Page 17 of Iced Heat

“Ummm.. Nothing. No reason but you’re not into slut shaming or anything are you?” I asked as he glanced around the counter until he spotted the coffee maker.

“Another kink?” he asked without missing a beat.

“No,” I shook my head. “The bad sort.”

“I was only playing when I said that. You caught me off guard with what you said.”

“Good to know,” I said. “For a moment all I could think about was the claiming vows showing you all of that and some people wouldn’t take that well and…”

“You can keep rambling if you need to,” he turned to face me. “But have you been to the purple district?”

“I’ve heard about it,” I said, trying not to blush.

The heat didn’t spread down over my face. Instead it spread over my belly as if my dragon’s fire suddenly came to life. Xav’s dark eyes followed the line of heat spreading up my chest and stomach. A second later, he ran a chilly finger from my chin down my throat and onto my chest and stomach down to my navel. I shivered but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was as if he put the heat back in its place and it had no choice but to sit its ass down for a minute.

“Do you all do the fast-acting heat shots here?” he asked.

“Sometimes. I don’t like them.”

“Noted,” he nodded. “Now what do you want for breakfast?”

“I can cook…” I started but stopped because Xav grinned like he always did when he had something smartassed on the tip of his tongue.

“Just say it,” I rolled my eyes.

“I know you’re hot enough to poach an egg on but maybe you should stay away from the stove, so you don’t over heat.”

I laughed despite how corny it was and stole a long, lingering kiss before moving away so he could open the fridge. I grabbed two mugs from the cabinet and filled one up at the ice maker.

“Mine too, please,” Xav said, his head still stuck in the fridge.

Chapter Nine

Xav

After breakfast, we cleaned up the kitchen and Sequin wanted to grab a shower. He squinted at me as he gathered his clothes and toiletries up and made his way down the hall. Yep. His heat was coming on strong. It wasn’t always that noticeable in omegas in heat. Sometimes their eyes went extra wide to make up for whatever games their brains played on them as heat set their hormones ablaze.

While Sequin showered, I wandered around the house trying not to think too hard about his hands moving all over his naked, soapy flesh while he showered. I almost checked in with Liatris and the others but didn’t want to be distracted when Sequin came out of the shower. Instead, I made my rounds of the rented house. Renting wasn’t totally foreign to me. The elven world where Liatris and I met had the concept of renting a house if you didn’t have one to call your own for whatever reason. Though, the Starscale way was more familiar to me. Even elemental elves needed homes and while my mother wasn’t great at that job, she was good at keeping everyone housed and fed.

“Equality for all who blend in!”my ice sounded off inside my head and I chuckled.

Scale B&B wasn’t like a normal rental. You didn’t sign a year contract or anything like that. Sometimes people only rented them for a night or two and usually paid more for the privilege of a short-term rental. I wasn’t sure how long Sequin had rented the house for. He hadn’t said and I hadn’t thought to ask. Didn’t want him to think I was in a hurry to leave or anything. Even if Liatris and the others went back through the gateway without me, I could still find my way home.

The house was nice. It was spacious and looked to be built by dragons. It had plenty of features that one should activate during a natural disaster. The latter part made me nervous. If Sequin laid eggs to have our children perhaps a place where the water and the wind went to war wasn’t the best place to build a nest.

The pattering of Sequins naked and still damp feet brought me back to the present. He appeared around the corner just wearing a pair of black boxer briefs with the words MOONSCALE STUD written in silver around the waistband. He leaned forward in the doorway drying his hair with one of the rental’s fluffy white towels. I inhaled and his scent wrapped around me like a blanket of fur, metal, and something distinctly fruity. Strawberry? Pomegranate? Maybe some Earthside fruit I’d never heard of before.

“You smell good,” I said before my brain had the chance to catch up with my tongue.

“Thanks. It’s strawberry melon shampoo. I stole it from Daliah before I left a couple times ago,” he laughed. “It actually works pretty well.”

“Note to self: Ensure mate has enough shampoo or he’ll thieve it from his sister.”

“Or anyone I’m related to. I’m not picky. Dad buys some really expensive hair care products when he’s over here.”

“Buying is so strange,” I laughed. “I mean I get it. It’s like points on the Starscale worlds. Sort of.”

“Don’t start that. They’ll call you Teal. Only his grandparents, the dragons who rule the flight, have no idea what he’s working on.”

---