Keifer entered, took one look at the desk, and then roared.
“Blythe! Your fucking cat was in my office again!” Keifer had yelled.
With his head studying his desk with resignation, Farrow had slipped from the room with an armful of files, and a sneer covering his face.
“So you think he’s taking these files to someone?” she asked me, placing the paperweight on the nightstand and climbing back in bed.
I held the covers to the side, urged her to retake her position by patting my lap, and waited for her to follow my directions.
She did so without a fight, walking across the bed on her knees before straddling my thighs.
“I don’t know what he plans to do with the files,” I admitted. “I can guess, though, but I won’t know for sure what he planned to do with them until I ask him.”
She blinked. “Ask him.”
I nodded.
“Farrow seems to be that kid that everyone babies. What’s the deal with him? Why is he not held to the same standard as everyone else?” Wink asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
I knew what she was asking.
Farrow didn’t work. Farrow didn’t do any reconnaissance like the rest of the dragon riders. Farrow didn’t do anything. When the others did stints of patrols, Farrow wasn’t factored into the list.
“Farrow isn’t like the other dragon riders.”
“Why?” she asked shortly, tired of my evasive answers.
“Farrow was the baby. He didn’t have the same upbringing that Nikolai and Keifer did,” I cleared my throat.
“Neither did you,” Wink pointed out, running her hand down my chest. “But that didn’t turn you into an asshole.”
I laughed. “Thank you, baby.” I let my hands trail up the tops of her thighs. “Farrow saved my life.”
“Why?” she asked. “How?”
I let my eyes move up to hers.
“I was in a bad place,” I said. “I was steadily drinking myself to death when Farrow found me, and then dragged his brother back to me. Keifer forced me to get my shit together.”
Wink grinned.
“He seems like the type to do that.”
“He is,” I agreed. “And so I continue to work with the dragon riders, trying to repay my debt.”
“You don’t want to be here?” she asked curiously.
“At times, no. I’d rather just live my life. This life—one as a dragon rider—it’s dangerous.” I started wrapping her hands around my fist. “And what I hate the most is that I have to go away from you. Your time is stolen from me, and I don’t fucking like it.”
With that pronouncement, I pulled her hair back and exposed her neck to my tongue.
“And I don’t like not being able to have you anytime I want.”
Her eyes dilated as my words slammed into her, making themselves at home in her mind, burrowing deep in her synapses, letting me in exactly where I wanted to be.
“I fucking love you, woman,” I growled, rolling until she was underneath me. “I’ve loved you for fucking ever. You’ve brought my sister back to me. You’ve made me seem almost human in the eyes of the other dragon riders. And you have my back. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Does that mean you’re going to marry me and make it all legal in the eyes of the law?” she asked roughly.
I placed my hand on her neck, wrapping my fingers around her throat, exactly where the mating tattoo was located.
She followed suit, placing her hand on my neck, directly over the tattoo on me.
I yanked her panties down her legs, not caring in the least that they ripped in my haste to get to her pussy.
“Fuck,” she gasped, her legs parting automatically the moment they were free of the constricting fabric.
I fell in between her splayed thighs, notching my hips with hers.
The hard ridge of my erection pressed against the lips of her sex.
“What do you think about kids?” I asked.
Her eyes widened.
“I’m not ready for kids,” she swallowed. “I want them…just not yet.”
I continued to stare at her, and she swallowed.
“I don’t want kids yet,” she said again.
The longer I stared at her, the more uncomfortable she got.
I could read her mind.
I knew for a fact that she wanted kids. I could read the thoughts as they flittered through her mind like multiple hummingbirds trying to fly around the small area at once.
“Wink,” I brought my free hand up to cup her face. “What’s the problem?”
“Can we talk about this later?” she pleaded, her thoughts coming too fast now for me to read them before the next one came.
I studied her face, took in her eyes and her desperate expression, and then nodded my head once.
“Yeah, I can do that.” I murmured. “But one day, I’m going to get this vasectomy reversed. All I need is your opinion on the matter.”
She didn’t have anything to reply.Chapter 18