steer clear. Except now that he’d broken the silence, I didn’t see how I could stop myself. Was I even allowed?
He bit his lip as if he struggled to hold back another laugh. “You don’t even realize what you’re doing, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
This time the response came in my head, not from his lips. “Broadcasting your thoughts. You must have dragon blood to be able to do that, and to hear me too.”
My mouth fell open. “No! I wasn’t…was I?” Oh, shit!
“No shit,” he echoed my silent thought, grinning as my cheeks went molten.
I covered my face with both hands, shaking my head. How mortifying. My first chance having a conversation with a dragon, and I had to just blurt out all my thoughts? I was still doing it, wasn’t I? Oh god, oh god, oh god.
Warm hands gripped my shoulders and squeezed, then, strangely, he pulled me against him, sliding strong arms around me and shushing me softly. I went because somehow sinking deeper into that cocoon of warmth and calm was easier than resisting. By the time he had me completely within his embrace, my body had relaxed, and I couldn’t help but slip my arms around his torso and sigh in contentment.
“God, you feel good,” I said, the words muffled against his chest and probably way too honest, but if I was going to think it, what the hell did it matter? He’d hear my thoughts anyway. “Sorry for the thought diarrhea. You were kind of the last thing I expected to see today.”
“You’ll learn to control it with practice. It’s an amazingly rare thing to see in a member of the Bloodline though. Usually, powers don’t manifest without a high concentration of higher races blood.”
I sighed again, closing my eyes. “So you’re saying I have a superpower? Is it being able to identify the best hugger in the world? Because, holy shit, I feel like I fell into a bubble of hug. Honestly, I felt it before you even actually hugged me. Is that weird?”
“Not any weirder than two virtual strangers hugging each other before they’ve even been introduced.”
I stiffened at the jolt of realization, but he squeezed me tighter, stroking my back gently, and I went practically boneless. “My name is Gray,” he said, his breath gusting across the top of my head. “And you are?”
I turned my head to look up into his eyes, expecting some awkwardness to take over, but it didn’t. It felt like I knew him already. “I’m April. And I don’t suppose you can explain why this really doesn’t feel weird. Like, at all.”
He gazed into my eyes, his flashing again with light. My pulse picked up, and the entire world slowed down, the tiny motes of dust in the air stopped floating, suspended in the sunbeam that fell where we stood. And in that moment, something resembling a halo appeared around his head, a silvery glow pulsing with the rhythm of a heartbeat.
“Sweet Mother, you are powerful,” he murmured. He lifted one hand and brushed fingertips down my temple, his strange, pale eyes still fixed on mine. “Can you see my aura, April? Is that what you’re looking at?”
“I—” My mouth fell open, and I shook my head, struggling to find words. “I’ve never seen one before. Usually, I only feel them, like a static field around someone. Wow.”
It was my turn to raise my hand in wonder. I traced the edge of the glowing field that hovered several inches from his head, curving around his broad shoulders. It rippled when my fingertips passed through, leaving my skin tingling pleasantly, but it offered no real resistance, and I was almost startled when my hand landed on the side of his head. But rather than pull away, I sank my fingers into the luxuriant thickness of his hair.
My heart rate jumped at the increased intimacy with this man I’d just met, but he didn’t seem put off by the familiarity of my touch. He tilted his head into my hand, his eyelids sliding closed and a slow breath escaping his lips.
“So unexpected,” he said, seeming to vibrate like a contented cat while I petted him.
“But in a good way, yeah?” I watched his face as I combed my fingers through his hair, sliding to the back of his head. My mouth began to water when my gaze fell on his lips, a perfect full bow of lusciousness.
“The best. So good—”
I cut him off with a kiss, giving in