Her Dragon's Fire (13 page)

When they settled, her chin was propped on her hand, while she lay on his chest, wide-eyed and flushed. He watched the emotions war within her expressive blue eyes and waited while she worked out whatever was bothering her. “What is it about you that makes me trust you?” she blurted out.

He smiled at her while his fingers resumed their trail up and down her spine, the allure of her silken silk too much for him to resist. He simply could not resist caressing her. “Maybe we are meant to be together,” he shrugged. “Do you believe in fate?”

She scoffed and he watched a sliver of unease flash in her eyes then just as quickly it was gone. “Is that what you think
this
is… fate?” she said with more than a little doubt.

“Hear me out,
mo ghra’
.” He watched her internal debate, knowing when she had reached the decision to listen to him. “I know your nature is to have the facts. You believe everything must be logical and have a definite explanation. But what if the explanation for why we feel the way we do after knowing each other for such a short time is just that, fate? Would you be able to accept that?”

“First of all, what are the names you keep calling me? The language is beautiful but I really need to know what you are saying. It’s rather unnerving.” She was purposely dodging his questions. He could see that she was not sure how to answer his original question. He watched as she reached the realization that things in her world were quickly changing. Then he witnessed her rein in her emotions and put her ‘lawyer face’ (as he was beginning to think of it) on.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He laughed so hard the rumbling in his chest set off a whole new set of delicious shocks, which tightened all kinds of wonderful places in her body. She felt his semi-erect cock, still buried deep within her, twitch. Tamping down her body’s reaction to this addictive man proved harder than she thought possible. He was like a drug that she was quickly becoming addicted to. Her body was still coming down from the orgasms they had just shared; how in the hell was she ready for more? Regardless of her body’s addiction to him, she had to get some answers. There would never be a better time than this moment at least that is what she kept telling herself
and
her wayward body. Strengthening her resolve, she turned her patented stare on him and waited for his response.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“I understand it must be incredibly ‘unnerving’.” He had to bite the insides of his mouth and take a deep breath to continue without laughing at her again. The ‘lawyer face’ looked permanently painted on. He had to use much of his considerable strength to resist the urge to kiss it right off of there. She thought she was intimidating, and he was also sure that she would be right pissed off if he told her he found that particular look adorable. His mate was feisty; she didn’t take shit from anyone and he loved it. He looked forward to hundreds and hundreds of years of her giving him a run for his money.

Now, to tell her what he was really calling her without her freaking out on him or even worse, laughing in
his
face. He shifted his gaze and focused on a painting hanging on the opposite wall. “I’m speaking to you in the language of my ancestors.
Mo ghra’
means my love and
mo chroi,
my heart.” He looked back to her face and saw her stern demeanor melting away and hurried on before she could interrupt. “That is what you mean to me, Grace, and have from the first moment I saw you. You see, I
was
taught to believe in fate, and I
know
in my heart that we are meant to be together, for all of our days.” Her lips were in the form of an ‘o’ and her eyes wide as saucers. He had expected to see some kind of doubt, or even anger in her expressive blue eyes, but what he saw made him want to jump for joy. There was hope, and more than a little of an emotion he was scared to name too soon, reflected back at him.

He watched as she collected herself and pulled back the emotions his confession had stirred within her. She took a deep breath and gave him what he was sure was her best cross examination voice, “Let’s say for the sake of argument, that I buy your theory about fate and that we belong together. I want it made clear that I’m very skeptical, but I’m trying to keep an open mind. How did you know I was in trouble and then make it there in time to save me last night?”

No amount of hard fought determination and control could stop the fear he watched creep into her eyes. The shakiness he heard in her voice made him draw her closer to his body, lending her his strength while she battled back the emotions that threatened to overtake her. When he felt her relax and knew she had herself back under control, he started to explain. “I was on my way to see you. I
missed
you. I wasn’t kidding when I said you mean a lot to me and have from the moment I met you. The two days since I had last seen you seemed like an eternity, so I was coming to find you.” He watched as she unconsciously nodded her head. He held back a smile, his heart soaring that she was experiencing the same feelings as he, even if she wasn’t ready to consciously admit it.

“Lance, Royce, and I were almost to your office when we heard your car alarm go off.” He left out the part about being able to hear her scream or that they could communicate directly into each other’s minds. It wasn’t the time to reveal any of his enhanced abilities.

“We followed the sound and when I saw that asshole holding you by your hair, I damn near lost my mind.” He started running his fingers through the ends of her silky mane, rubbing her back at the same time, the touch calming them both. “My brethren and I have worked together for a long time, so it was second nature for us to do just that to save you from those dirt bags. I
had
to rescue you, Grace. I didn’t have any other choice. I couldn’t lose you.” He had taken her hand sometime during his explanation, so moved by the emotions welling up at his recollection of what he had seen that he had to remind himself not to squeeze her delicate fingers too tightly. He kept a close eye on her expressions, trying to gauge where her thoughts were taking her. He had to be careful not to spook her, or worse yet, make her think he was an escaped mental patient.

“What happened to the men that attacked me?” she met his gaze head on, demanding he tell her the truth.

“They were killed in the fight,” he answered, gazing right back at her, letting her see he would always be honest with her.

She nodded her head and he could see the wheels turning. “Were the police called?” she narrowed her eyes at him, never breaking eye contact.

“No, they were not.” He kept his voice level, waiting to see where she was going with this line of questioning.

“I know this is a long shot but I have to ask. Do you know if they were part of the criminal organization run by a douchebag known as ‘The Auctioneer’?”

“I know that they were career criminals and part of some bigger scheme, but I don’t know what yet,” he answered her, still wondering what was going on in that brilliant mind of hers, “I want you to know that we are certain you were not the target, but just happened to be there, and they wanted to leave no witnesses. Do
you
think they are associated with this ‘Auctioneer’ guy?”

She nodded her head, “Before I left the office, I heard the back elevator, that is reserved for only the ADAs and the Prosecutor, ding like someone had come up. It was weird because it was so late, it’s key-operated, and only a very few people have that key. I was in the break room getting a snack so I went back to my office, in case whoever it was came looking for me or had a question to ask.” She paused and fidgeted with the fringe on the blanket covering them. He could tell she was debating about how much to tell him. He held completely still while she worked it out.

She took a breath, held it to the count of five, speared him with a look that dared him not to believe what she was about to say, and said, “I know what I’m about to tell you might seem crazy, but I promise it is the absolute truth. I’ve never told anyone about this before except Kyndel, so if you laugh at me or try to have me committed, I’ll have to kill you.” She winked and he gave her a grin to show he was right there with her.

“I’m not even sure what to call it but I have this
special intuition
, Kyndel calls it my
spidey senses
, it’s kind of like my own alarm system and lie detector all rolled into one. Anyway, last night when I heard the elevator ding, I got a really bad feeling, the hairs on my arms even stood on end and cold shivers ran down my back,” She shivered at the memory. “I snuck down the hall to see what was going on, but no one was there, so I went back to my office.”

Aidan was having a hard time keeping his calm knowing that those assholes had been in the same office with her, and offered his thanks to the Universe for keeping her safe until he was close enough to help. He stayed quiet as she moved off of his chest and dislodged his cock from its home; his body tensed at the loss of its mate. She wrapped the blanket around herself and sat on the edge of the couch by his legs. He missed the complete contact they had shared moments ago, and longed to have her body wrapped around his, allowing him to feel what she felt. Even more than that, he wanted to protect her from her own memories; but he respected her need to stay strong. He didn’t like it, but he damn sure respected her need to do it, so he let her move away. It made him feel better that she still kept some contact with him. He shifted his legs, increasing their touch through the blanket she wore like her armor.

“I sat there a minute and decided there was no way I was going to get anything done, my nerves were shot, and so I packed up and headed out. I noticed Johnny wasn’t at the inside security desk, but it was late and I figured he had rounds or went to the men’s room. It wasn’t until I was a little way from my car that I realized the lights weren’t on in the garage and that I hadn’t seen the security guy at the entrance. Then those awful men appeared.”

Aidan watched her eyes glaze over and her bottom lip quiver. She fisted the edge of the blanket and tried to look anywhere but at him. He let her battle it out for all of fifteen seconds before he sat up, placed his hands on either side of her face, and made her look at him. “Tell me,” was all he said, and then he waited for her to continue, knowing
she
needed to finish it. It was the only way she could start to put the horrific event behind her.

She nodded her head as much as his hands would allow, “It all happened really fast. One was in front of me and the other behind. The only thing I could think of was to dive between two parked cars, but they still caught me and then… you were there.” She collapsed against his chest and he could feel her gulp large breaths while fighting to keep the tears that he had seen filling her eyes from falling.

Aidan held her close, rubbing her back and whispering words of comfort for a few minutes, but he refused to let her hide from him or the fear she had experienced. She had to face it to conquer it. He leaned back and held her away from him, catching her eyes. Just this once, he ignored the sparks that jumped between them. This was more important than their physical attraction; this was necessary to help her, help
his
Grace, get past this. “You did the right thing,
mo ghra’
. You kept them from hurting you worse than they actually did.” He kissed her scraped cheek to emphasize the damage they had done, and to ease the dragon within that wanted to rip out of his body and hunt down anyone that had dared even think of hurting their mate. The touch and smell of their mate pushed the dragon back, chuffing his annoyance.

“Although you didn’t know it at the time, you gave me and my brethren the time to get to you, and that made all the difference in the world.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She smiled and nodded just a bit. One lone tear rolled down her cheek. Aidan leaned forward and kissed the path that tear took, until his lips touched hers. He placed a chaste kiss upon her lips, and then laid his forehead against hers. They both sighed, relieved it was over.

Grace just stared at Aidan. She knew every word he had spoken was the complete truth. Her intuition or
spidey senses
or whatever the hell it was, confirmed everything he said. Now she had to decide what to do with this knowledge. She had already made her mind up earlier to give whatever this thing was between them a chance. The feelings she felt for this man, she had never felt for another, but to know her feelings were reciprocated, turned her world upside down. She had prepared herself for a few good months, maybe even a year and then was sure it would die out, but listening to Aidan, she knew that was
not
the case. He had said ‘for all of our days’, not just for just a little while, he wanted her forever and she could not stop herself from being happy about it, or for hoping that everything they felt for one another was not just ‘happy endorphins’ running through their system. She reminded herself that there were more questions she needed answered. This was dangerous, unfamiliar territory where her heart was concerned. Trust did not come easily, and she damn sure did
not
love this quickly. She had to make sure they were on the same page, and protect her heart.