She touched her lips, still feeling on fire. All she could do was stand bewildered on the porch, watching him go. He got into his truck, and she knew she’d be overthinking this until morning.
Holy hell, Liam was a hot, hot mystery. The next time they saw each other would be dangerous. He’d made the first move, so she didn’t have to hold back, right? Nothing about this should be right, but that kiss…
She let out a sigh, telling herself to be patient as he shut the truck door and started it.
Or… not.
The engine made an odd screeching noise and then sputtered to a halt. Liam’s look of alarm was comically awkward. It was clear he meant to make a statement with the kiss and make a cool exit, and that wasn’t working with the stalled engine.
She covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.
He desperately tried to start the engine again, and she could see him making jerky motions before slumping back in his seat, looking irritated.
Looked like her “dragon” wasn’t going to leave right away after all. She couldn’t even pretend she was bummed.
7
“Damn. Damn, damn, damn.” Liam couldn’t keep from swearing as he tried the key again and again. The engine sputtered, strained, but didn’t roar to life as it should.
And from the porch, Kate’s eyes bored into him like a drill. He was aware, acutely aware, of her gaze on him.
He could still feel her lips on his. The softness and slight hint of something delicious as they kissed. Her scent and the sound of the quiet moan she let out.
It was so wonderful he hadn’t wanted to stop there.
But Aegis had told him to keep her in suspense. Court her gradually, step by step.
Panicked, he began furiously sending texts to Aegis and Citrine and his crew mates. But nobody responded. For all he knew, Magnus and Titus were off doing something, and Aegis was spending time with his mate. And Citrine… Well, Citrine had a habit of disappearing into the forest behind the mansion at odd times.
“Is everything all right?” Kate called from the porch, still watching.
“Yes, everything’s fine,” Liam said as he got out and popped the hood of the truck. But as he looked inside, he realized combustion engines were a lot more complicated than sprinklers or drain pipes. And from his initial guess, nothing looked particularly off. Which only made the situation more frustrating.
He dialed Aegis’s number, but unsurprisingly, nobody answered.
“Why don’t you come inside and we can figure this out?”
Liam resisted, but standing here looking like an idiot wasn’t helping anything, so he came inside, closing the door behind him as Kate took a seat on the couch in her living room.
“Is nobody picking up?” she asked, the calmness in her voice somewhat soothing.
“No.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
Despite the formality, the air was still thick, their kiss and the lingering sexual tension still hanging above them.
“You can stay the night if you want, have someone come out in the morning to look at it,” Kate said, cutting the silence with a short cough.
“No, I should call a car fixing company. They have those, right?” Of course they did. The longer he waited, the more stupid he certainly appeared to his mate. He was going to lose her at this rate.
At that, she stood, pacing over to him. “I wouldn’t do that. The charges for visits after working hours are ridiculous,” she exclaimed.
With her standing only a few feet from him now, he could feel the hairs on his arms stand on end. The low-frequency thrumming of his dragon calling out to its mate. His body reacted to her very presence.
And as her eyes appraised him, he wanted to kiss her all over again. Harder. More pleasure for his mate.
“So… um, about that kiss…” Kate said, changing the subject to exactly what was on his mind, clearly feeling awkward bringing it up.
“Yes?” he said, turning to face her more directly.
“You said you’d been wanting to do that. Why?”
He thought about it for a moment, caught off guard. But he supposed he had nothing to lose by telling the truth, as long as he didn’t say anything about dragons. “Because I want you.”
“Why?”
“Many reasons.” You’re my mate. “You’re beautiful, strong, fun to be around, beautiful, kind, a hard worker, beautiful.”
Compliments. Liam remembered Opal saying something about women liking lots of compliments.
To his surprise, Kate just laughed, an exasperated, almost incredulous sound. She tucked her soft brown hair back, and he saw a light pink flush over her adorable freckles. Her hazel eyes were twinkling. “So weird hearing that from someone who looks like a male model.”
Male model? There was such a thing as a male model?
“You don’t believe me, do you?” he said, only now realizing she thought he was joking. He took a step closer, sensing her response as they drew nearer to each other.
“I don’t know what to believe,” she said. “Maybe you were just out there in the hot sun, working too hard. Maybe you didn’t drink enough water.”
Seeing his mate doubt herself like this was difficult. He’d seen the way she looked at him. Why couldn’t she believe that was how he looked at her?
“I wish I could explain it better. But there’s something special between us. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels it,” he said, taking another step closer.
The words “I’m a dragon and you’re my mate” had never wanted to leave Liam’s mouth more than right now. But he would keep Aegis’s rules.
Patience, Liam.
They were only a foot or two apart now. She was so close he could almost feel her without touching her, could scent her, floral and unique, could feel the warmth of her body temperature as it slowly rose.
Kate didn’t back down, but instead straightened herself and kept her arms crossed, standing up to him even though he stood a good foot taller.
“So this isn’t some sort of joke?” she said, testing the words on her lips. So full and luscious.
“No.”
“Then prove it.”
The second the words left her mouth, he was there, lips crushed over hers. But this time, instead of a sort of sensual tenuousness, there was hot surrender as he pulled her to him and she melted against him.
Her soft curves were so sexy as her mouth opened and his tongue swept inside, claiming, hot. She let out a stifled moan against him, and he held her pinned to him with his arms as she went slightly limp from arousal.
Each lick inside her, each flick of his tongue, only stoked her further, and he felt her hands dig into his back as she tensed, begging for more, despite her legs buckling beneath her.
Instinctively, Liam picked her up in his arms, enjoying the feel of her soft ass as he swiftly carried her to the nearest table, which in this case was the small wooden one in the kitchen.