“Holy shit.” She was pretty sure her eyes were as big as they ever got.
“Indeed.” He sucked air in through his teeth, the pain on his face easing a little. “It’s a permanent, centuries-long choice. This is why it has to be the right woman, Arabella. So please, I’m very serious about wanting to find a woman who can love a man like me. This isn’t about sex, although… the sex between mates is supposed to be amazing. And pleasing my mate—well, that’s everything a dragon lives for.”
A warmth was building low in her belly. These words were working a strange magic on her body, like an incantation that said have sex with this man right now. She could feel her pulse throbbing with a crazy amped-up need. Was this guy for real? Were there really any men in the world who thought like this?
But he wasn’t a man. He was a golden dragon.
It was impossible, and yet here she sat with him. His eyes were intense on her face, waiting for her reaction.
She dropped her gaze to the tablet, clearing her throat and tapping with a shaky hand to bring up the WildLove app. “Well, that’s a hell of a proposition.” She swallowed and looked up when she thought she could face him. “Let’s not lead with that, okay? Let’s start with coffee.”
A glorious smile broke out on his face, and she could swear she felt the heat of it down to her core. Damn, this man was beautiful.
“Sounds very sensible.” His eyes were blazing at her, so she dropped her gaze again.
She tapped through the app. “It’s very simple to set up. You identify yourself as a shifter, upload a picture, put your one-liner in about what you’re looking for in a match, and then you start swiping.”
“Swiping?” he asked, leaning close again and washing that masculine scent over her. He had a touch of the mountain air on him now, plus just a hint of muskiness, probably from the exertion of taking her on a magical dragon ride around his castle. Or keep. Or lair. Whatever.
God, the heat was pooling in between her legs. She crossed them. Then she leaned back and held up the tablet between them, a barrier between her and the gorgeous man who was wrecking havoc on her body… all without even touching her. “All right, give me your sexiest I want to mate with you and have your dragonlings smile.” She tapped until she brought the camera up. Then his face loomed large in front of her again, but he wasn’t looking at the camera. He was studying the bedspread. Or her legs. Or something, but he wasn’t looking her way. She opened her mouth to harass him when he slowly drew his gaze up, inch by inch, and by the time he was staring into the camera, he was giving her hot flashes between her legs that had her squeezing them tighter.
She spastically tapped the button and took about twenty shots of his smoldering hotness. Jesus. If that didn’t get him about a thousand matches, she didn’t know what would.
“Okay then,” she breathed out.
“I forgot to smile.” There was a dangerously sexy undertone to his voice that forbade her from looking at him while she fussed with the camera. If she did, her legs were not staying shut, and she’d be jumping his body in two-tenths of a second flat and embarrassing herself in the extreme. Not to mention taking an incredibly stupid risk with her heart.
“No, no, that’s… great. Great shot.” God, her voice was unsteady. She focused on uploading the fuck-me-now picture and paged through to the part where he entered a line about himself. “Okay, what do you want to say on your profile?”
“How about, I’m interested in a strong woman who speaks her mind and wants to share her life with me?” The hotness factor had stepped down a notch, but good grief.
“How about Let’s have coffee and see how it goes? Good God, Lucian.”
“Too intense?” He was smiling now, so it was safe to look at him. Barely.
“You covered intense in that photo.” She shook her head and went back to the app. Swiped a few times and submitted. “Okay, you’re live.” She set the tablet in her lap and peered into his very attentive eyes. “This is how this works. If they like your profile, they swipe right. If they don’t, they swipe left. You do the same. When there’s a match, you can message them. Then we set up something from there.”
“A date?” he asked, eyes sparkling.
“Well…” She pursed her lips. “To be honest, I’m pretty sure this is a hookup app.”
“So we’re talking sex right away.” He didn’t seem put off by this. Obviously… he was a man.
“I thought you hadn’t done this in a while.”
“I haven’t.” He smiled a little. “But I’m not oblivious. And my House is filled with dragons for whom hooking up is a full-time occupation. Not least, my brother.”