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“Don’t!” She squeaked when he got too close. “I just need a mop. I can clean it.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.” He knelt down beside her. “Is it all out?”

Rowan hung her head and nodded.

“It’s the medicine.” Alessandro reassured patting her back, “And the fact that you haven’t been eating. It’s happened to me before if it makes you feel any better.”

Rowan glanced up at him. “It has?”

“Yes, and I didn’t just get myself. I got about half a city. I was in dragon form.”

Rowan’s mouth fell open. “What?”

He grinned at her. “And then I blamed it on Terra. We can’t have the world thinking the Dragon King has a weak stomach.”

Rowan giggled, “Who’s Terra?”

“My Earth General and adopted sister. Her mother and father took me in when I was just a wyrmling.”

She tried to imagine the powerhouse in the body of a child, but it was beyond her. She wanted to ask more questions of his youth to know him better, but that wasn’t her place.

Rowan sighed, “I thought I could look cooler next time I saw you, and now I’m sitting here. In a pile of my puke.”

“I think you’re playing the cool card up a bit by continuing to sit in it when you can grab my hand and allow me to bathe you.’

Heat surged through Rowan, followed shortly by another wave of nausea. She snatched his hand and covered her mouth. It was all the nudging he needed to grab her and phase them into a pristine white tiled restroom where she puked until all that came out was clear stomach acid. The entire time, his hand rubbed her back in small circles and he held her hair out of the way.

When she was done, she sat in front of the door and watched through a heavy eyelid as he prepared her shower. She was sotired she wasn’t sure she could stay awake much longer, but in the meantime, she wanted to absorb what he was doing for her.

All while dressed in a cream pullover, a pair of black sweats and- she couldn’t believe she was witnessing it- slippers. She peeked out of the window and noticed the maroon sky bleeding into dark purple. Had he been preparing to stay the night at her bedside? In that chair?

Her heart lurched, and her stomach clenched.

“May I undress you, Rowan?” The words lacked the heat that she expected, considering the subject.

This was nothing more than him repaying her for saving the dragons. He had made it clear there was nothing else allowed to flourish between them. So then, why was he being so unbearably tender?

In response, she gave a solemn nod.

With each piece of clothing, more and more heat knotted in the depth of Rowan’s belly. As his fingers hooked around her panties, she felt her uncontrollable lust overcome her utter embarrassment and she was slick with need.

She noted the tension on his shoulders as he slid them past her thighs, the increased grips on their sides as they passed her knees, and the smell of honey in the air as they finally cleared her body.

He was just as turned on as she was.

The realization pushed back her exhaustion. He still wanted her. He had just plucked her out of a pile of her own vomit, and here he was, full of desire.

Her inner succubus wanted out.

Her wings made an involuntary movement, pushing her away from the wall and right into his lap, the fabric of his pants hardly a barrier to his erection.

They both let out a small strangled sound as she scrambled to get off, her legs once again giving out before she could stand.

Alessandro slid his arms around her and pulled her into his chest.

Rowan could feel the tension he had carried was slowly evaporating the longer he held her. She buried her face into his neck and wrapped her own arms around him, allowing every dark feeling she had from the shame of losing the battle with Antoni, to the anger at not being better after a week and the sadness of never really having a chance at standing beside the man she currently held wash away. She could take what she could get from him. It was better than nothing, wasn’t it?

“Just a little longer.” His voice was full of emotion that confused and terrified her.