Monsters Under Mistletoe

6. Burn for You

Chapter 6

Burn for You

C aitlin searched his eyes. There was no humor in those liquid pools of gold. In fact, Dillian looked vulnerable. The spread wings, the exposed chest and abdomen, the restless tails, the tapping of his big toe’s claw against the stone floor – his whole body spoke of being open and nervous. She hadn’t seen the half-dragon anything but confident until now.

“If this is a jest–”

“It isn’t.”

“If it’s a trick to get you the mistletoe–”

“I can get that mistletoe anyway. Besides, I already have a mistletoe, Cait. And it’s much bigger than the one over our heads.”

No, Caitlin was not going to look down at his impossibly tight briefs to compare sizes. “So, you’re claiming I’m your... one and only?”

“Yes.” Dillian put his hand on the golden scales at the center of his chest. “No other will own my heart until I perish from this earth. You and I, Cait,” he leaned closer, “are forever.”

She shook her head in disbelief. Dillian had mentioned to her that dragons partnered for life with so-called forever mates, but her ? He barely knew her. Caitlin was not mate material. She hadn’t had a single serious relationship in her life. Not only because her top priority was work, but also because no man had managed to ignite that special spark inside her.

“ Tesoro .” Dillian’s intertwined tails moved up and down her hand in a soothing way, the scales surprisingly soft against her skin.

Caitlin took him in again, this time filled not with suspicion but longing. Could Dillian be the one she had been unknowingly waiting for?

“You feel it, don’t you?” he whispered, the delicate touch of those tails making her tingle from head to toe. “The irresistible pull? The sense of belonging and completeness?”

Dillian’s wings drew closer to her, as if wishing to envelop her. Caitlin should feel trapped with his big frame leaning over her and those large wings on either side of her, but instead felt protected and cherished. And complete.

So many times over the past month she had lain awake in bed wondering why she had given in to the charms of a creature she knew only from legends. Yeah, his sex appeal was off the charts, he made her laugh, and listened intently to her babbling about her interests. But to risk losing the job she loved for a night with him? To have Dillian star in so many of her wet dreams despite her thinking he had robbed her? Perhaps the answer lay in the inexplicable. The supernatural.

“You’re my forever mate, Cait,” he repeated with a possessive rumble. “The greatest treasure in a dragon’s life.”

She chewed her lip. “You must be mistaken.”

“I’m not.”

“How can you be so sure? And please, keep your sense of smell out of it.”

“I can’t. My nose knew it first. But,” his eyes bore into hers, “my heart knew it second. The more time I spent with you, the faster my heart beat. By the time you let me taste you, I was 90 percent certain you were the one. Come sunrise, my heart rate was so fast there was no longer any doubt.”

“Your olfaction and heart rate told you I’m your forever mate?” Caitlin scrunched up her nose.

Dillian nodded. “Before meeting one’s forever mate, a dragon’s heartbeat is slow. Keeping our bodies warm requires frequent sunbathing and staying in warmer climates, or we risk falling into a deep sleep for decades. That’s why Siberia, Iceland, and Alaska, for instance, are a no-no for unmated dragon agents of KISKIS.”

“But it was rather cold with the strong wind in Edinburgh?”

“Indeed.” Dillian made a face at the memory. “Being undercover there posing as a Highlander in a kilt for visitors of the castle was a dragon’s nightmare. I was yawning most of the time. But when I met you… May I?” His tails curled around her wrist.

Caitlin allowed him to guide her hand to the center of his chest. The scaled skin there was hard against her palm but warmer than a human’s. “Wow, you’re hot.”

“That’s right.” A smile spread across his lips. “I burn for you, m ’ òr. ”

A giggle burst from Caitlin. “You’re overdoing it.”

His signature fangy smile returned. “I speak from the heart. It’s human men who are underperforming.”

She reluctantly pulled her hand away. “What if I prefer human men?” Caitlin asked but sounded unconvinced to her own ears.

His smile grew. He was on to her. “Prove it, and I’ll leave you alone.”

Caitlin narrowed her eyes at him. “You’ll let the supposed love of your life go? Just like that?”

“Yes.”

“No stalking?”

“None whatsoever.” He smirked before adding, “ If you prove you don’t want me.”

Caitlin’s eyebrows crept up. “And how would I do that?”

“By paying the mistletoe price,” Dillian said, eyes smoldering.

“A kiss?”

Dillian gave a confident nod.

Ah. There it was: the catch. The arrogant dragon must think a single kiss would undo her.

The thing was, he was standing so close now Caitlin could feel the warmth radiating off him and the graze of his wings at her back. It was getting hard to think about anything else but letting herself be enveloped in his heat and strength.

“Okay,” she declared.

“Okay? You truly wish to leave me?”

The worry detectable in his tone did it for Caitlin. Perhaps she was being na?ve, but she now believed Dillian would truly let her be if that was what she wanted. “What I wish is to make important decisions when I can think clearly.”

He frowned. “And when will that be?”

“After this.” Caitlin went on her tiptoes and slanted her lips over his.

Dillian groaned and wrapped Caitlin in his wings and tails. One hand cupped the back of her head to keep their lips locked longer. As if she would pull away from that scorching kiss and possessive hold that had her melting against him. His elongated tongue joined hers for a fiery dance of seduction that made her toes curl and her fingers dig into his golden chest scales. Kissing Dillian alone could make her come, if he kept going like that.

He stopped. Drew back from her lips and dared to smile smugly at her whine of protest.

“Come back here,” Caitlin demanded, though their bodies were still pressed into one.

“Can you think clearly now? Because that was one kiss. The mistletoe price,” he cast a look at the orb over their heads, “has been paid.”

“The price is a kiss per mistletoe.” She slid a hand between their bodies and cupped the huge erection tenting his briefs’ mistletoe. “What about this one, hm?”

The fire in his gaze intensified. “One more kiss, then,” he rumbled over her lips.

“Yes. Just one.”