Page 111 of Dragon Tempted

He blinked at her, and she held her breath, waiting for him to push her away. His hands moved down her arms, and he gripped them for a moment before pulling her into his embrace. “I love you too, Sienna Simonson. I didn’t think I was capable of love until I met you.”

Joy filled her heart as she wrapped her arms tight around him and breathed in his pine scent. After a few moments his fingers lifted her chin, and he bent to kiss her. His lips were soft and seemingly on a mission to bring her to her knees. But she stayed upright by sheer will and returned his enthusiasm as she explored his mouth.

He groaned and broke away to look at her, his normally light eyes now a smoky slate blue. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”

Sienna smirked. “I have some interesting ideas if you need help. But you’re recuperating, so maybe we should take things slow.”

“Everything in my life has been glacially slow. It’s definitely time to speed things up.” He rested his hands on her waist, and the next thing she knew, he lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his hips, and his arms banded around her as he walked to the bedroom.

He shut the door and leaned her against it, taking her mouth hungrily before moving to her throat. She gasped when he reached the spot where her neck met her collarbone. He stopped and looked at her, his eyes dancing. Dancing! Her eyes filled at seeing him finally letting go and being happy.

His right eyebrow rose. “What is it?”

“You’re mischievous, John Baker. I think you’re going to surprise me.”

“And you, me. But that’s a good thing, right?” he asked, his voice a touch uncertain.

She kissed him quickly to alleviate his concern. “It’s a very good thing.”

He smiled before spinning her around and pressing her to the bed. His hands landed on either side of her head, and he caged her in. But instead of being overwhelmed, she felt protected. She bit the tip of his chin lightly, and his eyes flared before their lips found each other again. He kept his weight off her but she wanted to feel him against her, and she coaxed him down until he was pressing her into the mattress.

She reached under his shirt and ran her hands along his back, feeling the muscles move as she touched the various scars from his battles, a history on his skin. His kisses ramped up as he started exploring as well. After a few heated minutes she broke away to let him know that she was all in.

“I’m on the pill.”

He nodded. “I haven’t been with anyone in a long, long…really long time.”

Sienna rested her hands on his cheeks, the stubble tickling her palms. “No worries. I’ll take it easy on you.” Then she winked.

He growled and pulled his shirt off and threw it before reaching for her shirt as well. He helped her remove it along with her pants, leaving her in her everyday underwear and bra. Before she could regret not changing into some date-night undies, he growled again, his eyes taking her in like a starving man. He ran his lips along the swell of her breasts before helping her take off her bra. Her heart ratcheted up as he smirked at her before heading farther south and divesting her of her panties.

She could get used to this. Especially when he stood a few earth-shattering minutes later while she was trying to calm her breath, and dropped his pants.

Now she couldn’t breathe at all.

He went commando. She checked him out in all his glory, and when she reached his face, the cocky male winked at her.

John crawled up her body and settled against her as she relaxed, and he slotted inside her and pushed home. Her breathing raced as he moved above her. And then she joined the dance and lifted up to kiss him, needing that connection as she plummeted over the edge. He lost his rhythm and followed her over as well.

He collapsed on her for a few moments. She wrapped her arms around him before he could move.

“I’m crushing you.”

“I don’t care,” she said as their heartbeats pounded erratically and then synced in harmony. She finally let him go and he rolled away from her.

“I’ll be right back.” He returned with a warm washcloth and they made quick use of it before settling back against the headboard. “I still can’t believe this is actually happening.”

Sienna rested her head against his chest after he wrapped his arms around her. “I’ve been thinking. I know that when you saw the scroll and it said, ‘Forgiveness and sacrifice,’ that it reinforced your belief that you had to sacrifice yourself to save us. Did you ever think that maybe your path is forgiveness? Forgiveness of those who would try to blame you for the curse but more importantly, forgiving yourself, John. You did not cause the curse. I would argue you were the one who suffered the most from it.”

He sucked in a breath but didn’t say anything.

“And I know you’re worried about the future, but we can worry about it together. As long as we let each other know what we’re feeling. And you’ve got a clan now too.”

He stiffened a little bit, and she waited for him to speak.

“I’m worried that even though the curse is gone, I might never age. And then I’ll have to watch all the people I care about leave me alone again.”

She looked up into his pain-filled eyes and tried to keep the tears from coming. “We’re going to take things a day at a time. I guess my question to you is, would you rather spend your life alone now for fear of future heartbreak, or spend it with the people you love while you can?”