Ember (The Dragao 1)

Azar had his hands right back on my waist, the width of his fingers and palms engulfing me fully. He could snap me in half so easily. The thought was as frightening as it was thrilling.

His mouth was suddenly on my throat, his tongue licking a slow path from the base of my neck up to right below my ear. “Does this feel good?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

His hands tightened slightly on my hips, the vibrations from his deep voice moving all the way down to my core, which clenched in desperate need to be filled. “Does my touch please you?”

I couldn’t answer, my voice lodged deep in my throat. But I nodded, affirming that he felt so good.

“I’ve never done this,” I found myself suddenly whispering, although those words I thought I’d kept in my mind. I wasn’t ashamed to be completely and totally inexperienced, to admit that even the kiss I shared with Azar had been my first. He grunted, his hands clenching my flesh, his fingers painful yet strangely erotic.

“Will you let me make you feel even better?” His voice was low, his accent so thick I almost couldn’t understand him. He pulled back and looked at me with eyes that were partially opened, this almost drugged expression on his face.

“Yes,” I said without any thought at all.

He gave a harsh groan and went back to licking up the side of my throat, goose bumps forming along my arms and legs, a shiver racking my entire frame.

A startled sound left me when Azar suddenly stood with me in his arms, turned us around, and set my bottom on the edge of the grotto. He had his hands curled around the mounds of my ass, pulling me forward so I was closer to him, so he could stop between my now-spread legs. I could feel how wide my eyes were as I tipped my head back to look into his face, my heart pounding so hard I wondered if he could hear.

The sight of his fangs had the side of my neck tingling. The strangest thought slammed into my head, one that wondered what it would feel like to have him piercing my throat. I felt my nipples bead up even more, and as if he sensed that, his gaze lowered to my chest.

“Let me make you feel good.”

The plea came from him so deeply I nodded again and whispered, “Yes.”

He gently pushed me back, braced my heels on the lip of the pool, and placed his hands on my knees, slowly spreading me open. I was shy that he saw this private part of me, scared at the idea he might be turned off at the sight, that he wouldn’t enjoy my body.

But the look on his face was one of male desire, and any worry left instantly.

“Emma,” he growled low and sank into the pool so his face was level with my core. “Fates, I’ve never seen anything so perfect as your desire for me. So wet,” he murmured. “So pink.” He slowly trailed his gaze up the length of my body and held my gaze with his. “So mine.”

That last word echoed in the small cavern. Or maybe it just sounded like that. Maybe it was really reverberating inside me, burrowing itself deep into my soul until there was no me or Azar.

There was just us.

Although I knew what he was about to do, wanted him to do it, I was scared, unsure. My legs were shaking, and I felt his fingers lightly pressing against my knees before he started stroking the flesh in reassuring sweeps.

“I—I’ve never done this before. I’m nervous,” I whispered. I didn’t care that it might’ve been foolish to admit that. I didn’t care that I had no knowledge of what being with a man was like. I wanted to be honest with Azar. I wanted him to know so he’d be gentle—at least for the first time—because I was a virgin.

“My sweet, perfect, innocent mate.” There was so much pleasure in his voice that it was hard not to be physically affected by it. “This is a first for both of us. A first of everything.”

I felt my eyes widen at what he meant by those words. “You’ve never done anything like this?”

He shook his head slowly. “I waited for my mate.”

He was as inexperienced in all of this as I was. That went a long way in helping me relax. And it was when he felt my body yielding under his hold that he gave me a blinding grin, one that had my inner muscles clenching and untamed desire coursing through me.

“Trust me.”

I knew I really had no reason to, hadn’t known Azar for long at all. He’d taken me from camp. He saved me. He was violent and aggressive toward any trespassers. He made sure I wasn’t harmed.