Dragons on the Other Hand Read online

  When I sucked in, as if he was a giant-sized straw, Jake pushed away from me and fell back on the bed. He lay there, eyes closed, drawing in ragged breaths of air. Every muscle was delineated. I wished I had a pencil and paper to capture the beauty of him. But I didn’t think the art world was ready for eroticism like this. And I didn’t want anyone, but me, to see Jake this way.

  I drew my tee-shirt over my head before removing my bra. My next move was to shed my jeggings, socks, and shoes. Only then did I slide up onto my bed beside Jake.

  “You didn’t come,” I pointed out somewhat unnecessarily.

  He chuckled but didn’t open his eyes. “You noticed that, did you? Aren’t you pleased with my incredible self-control?”

  “Should I be?”

  He moved his head from side to side. His heavy-lidded eyes were suddenly staring into mine. The fire there almost had me backing off in a hurry.

  “You should be. Unless you want playtime to end too soon.” His hands began to stroke my bare skin.

  “You coming has never put an end to playtime before,” I pointed out breathily.

  There was nothing faked in my harsh breaths, even though I sounded too much like Marilyn Monroe for my liking. The slight abrasion of his calluses on my skin always aroused me.

  “True that. Maybe I just prefer to let myself go, and I can’t do that if I’m worried about overwhelming you with my load.”

  I nodded, feeling yet again how my inexperience limited our interactions.

  “Don’t you dare say you’re sorry,” he warned, just as I was about to say just that. “Worrying about someone during sex is a novelty. And I like it. Just like I enjoy watching you come, and the surprise on your face when you do. It’s worth it to me. All of it. And you won’t stay inexperienced for long. Which will make me a little sad, though I love watching you getting more sexually confident.”

  I lay my head on his stomach so I could nuzzle his cock with my nose. Was I becoming fixated by the thing? Was I suffering penis envy? No, I didn’t want one of my own, I just wanted Jake’s. Only Jake’s.

  In a sudden move that almost had my nose flattened to my face, Jake arched up to slip his jeans down his legs. In the next instant, he’d kicked them off, along with his shoes and socks. Now we were both naked and comfortable.

  Jake slid down my body, kissing and licking his way to the thatch of hair between my legs. It seemed he was determined to pay me back. I wouldn’t be pulling away when I came, though. Jake wouldn’t let me. He’d shower my bud with so much attention that I’d end up having to cry ‘enough’.

  When his tongue slipped between my folds, I whimpered a little. The sensation was so delicious. His big hands came around to clamp onto my bottom, holding me in place so he could feast hungrily. I’d read that in a book somewhere, and now I knew how accurate it was. I did feel like Jake was hungry for the taste of me there, though I didn’t understand why. He seemed to like the smell, as well, as he’d sniff me in the way a person breathes in the smell of a wonderful meal.

  When he used his nose to rub against my sensitised clit in a fever of passion, I came apart immediately. I felt him smile against my skin as he began pushing me up the much less steep slope, yet again. Within seconds, I was up and over, screaming out my pleasure.

  Though I expected him to keep going, Jake stopped and slid up my body, making sure on the ascent that our sweaty skin made contact everywhere. When he was level with me and his gaze could capture mine, I knew what was going on. He didn’t have to say it.

  But he did. “I need to be inside you.”

  I laughed. “Fine by me.”

  He kissed my cheek tenderly, grabbed a condom from my bedside table, and positioned himself between my legs. In one smooth thrust, he was buried deep.

  “Oh...Oh...” I said brokenly, unable to put words to my feelings.

  “I’m addicted to this,” Jake said against my ear. “I’m addicted to being inside you, feeling your hot wet inner flesh letting me in and surrounding me like a glove. So tight. You’re always so incredibly tight, and yet welcoming.”

  Talk like this did weird, hot things to me. I would never have thought dirty talk would have been a turn-on, but it was. Just imagining what it must feel like for him inside me ratcheted up my arousal. I was so close to coming again. So very close.

  Wrapping my legs around his hips, I sought to get him deeper still. His appreciative moan told me all I needed to know. When he began to thrust, slow and steady at first, I enjoyed the slide, letting myself focus in on the place where our bodies met. Nothing else in the world mattered but the feel of him inside me, the sound of his pants and moans, the scent of our sweat and pheromones, and the taste of his salty skin under my tongue.

  My orgasm rolled over me like a familiar wave of blinding white light and pleasure. I had barely come down before Jake was moving again, harder and faster this time. Was I about to go over the edge once more? It felt like it. So... close...

  When Jake roared out his ecstasy on one last deep, hard thrust, I came apart along with him, flying off to join him in that bliss reserved only for lovers. My mind was an empty void, all I could do was feel.

  “If you leave me can I come with you?” I said, remembering the words of an old song.

  They’d never made sense to me. If someone was leaving, why would you ask to go too? It defeated the purpose of the leaving. Yet, now I did understand. It was a declaration of need. The absolute certainty that even if the other changed their mind, you never would. You couldn’t be parted from them.

  But in our case, it meant something more. He would leave to go back to Leeds. Maybe he could take me with him. If he wanted me enough. If he needed me as much as I needed him.

  Jake pressed me down into the bed, panting against my ear. I drew him deep into my lungs, loving his scent. Sweat never smelled good until Jake.

  “I love you, sweet lass,” he said, instead of answering.

  Maybe he didn’t think he needed to answer. Maybe he thought I was being funny? No, he knew better than that.

  But if he wasn’t going to answer me, I wasn’t going to push. I knew the world he came from. I now knew a little about this man who had Jake under his control, like a chained dog. If he couldn’t find a way forward for us, then I wouldn’t press him about it.

  “I love you, too,” I whispered instead, feeling as if I was admitting defeat.

  But how could it be defeat? Love could find a way. I knew it could.

  Chapter Four

  The phone rang, drawing me from the comfortable doze I’d fallen into after our afternoon delight.

  That was a song, wasn’t it? Probably from Aunt Daphne’s time. I’d have to research it and see if it matched what Jake and I had experienced. It was hard to credit anyone ever having known the kind of delight I’d come to know with Jake. But then, maybe all lovers felt their love was unique and more intense than anyone else had ever known.

  Rolling too far, my mind still foggy with sleep, I fell off the side of the mattress onto the floor. Embarrassed, I tried to scramble up as if nothing had happened, but couldn’t manage it before Jake caught me.

  His head appeared over the edge of the bed. “You awright?”

  With burning cheeks, I nodded and rolled my eyes at my stupidity. Why was I ever the ungainly dodo bird when I yearned to be the graceful swan?

  Getting up off the floor was not easy for someone built like me, especially after the workout my muscles had had. But I got to my knees, and then prepared to use my legs to push myself upright.

  Jake chuckled. “If I had the energy, you wouldn’t get any further than that.”

  “Promises, promises. That phone needs answering.”

  For all he’d claimed no energy, Jake rolled to his feet in one easy move and headed for the phone, naked as always. I would have stopped to throw on my dressing gown, had I gone for the phone. As it was, I took my time pulling my clothes on before making my way downstairs.

  Jake was just hanging up. His face was carved in stone.

  “What?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself.

  “Andrews’ killer is out on bail,” he growled.

  I gasped. “What? No, they wouldn’t! Not with the list of murders he’s facing.”

  “Seems Eddie Trask has plenty of money to fund a good barrister. He’s using the one on retainer to Watkins, Wallace and Walters. With only Mason Jordan, a known con-artist, as their source of information concerning the other murders, and because it’s second-hand information anyway, there’s only the one murder they can charge him with, right now. They’re looking for more evidence, of course. But men like him are good at covering their tracks.”

  “Will he come after us?”

  “Jason thinks it’s more likely he’ll leave the country on a false passport. At least until the heat’s off. He can sell his services anywhere in the world.”

  Jake kissed the top of my head. When had I found my way into his arms again? It was almost an automatic thing for me to do these days.

  “Does this never end?” I moaned. “Every time that phone rings it’s another layer of worry to add to our sandwich. I doubt any of us can get our mouths around it now.”

  Jake chuckled, despite himself. “You have the weirdest way of seeing things. In my head, I have a picture of a dragon lying across a slice of bread, Johnno lying on top of it, and now this Trask sprawled on top of him. It makes for a chewy combo. But I doubt it’ll replace a BLT.”

  I gave a little titter, just because it made him feel better. “Don’t forget to imagine my big mouth trying to get around that mix.”

  “I’d rather imagine your mouth getting around something else. And Johnno is my concern. In fact, he’s not even a layer. Not really.”

  “Because you a
re in full agreement with him. That you’ll go back to Leeds.” I said it as if it was a done deal.

  “It’s complicated, Princess. And I don’t fit in here. I never would. It’d be like enterin’ Rex Junior in a champion dog show. He’d be an embarrassment.”

  “You aren’t a mixed breed, Jake. If you haven’t noticed, the class system in this country no longer exists.”

  He gave a humourless grunt. “Your continued naiveté never ceases to amaze me. Think about that school you went to. What would happen if you had a reunion where everyone brought their rich and powerful husbands, and you tried to bring me? I wouldn’t be good enough to wait tables at an event like that, no less attend it.”

  I pulled away so I could meet his gaze. “Do you think I’d ever willingly go to a school reunion? I hated those snobby bitches.”

  “My point exactly. Those snobby bitches are your people. You might not want to associate with them, but you are still one of them. Just like I’m one of Johnno’s crew.”

  That had me pulling fully out of his arms. “So, I really am just a big posh cow to you then.”

  If there’d been a wall nearby, I was sure he would have hit it. “How many times do I have to tell you to forget I said that?”

  “Until you stop acting like it’s true. Maybe not the big cow part. I’m pretty well convinced you don’t think of me that way. But the posh part. Yes, that’s true. And I suppose the fact I own this place only confirms your opinion of me.”

  Suddenly, my eyes opened wide. “That’s it, isn’t it? I own this place. If I’d been some ordinary starving artist, you would have stayed with me. But because I own this monstrosity, you won’t.”

  Jake’s temper rose another notch. Had I been anyone else, I would have been scared to death. But I knew he’d never hurt me, no matter how wild I drove him.

  “Do you think Mason Jordan would be the only one to think I was just after your money? How long would your new-found confidence last under the onslaught of the whispers? Poor fat cow thinks some bit o’ rough could ever love her? He’s clearly only after one thing, and it’s not her body!”

  My mouth fell open. His words stung because they were true. People would always look at me, and then at him, and wonder what he saw in me. Then they’d find out about Ahman Hall and they’d know. Or think they knew.

  “We’ve both changed in the few weeks we’ve known each other. You know how much more confident I am now. And every day we spend together adds to that confidence. Maybe someone saying that now would sting and have me doubting myself. But in a few months, a few years, their opinions will mean nothing.”

  At that moment, the three terrors raced in to see what all the noise was about. Rex’s nose headed straight for Jake’s private parts, and my naked lover had to cover up and push Rex away. With an annoyed huff, he headed for the stairs to get clothes on. He might not mind Daphne catching sight of him in the altogether, the same couldn’t be said for our big pup.

  At least it ended our argument.

  The phone rang again. I picked it up, feeling my blood turn cold in my veins. The tired voice of DC Jason Smith, Jake’s cousin, filled me with a mixture of pleasure and fear.

  “Another call so soon, DC Smith?” I said as soon as he identified himself.

  “Oh, right, sorry,” he said, his tone shifting from brusque policeman to easy-going friend in an instant. “That last call was official, this isn’t. I wanted to tell you something about Mason Jordan. Along with him spilling on everything he knew about the Watkins organization, he also wanted to speak to you.”

  That confused me. “What about?”

  “He wouldn’t say. Just that what he had to tell you would benefit you. If it does, he wants recompense. Those were his words.”

  “That sounds a bit suspicious, doesn’t it?” I asked.

  “Everything that comes out of that man’s mouth is suspicious. But I think it might be worth you listening to what he has to say. I get a sense that it has nothing to do with our dragon problem, so if he says something that is overheard by other members of the police force, it won’t matter.”

  “Where is he being kept?”

  “Harrogate. I’m over here now. On duty until seven tonight. DI Moore has approved your visit. Supervised, of course.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

  “I’ll get Jake to bring me straight over. It’ll take about an hour and a half.”

  “Good, see you then. I might have a lead on our R and D facility, too. I recognised some names on the lease agreement for a particular property.”

  “Where?” I asked.

  “Shipley.”

  I knew the town, which was located on the outer rim of Bradford. It was about an hour’s drive from Harrogate. “Do the police plan on raiding it?”

  “No. They haven’t identified it as yet. I wouldn’t have either, except for those names. I’ve sent for a few of our people.”

  I got a nice thrill out of him saying ‘our people’ instead of ‘my people’. He was including me, and it felt good.

  “Okay, we’re on our way. See you shortly.”

  I hung up and bounded up the stairs to find Jake. Five minutes later, I was on the back of Jake’s bike heading south, the recent argument a thing of the past. With the wind blowing my concerns away, I let Jake get us where we needed to be.

  It was the longest ride on the back of Jake’s motorcycle I’d taken. And the scenery as we crossed from Skipton to Harrogate was spectacular. It had been ages since I’d left Wiggleswick, and just getting away from the familiar lifted my spirits, opening me up to new possibilities.

  Harrogate was the hub of policing for the region, even though it had created quite a stir a few years back when the holding cells at Skipton were closed. The twenty miles across to Harrogate seemed an added burden on the police force of our area, but cutbacks required it, and so the arguments died away.

  Getting through Harrogate was a nightmare at any time of the day, but on the back of a bike, the heavily clogged roads were far easier to navigate. I stared around at the beautifully preserved homes that spoke of yesteryear when the well-off would come to Harrogate for the health benefits of the waters. Now, though, the chaos of modern-day living seemed to clash dramatically with the elegant pace of the past.

  We found parking on the street not far from the station, another advantage of a motorbike, and went inside. A phone call later, and Jason was there to take us back to the interview room reserved for criminals and their solicitors.

  “This should be happening in an interrogation room, but Mason insists there’s nothing in what he wants to tell you that is relevant to his case. I agreed to sit in on the interview, for your safety,” he chuckled as he eyed his cousin, “and to make sure he was telling the truth.”

  “I think it’s for his safety,” Jake muttered, returning Jason’s amused glance.

  I loved that they had become so close through all this. I imagined neither had ever expected to find a friend on the other side of the legal fence separating them.

  “Could be. The bastard deserves a good beating after what he did to Alfie,” Jason agreed, but he kept his voice low so none of his fellow officers passing by outside the room overheard his unprofessional sentiments.

  “Another good beating.” Jake replied.

  We had barely taken our seats when the door opened. A man I had hoped never to see again entered the small room. The shock of his dishevelled appearance jolted me before I remembered the bruises and cut lip he sported were all courtesy of Jake. The con-artist had earned them when he broke into my home. Back then, we’d believed his story that he was simply getting what he could while Watkins went dragon-hunting. In fact, he was a plant, to make sure I’d be on site when the dragon was confronted.

  Mason smiled at me. I was pleased to realise his Hugh Grant looks no longer affected me. At one time, I’d mistakenly believed there was something between us. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

  Not getting the reaction he expected from me, he seated himself on the opposite side of the small conference table.

  “I’m glad you survived, Alfie,” he told me, almost sounding genuine.

  “No thanks to you,” I answered evenly.

  Jake growled, and I placed a calming hand on his arm.