Page 58 of Fated for his Flame

I watched from my lounger as Chloe came up the stairs out of the private pool. Water cascaded from her sun-kissed body in waves, glittering under the bright rays. Her nipples poked through the flimsy fabric of the yellow string two-piece bikini we’d picked up at a nearby store. My eyes traveled down past her breasts, across her stomach and between her legs, where the fabric clung to her pussy, providing the faintest of outlines for me to see. A tantalizing hint of what lay beneath.

“Now, this is the life,” I rumbled as she walked toward me, everything seeming to happen in slow motion. Her hair flicked out and back as she shook it, running her hands over her head and wringing it out. The motion pushed her chest forward, emphasizing its curves.

I drank it all in, staring shamelessly as my cock swelled inside of the bright blue board shorts she’d picked out for me.

“Watching me like a lecher, you mean?”

“You fucking love the way I eye-fuck you,” I rumbled back, staring at her tits.

So enamored was I with her body, I didn’t even realize what I’d said or the word I’d used until Chloe didn’t immediately reply.

“Come here,” I said, not wanting her to dwell on it. I’d simply said it off the cuff without meaning it that way. She knew it, I was sure, but just using the word wasn’t something she was ready for.

Hell, it wasn’t something I was ready for.

She came over to me and sat, her bottoms dripping water all down my upper leg as she sat on my quad while I stretched out on the lounger. In the distance, the surf crashed against the shore, the waves assaulting the beach with a dull roar that relaxed the mind and the body.

“This is perfect,” she said, gesturing at the private pool and terrace that came with the villa I’d rented from a luxury resort.

Behind us, a spread of food lay on tables in the shade, constantly refreshed by our personal chef. A black box next to me would summon a server with the press of a finger to bring us new drinks or anything else we desired, including arranging any excursions. It was exactly what I wanted for Chloe. I just hoped it was enough.

“I’m glad,” I said, stroking her back and admiring her side profile as she stared off into the distance.

Her cheek dimpled as she smiled. A moment later, my fingers detected the shiver that ran down her spine.

“There’s no way you’re cold,” I said. “Not with this heat.”

“I’m not,” she said. “That was a different type of shiver.”

“A different type?”

“Mmm, hmmm,” she said, though she didn’t turn her head toward me.

I noted the octave drop in her voice but didn’t say anything. She had to come to me. I was the one who’d screwed up, and as much as I wanted things to reach that next step again, I wasn’t going to force it. There was a time to take charge and a time to let her come to the acceptance on her own. My gut was telling me it was one of the latter.

My cock had other ideas, however, and by now, it was straining to be set free, urged along by my dragon, who more and more was clamoring at me that I needed to do more than just take Chloe. I needed to make her mine. To bond with her and make her my mate for all to see.

A public claim there could be no going back from.

I shoved that notion aside. Despite my dragon’s supposed certainty, that was not a step either of us was ready to take. Not yet.

“Silas.”

I brought myself back to the present as she said my name, turning it into a half-purr. “Yes?”

“Why is your dick already hard?”

Her head had come around at some point, and she was staring at the outline in my shorts.

“A mind of its own,” I said with a shrug.

“Don’t you think you’re getting ahead of yourself?” she teased.

“Hopefully not.”

Her eyebrows shot up at the boldness of my answer.

“I want you,” I said. “I’m not going to shy away from that. I didn’t in the water back in the Isles, and I’m not going to stop now. I want you, Chloe. When, and if, you become ready for that again.”

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