waiting for her, even as his body seemed strained, taut, making the greatest effort not to lunge at her. “I’m sure,” she said. “In fact, I’m so sure that if you don’t take me to the bedroom right now, I’m going to get angry. And a dragon doesn’t want that, right?”
He shook his head rapidly.
“Good.”
She smiled as he scooped her up in his arms and practically ran for the bedroom. Time to let her dragon light her fire.
9
This was Magnus’s first time in Lindy’s bedroom. When he walked in holding her in his arms, he took a moment to look around, noting slate-gray and blue furnishings, soft cream carpet, and little nautical-themed decor.
“My dad liked boats,” she said. “He never got the chance to own one, but he liked to take me down to the docks on off days and look at the ships there.”
Magnus set her down on the bed. “I didn’t know that. It seems like there is still so much to know about you. So much you keep from me.”
“There just isn’t time to sink into the past,” she said. “Too much pain there.”
He wouldn’t push her, then. All he wanted to give her now was pleasure. And besides, once they were mated, he would have the rest of forever to hear all her stories.
She put a hand on his chest as he leaned over her, stopping him. “Magnus, thanks for being willing to go slow with me. It means a lot.”
He sighed, looking through the dark hair that hung in front of his eyes. “Does that mean you want me to stop?”
“No,” she said, brushing his hair back for him, tucking it behind one ear. “I mean emotionally. Letting me move things at my own pace.”
He nodded. “You’re my mate. It’s my job to do whatever is necessary to win you. Well, make you comfortable.”
She arched back into the mattress. “I’m ready to be comfortable now.”
He grinned, reaching for the hem of her shirt. Last time had been harried, rushed, and she’d been in charge, too eager to see his body to give him a glimpse of hers. With a look at her face to confirm it was okay, he lifted her shirt over her head, baring a lacy undergarment that cupped her substantial breasts.