Once again her body throbbed with need, her nipples tight and aching for a touch.
“This is a bad idea,” she said softly, “You’re going to get me killed...”
But even as she spoke the words, she found herself leaning in, tilting her face up for a kiss.
And he took her up on her offer.
His lips covered hers, sensually warm and soft. She gasped as heat ran through her at the contact.
His hands gently trailed down her shoulders, then back up, drawing her in. She moaned into the kiss when she surrendered herself to his strong hands.
His tongue gently teased hers as his scent surrounded her. She could almost hear the waves of the ocean crashing against the shore.
One of his hands drew down her shoulder again, cupping her breast. Then his thumb found her nipple, and she gasped at the burst of pleasure. She’d never been so sensitive before, but his careful, certain touches fanned the heat inside her until she was throbbing with overwhelming need.
“You’re gorgeous,” he murmured hoarsely when he broke the kiss. His lips trailed down her throat, his breath hot against her skin. “No one will harm you. I’ll protect you with my own life. I swear it, on my family’s honor.”
Liana moaned, squeezing her eyes shut when his lips brushed against the sensitive spot behind her ear.
She was trembling with need for him, her clit throbbing as she pressed herself against him.
His mouth found hers again, and for long, desperate minutes, she found herself clutching at him, surrendering to the consuming heat of his mouth.
If she had to die, wouldn’t it be stupid to let this chance slip away? It wasn’t every day that there was an incredibly hot man who claimed to be madly in love with her. In fact, this was the very first time that had ever happened...
Weakly, Liana gasped as she arched against him, his thumb circling her aching nipple again.
No, it wouldn’t be the worst way to go at all...
“Sorry,” he murmured huskily when he drew back at last.
“What are you sorry for?” She was still dizzy and breathless, and it was hard to think with the insistent throbbing of her body to distract her.
“I didn’t mean to overwhelm you. We can take this slowly—as slowly as you like, I promise.”
For a moment, Liana toyed with the idea of pulling back and firmly telling him that there wasn’t a thing they could take slowly, that all of this was a mistake, and that she was going to go home.
But his eyes were still shining in that entrancing ocean blue. And for all that the fire dragons had nearly killed her, he’d come to her rescue, shielding her from all harm.
“Slow is good,” she finally said, giving him a tentative smile. Of course, slow was the last thing her body wanted right now.
Her answer made his eyes light up with hope, which in turn made her stomach tight with a sudden, helpless want again.
“And I think I want to see that ocean town of yours.”
Chapter Eight: Timothy
They’d quickly grabbed some of Liana’s things from her apartment. The fire dragons hadn’t shown, but even so Timothy didn’t want to
take any chances. He didn’t take his eyes off Liana even for a second, and fifteen minutes later, they left her apartment with a bag full of her clothes and her laptop.
“My boss won’t mind,” she said. “We’re pretty relaxed about people working from home—at least for us coders. I think it’s because none of our bosses get what we’re doing anyway. I swear, my boss thinks writing code is like doing magic spells, but it’s just boring work most of the time. Anyway, I’ll send him a note that I caught a cold and will log into work from home for a few days. Wait—you’ve got Wi-Fi in your magical town, don’t you? No, don’t worry, I’ve got a data plan on my phone that’ll cover me—”
“It’s all right,” Timothy interrupted, laughing at the way she got completely carried away whenever she talked about her work. “The town’s not all that magical. We’ve got high speed internet. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do any work myself, you know.”
Liana snapped her fingers. “Of course! I forgot, you’re Mr. High Stakes Investment Billionaire.”
“I guess,” Timothy said, still laughing. “If that’s what you want to call it. It’s a dragon thing, though. We love treasure. And I figured I better get a good handle on the 21st century way of hoarding treasure. Don’t want to leave it all to you humans.”