Page 70 of Dragon Me Through Space

“I … I thought you were dead. I thought we lost you.” His hold tightened, but when I squeaked again, he relaxed his hold, leaning back to look down into my eyes. “I’m rarely scared, but when I saw you floating in space between us … I was terrified. Even touching you now, smelling you, and hearing your heartbeat, I still don’t feel like it’s real … I can’t believe you are alive … that you survived.”

Having the stoic leader of my four Dragonkin open up to me like this was a rare treat and yet, I felt discomfort at seeing him so worked up.

Reaching up slowly, I set my hand on his cheek and gave him my best, cocky smirk. “I told you I was strong.”

“Xoe,” he growled.

I threw my arms around his neck and pressed my nose against his throat. “I was scared, too. I don’t know how I survived out there. It …” I swallowed hard. “… it shouldn’t have been possible.” And it was all my fault that their ship had been destroyed. Tarkar had been after me.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Why are you sorry?” I asked pulling my head back. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know you overheard me talking to Wayne before about my worry we were getting too close to you too fast. You never brought it up, but I saw that you’d been there. I’m sorry. I was wrong. I was … scared.”

“You were scared? You?”

He chuckled. “I may act stoic often, but that’s just a mask I had to develop as prince and son of the High King and High Queen. I was scared because … I’ve never felt this way about a woman before. I’ve had countless women throw themselves at me, all across the universe, but you were the first one to draw my attention.”

The emotional rollercoaster he had just sent me on: empathy, jealousy, and then joy.

“I understand how you felt because I was feeling the same way,” I admitted. “That’s part of why I never brought it up. The past is in the past, what’s important is the here and now.” And after almost dying … again, I was trying my best to live in the here and now.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” he asked tentatively.

“Please,” I whispered in response.

With one arm, he scooped me up by the back of my legs and carried me into the attached bathroom.

Before I could ask what he was doing, his mouth was on mine and our tongues were clashing in need and desperation. My body was still so cold and now that we weren’t in front of Gage’s father, the restraint I’d held disappeared and my body started to shiver.

Preston tore my clothes off, literally, letting the scraps flutter to the ground as he pressed searing kisses down my throat, across my collar bone, down my arms, across my chest, between my breasts, and all the way down my legs to my toes. When he finished, he turned on the shower, slid his hands beneath my butt, and picked me up.

I wrapped my legs around his waist to hold on, and tore his shirt off so that I could be skin to skin with him.

His mouth twitched, but he didn’t let it turn into a full smile, the corner fell down quickly and he reclaimed my mouth with his.

Perhaps I should have felt embarrassed that my drenched core was pressed against his bare stomach, but in the moment, I couldn’t be bothered. I needed this … we needed this.

The steam from the shower announced it was finally hot and he quickly removed his pants with one hand while his other hand continued to grip my butt. When his pants fell, his thick, hot erection slapped against me, eliciting an excited gasp from me, and earning a growl from deep within his chest.

Stepping into the water, I hissed at the sting of the hot water against my cold skin, making him hesitate a moment.

“I’m alright,” I whispered against his lips, peppering gentle kisses along his mouth and jaw. “Just need to let the warm water heat me back up.”

His grip on my butt tightened as he returned both hands to it, and he shifted me so he could begin pressing into me.

I groaned at the feel of the hot and thick intrusion, my head falling back as he worked himself deeper and deeper inside of me until he was fully sheathed, minus his knot.

The hot water was slowly returning my body heat back to normal, but as he continued to slide in and out of me, I felt deeper warmth pooling low in my stomach.

“That’s it, pet, come for me,” he growled in my ear before licking along the outer shell and biting down gently on it.

My back arched as I screamed his name and stars danced across my vision. Ecstasy poured through my body and I wondered how I could survive a life without feeling this again.

“Yes,” he growled and pumped faster and harder into me. “Just like that. I’m going to make you come harder and harder each time.”

Harder? I wasn’t certain it was possible for me to come harder than I just had.