“I… I’d like to be a part of your lives. If that’s what you want. You…” He searched her eyes. “You know how I feel, how I’ve always felt. But you haven’t said—”
Oh my… scales. She gasped as she realized what was worrying him.
“I didn’t say I love you. I do,” she gabbled. “I love you so much but I thought you were a playboy only after one thing like my dad and the guy who left my cousin pregnant. I didn’t think you were telling the truth. Then those women said those things and… I got mad. Scared. I ran away because I didn’t want to face you and have those fears confirmed.”
He nodded. “But you love me? For real?”
“Yes, yes!” She lifted on her tiptoes and kissed him. Over and over. Her lips pressed little butterfly kisses to his. “I love you and yes, I want you to be part of my life. Part of our baby’s life… always.”
“You love me,” he whispered the words almost reverently, like a prayer. The next instant she found herself swept up in his arms and held close to his heart. She squeaked and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
“Nik! I can walk!”
He shook his head, a stubborn expression on his face as he strode toward the throne room doors.
“Uh-uh, not in your condition.”
“I’m pregnant, not sick!” she laughed, but the caring in his voice made her cuddle closer, finally secure in the fact that he really did love her.
“Sounds like congratulations are in order then.”
Cadeyra stepped through the door, the other blacks flanking her, with a smile of delight on her face as she looked at the couple. Adra blushed but lifted her chin and returned the queen’s smile.
“Yes, I do believe they are.”
She turned and kissed the side of Nik’s jaw, his little rumble of approval sending shivers down her spine.
“If you don’t mind, Your Majesty, I’d like to request a week’s leave of absence for my mate and I… a honeymoon, if you will.”
Chapter 8
Queen Cadeyra looked between Nik and the tiny woman in his arms, and smiled broadly. “Of course, on one condition…”
“Name it,” he said, the rough growl of his dragon in his voice. All he could think about was getting out of there and being alone with his mate. But Cadeyra was the queen and he knew better than to piss her off.
“Cadie, leave them be. They’re mates… you remember what it’s like to finally find your mate,” Sawyer, her husband, rumbled. But she smiled and waved him off.
“Look after her,” she ordered Nik. Then she looked at Adra. “And you look after him. Finding your mate is a rare thing to be treasured for the rest of your lives. Make sure you do.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Adra nodded.
“Until the day I die,” Nik promised, and then he was done.
With a rumble in the back of his throat, he swept past them all and strode up the corridors toward the floor the blacks were housed on.
Silence stretched out between them with each step, the tension in his body almost at breaking point as he shouldered open the door of his apartment. He walked right through the rooms until he stood by the large bed.
Words weren’t needed. They had their own language. Soft touches and glances. Shared breaths. He let go of her knees and slid her down the front of his body. She caught her breath, her beautiful eyes widening as she registered the state of his body.
He didn’t care. Didn’t try and hide it. She was his mate and he wanted her, more than he needed air to breathe. Her hands slid down his chest, fingers dipping under the buttons. The instant she brushed his skin, the spell broke. With a growl, he bent his head and claimed her lips, pouring every ounce of his love, longing and need for her into one, torrid kiss.
She whimpered, kissing him back as she tried to unbutton his shirt. They wouldn’t cooperate and she growled at them, which made him smile. It was utterly adorable and sexy all at the same time.
Then she lost patience, grabbed hold of his shirt and ripped it open. The buttons pinged free, clattering over the floor in a little song and dance all their own. He gasped as her hands spread over his skin. It was like the soft caress broke the floodgates and in the next heartbeat, their hands were all over each other.
He growled again, the sounds of pleasure and possessiveness escaping the back of his throat tapping right into his draconic nature. Their clothes melted away, removed or ripped off by her hands or his… he wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was her.
Backing her up against the bed, he tumbled her backward and rode her down to the soft surface. Braced above her, he claimed her lips, parting them to delve beyond to the soft sweetness.
Their moans mingled on the air as he slid his hand between the thighs she opened eagerly for him. He parted her pussy lips with a gentle stroke of his fingers and almost lost it then and there. His beloved mate and she was so hot and wet… ready for him. His body tightened, cock giving a savage jerk. He swallowed her moan as he slid one finger, then two, into her silken depths.
She arched her back, rocking her hips and riding his hand as he stroked her. She was so responsive, her reactions to him open and honest. Each stroke of her small hands over his shoulders inflamed his desire until it was an inferno.
Then she stroked over his chest and ribcage, reaching for his cock. His world stalled, all his attention on her small fingers wrapped around his shaft. Blood surged, need pulsing through him as she stroked, and he had to remind himself to breathe. His lips hovered a bare millimeter from hers, and he looked into her eyes as they touched each other.
Deep within, he felt something shift and lock within him. He knew what it was. The mate bond, finally settling into place and binding them together. She gasped at the same time and he knew she’d felt it too.
The knowledge was too much and he pulled his hand from her, settling into place between her thighs in a quick movement. He needed to make her his, completely and utterly. Now.
His cock poised at the entrance to her body, he was about to thrust when he froze.
“Shit. The baby…” He couldn’t finish the thought, looking at her for confirmation. As much as he was desperate to claim her, there was no way he’d do anything to harm her or the baby. They were his life, his very reason for living…
* * *
The mixed concern and sexual frustration on her handsome mate’s face as he braced himself over her almost made Adra chuckle, and melted her heart all at the same time.
Reaching up, she cupped the side of his face gently.
“I’m fine. The baby’s fine,” she told him. “You won’t hurt either of us. I promise.”
He nodded, and their moans mingled on the air as he slowly, oh so slowly, slid into her. She felt each millimeter as he pushed and she parted around his thick length. Shifting her hips, she met him halfway, accepting him… welcoming him into her body.
Her pussy fluttered and clenched around him. He was big built and she needed every ounce of focus to relax, the pleasurable burn almost on the edge of pain as he stretched her.
He groaned, holding his hips still and gathering her to him. She made a soft sound of pleasure, verging on a purr, as she was enveloped in his arms. Every touch, every stroke between them, spoke silently of the love they held for each other, and it warmed her heart.
But heat and the need to move took over. She rocked her hips against his and whimpered as pleasure hit her broadside. He was so big he stroked every nerve ending she had as he pulled back and then slid deep again. His arm snaked under her neck as he did it again. And again.
But slow strokes soon gave way to faster ones. Harder ones. The air around them filled with the sounds of their lovemaking—the slap of skin against skin, masculine groans and feminine moans. It was a sensual symphony that underscored the feeling between them, heightening the mood.
He kissed her softly, but then, as her body started to tighten around him—her climax threatening to overwhelm her—he pulled back to look down into her e
yes.
“I love you, Nikolai Waldek, mate of my heart,” she whispered, and then she could talk no more. Pleasure washed up and over, her climax exploding through her. She arched her back, pushing against him as she cried out.
He gasped as her body tightened around him and sped up. His strokes were harder and faster, near frantic as he took her, stretching out her release until… finally… he thrust deep, throwing back his head as he bellowed his climax to the skies above.
One word.
Her name.
“I cannot believe you got the queen to give us a week off… or that you wanted to come here.”
Nik watched his little mate as she sat on the edge of the bed, drying her dark hair with a towel. His dragon purred in pleasure just at the sight of her. They’d flown here and the beast had been an utter pain, making sure she wasn’t flying too fast, or too high. She’d roared at him in the end, but he’d caught the amusement and affection in her mind as they’d landed. His dragon had sidled up to hers, wrapping itself around her lovingly. The creature was a complete pushover where she was concerned.
“Why wouldn’t I want to come here?” she asked over her shoulder, smiling as she realized he was watching her. “It’s a beautiful place, and I want to enjoy it with my new mate. Who apparently owns it…which he didn’t bother to tell me before.”
He grinned, unrepentant at being caught out. “Well, technically the company owns it. But, yeah, it’s my bolthole. I like spending time here.”
She finished drying her hair, folding the towel before she put it on the end of the bed. “So… that library? Is that yours?”
He paused for a moment before nodding slowly. He’d finally decoded his dragon’s cryptic little comment.
Books. His adored mate loved reading and books. His dragon had plucked that little nugget of information out for him.
“Well, no, actually it’s not. Not anymore.” At her surprised look, he smiled, opening his hand to offer her a small key. “It’s yours.”
Her eyes widened, and he read the surprise in her mind easily, followed by a warm burst of pleasure. “It’s mine? For real?”
She scooted over the bed, snuggling up in his arms as she reached for the key reverently. Her eyes collided with his and she smiled when he curled up around her, his hand covering her stomach.
Pride filled him. She wasn’t showing yet, but he could feel the heat of life within. The life of their baby, nestled protectively within her mother. Because the baby was a girl. He could tell that already.
“I love you, Adra,” he murmured, dropping a kiss onto her shoulder as she leaned back against him. “Always have, always will. I will love you, and our baby… and any that follow, until my last breath.”
“I love you too,” she whispered, the edge of a purr in her voice as she settled against him, spooning happily as she turned the key around in her fingers. “I always did, even if I didn’t know it. And what’s this about more babies?”
He smiled as he leaned back against the headboard and closed his eyes in contentment. Black dragons loved to bet, and he’d won the greatest bet of all—the love of his life, by his side, for the rest of their days.
What dragon could ask for more?
* * *
The End
* * *
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About the Author
Mina Carter is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of romance in many genres. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and a bossy cat.
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