Page 11 of Dragon Enchanted (Secret Kingdoms: The Draquonir #1)
CHAPTER 10
N o man ever took a woman shopping unless he was absolutely, totally insane.
Or in love.
Vector hated shopping but loved the way Raven’s eyes lit up when she saw something she liked, the way her cheeks flushed pink when he told her how beautiful she was to him, the way the scent of her arousal filled the small dressing rooms when he kissed her.
Which he did. In every single one of them.
This was the last appointment of the day. The most expensive retailer in London. The most exclusive. There was no sign on the door, no line of eager tourists waiting to gain entry. This boutique was private, run by a vampire family whose lineage was nearly as old as Vector’s own. No one would bother them here. But the designers in the family were world famous, a fashion dynasty. Pure genius.
Anything less than perfection touching Raven’s skin was not acceptable.
The air in the dressing room hung thick with the scent of Raven’s perfume—wild roses and something darkly feminine, untamed, that called to Vector’s primal instincts. For nearly an hour, he’d perched on the edge of a velvet chair just outside the curtained alcove, his broad shoulders tense, his emerald eyes tracking every flicker of her shadow as she slipped in and out of silks and satins. Each rustle of fabric against her skin stoked the fire in his blood, a dragon’s hunger clawing beneath his human facade. He’d kept it leashed, his secret coiled tight, but now, as she stood before the full-length mirror in a bra and panty set the color of a fire engine’s brazen red—the red of his dragon—the leash snapped.
Raven turned, her long, dark hair spilling over one shoulder, catching the light like liquid chocolate. The crimson lace hugged her curves, a defiant blaze against her pale skin. Vector’s breath caught, his hands flexing against the armrests. She caught his gaze in the mirror, her lips curving in a knowing smile that sent a jolt through him, straight to the core of his being. “What do you think?” she murmured, her voice a velvet tease. “Do you like them?”
He didn’t answer with words. In two strides, he crossed the small space, the curtain falling shut behind him with a whisper of finality. His hands found her waist, fingers splaying possessively over the dip of her hips as he pulled her against him. His mouth claimed hers in a kiss that was all heat and desperation, a collision of need too long denied, stoked for hours.
Raven melted into him, her lips parting, her tongue meeting his with a fervor that matched the wildfire roaring through his veins. She tasted of sweet rebellion, of the courage that she would need if he hoped to bind her to his dragon. Vector growled low in his throat, the sound more beast than man.
Her hands slid up his chest, fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt as she pressed herself closer, the lace of her bra a delicious friction against his palms. He broke the kiss only to trail his lips along her jaw, down the column of her throat, where her pulse thundered like a drumbeat calling to his dragon soul. “Raven,” he rasped, her name a prayer and a curse, “you’re driving me mad.”
“Good,” she breathed, her nails raking lightly down his back, igniting sparks that threatened to unravel his control. She tempted him, knew the edge he danced on, even if she didn’t know the full truth of what simmered beneath his flesh. Her trust, her desire, was a blade and a balm, cutting deeper with every touch.
Vector spun her in his arms, pressing her back against the mirror, the cool glass a sharp contrast to the heat of their bodies. His hands roamed, tracing the edges of the red lace, teasing the sensitive skin beneath until she arched into him, a soft moan escaping her lips. He captured it with another kiss, fierce and unrelenting, as his fingers dipped beneath the waistband of her panties. She gasped into his mouth, her hips tilting toward his touch, and he obliged, sliding the fabric down her thighs with a reverence that belied the urgency building in his chest.
Raven’s hands weren’t idle. She tugged at his belt, her movements frantic, and he helped her, shedding the barriers between them until he stood bare before her, his arousal evident, his body a taut bowstring ready to snap. She reached for him, her touch bold and sure, and he groaned, the sound raw and unguarded. “I need you,” he said, his voice rough with the dragon’s edge, a timbre that vibrated through her bones.
“Then take me,” she whispered, her eyes locking with his, dark pools of desire that reflected his own. It was all the permission he needed.
He lifted her effortlessly, her legs wrapping around his waist as he pinned her against the mirror, the glass creaking under their combined weight. The heat of her core pressed against him, slick and inviting, and he entered her in one swift, deep thrust that stole the breath from them both. Raven’s head fell back, her cry muffled against his shoulder as she clung to him, her body trembling with the force of their union. Vector stilled for a heartbeat, savoring the way she enveloped him, the perfect fit of their souls made flesh, before he began to move.
His rhythm was fast, wild, a tempest of passion that mirrored the storm raging within him. Each thrust drove them higher, the dressing room shrinking to nothing but the space where their bodies collided, where their love burned brighter than any flame. Raven met him stroke for stroke, her hips rocking against his, her nails digging into his shoulders as she chased the edge of oblivion. The mirror shuddered, the boutique’s muted music a distant echo beneath the symphony of their gasps and moans.
Vector’s control frayed, the dragon clawing closer to the surface, its need to claim her a primal roar in his blood. He buried his face in her neck, teeth grazing her skin—not enough to break it, never enough to reveal what he was, but enough to mark her in a way that felt eternal. “Mine,” he growled, the word torn from him, and Raven’s answering whimper was his undoing.
She shattered first, her body clenching around him as her orgasm ripped through her, a wave of pleasure that painted her features in ecstasy. Her cry was a jagged thing, swallowed by his kiss as he drank in her release, letting it pull him under. His own climax followed, a white-hot surge that erupted from the depths of his being, spilling into her with a force that left him shaking. He thrust once, twice more, riding the aftershocks as they trembled together, their breaths mingling in the charged air.
For a moment, they stayed locked like that, her legs still around him, his arms braced against the mirror, holding her as if she were the only anchor in a world gone mad. Raven’s fingers threaded through his hair, damp with sweat, and she pressed a soft kiss to his temple, a tender counterpoint to the ferocity that had consumed them. “This is so crazy. I think I’m falling in love with you,” she murmured, her voice a thread of light in the haze.
Vector’s heart clenched, the dragon retreating beneath the weight of her words. He tightened his hold, burying his face in her hair to hide the flicker of gold in his eyes, the secret he couldn’t yet share. “I love you,” he said, the truth of it a vow etched into his soul. “I need you. More than you know.”
“Keep talking, handsome.” She tilted her head back, a dreamy smile on her face.
“You find me handsome?”
“That might just be the orgasms talking.”
He burst into laughter, the sound foreign to his ears. He hadn’t laughed in recent memory.
They slid to the floor, a tangle of limbs and lace, the red bra and panties a vivid splash against the plush carpet. The boutique’s quiet hum seeped back in, but within the cocoon of the dressing room, time held its breath. Raven nestled against his chest, her body soft and yielding, completely his. Vector held her for long minutes and let himself believe, just for a moment, that she would be able to accept all of him and not be horrified by the dragon that loved her with every scale and claw.