Page 26 of Dragon’s Golden Mate (Shifter Nation: Enchanted Over Forty #2)

As James went on, Kendrick looked once again at Maeve. She hadn’t said anything to him about coming. In fact, he’d known very little about what would happen today. There had already been so many surprises.

“…and so it is our great honor to add this building to our list of historic sites and grant it the protection thereof!” James announced enthusiastically.

The audience gave a smattering of applause.

Lucille stepped forward now. “We’re setting up some refreshments, as well as information about our upcoming events, if anyone would like to join us.” She led the way to a folding table, where someone was setting out cookies and cups of pink lemonade among stacks of flyers.

Kendrick caught Maeve’s eye. He lifted a brow and gestured his head slightly toward the refreshment table.

One corner of her mouth curled up, and she gestured in the opposite direction with her head.

As the crowd rushed in for free food, Kendrick cut across them toward Maeve.

“I was thinking about taking a walk,” she told him, tossing her head slightly as the breeze tried to blow her hair in her face.

“That sounds like a fine idea to me. I know a great little place where we can get some coffee.” He headed for the sidewalk. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“Why is that?” she asked innocently. “I’ve always respected Lucille’s work with the historical society. They do a lot for this town.”

“Ah, so you’re only here for Lucille,” he replied. “That makes sense then.”

“How so?”

He rolled his shoulders. “We do a lot for those we love. I wouldn’t think you’d want to return to a place where such a scene had occurred, where you’d been—how did you put it?—so fucking angry with me. But if it’s for Lucille, then fine.”

Maeve let out a syllable of laughter and touched her necklace. “Or maybe I’m here to apologize.”

“Whatever for?” It was his turn to act innocent.

Her look suggested that he knew perfectly well what she was talking about, but she continued anyway. “For being so upset with you after the battle. You were barely hanging onto life, and I had to rail and rage at you like some shrew.”

“A common scold, to be sure.” He snorted at her glare.

“You know, I was just realizing how a woman like you would’ve been perceived in a much older time.

You’re bold and brazen, smart and lovely.

You don’t let anything slow you down, and you don’t put up with anyone’s bullshit.

It’s a safe bet that if you’d lived here a few hundred years ago, they’d be rallying to burn you at the stake. ”

“Such a flatterer. Wait.” She paused as they turned the corner. “I thought you wanted coffee.”

He pointed to the kitchen window of the clanhouse, which was just down the road. “And the best coffee in Salem is right there in a cabinet. Already paid for, no waiting in line, no tipping required.”

“I see.” She resumed walking. “A typical dragon, hoarding all his gold instead of spending it.”

“You learn to make your pennies stretch when you can live for a thousand years.” He unlocked the door and held it open for her. When they were inside, he opened the coffee canister.

Maeve leaned against the counter next to him. “Anyway, I really do want to apologize. I acted like an ass. I lost control of my emotions. That’s not something I would’ve thought I’d have a problem with at this point in my life.”

He turned toward her as the rich notes of the coffee filled the air. “I don’t think we’re ever too old to learn a few new things about ourselves.”

“If that’s a roundabout way of calling me young, I’ll take it.” She had that sparkle in her eye again, the one he’d noticed when he came to Corbin’s birthday party and first met her.

“Sure, and I’m also young enough that I have to admit my own mistake.” He leaned one hand against the counter’s edge. “I shouldn’t have tried to play the hero. It felt like the right thing to do at the moment, but maybe there was another way. I should’ve looked for another solution.”

Maeve put her hand on his chest. “No. What you did terrified me, obviously, but you took one quick action to ensure that none of us would ever have to worry about Cassandra again. Not just my coven, not just your clan, but everyone else like us in Salem. I let my own wants and needs get in the way of seeing it at the time.”

“I don’t blame you.” He wrapped his free hand around hers, where it rested on his chest. “There’s still a lot the two of us have yet to figure out.”

“No.” She shook her head and reached up to touch his face. “I don’t need to figure anything out anymore. I know. There’s a connection between us, Kendrick. It’s taken us a long time to find each other, but I can feel it inside of me. I love you.”

“Maeve.” He leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that. I love you, too.”

She leaned forward, and her mouth found his.

Her kisses were velvety and sweet, and he felt the deep sense of longing in her lips.

Maeve’s fingers splayed out on his chest, but then she ran her palm up and over his shoulder so that her fingers twined behind his head.

With their arms no longer between them, she pressed her body against his.

His dragon had been whipping itself into a frenzy ever since she’d shown up at the cathedral, but now it had lasered in on her.

Both sides of him were aligned when he was with her, which was what made this feel so right.

When she let out a soft groan of appreciation, the vibration against his lips set his blood on fire.

“I want to make love to you, Maeve,” he whispered as his lips found her earlobe.

“Right here? In this coffee shop?” She laughed, and the trembling feel of it against him ratcheted his excitement up another level.

He had his arms around her, but now he slid them down so that his hands cupped her backside.

“Yes.” Kendrick lifted her off the floor, pleased at her little shriek of uncertain delight.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, but Kendrick easily carried her weight as he left the kitchen and went down the hall.

He stepped into his bedroom and kicked the door shut behind them.

Late spring sunlight streamed in through the windows, highlighting the thick silver streaks in her hair as he laid her on the bed.

Her eyes were soft and warm when she looked up at him, but also daring.

Did she have a clue what her lips did to him?

No, not just her lips. It was the way they looked when she smiled.

The fine lines that deepened on either side of her eyes when she laughed, as she was doing right now.

If she didn’t know, he’d make sure she did.

He took the hem of her shirt and lifted it over her head, casting it aside so he could admire the curve of her breasts, the softness of her stomach, the long lines of her arms. He bent to kiss her neck, tracing his way down as he reached behind her to unfasten her bra.

He released the clasp and flung it aside, hungry for her bare skin.

As he took her nipple into his mouth, Maeve wrapped her arms around him once again.

She ran her fingers through his hair and down his neck.

She explored his shoulders and then skimmed her palms down his back.

When she gripped his shirt, Kendrick pulled back so she could lift it off.

Now her fingertips rippled slowly over every ridge of his spine, working all the way down and then back up again.

A shiver of pleasure rippled through him when she wrapped her legs around his thighs.

Kendrick pushed himself up and back on the bed.

His fingers slipped inside the waistband of her pants, revealing the rest of her body inch by enticing inch.

He ran his hands over her hips and then down, and he bent to drop kisses along the insides of each of her thighs.

Her heat was so close that he could hardly control himself.

He stood, but Maeve beat him to his belt buckle.

She flicked it open and unzipped his jeans.

Her palms swept down his legs as she stripped the denim away.

She made quick work of his boxer briefs, and the air between them nearly crackled with anticipation as the last few bits of cloth that stood between them hit the floor.

Kendrick gathered her gorgeous, naked body into his arms, his member throbbing against her heat.

When she lifted her mouth to his once again, he took her eagerly.

Their lips and tongues entwined, silk and velvet, a continuation of that first secret rendezvous under the trees when he’d first seen who she was.

He felt that truth inside her now, her wolf rising to meet his dragon.

He lost all sense of time and space. The mattress rose up to meet them, and then their arms and legs were just as tangled as their mouths.

Kendrick pulled back, his lips regretting parting from hers for even a moment, but the hot slickness between them couldn’t wait any longer.

Kendrick eased his hips back until his hardness pressed against her entrance.

He pushed forward, watching her mouth part and her eyelids flutter as he pressed slowly into her depths, plunging deeper and deeper until they were firmly locked together.

Maeve had been pulling in her breath, slowly and steadily, but now she let it out in a contented sigh. Her hips began to rock slowly, finding an even tighter connection between them. With every breath, every sweep of her hips, they grew closer.

Kendrick pitched and rolled along with her.

He closed his eyes, indulging his senses in the way she felt.

The tender pillows of her breasts against his chest, the long muscles of her legs as they embraced and stroked his thighs.

He listened to her breath and her heartbeat until he couldn’t exist outside that gentle, consuming rhythm.

Her hips suddenly bucked beneath him, a jerk of movement that had her catching her breath. The insides of her thighs trembled, a vibration that worked up through her body, contracting around him.

He opened his eyes, watching with pure delight as her head arched back. Her teeth clasped over her lower lip as the pressure built inside her.

Kendrick felt that tension spreading into his own body, flooding him with fire. He swore he could feel Maeve’s pleasure echoing inside him.

She gripped him tightly against her as a final storm surge of pleasure overtook her. Kendrick gave himself over to it as well, panting as he crested and fell with her, diving and tumbling before they rose again.

In the calm silence that followed, he held Maeve against his chest and stroked her hair. Now their bodies were just as connected as their souls, and nothing could separate them.