Dragon My Heart Around Read online

  Camille’s shoulders slumped. This was so not good. Edith Marcs had the power to make or break her career, and arguing with the woman was unthinkable. Edith was right. She hadn’t done a blessed thing yesterday or today.

  “I think that’s probably a good idea, Edith.” Camille replied as her boss waited beside her table. “I’m not myself, today.”

  She gave Edith a quick nod and then packed her brushes into their leather case, storing them in her drawer. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Edith waved her hand lightly. “The work will keep. If you’re still not feeling up to sorts, stay home tomorrow as well.”

  Camille grabbed her purse and her jacket. She made her goodbyes and headed out the main library doors, past the building’s historic lions.

  Fuck. Her distraction with Ryker and his dick were going to cost her dream job. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

  Pressing her lips together, she crossed 5th Avenue and walked at an annoyed clip toward the subway and the uptown brownstone she sublet from one of the library’s wealthy patrons.

  Loving books and history made her rich in knowledge, but when it came to living in the City That Never Sleeps, her research fellow’s salary wouldn’t feed a church mouse.

  Despite today’s sexual haze and its fallout, she smiled thinking about Ryker in her brother’s gym shorts and how the nylon left nothing to the imagination.

  Ryker was hung like a race horse or should she say more like a dragon. Camille chuckled to herself. What did she know? She’d never seen a dragon’s dick.

  She laughed out loud drawing looks from other pedestrians outside Grand Central. “Yes, you have. You’ve not only seen a dragon cock, you rode it.”

  She licked her lips thinking about the silken feel of Ryker’s dick in her hand and wondered how his velvet head would taste against her tongue. He’d gone down on her, and now it was time to return the favor.

  A shiver took her mid-step and she stopped on the corner between the subway entrance and the taxi queue. Without another thought, she raised two fingers and whistled.

  “Taxi!” Fuck the subway. She wasn’t supposed to meet Gerri for hours and that gave her plenty of time for a little afternoon delight. She had a fire that needed fueling and she knew just the dragon to her right.

  A taxi pulled to the curb and she opened the rear passenger door and got in.

  “Where to?” the driver asked.

  Camille opened her mouth to tell him the Upper East Side, but then stopped.

  Damn.

  She adjusted herself in her seat, her panties wet in anticipation, but even that didn’t stop the nagging voice of reason at the back of her mind.

  You know nothing about him.

  It was true. She knew nothing about Ryker other than he knew his way around a woman’s body. There were plenty of high end escorts with the same claim to fame. Just because Valerie didn’t send him, didn’t mean it wasn’t someone else.

  That’s a ridiculous assumption. Stop quibbling.

  She’d let him stay at her house because she believed Gerri arranged for him to be there, but the truth was she didn’t know. Not for sure, and she wouldn’t until she spoke with Mrs. Wilder.

  “You got somewhere you want to go or not?” the cabbie asked, impatient.

  Camille blinked. “Uhm, yeah. Take me to the nearest Big and Tall store you know.”

  He thought for a moment. “That would be Rochester. Between 52nd and 6th.”

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  The taxi pulled into traffic and headed across 42nd Street toward the Avenue of the Americas.

  So it’s going to be info over intercourse?

  Eew. Stop now.

  How about conversation over cock?

  Even worse. Don’t you think you’ve gotten me into enough trouble today?

  Perhaps, but that doesn’t make it untrue. You can’t concentrate and your panties really need freshening.

  Dude!

  Hey, I’m your inner monologue. I don’t make the rules.

  She squashed the errant thoughts and focused on the tasks at hand. Calling Gerri for verification, and getting Ryker something decent to wear so he could leave the house. With or without her.

  Taking her phone from her purse she dialed Gerri’s number. It didn’t even ring before the older woman’s voice was on the other end.

  “Camille. You wouldn’t be calling me unless you discovered something interesting in the book.”

  “Interesting? Try X-rated! Look, I know I said I would return the book to you after work today, but something’s come up and I really need to talk to you.”

  “Something’s come up?” She chuckled. ‘I’ll bet. I’ll venture it wasn’t only up, but hard enough to cut diamonds.”

  Cami’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped.

  “Close your mouth, dear. Unless the dragon has you so hot and bothered you’re practicing to see if the boy’s package will fit, there’s no need.”

  “So this is all you, then.”

  Gerri laugh quietly again. “Guilty, but not a bit sorry. I had a feeling about you and I always go with my gut.”

  “So, Ryker isn’t an escort?”

  The older woman’s laughter was so loud Camille had to move her cellphone away from her ear.

  “Mrs. Wilder, please! This isn’t funny. He nearly gave me a coronary last night. I threatened him with the police!”

  “But you didn’t call the authorities. Instead you got over your shock and had a toe-curling, body shivering ride on a dragon’s cock. If memory serves, there’s nothing like it in the universe and I mean universe.”

  “Really? Again with cryptic? Considering everything that’s happened over the past thirty-six hours, I think you’d better meet me at my place to clarify matters. I’m not budging a step until you do, even if that means Ryker ends up on the opposite side my front door.”

  Camille cringed knowing she didn’t have the heart to put the man out. Her gut told her there was more to this, even without Gerri Wilder’s details.

  She inhaled quickly. “I have a lot of questions that need answers, but I have an errand to run first. I’d like you come in an hour and a half.”

  “Of course, honey. I’ll even bring the wine.”

  Camille hesitated. Last night’s merlot had done enough damage. If she hadn’t been drunk she’d have never—

  Nice try. You would’ve jumped his bones stone cold sober.

  She couldn’t argue with that.

  “A good merlot would be wonderful. See you in a bit.”

  Chapter Eight

  Stomach rumbling, Ryker rummaged through Camille’s kitchen for food. Anything recognizable and easy would do. He was ravenous, and hunger bit into his gut almost as much as restlessness gnawed at his senses.

  He took a large round dish from one of the top cabinets and placed it on the granite counter as he continued his hunt. Settling on fruit from the basket near the sink and chunks of hard cheese and flat bread with tomatoes from the refrigerator, his mouth watered.

  Taking a bite from a green apple, he moaned at the tart flavor as he chewed. His pulse raced with anticipation of the rest of his feast. Everything tasted better—the food, the water.

  On the stainless steel refrigerator door, he eyed a picture of Camille laughing with another girl. Even her taste was unlike any other. Just the thought of her soft curves and the trace of her sweet musk made his cock hard.

  If she banished him now, he’d slit his own throat. A bitter laugh welled in his chest. The rash move wouldn’t achieve much, despite the desire to end his suffering. There would be no blissful release. No slipping away to gentle blackness.

  The bitch who cursed him had made sure of that when she cursed him with immortality. Her final act of revenge robbed him even in death.

  “Sorana.”

  The food in his mouth soured at her name. Over how many centuries had he kept his sanity by plotting retaliation? But there was one drawback to all his schemes.
The only way to break Sorana’s dark spell was to face her in the Wyanar Woods where she cursed him. At the center of the Aubergine.

  Since Nova Aurora was light years from Earth, devising a way to face her was as improbable as winning against her in his captive state. If only there was a chance for freedom. Then he could execute Sorana any way he pleased.

  He sighed, taking another bite of apple.

  Meeting Camille had stirred his dragon, but he was still powerless to shift. Without the ability to call his dragon, he’d lose in battle against the siren. At this point he didn’t care if he lost his life battling her, but Sorana would never allow that. Her fury and vengeance would spew an even worse fate for him. He sighed again, chewing.

  Still, he could dream.

  Even if Camille refused to banish him to the book, he was still bound to its core. She would age and eventually die, and he would wither in the dark nothingness without her. Maybe she’d pity him, and allow the book to be buried alongside her, that way they could endure the eternal dark together.

  The thought of existing without Camille made his insides clench. She was the one. She had to be.

  She made his body react and his dragon roar like never before, and every emotion she awakened in him was enhanced by her extraordinary nature. Her ability to trust when all evidence told her otherwise.

  He’d been summoned in the past, used and thrown back into the book without as much as a morsel of food or a drop of water, yet she had given him full reign of her home. She had allowed him to reach climax each time he took her, not taking cruel enjoyment watching him strain and suffer through blue-balled pain.

  Camille was like no other.

  Ryker frowned. His fate was no one’s fault but his own. The Dragos were the most powerful shifters on Nova Aurora. Or at least they were when he was cursed.

  Theirs was a royal house with unending power and lands, but when he didn’t heed the Dragosarra he not only lost himself, but his actions left the Dragos males to suffer as well. His actions cost them the thread that held their dual natures intact.

  He was cursed to the Godforsaken book, but his kind underwent a worse fate. Unable to find their true mates, their inner animals separated from their essence.

  Forced apart, their dual-nature withered and eventually died. He was left to listen to them struggle from his dark cage, seeing the sad result each time he was summoned.

  He shook off the heavy guilt and focused on the food in front of him and the woman who would walk through the door and hopefully help him forget for a time.

  Carrying the platter of food from the kitchen to the living room, he passed a tall black cylinder sitting on the half-wall between the two rooms. He paused, eyeing the device. Placing the food on the dining room table, he studied the glowing blue ring around the top of the cylinder.

  Earth had been a penal colony when he was prince, but it looked as if they weren’t as backward as they once were. He cleaned his hands on the tight shorts and touched the circular top.

  “Communicator, on.”

  The blue light blinked. “I’m sorry. I didn’t quite get that,” a computerized voice replied.

  “Communicator, what is the distance from here to Nova Aurora?”

  The blue light swirled. “Nova Aurora, Paraná is a municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is 4,697 miles from New York.”

  He blinked. “Nova Aurora is the largest planet in the Eos Galaxy and is twenty one billion light years from here.”

  “Wow, I would never have taken you for an astrophysics geek.”

  Ryker whirled around to find Camille standing in the foyer. “I thought you said not to expect you before sundown?”

  “I did,” she replied putting her purse and keys on the hall credenza. “I decided you needed something better to wear than my brother’s old gym shorts.”

  She lifted the two bags in her other hand. “He’s been gone for so long I should have donated his things to Goodwill, but at least they were of some use.”

  Sadness touched her eyes and the urge to protect and comfort crashed over him.

  “How any man could stay away from you that long is unthinkable. Especially one of your own blood.”

  She shrugged the momentary grief away. “Yeah, well. He was never one for family ties. More of a loner.”

  “Still,” Ryker added softly.

  Camille pointed to the black cylinder. “I see you’re getting acquainted with Alexa. She’s fun for a computer database, don’tcha think?”

  “Database?” he queried.

  Cami nodded. “Yeah, like Google. You ask for information and Alexa retrieves it. I usually ask her to look up facts or the weather, but sometimes I mess with her, too. The other day I asked if the moon was really made of green cheese.”

  He laughed. “You thought Earth had a moon made of cheese?”

  “No, of course not.” She chuckled. “It’s an old tale, but it was funny to listen to Alexa spin her wheels. You really have to ask her a direct question or she won’t know how to answer.”

  Camille dropped her gaze to the shopping in her hand. “I stopped at the store and bought you some clothes.” She looked at him again with a shrug. “I think they’ll fit better than my brother’s old hand-me-downs. New York has a lot to offer, but not much when it comes to big and tall shops. I had to guess your size.”

  Ryker moved to take the heavy bags from her hand and put them on the couch. “Thank you, Camille.”

  Without replying, she stepped toward the dining room table and picked up a slice of apple from the platter and took a bite. She gestured toward the black cylinder. “Alexa, what’s the weather?”

  The blue light glowed. “It is sixty-eight degrees and cloudy. There will be a light rain that will taper off by morning followed by sunshine and clear skies.”

  “Thanks Alexa. See you later, alligator.”

  The blue light blinked twice. “In a while, crocodile.”

  Cami spread her hands out. “See? Pretty cool, huh.” Chewing, she angled her head. “Why are you so interested in Brazil?”

  Ryker looked at her confused. “Brazil? I have no interest in—” he stopped and looked at the black cylinder. “Oh, I was testing the device’s knowledge about time and space.”

  She looked at him. “Time and space? It’s a wonder you know about such things. Especially since you said you were cursed into an ancient book over eight hundred years ago.”

  He couldn’t read her expression or the mood in her voice. “So, was shopping the only reason you decided to come home early?”

  “To be honest, no. I wanted to talk to you and Mrs. Wilder. She’s coming over in a bit.” She cleared her throat even as her eyes dipped to his crotch.

  “I’ve thought about you all day, too,” he answered, letting her scent take the lead. There was more to why she came home early than she would admit and the perfume of her arousal spoke volumes.

  “I—”

  Ryker shook his head. “I’m a shifter, Camille. A dragon. I can smell your need, and from how saturated your scent, you’ve been suffering with no release most of the day.”

  He closed the distance between them and ran his hands over her arms, grazing the sides of her breasts with his thumbs.

  “The New York Public Library isn’t Wall Street. We don’t have personal assistants who go down on their knees giving oral satisfaction as part of their job description.”

  “Really.” He grinned. “And what would you have your personal assistant do to satisfy you?”

  Heat raced up Camille’s cheeks. “Uhm. I wouldn’t know. Research fellows don’t move in those circles.”

  “Then pretend you do. Imagine I’m your personal assistant. What would you have me do once I was on my knees?” Ryker curled his fingers into the waistband of her leggings, rolling them down past her thighs as he sank to the floor in front of her.

  Her clit throbbed inside her thong, and a breath hissed through her teeth when he moved the delic
ate lace aside and flicked his tongue to her pussy.

  “Tell me, Camille. Would you want me to spread you wide and lick you from your ass to your nub, or would you rather I slip inside your wet folds and work your spot until your scream?”

  With his thumbs in her thong’s waistband, he tugged her lacy underwear down, pushing her knees wider.

  “Tell me, Cami. I can’t wait much longer to taste you.”

  She dug her fingers into his long curling hair and fisted it tight, yanking his face up. “You’ve already tasted me.”

  His eyes darkened. “Yes, but I crave more. My cock is ready to burst thinking about your tight slit.”

  She shook her head. “If you taste me, then I want to taste you, as well. If your mouth is on me, then I want my mouth on you.”

  Ryker growled low and his dark eyes flared red. Hooking his hands onto Camille’s waist, he pulled her down to the carpet and took her mouth.

  He kissed her hungry and demanding. She had made a request of him, but unlike those who summoned him before, it was equal.

  “I’m going to fuck you and suck you until you scream for release. I want you dripping. So wet your juice runs down my chin, your pussy ready and throbbing for my cock.”

  He reached between her legs and he growled against her mouth. “You’re so fucking wet. At just my words, you’re so wet.”

  Chapter Nine

  Emboldened and horny as hell, Camille pulled her shirt over her head and unclipped her bra so she was naked from the waist up.

  She snaked her arms around Ryker’s neck, her nipples hard against his muscled chest.

  “Strip for me, Ryker, and then lay back.” Camille uncoiled her arms from him and then moved back to watch him peel the tight nylon from his hips.

  He was commando underneath and his hard, corded length sprang free. “Is this what you wanted to see?” He wrapped a hand around his shaft.

  She took his shorts and flung them behind her along with her shirt and bra before climbing to her feet.