Mated to the Ocean Dragon (Elemental Mates 3)

Her room was a generous suite with a large bed, sheets that looked like light-blue silk, and a bathroom that was as large as her bedroom at home.

There was a balcony right over the water, too. Timothy pointed to where it connected to a wooden path leading to another part of the house.

“Just follow that path and you’ll find me. I’ll make some coffee meanwhile. And let me know if there’s anything else you need.”

“Thanks,” Liana said, smiling at him, still overwhelmed by everything that had happened. “I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

She flopped down face first onto her bed the moment he closed the door behind him, then moaned in surprise at how good it felt. She’d recently bought a new mattress for her own bed, but it really didn’t compare. This was like floating on a cloud.

The sheets were cool and soft beneath her. She gently ran her fingers along it.

Yep, silk. What else would you expect in a dragon billionaire’s beach getaway?

How weird that only this morning, she’d woken up in her little apartment, and she hadn’t even known that dragons, werewolves and weregulls existed.

She rolled around and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. The ocean kept lapping at the shore, the rhythm of it soothing.

Everything was so normal here. It was just like any other beach vacation—just way more luxurious.

If she closed her eyes, she could pretend that she’d rented a small house on the beach with her sister, and that nothing had changed, that dragons existed only in her games, and that there wasn’t a pair of werewolves living just around the corner.

Then she sat up, hugging her knees. She’d love to go back to pretending—but it wasn’t that easy. For one thing, there were the fire dragons.

For another, there was the fact that Timothy called her his mate, which meant that the fire dragons and the werewolves and the strangeness of his world would keep turning her life upside down.

If she let him. She could always say no, of course. She could wait out the fire dragon threat and then return to her normal life, where she coded during her work hours and spent her free time coding on her secret little projects.

It wasn’t very exciting, but it had always been enough for her.

And maybe one day, a guy would come around she could fall in love with. Someone funny and geeky, who wouldn’t laugh at the things she loved, but have all the same hobbies.

Of course, there wasn’t a single guy in her company she’d want to date. And the geeky guy she’d dated for a short time in college hadn’t turned out all that great either.

She could just as well date a billionaire banker instead of nerdy Benny. Because while Benny had loved comics and games, too, he hadn’t really cared about Liana’s opinion—he’d just wanted her to listen to his and dutifully nod to everything he’d said.

Timothy was so much not a geek that she couldn’t even imagine dragging him along to Comic Con—but on the other hand, he’d listened to her. He’d listened to her even when she’d gone on and on about her games.

In fact, she could imagine him perfectly well at Comic Con: he’d look around curiously and he’d be eager to know

her opinion about things. And he’d stare at her with that look in his eyes that made her stomach feel all tight and fluttery, even if she’d decide to cosplay as Wonder Woman—which Benny had said only women with the right sort of body should do.

Whatever that meant.

She had some killer curves, which she knew could look smoking hot in a sexy super heroine outfit. Only after Benny, she’d put that idea off for a while—she’d told herself it was because she didn’t have the time.

Strange how many years and Comic Cons had passed that way...

Then she quickly pulled herself out of those memories. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that Timothy would be nothing but supportive if she wanted to dress up. Especially if it involved Wonder Woman’s sexy corset...

She felt her face heat at the thought of his hand cupping her breast so gently that the mere memory still made her breathless.

Not now, she told herself sternly.

But maybe later. Maybe, later, he’d kiss her again. And maybe this time, for the first time in her life, just when she’d nearly given up hope, it would turn into something real...

She pulled open the bag she’d hastily packed and dabbed perfume onto her wrists, then touched up her lipstick. She didn’t usually wear a lot of makeup—she’d never quite mastered the art of not smudging her eyeliner. But if Timothy really wanted to show her around his town and introduce her to his friends, she was going to make the best impression she could.

As much of an impression as she could make while wearing a Loki shirt. Still, it was her favorite shirt. And it managed to be both tight enough to show off her generous cleavage to full effect, as well as loose enough around her hips to play around her curves.