The Christmas Dragon Read online

“You are dressed. I distinctly remember you being naked.” She was stupefied. His dark shirt and pants looked centuries out of date and yet perfectly suited him. His hair blended with the fabric and framed his face. She was going to say more when the tree she was working on shifted alarmingly. She squeaked in surprise when he swept her into his arms and away from the falling pine.

  “Why are you chopping a tree in the dark? It is most unwise.”

  “I started when it was light. I would have been done if you hadn’t surprised me.” She was a little defensive and mildly irritated that the thickness of her clothing kept all contact with his body in her imagination. Damn it.

  “You are very light,” he said it almost absently as he shifted her to one arm and grabbed the tree with the other. “Where did you want this tree?”

  “Ideally, in my house in one piece. It’s my Christmas tree. Tomorrow, I decorate it and put the presents my friends gave me under it.”

  He began striding to her cabin, her cradled with one arm and the tree with the other.

  “My axe, the toboggan…”

  “I will retrieve them later. A holiday tradition isn’t something to die over and you cannot see in the dark like I can.” Irritation coated his tone and he stopped at her door.

  She could opened it for them. Inside, he slid her down his body, the puff of her coat seemed to frustrate him so he removed it. Maggie shucked her gloves and touched his skin for the first time. She cupped his jaw line and stroked his flesh, amazed at the smoothness of his skin. No five o’clock shadow or trace of a beard dared to interrupt the texture of his skin.

  She traced the outline of his wide mouth with her fingertips and his tongue flicked out to touch her, taste her. Evidently he liked what he tasted because he sucked her fingertip into his mouth and twisted his dexterous tongue around it. He stroked her digit for a moment and then released her.

  “I see you are less frightened of me this evening.”

  “I have decided that if I have gone insane I am going to enjoy it.”

  “Well, far be it from me to deny you your hallucination.”

  Apparently, for an imaginary dragon, that constituted foreplay because he lifted her up and wrapped her limbs around his waist, then walked her to her bedroom with his erection rubbing against her clit through her jeans.

  They hadn’t even kissed, but her body was pulsing with arousal at his nearness, his touch. She wanted him inside her and he wasn’t even real. Perhaps her mind had truly gone around the bend, but at this point she didn’t care.

  “I don’t know if I care for this current fashion of women wearing trousers. It does restrict my access somewhat.” Syrus worked at her clothing closures and peeled her shirt back while letting her jeans fall to her hips.

  “You are a fast learner.”

  “I have incentive and I love your underwear.”

  The clothing in question was a brilliant red with green bows. It was her holiday set and her dream had left her in a hormonally active mood. She loved lingerie when she was already feeling sexy, it made the mood last longer.

  She was going to blush at his frank and assessing stare, but he flipped her onto the bed and got rid of the boots that were impeding her progress to nudity. A startled yelp was all that she managed before she broke out into giggles. His hands weren’t even cold and they should have been from his time outside. He had to be a dream.

  He removed his shirt and Maggie was once again treated to his rock hard pecs, biceps and rippling abs. He seemed to have muscles on his muscles and she was not complaining. She leaned up on one arm.

  He pressed her down with a hand to her collarbone. “Stay down until I tell you to move. It is important or I may lose control while feasting on your delectable body.”

  That sounded like both a threat and a promise, but she reluctantly did as asked. He didn’t disappoint her trust. His hands stroked her over her festive underwear, awakening nerves between her fingers, toes, breasts and belly. Her entire body was singing with fire and sparks of heat that had her skin pebbling and her limbs shaking.

  Everywhere his fingers touched her, fire bloomed. Her panties were wet, her breasts taut and heavy and all he had done was touch her. Oh God, I am in trouble here.

  He knelt at the foot of the bed and hooked his thumbs beneath the sides of her panties to strip them off her completely. Once she was exposed to Syrus, he widened her thighs and pulled her to the end of the bed, right at mouth level. All of her early morning fantasies were coming true as he pulled her into position and heated her core with his breath. He was breathing her in.

  Her suspicions were confirmed when he said, “I love your scent. Fresh and sweet with a hint of the wild ocean. I think I will love your taste just as much.”

  It was all the warning she got. That long and bifurcated tongue burrowed into her channel and lapped against the upper edge of her womb. It took him only three strokes to find her g-spot with that long tongue and then her world dissolved in the heat of arousal and need. She wanted release, wanted more and wanted him inside her. Something had to give.

  She gasped and locked as her orgasm hit her, waves breaking in her body, separating heat from release, inch by inch. His tongue kept stroking, drinking up every spasm as her body shook in silence.

  When her back lowered from its arch, Syrus sat back on his heels and licked his lips. “That was wonderful, but I wanted to make you scream. Instead, I got silence. Why is that?”

  She was dazed and let him take off her bra and lay her against him. “I had a boyfriend. He hated noise, hated to hear me. So I dumped him. But the habit stayed.”

  “Would you mind if I helped you to break that habit?”

  His hands were stroking her, lazily waking the fire in her body one touch at a time. “I think that breaking bad habits should be a laudable pursuit. Feel free to pursue it.”

  Maggie twisted to move his hand where she wanted it and when he didn’t get the hint, she grabbed his hand and moved it onto her breast. She led him to massage her gently, the way she liked by massaging his hand over hers until he was doing it just right.

  “Remember, if you stop making noise, I will stop touching you and I don’t think you want that.”

  His voice was rich and dark in her ear and before she knew it, she was lying face up on top of him with his erection weeping gently against her spine.

  He massaged her hands, arms, breasts and belly. Each limb and body part getting a full contact treatment until she was giving him every gasp, sigh and groan that she could muster.

  She came again when he nibbled his way down her neck, this time she shrieked in reaction at the double stimulus of the pointed teeth on her neck and his fingers circling her clit.

  Maggie could feel the precum coating her lower spine as she writhed against him. She wanted him inside her so badly that if he hadn’t been holding her down with one hand on her belly, she would have been astride him and riding him to a second orgasm.

  “That was lovely. You make the most wonderful noises when you get close to your precipice, all high and desperate. If I hadn’t wanted to listen first, I would be in you right now.”

  She chuckled weakly. “It is currently my fondest wish that your slick cock be sliding into me with deliberation and yet I am on my back and held in place. This dream sucks.”

  Unceremoniously, she was dumped onto the bed and he was holding her wrists above her head as he slowly thrust into her. Her body yielded reluctantly but enthusiastically to the heat now stroking her from within. It was fabulous, beautiful and just the tiniest bit uncomfortable. She moaned in pleasure and he groaned in response.

  Sweat coated them both as they moved together, strove together to reach the pinnacle of intimacy in the shattering moment. He surged against her faster and she gripped his hips with her thighs, pulling him into her as hard as she could. Her hands were restrained so she arched her breasts against him to get some friction on her sensation-starved flesh. He moved up her body, almost hovering over her, but pres
sing his cock against the base of her clit. They rocked together and she gave him all the sounds he wanted, demanded, forced from her.

  When she came again, he swiftly moved down to bite her again and her moan moved into a shriek as her body arched and spasmed from the conflicting signals it was receiving. He kept moving in her as her body shuddered in reaction until every single ounce of pleasure was drained from her.

  She slumped under him and felt the hard press of his weight on her chest. It would have been suffocating if he hadn’t been bracing himself on his elbows. Dragons must weigh more than humans because she could not remember being crushed into bedding like this with another man.

  Despite the discomfort, she still made a noise of complaint when he moved off her and curled her against him. She was suddenly cold without the flame of his presence inside her.

  It was peaceful curled against him with his body touching hers from shoulder to calf. She breathed deeply, evenly and all too soon, felt herself slipping into darkness.

  * * * *

  “Damn it. It was too quick.” Syrus was speaking out loud, but Maggie was lost to the world. An hour in her bed would feel like seconds. The crystal snowflakes were his first task when he arrived, before he went into the woods to find her. The damned things were too quick.

  His lover was now lost in a dream of ice castles and crystal mountains. When she woke, it would be with a memory of a dream and nothing else. He would have been wiped from her memory and he didn’t care for that.

  At least he could finish her errands and retrieve her axe and sled. She might not remember where she left them the next day.

  He yanked on his clothing, cursing the tight fit over his reawakened erection. Just being close to that woman shook the edges of his control and he liked it. He liked it far too much for his own peace of mind.

  The bracing air of the winter night didn’t faze him. It was a brisk reminder that he was the Sahn-Tah for this year. He had to get back to the workshop, but he couldn’t make himself leave this woman until she was settled and prepared for the blizzard he could taste on the wind.

  Syrus easily located the axe and sled, hauled them back to Maggie’s cabin and then went to split enough wood to last her for a few days. He didn’t want her to have to brave the storm with no one to depend on.

  If he couldn’t be with her, he needed to know that she was safe. A perverse instinct that he engaged in by splitting enough logs with his shifted form to last her most of the winter.

  Back in his human shape, he opened her cabin as quietly as he could, delivering several armloads in a relay that took up a good portion of her living room by the time he was done. At least she would have wood.

  Wood. The Christmas tree. Maggie had laid out a metal stand or frame, it was fairly obvious that the tree was to go inside it and be supported by the screws. Grumbling, he lifted the tree and inserted the trunk into the base, screwing the supports into place. Satisfied that it would hold, he let go and watched the tree sag to the left.

  “Shit.” He straightened the tree and tightened the bolts again. Better, but still not straight.

  Fiddling with the tree took hours before he was satisfied that it was perfect for Maggie. He had cheated a bit and used magic to hold the tree in place as well as keep it fresh, but he was pleased with the end result.

  The last time he had been this proud of himself, he had just learned to make the shift from dragon to human. The tree did look splendid though. He sat back on his heels and admired his work, distracted by the precision until he heard Maggie stirring. “Hell.”

  It would ruin the effect of the snowflakes to have her see him when she woke up. Cursing quietly, he let himself out and shifted forms.

  He lifted off as silently as he could, circling until dawn exposed him in all his scaly glory. It wouldn’t do for him to be seen, despite him desperately wanting her to break the magical hold of the mind wipe.

  He would have to chalk their one encounter together under fond memories. He had to go and practice delivering toys. The Workshop beckoned.

  Chapter Four

  Being hung-over had never felt like this. Maggie staggered into the bathroom, running the water for the shower. Her whole body ached and it was with great relief that she stepped under the pounding spray. She felt sore, sticky and rumpled.

  The twinge between her thighs made her think of the last time she had had sex, but that had been over a year ago and her body didn’t have that accurate of a memory. Shampooing and then soaping her skin made her aware of every bruise, raw patch and even a few punctures. “What the hell?”

  She finished her shower and wiped the mist of the mirror. There were marks on her neck, purple and red, her nipples were chafed, and the inside of her thighs were red. Individual marks worked down across her torso, but they had no obvious source.

  The puzzle had her frowning as she dressed, but when she entered her living room, it was clear what had happened. She had let the tree fall on her while setting it up. There was no other way that she would have no memory of bringing the tree in, let alone setting it up.

  Maggie touched the marks on her neck. She must have been punctured by the tree and the sap and needles must have irritated her skin. It seemed logical.

  Stretching and satisfied with her conclusion, Maggie got her ornaments and lights out of the closet in preparation for decorating her tree.

  She had a plan, and now it was time for breakfast. Funny, she didn’t remember eating all the cinnamon buns.

  * * * *

  Syrus was pacing the crystalline halls of the Workshop. He wanted to be back with Maggie, but his own actions had made that impossible. Walther had finally approved his last speed trial so Syrus needed to wait for Christmas before he could even imagine seeing Maggie again.

  If he was going to woo the human, he would need a plan, and a gift. Lingerie was too intimate, a robe too concealing. What would a woman of her calibre want for Christmas from a man she had never met? He was going to have to research her wants and wishes. Time for the Naughty and Nice Room. Dancer was on duty today. The reindeer smiled at him, but looked a little concerned as he entered.

  “Syrus, may I help you?”

  “Yes. I am looking for information on a human.”

  Her lips twitched. “This is a good place to start. Do you have a name?”

  “Maggie Konrad.”

  “Age?”

  He blushed. He had no judgement for human ages. “Adult? Living in a cabin in the mountains.”

  Dancer smiled, her dimples showed.

  Her human form was rather cute, but he preferred Maggie’s elegant limbs, lush curves and dark sexy eyes.

  “I can find her without that. What do you want to see?” As she spoke, her hands were working a keyboard that lit up with every keystroke. Soon a picture of Maggie in real time was floating on a monitor above the reindeer’s head.

  “I want to know what she wants for Christmas. What her wishes this year have been? Has she been naughty or nice?” He didn’t take his gaze off the screen. She was sitting and reading a book, occasionally sipping from a mug. His marks were still visible at her neck, but it had been two days and they were fading.

  “Well, she has been very nice for the better part of ten years. There was a spike of naughty this week, but it faded in a few hours. Oh…” Dancer fell silent.

  “What? What’s wrong, what does she need?”

  “She was wishing for her sister’s life. She is alone now. Maggie Konrad has no Christmas wishes beyond peace in her life and time to reflect. I have a list of designer items that she wanted before her sister fell sick, but afterward all of her wishes were for others.” Dancer looked a little sad. “Christmas holds no magic for her anymore. That is rather depressing.”

  “Not everyone’s life revolves around the holiday, Dancer. Can you give me the list of items?” He was getting an idea. It would take some severe negotiations, but he might be able to pull it off. “Thank you. What was her sister’s name?”

/>   “Mandy. Amanda Konrad.”

  “Thank you again. You have started some ideas.”

  “You are welcome. We are all grateful that you took on the delivery this year. Anora was driving Sahn-Tah nuts. If they didn’t get out of here, she would have turned from the spirit of Christmas to the Christmas crank.”

  Syrus chuckled and nodded. He had places he needed to be. Moving with purpose, he entered the manufacturing wing. He had some elves to intimidate.

  * * * *

  A blizzard had moved in and stranded her, but Maggie had obviously prepared for it on the night she couldn’t remember. There could be no other reason for the immense mound of stacked wood next to her fireplace. Two days of howling wind and blowing snow went by with her tucked safely inside a nice warm cabin with cups of hot chocolate and a good book.

  Christmas was rushing up on her, but she was content to let it come. She was ready to spend her first holiday alone since she was born. Mandy had always been there, decorating, primping the house and redoing all the seams on Maggie’s gingerbread house. It had been frustrating, but the morning of Christmas it was all worth it. The tree had sparkled with the ornaments, the air was scented with cinnamon and apples and the packages under the tree shone in the early light.

  No matter how simple the present, the magic surrounding a Mandy Christmas had always sparked in the air. Maggie wiped at her tears as they fell again. The closer she got to the holiday, the more her heart broke.

  She had honestly imagined that she would be able to make it through the first Christmas alone without having her mind rebel at the thought. She was wrong. The storm outside ended as her internal one began. Each day would now be a fight to keep calm and keep moving forward.

  Getting up to make some popcorn and start a movie, she heard a noise. A scraping on the front porch. Cautiously, she moved toward the door when the sound happened again.

  Grabbing a shawl against the cold, she took a deep breath and opened the door. Her porch bore no evidence of the blizzard and a path had been ploughed through the snow and from her car to the main road.