Page 18 of Iced Heat

“I know what he’s working on. What? I’ve met Sunny and Laken too. If anything, Laken thinks buying is immoral.”

“Eh, I think it is what it is. It’s the only system I’ve ever known. I try to be a good flight member and help when I can, but I like shopping.”

“Would you like shopping more if it didn’t cost anything?”

“That’s called taking Daliah’s shampoo,” he laughed, twisting the towel up on the top of his head. “And you can smoke in here by the way. I double-checked. They charge a cleaning fee, and I always pay the upcharge for air filtration. So, they don’t really care.”

“Nice,” I grinned and sat down on the sofa. I lifted a hand to motion Sequin toward me, but he was already crossing the room to straddle my lap. My hands found the curve of his hips as if they always lived there. His arms wrapped around my shoulders, and he wiggled around either to get comfy or to get the exact result he found from it. I hardened under him, reveling in the warmth radiating between our bodies.

“You keep trying to get me to knot but it can’t go in you if the knot happens out here,” I laughed, trying to ignore his weight pressing against my dick. In there and out here might as well have been universes apart.

“I could probably take it,” he smirked. “Though, I like the anchoring feeling of when it happens inside me and I like knowing I can make a guy come that undone that his dick doesn’t want to let go.”

“None of me wants to let go of you, Sequin,” I whispered. “I’m pretty sure I’m a ghost some place in some far back lifetime still trying to hold onto you. I bet I held on so tight that my energy imprinted right where I stood. Everyone loves talking about fate, but this is more than that. This magic,” I said, groping around for a better word for what was unfolding between us and failing to find one, “isn’t fate. It’s all choice. It’s a cosmic sticky note to let us know we have already found the one who made everything in life bearable and worth it. Everything else is just a side effect of that fact.”

“Do you remember before?” he asked, his eyes drifting half shut as if he was trying to remember something just beyond his grasp.

“Not literally but as you said we have proof of the ‘lore.’”

“I don’t know what would be better: Remembering or not,” Sequin whispered. “I watched Nelum struggle with that question for a long time. I think he still struggles with it sometimes.”

“Then don’t struggle like that. Things don’t have to be solid to be here,” I whispered to him.

“You’re solid to me even when you’re ice. I can feel you and it’s you. That’s the part I’m still working to wrap my head around.”

“Who are you when you’re a dragon?” I mused.

“My dragon and me. I’m always my dragon and me.”

“Then I’m Ice and Xav or Xav and Ice depending on what form I’m in, I guess. Maybe other things too and names too if you want to get particular about it.”

“I want to know everything about you,” Sequin whispered.

I kept myself from frowning. I’d been a closed book since leaving home. Some parts of my life I’d closed off from for good and that wasn’t going to change. Though, maybe those parts were never meant to be mine. I was the first and only of my kind to leave our home world as far as I knew. Not that history would’ve touted anyone who did. Mom probably already erased me from the family tapestry and that was probably for the best.

“I don’t know why I’m so nervous,” Sequin said a moment later. “I’m in heat. I’m almost sweaty.”

As if my element heard him before I did the air around us chilled until Sequin shivered.

“I’m nervous too. Forever is a long time to keep someone liking you,” I chuckled.

“That’s exactly it, though, huh?” he said and rested his forehead against his arm for a long moment. “What if you don’t like me tomorrow?”

“Does that usually happen?” I asked, rubbing my thumbs over his hips as his scent turned more nervous than excited.

“Dunno. Mostly it’s one-time things.”

“Because you use an app meant for one-time things,” I pointed out and he laughed despite still smelling nervous.

“Hey, we’ve gone to bed together two times already and I’m still right here,” I said, leaning my head over to catch his gaze. “I’m here for the long haul and it’s going to take more than getting bored for a minute – if that were to happen – to chase me off. I get it. Love is supposed to be about these huge sparks and fireworks. I know what everyone says but I think love is really those quiet moments of life like making the bed together.”

“Because we messed it up together to begin with?” Sequin smirked.

“That very well could be why.”

“Can I ask another sex question?” Sequin changed the subject as a bead of sweat rolled down his nose.

“And then I’ll ask my own,” I nodded, still rubbing circles on his hips and trying to ignore how my dick throbbed with each slight movement he made on my lap.

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