I sighed when Wink started to scream louder as Mace went a little sharper in than she was expecting.
“Jesus!” I said, slapping Mace’s flank. “She’s new to dragon riding!”
Mace’s dark chuckle rose up, and it let me know that it wasn’t just me that Mace liked to torture. I was sure he liked to torture children and small animals as well.
I hopped off, falling the six feet or so to the ground, and then held my hands out for Wink since Mace didn’t like getting his knees dirty by bending down.
Fucker.
I heard that, Mace said with amusement.
You were meant to, you rude jackass, I thought to him.
“This is a nice area,” she said as Mace lumbered off toward a crop of trees across the clearing from the small cabin.
“It is,” I said. “I bought it through Vassago Industries.”
“You bought it?” she asked. “Why?”
I shook my head. I didn’t know why I bought it. I just did.
Something about the area called to me, but I couldn’t quite put an exact reason behind the urge.
I looked around the area, trying to see it with a new idea.
It really was nothing special.
In fact, it was just a cabin in the woods. Trees lined all four sides, and the only clearing in the entire area was the lawn in front of the cabin.
Hell, Mace couldn’t even land anywhere near the house unless he wanted to do it on the roof—which was showing signs of wear where other dragons had landed and done damage before. He had to land about five hundred yards away, near the pond, and we had to walk to the cabin due to the thickness of the trees.
The trees themselves looked to be about two hundred years old, and I doubted with even the smallest of ones I would be able to get my arms wrapped around the trunk.
“Why are you looking at the trees like that for?” Wink asked me curiously, staring at the same tree I was.
“I was wondering if I’d be able to wrap my arms around it and touch,” I said instantly, not afraid to unshield my thoughts from her.
She walked up to the tree and leaned into it, wrapping her hands around it and not coming close to touching her fingertips.
I stared at her for long moments, my eyes automatically going to her jean clad ass.
My dick started to harden, and I swallowed as I closed my eyes and forced myself to move.
I walked past her to the cabin, knowing if I didn’t I’d turn her around and slam her back into that tree, then tear her pants from her body before filling her up with my cock.
I didn’t know what it was about Wink that turned me into a monster, but just the sight of her hugging a fucking tree had me hard as a rock.
“Hey!” she said, affronted that I would leave her behind. “Wait up!”
I slowed my pace for her to catch up, and covertly readjusted my cock in my jeans before she arrived at my side.
“So, tell me about you,” she ordered as we walked.
I looked over at her, my eyes taking in the way her blonde hair seemed to glow blue in the sunlight.
“What do you want to know?” I asked roughly, turning back forward.
“What’s your favorite color?” she asked.
“Red,” I said instantly. “What’s yours?”
“Magenta,” she answered just as quickly.
I looked over at her.
“Purple?” I tried.
She shook her head.
“No. Magenta,” she corrected me. “Where did you grow up?”
“Here in Dallas,” I said. “Then I went to an orphanage and was in and out of foster homes until I was eighteen.”
She looked at me curiously, a weird gleam in her eyes that I couldn’t quite read.
I arrived at the steps and held out my hand to offer support as she climbed them.
The cabin wasn’t in the best of shape, and a stiff wind would likely blow the whole damn place down with the next rain storm we got.
“Magenta is my favorite color to see through the lens of a camera.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” I said to her. “I saw your photos at the gallery downtown. They’re beautiful. And your sculptures are pretty awesome as well; although I’m not sure how I feel about you getting that close to fire and liquid metal.”
She looked over at me in confusion.
“How did you know I had photos in a gallery?” she asked, her eyes narrowed.
“Had you investigated,” I answered truthfully. “What did you think? I was just going to let some random stranger into my house?”
She pursed her lips.
“You could have asked my permission to do it first,” she muttered under her breath as she reached for the door handle.
I stopped and watched as her hand first touch the cool metal door handle.
Her eyes went hooded, and her pupils dilated as she got her first reading on the old cabin.