Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
A flash of chilly desperation ices my chest. What if… there is nothing else to me? This person she seeks doesn’t exist?
“There!” she pokes a darling finger into my chest. “What are you thinking right now?”
My mind goes blank. “I beg your pardon?”
“What were you thinking? What made you frown? I want to know what’s going on in your head–no, not your head. Your heart.”
My…heart?
“You want to know what’s going on in my heart?”
“Yes.”
I take her hand and hold it to my chest, where the organ in question lies. “There are many who would tell you I have no heart, Tabitha. But it’s not true. I do have one, but it only beats for you. You brought me out of my slumber. I lived only to meet you again, and now you’ve come to me. I have lived hundreds of years without you. Far too many. So please, you must forgive me if I do not even know what it’s like to live with a heart because I’ve only just come alive again.”
Curses.
I’ve said too much. I’ve frightened her again. Her jade eyes round with concern.
But Tabitha reaches out and traces the lines of my cheek, then along my jaw. “Hearts can be a lot to manage,” she murmurs.
“Yes.”
“Are you having a hard time managing yours?”
A rush of emotion flushes through me. It’s unfamiliar, both in quantity and tone. I hardly understand it. “Yes.” My voice rasps in my throat. It’s the most honest I’ve been with her.
“Come here,” she murmurs, wrapping her slender arms behind my neck again, drawing me down on top of her. “I’ll show you how it’s done.”
And then she kisses me. Her lips are infinitely soft. A gentle exploration. She moves them across mine a few times, then slips her tongue between mine.
All the while, I keep my mouth perfectly still. Afraid to move. To kiss her back. To claim her gorgeous mouth the way I’m dying to.
“Kiss me,” she whispers against my lips. Her eyelids flutter.
She’s so beautiful. So frightfully lovely. She’s starlight and sunshine and laughter. She’s spring flowers and a baby’s sweet babble.
My dragon thrashes within me. I force myself to move slowly. I cage her head between both my hands and drink from her lips, inhaling at the same time to take in her spring rain and honeysuckle scent.
And…nothing terrible happens.
I don’t breathe fire in her face and destroy the one thing in this world I love. I don’t even feel the urge to claim her. The kiss was tender. Sweet. A gift to my bride. The dragon remains quiet, as if it’s enough for him, too.
I slowly draw away, and Tabitha smiles. “That was nice.”
My cock lengthens along my pant leg, but I ignore it.
“Was that what you needed, Tabitha?”
“Yes.”
“I think I understand.” I do, and I don’t. I understand the essence of it but not how to go about it.
“I want my clothes back,” Tabitha says.
I smirk. “I’ll have them brought in, my treasure. You like them?”
“Yes.” She blushes a bit. “Designer clothes are my guilty pleasure. I like to make my own, and I love to vintage shop, but sometimes nothing beats a good pair of Dior shoes, you know?”
I run my thumb over her lower lip. “May I take you shopping? We could hit Paris and Milan to find you a gown for the Christmas ball. Maybe ring in the new year somewhere special?”
I expect a surge of rage from my dragon at the idea of letting her leave the castle before she’s been fire-branded, but I don’t sense anything. Of course, he was the one who showed her how to escape. I can’t begin to unpack that.
Tabitha sits up, her face alight. “Ooh, that sounds fun!”
Finally, a way to impress her.
I drop a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll call the pilot and have him prepare the jet. And I’ll have your clothes returned, so you can pack.”
She climbs to her feet on the bed and bounces up and down. “We’re going shopping!”
My chest fills with a dizzying warmth. I’ve finally pleased my mate in a non-sexual way. I ignore all the misgivings I have about her using the trip to escape. We came to an agreement.
Surely she will honor her end.
Tabitha
I come out of the shower with a towel wrapped around my hair to find Gabriel lounging on the bed with a neatly packed suitcase open on the bed, and my closets returned to their former glory.
“How do you make things happen so fast?” I wonder aloud.
“I have many tricks,” he tells me. His lids lower to half-mast as his gaze roams across my naked body. I pull the towel off my head and shake my wet hair out over my shoulders, feeling sexier than I ever did in all my years as a model.
“When are we leaving?”