Page 12 of Entranced By the Nakken
Even with his eyes closed, Casey was wracked by waves of heat radiating from Tsunis’ dragon form, as though they yearned for him the same as he did for them. Every goddamned waking moment. Casey could lose himself in the rapture of it all.
A shower of warm droplets rained down. He opened his eyes to the hungry beast filling his vision. Casey had indeed lost all control of himself. His hands had traveled, one running up and down the length of his abdomen like he was fucking pawing at himself. It was the other hand Casey was mortified about.His thumb was tucked in his waistband, directly in the center instead of his hip, pulling down enough to reveal a patch of dark, curly hair. His hand grazed the outline of the bulge in his shorts, which was impossible to miss since they clung to him, wetter than the river itself.
“Fuck, I—” Casey cut himself short, not sure what he’d planned to say. He snatched his hands away from their inappropriate self-groping and plastered on a playful smile. “See what you do to me?”
Tsunis’ massive snout huffed, spraying his chest with steam, then lodged itself below Casey’s chin and nudged him hard enough that he stumbled back against the tree. A low moan escaped his lips when a long, forked tongue the size of his forearm licked from his clavicle, up the length of his throat, lingering on his Adam’s apple before tracing his jawline.
Sharp teeth clamped onto his earlobe and he gasped, fumbling forward for something to cling to, to keep from melting on the spot. His fingers grasped velvety-smooth scales. Feathery fins teased his skin, almost ticklish.
“Tsunis, I—I think—”I think I’m falling for you.The words jammed in his throat when Tsunis’ massive head dipped and that wicked tongue traced the vertical line splitting his abdomen, from his ribs to the slope of his waistband.
“You really are a brat, aren’t you?” Casey teased breathless, his hands buried in the soft scales lining the dragon’s neck. Tsunis jerked in his hold, nudging him under the chin. Casey smoothed a hand over the long, whisker-like fins protruding from their jaw. Their gazes locked, and Casey wanted this to last forever, wanted to drown in the depths of those pearlescent orbs. He leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to the groove between their palm-sized nostrils.
Tsunis growled. It was a sound Casey was accustomed to by now, but it made a lot more sense coming from a fuckingdragon. They jerked away, swirling mid-air to dive into the water.
Casey reached out but dropped his hand and slumped back. The wet caress of Tsunis’ tongue lingered. He could still feel the weight of their head in his hands. He stared at his palms a moment, then dropped his fists and watched the water.
Chapter Six
Casey
Tsunis was gone long enough for Casey to catch his breath. Too long. Long enough for Casey to spiral. He’d never acted like that before, almost whipping his dick out like some kind of exhibitionist. Not that he wouldn’t love to touch himself while Tsunis watched like a starving dragon staring down a tasty, meaty morsel, but he’d get fucking consent first.
He wasn’t the only one that’d gotten carried away. Whatever the fuck happened, it was proof Tsunis wanted him. No matter the species, no one licks someone’s abs if they’re not down to fuck, at the very least.
By the time he reached their meeting spot at the secluded brookside, Casey had managed to wrangle himself back into an air of cool confidence. There was no massive, serpent-likedragon this time. Two bright blue eyes like stage lights followed Casey’s every movement.
Tsunis watched from below the surface as he set down his keyboard and draped his wet shirt over a branch. Pretending his pulse wasn’t drowning out the peaceful sound of the cascade, he opened the case, extracted his keys and notebook, and played a commercially pleasing sound.
Tsunis despised when he played anything too disingenuous—they had expensive taste—so Casey played notes found in every pop rock song. A staple, really. He paired it with old lyrics. Front-of-the-notebook lyrics that he wrote after his one and only serious relationship ended. Trent, from the dorm across the hall.
“Never,” Casey went for the chorus with all he had, performing his little heart out. Eyes closed, he tuned out the sound of splashing to concentrate on not smirking. “I’ll never—”
“Enough.”
Tsunis’ icy tone was close. Casey opened his eyes to find them glaring at him like they were ready snap back into a vociferous dragon and eat him whole for his insolence. It took everything in him not to gloat. He’d play that stupid song a million times if it brought their body closer to his.
“Problem?” Casey dusted the leaves that’d gathered on the blanket overnight.
Tsunis growled, the sound equally as menacing as it’d been in their dragon form. The reminder of that encounter sent a shockwave through Casey’s senses, and all of a sudden, his body was ready to be slammed against a tree and mauled by the most dangerous predator in the woods.
“That,” Tsunis ground out through bared teeth, “is not your song.”
“I wrote it.”
Casey wasn’t sure who was the brat anymore, but watching Tsunis get all riled up was quickly becoming his favorite past time. The dark indigo that flushed their cheeks, the husky timbre of their voice. But most of all, the way they leaned closer, smelling of spring days post-rain. Everything about Tsunis was intoxicating, but that they natural smelled of petrichor and lily pads was high on Casey’s list of reasons why he was falling.
“Music is more than language said in a rhythmic fashion,” Tsunis argued.
They’d climbed further onto the shore, one knee on the blanket, the other leg trailing behind in the water. Casey swore he could see shimmering lines pulsing like veins from how hard they pressed their palm into the blanket below his leg.
If he were smart, Casey would stop pushing their buttons. His college degree would argue that he was, indeed, smart, but the organ in his chest had the mic, and the appendage filling with blood in his damp cargo shorts was co-singer. Equal parts heart and dick, and all of him wanted to push Tsunis until they were forced to climb on top of Casey to shut him up.
“You’re right,” Casey conceded, pausing to let Tsunis relax a fraction. “The words need to be pretty.” He looked down and picked at his shoestrings. “And a melody, that’s a must.”
Tsunis went preternaturally still. Casey peeked at them askance, head dipped low, as waves and waves of indignation reverberated through the diminishing space between them. Casey’s chest thundered like the organ inside was trying to punch its way out. Laughter and a hint of fear bubbled in his gut. It was possible Tsunis would swim off, never to return, for real this time. Casey feared that outcome worse than being swallowed whole or drowning in his favorite slice of the river.
“Casimir.”
