Page 34 of Dragon's Honor

“This is my home.”

Finley glanced back at the beach and then back to him. She breached the gate and they walked up to the sliding doors. He pulled out his key and opened the door. Once they were inside, a cool blast of the air conditioning hit his skin.

“What exactly do you do?”

“It’s family wealth,” he said simply. “Old money. I just keep it invested and manage the pile of gold in my vault.”

She didn’t say anything, but he could tell she had a hundred questions.

He dropped his shoes next to the door and padded into the kitchen. He heard her mimic his actions and then follow him. He pointed at the stool behind the bar and went to the refrigerator. Ash could feel her eyes on him as he moved around the spacious kitchen grabbing items to make them some lunch.

“Why aren’t you married?” Finley asked.

He glanced over at her as he chopped vegetables. “I haven’t spent a lot of time looking for my mate.”

Ash liked how comfortable he was with her. He didn’t open up much to anyone except maybe Henrik and his mother when she was alive. Or even sometimes now he would talk to her. She was his counsel. He missed having someone to discuss what was going on his head.

“Why not?”

“My people believe you will find your mate because it is fate.”

“Fate, huh? Love at first sight bullshit?”

He chuckled. He liked her crassness. “Exactly like that. Though, I don’t think love comes so quickly. I think most people fight their destiny. And through the fighting they discover it was exactly what they wanted. That is always how my mother explained it to me when she talked about my father.”

“You haven’t found your destiny?”

Ash didn’t respond right away. He threw some shallots into a saucepan with some olive oil while he considered his next words.

“My people are connected to stones. A specific type of stone. It is said that when you find your mate, your stone will tell you. When you’re ready to claim your mate, then both of you wear the stone as a symbol of your joining.”

“What kind of stone, Ash?” Her tone was demanding.

He moved to the counter right across from her until he met her gaze. “Tourmaline, Finley.”

Her eyes immediately dropped to the cuff around his wrist. She jumped off her stool and moved around the counter until she was standing right next to him.

“How does it tell you you’ve found your mate?” she asked as she placed her hand over his and predictably the stone glowed green.

Ash’s dragon roared inside of him. He wanted her. He wanted to claim her, mark her. She wasn’t wearing the heartstone anymore. She wasn’t claimed. She wasn’t his and it was driving him crazy.

Ash grabbed her wrist and twisted her so she was pinned between the counter and him. He pressed his body against hers and his head lowered until he was eye level with her. She glared at him, her lips parted with short breaths, her eyes widened with surprise, her pupils dilated. He still gripped her wrist.

She stared at the cuff like she was angry and in awe of it all at the same time. The thing he hated most about Finley was he understood her. They were carved out of the same cloth. She hated fate as much as he did.

He lunged, pressing his mouth to hers. He knew it was a mistake, but his dragon demanded it. He couldn’t hold out anymore. She was beautiful, feisty, and wanted to know all his secrets, and yet he couldn’t help but think that she was made for him.

Her mouth was a thin line of resistance. She pressed her palm to his chest, her fingers digging into his pectoral. Ash released her wrist and his hands slid onto the curve of her wide hips pulling her roughly against him as his mouth moved against hers again.

Finley’s fingers curled into his shirt until she was gripping it in a tight fist, just as her mouth parted and moved against his. Ash growled into her mouth and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as snuggly against him as he could manage.

His dragon all but purred in the desire bursting between the two of them.

Then Finley was twisting her body away from him and pushing, breaking their kiss and the contact between their bodies. Their breaths were labored as she went back behind the counter putting something physically between them.

“Ash, this isn’t a human thing. You’re not talking about some distant culture that I’ve never heard of. Stones don’t glow for humans.”

Ash turned back to his cooking to try and stay calm. She wanted to pretend like the kiss never happened. Did it not shake her to the core like it did him?

---