Page 17 of The Ruby Dragon’s Unconventional Mate (Oro Escondido #3)

Chapter

Fifteen

B ryant whistled as he wandered up to Lars’s front door. Logan and Dakota had brought all four of the kids to visit Lars, and while Bryant loved them to death, he wanted his alone time with his mate.

Because Lars was so his mate. And he was itching to see him. Crawling out of his skin. He was hot to the touch, and the slightest hint of Lars’s thoughts made him go on high alert.

So he had a feeling Lars was…heated.

He grinned. Goddess he was a dork. But he was a dork in love, and he had all afternoon and evening to spend with Lars.

He knocked, but it wasn’t Lars who answered the door. A ferret opened it, hanging off the doorknob as the door opened, then flopping to the floor.

“Slippy? Where is Lars? Is he okay? Take me to him!”

Slippy turned and ran through the house to the stairs, then scampered up them. Bryant raced down the hall, following him to Lars’s bedroom, but no one was in there. Then he heard a moan in the bathroom.

“Lars! Did you fall?” He slid into the bathroom, his feet moving too fast for his body, his heart hammering.

Lars was in the bathtub, perfectly relaxed except for the wide eyes.

He had one leg on the edge of the tub, his hand around his cock.

His head was resting on a little blow-up pillow with all that hair piled on the top of his head in a weird little knot.

It was at once adorable and hot, and it made his mouth dry.

“Uh. Hi.” Lars slowly let his hand fall away from his prick and into the water. “Did I lose track of time?”

“No, I don’t think so. I think this is a perfect time.” Bryant licked his lips. “You don’t have to stop.”

Lars shrugged. “Why would I want to do this myself when you’re here? Like right here.” Lars’s eyes twinkled. “You know, I have a nice big tub, and you’re in the bathroom.”

Bryant started stripping immediately. He knew better than to look a gift dragon in the mouth or whatever. “I like the way you think.”

Lars winked at him. “I like the way you look.”

“Naughty.” He loved that facet of his mate.

“Don’t tell anybody. It’s a secret.” Lars sat up a little, letting some cold water out, and adding more hot. “Did I ever tell you that I pretended to try and seduce Dakota before Logan laid claim.”

“No. Why?” That was weird.

“Oh, just to piss Logan off. Dakota is not my type. I’m sort of a great big hard-body dragon guy.”

“Oh…you could have had your pick.”

“Bea was already taken.”

The quick comeback made him laugh. Like Bea was Lars’s type. She would eat him alive.

He slipped into the tub after he grabbed a second towel, managing to finagle to where Lars’s legs were wrapped around his waist, and Lars was resting on his thighs.

“Oh, this is nice.”

Bryant wanted to just purr with it. “It’s better than nice.” He let his hands slide up along Lars’s thighs, his fingertips digging in a little bit. “So what were you thinking about when you were touching yourself.”

Lars met his gaze, expression so serious. “My mate.”

Bryant growled and grabbed Lars by the shoulders, dragging him up onto his lap so that he could take a kiss. He wanted to thank his lover for all of this—for forgiving him and for loving him and for accepting the fact that he wasn’t perfect. Not even close.

Lars dove into the kiss, tongue pushing in and demanding more and harder.

His mate was such a study in contradictions—yielding yet demanding, strong and gentle, wicked but still so sensitive. It was just fascinating. “I love you.”

Lars blinked at him. “What?”

He rested their foreheads together. “I should have told you before I left. I should have said it a thousand different times. I love you, and I was scared that you wouldn’t be able to accept Lachlan.

That you wouldn’t understand. It’s stupid because you have Logan.

I wasn’t thinking, and I apologize, and I love you. ”

Lars rubbed his nose against Bryan’s. “I forgive you, and I love you too. Can we fuck now? Like just get it on like Donkey Kong.”

Bryant cracked up, giving up and diving back into the kisses, feeling as if all the weight in the world had been lifted off of his shoulders. Now he could play and really have fun and make love to his mate.

He grabbed Lars’s cock and started stroking it good and hard, using his thumb to drag along the shaft and dig into his slit enough to make Lars whimper and twist.

Yeah, they were going to be able to fuck.

He wanted Lars desperate for him first, though. He wanted his mate shivering and shaking and begging for his knot. If they were going to play, they were going to play.

And he wanted Lars, wet and hot and hungry for it. Nothing between them. Just that sweet hole and his knot.

Lars wasn’t going to make it easy, though. Those fingers were driving him crazy—pinching at his nipples, dragging over his belly. The kisses were endless, deep and wild and ghost pepper hot.

Every time large fingers got close to his cock, though, he managed to nudge him away, just barely thwarting Lars.

That made Lars grumble at him. “I want to touch.”

“You have to wait. I’m touching right now.”

Goddess, that little pout was adorable. “We can both touch. We know how.”

“I said I want to touch. I’m going to play, mate.” He bit Lars’s bottom lip hard enough to sting.

“You’re so mean.” Lars’s tongue slid over his lips, wetting them, tempting him into another kiss.

“Yeah, and you love it.” He could feel proof of that with the throbbing of this sweet cock against his palm.

“You know it. I need you like breathing.”

“I need you the same way.” Which was why he had to maintain a little bit of control. Otherwise, it would be all over but the shouting. And he wanted to have his knot buried inside Lars when he came.

“I don’t want to have to worry about birth control, love,” he told Lars. “But if you?—”

Lars put a hand over his mouth. “I’m not worried.”

“Good.” Thank the gods. He hummed, gripping Lars’s ass with one hand and that sweet cock with the other. He kissed Lars deeply, pressing in to taste, Lars’s flavor bursting on his tongue. So amazing, his mate. So hot for him.

Lars arched up, making water slosh all over the place. He loved how uninhibited his lover was, how willing he was to give everything. Especially for a dragon who had been masquerading as an alpha his whole life.

Bryant supposed it was just as hard for Lars to pretend to be something he wasn’t as it was for Lachlan and Bryant both.

Rocking up, he pressed his cock against that sweet ass, letting Lars feel him.

“More!” Lars growled at him, loving him, hands running up and down his back.

“Soon, baby. Let me taste you.” He licked at Lars’s neck, then pulled Lars’s hair down so he could run his fingers through it, glory in its beauty.

“Oh, that feels good,” Lars moaned when he rubbed his head, massaging hard.

“Uh-huh.” He jumped when Lars found his nipples with both hands and then pinched them between fingers and thumbs.

“So sensitive,” Lars teased him.

“So ready.” Bryant didn’t know how much longer they had before the water boiled around them.

“Then come on !” Lars wailed.

He nodded, lifting his mate up, then positioning his cock where it desperately needed to be. Then he let gravity work, and Lars braced both hands on his chest as he sank down, eyes going wide, lips opening on a breath.

“Bryant. Oh, love.”

“Uh-huh. More. I need you to move now.”

“Moving,” Lars agreed, rising and falling in quick succession.

Gods, that was stunning. He grunted, hands on Lars’s hips, pushing and pulling. They moved together, waves lapping at the sides of the tub, both of them panting and moaning and really letting their bodies work.

His knots swelled, Lars clamped down on him, hole hot and wet, and they were both growling and panting, barely able to slide along with each other, and soon enough, his knot was engaged.

Lars was clawing at Bryant’s chest, and they were both shooting hard, his seed filling Lars up all the way, so deep that he thought they would never come apart.

“Ungh.” Lars slumped against his chest, and he rubbed his hands up and down Lars’s back, laughing a little, joy filling him.

“Here I was worried you were dying.”

“Well, I was sort of. I mean, I needed you.”

“I must have heard you. Lachlan is with your family, and I wanted you.”

“Mmmm. That means we have all day.”

“Uh-huh.” He would stay right here for a while, cooling off.

He loved a nice full tub.

“I love you too,” Lars murmured, leaning hard on him, going lax with the need to nap.

“Good. Sleep now, love.”

“Mmmkay.” Lars started snoring, and he leaned back, cradling Lars in his arms and legs.

He’d get them out of there before it got weird.

But that could be a while.