see you naked, we won’t even make it to the sky.” As she spoke, she turned around.
He quickly shifted into his dragon. He huffed loudly, letting a low roar hiss out of him. He didn’t want to frighten her. Bethany heard the noises and understood them for what they were. She turned and her hands went up to her mouth. A gasp escaped her, her eyes as wide as saucers.
“You’re magnificent,” she breathed, taking a tentative step toward him.
He inclined his large head in silent thanks. Bethany placed her small hand between his eyes and rubbed the scales.
“You know what’s funny? When I first saw your place, I thought that it needed more color. I was thinking of all these different shades of red that could lighten up the place. And you’re a red dragon. I really do think that somehow, I must have known you were mine.”
He huffed happily. He liked that idea, too.
It took some time, and trial and error, but he managed to get Bethany onto his back. She was clutched tightly around his neck. There was no way her arms would reach around his thick neck, but she wouldn’t fall. He would make sure of that.
He flapped his large wings, once, twice, and took off into the sky. Bethany’s squeal of delight made his heart feel light and happy.
As he circled the estate, way up high in the sky, London knew that something significant had changed. It wasn’t just that he had found his mate, it’s that his mate was Bethany.
A woman who learned he was a dragon, and instead of retreating, she hopped onto his back and relished the feel of the wind on her skin. He opened his mouth and breathed fire against the clouds.
The burning flames quickly dissipated in the moisture of the air, but he had still made a vow with their expulsion out of his lungs.
Bethany was his, and he would stop at nothing to protect her.
Once they had landed, London brought her into the estate and tried to show her around. Unfortunately for the beautiful architecture, but fortunately for his raging hard-on, they stopped at his bedroom. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other and quickly ended up in bed together.
London was halfway to paradise when Bethany flipped her hair over her shoulder. His cock was buried inside of her, his hands gripped on her hips as he pumped into of her from behind.
“Are you going to mate me?” Bethany’s voice was breathy and purring.
London groaned loudly. “I want to, love. But it’s too soon for all that. It would mean that we would be together forever. It’s more than a wedding and marriage vows. Are you ready for that?”
Bethany shook her head.
It broke his heart, but London also understood. He was also very much surprised that he had been able to put aside his own wants, and his desperate need to mate Bethany, to focus on what she wanted. He could only figure that it was a powerful reaction to being around his mate. He would sometimes bend to her will to make sure she was as happy and as safe as she could possibly be.
Besides, he wouldn’t mate her while there were still secrets between them. He wasn’t yet ready to tell her that Leonard had killed his mother. Once that was put to rest, he would bend her over backward and mate the ever-loving fuck out of her. All loving and caring, of course, but it would still be a mating.
Instead of biting her neck, he dropped kisses there, marking the spot where he would.
Soon.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bethany
The drive from the Warwick Estate back into town was much different. Where Bethany had been wary of London and his motives on their way up the day before, she was settled and content in the seat next to his. His hand was on her thigh as he drove. His fingers alternated between drawing circles and gently squeezing her.
Bethany returned the soft, sentimental touches by placing her hand on London’s neck to rub the muscles there and play with the soft wisps of hair at his nape. The sun was shining brighter than Bethany had ever seen in England, and she was feeling just happy enough to let herself think that the sun was beaming down at them, content that she and London had found each other.
Even after their rocky start.
“Penny for your thoughts,” London said as he parked the car in the underground parking of his building.
Bethany eased herself out