Mated to the Ocean Dragon (Elemental Mates 3)

“I’m fine,” he said softly, his hand curving around her back, pulling her close again. “Shifter healing will take care of it. I could probably even fly, in an emergency. But my wing is still injured. I don’t want to chance another encounter with the fire dragon who wounded me.”

“That’s sensible,” Liana said breathlessly, trying very hard to not think about Timothy ravishing her right here in the water.

It was the completely wrong time to think about how incredible it had felt to feel his body against hers.

But then, they’d nearly died.

She’d always thought that before she died, she wanted to visit Tokyo, Paris, and see the pyramids in Egypt.

Now she added another item right to the top of her bucket list: don’t die a virgin.

Or perhaps: don’t die without having been ravished by Timothy in a thousand different ways, on sandbanks and lonely islands and in his bed and the kitchen and—

His mouth met hers. She moaned, her lips parting for him. He kissed her with the same desperate hunger she was feeling.

As if he, too, couldn’t stop thinking about how close they’d come to losing each other forever.

She didn’t even realize that they’d sunk back into the water until she felt the current pick up around them.

Timothy was holding her tightly, his tongue exploring her mouth. Her entire body was filled with heat.

She wasn’t afraid, even when the water carried them away. All she could feel was the warmth of Timothy’s skin against hers and the way her body ached for him in a way she’d never experienced before—as if she’d always been incomplete without him, she just hadn’t known it.

But now that he was here, her body was crying out for him. She needed to feel him. She needed to hold him close and never let go again. She needed to feel that he was still alive, that he was still hers—and that she was still his, in every way.

When they broke through the water again, finally breaking the kiss, Liana was gasping for breath. Timothy’s shaft had slid between her thighs, hard as a rock. She wanted him so badly that her entire body felt tight with need for him.

It took her a moment to realize where the river had carried them.

It wasn’t sunlight she was seeing. They were in a small cave... A cave filled by the same gentle, blue light that had illuminated the water earlier.

When she turned her head, she saw that there was an exit behind them. It was covered by a curtain of water rushing down.

We’re in a cave behind a waterfall somewhere...

“They won’t find us here,” Timothy murmured. “Not for quite a while. The water will keep us hidden from fire.”

“So you can heal in peace.” Liana rested a careful hand against his chest again.

His skin still looked raw, and she winced in sympathy when she saw that his right wrist was red and swollen.

“Shifter healing works much faster than human healing,” Timothy reassured her. “I’ll be as good as new in no time.”

He helped her climb out of the pool into which the stream had carried them. Light was still dancing on the water, illuminating the cave.

The walls were glistening. Pale blue and green crystals were covering the rock, growing in beautiful, twisted formations all throughout the cave. The light made them sparkle until it felt as if she’d been transported into an underwater palace.

Or an ocean god’s bedroom.

But all she had eyes for right now was Timothy. Despite the injuries, he looked glorious. His wet skin was gleaming in the pulsing light, showing off every single flexing muscle.

In a corner of the cave, moss was growing copiously—almost as if the cave had tried to provide a resting place for them.

And perhaps it had.

Carefully, Timothy pulled her down. He was trying not to put any weight on his right wrist, and she could see him wince when he tentatively tried to flex it.

“You should sleep,” she told him.