Page 32 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

“You do know you can go swimming if you want to get a bit cleaner, right?” he pointed out, leading us back to the heated water’s edge.

“Yeah,” I said, eyeing the inviting water. “That’s true. I feel like I could use some as much as you look like it.”

“Hey, listen here, stinky, I’ll have you know I am freshly showered!” he said playfully.

My jaw dropped open. “Did you just call me stinky?”

Cade shrugged innocently. “I don’t think so? Maybe. It might have slipped out. I’m not so sure because I—hey!”

I shoved him hard toward the hot spring, and he stumbled backward, completely unprepared for my attack. He started to recover, and I lifted a hand to point a finger at him to admonish him for calling me stinky.

But then his foot slipped unexpectedly on a wet rock, and he went backward, copper eyes widening in shock. He reached for the closest thing to secure himself.

Which happened to be my pointed finger.

“Cade!” I had time to shriek before we both fell back into the pond, tumbling over one another until we were soaked from head to toe in the warm water.

Getting to my feet, water dripping down my face, I put my hands on my hips. “Look what you’ve done!” I cried.

“Oh, I am looking,” Cade growled in a very different tone of voice.

I stiffened as the playfulness disappeared, replaced by something deeper. Something more primal. He stepped toward me, and I froze, unable to move, watching his eyes as they landed on my chest.

My nipples, hardened by the sudden exposure to water and then the cool breeze wafting across the surface, had to be poking through the thin shirt.

“Are you enjoying the view?” I asked, trying to sound bored and uninterested as I called him out for ogling my boobs.

“Yes,” Cade said, stepping closer, no longer bothering to hide his reaction.

The water had plastered the clothing against his body as well, showing off his pecs, six-pack, and even—

My cheeks burned as I realized he was growing hard as he looked at me. At me.

I was making him hard. He wasn’t staring in shock. But because he wanted to because he liked what he saw.

Me.

“Samantha,” he rumbled, my name tumbling from his lips as he approached, entering my personal space, my bubble. Him and his hard cock, rippling abdomen, and ohmygodishegoingtokissme—

He did.

Chapter Seventeen

Cade

It was so abrupt. So soon. I barely knew her. It was too fast. But my dragon was in control, and it would not be denied.

The blood racing through my system was matched only by the brute bellowing in my head with a lustful fury that did not want to be contained. Like a dam bursting, it caved through my willpower and took control, wrapping itself around Samantha and pulling her in tight.

From its cage in the back of my mind, the logic center screamed in protest, stating she wouldn’t understand, she wasn’t interested.

The tiny gasp as I lifted her out of the water, the way her legs wrapped around my waist, and the hot press of her lips against mine spoke volumes against that argument, shutting down any hope of my regaining control.

I basked in the press of her body against mine, the softness of her under my fingers, the soft tickle of her natural scent in my nostrils, driving my dragon wild with its magical allure. It wanted more of this woman and wouldn’t be denied.

Spinning around, I laid her back onto a large rock at the wading pool’s edge, taking a moment to admire the way her body curved and sprawled on the wet stone. But only a moment. I lowered myself on top of her, spreading her lips, exploring her mouth as our hands ran up and down one another, driven by biological need, not coherent thought.

There was no resistance, no stopping me. Desire lit her eyes with a fire that matched the flame in my soul. She wanted it, whether she’d been aware of it before now or not. I slid a hand down her body, cupping her breast, watching with tightly coiled delight as she bit a lip, arching her back slightly toward me. Offering herself.

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