Light His Fire: Paranormal BBW Dragon Shifter Mail-Order Bride Romance (3 page)

“All I see is a troublemaker who’d break a girl’s heart,” she said, ignoring the flash of heat that went through her when he glanced her way again and licked his lips like she was an ice cream sundae and he was
starving
.

“And all I see is a man who needs a good woman to make him stay home.”

Pearl hadn’t known that that would be one of the last conversations she would ever have with Andrei. And she’d been even less prepared for the bad boy shifter to find her on SassyDate and do his damndest to get her to go out with him.

The phone beeped again, shaking her out of her reverie. While her mind screamed at her to ignore it and just keep working (
He’s god knows where and you’re in Idaho, this would never work! And he’s a bastard! You don’t need that!
), her treacherous heart was doing everything short of threatening to stop beating if she didn’t at least look at what he had to say (
Remember what Andrei said? And remember what he looked like? Oh my god, that guy, naked in your bed, fucking you senseless! Does that not sound like the best freaking time you could imagine?
)

Yeah, as usual, the heart won. Pearl was going to have to have a real serious sit-down with that ticker of hers and tell it to stop mucking about. She had work to do and a future to build, and that future most certainly didn’t include a dripping of sin shifter whose sole goal in life seemed to be to get into her pants.

GoldenBoy:
Oh, we’re playing coy this time, huh? Okay. How about I buy you dinner, hmm? Just a pleasant meeting of the minds. I promise I’ll only fuck you if you beg me
really
nicely. I’ll open doors and everything. Doesn’t that sound like a good time, baby?

PearlPlease:
I’m not your baby. And I’m not in Delaware anymore.

GoldenBoy:
So what you’re saying is that if I were where you are, you’d come out with me?

Pearl rolled her eyes. On the one hand, she wanted to tell him to just screw off. She’d been talking to him on and off for a month and though there’d been moments when she’d genuinely felt like there was something there – those rare moments he stopped fronting and behaved like a human being, sharing his thoughts and feelings with her – most of the time he was just being an egregious asshat with too much personality for her to tolerate. For that kind of bullshit to go down, a woman would have to be showered with candy and flowers on a daily basis and even then she’d tell him to cut that shit.

On the other hand, she liked that edge of danger and excitement he brought. She shuddered all over every time he sent her a text or a pic, which he sometimes did when she’d been ignoring him for too long. Pearl wasn’t ashamed to admit that she did it on purpose more often than not, if only to see his absolutely killer abs and bad boy smirk.

You’re in Idaho and he’s… well, wherever he is. Colorado? Why not let the fantasy continue. Just a little bit longer? It’s not like you can start dating someone here right now – you don’t have the time!

PearlPlease:
Sure, I would come out with you if we were in the same place.

Right then and there, the little bell on the door rang and Pearl looked up. She gasped, dropping the phone on the counter with a loud clattering noise.

There he was – the bane of her existence, the sexiest and most infuriating man she had ever met – grinning at her like he was just seconds from eating her up. Ares casually walked over to the counter and leant on it, making the muscles on his arms flex. Pearl’s mouth went dry and her words got stuck in her throat.

A million thoughts and questions rushed through her head, but the most prevalent of them all were how he could look so damn cocky and why she wanted him so badly.

“So, what time do I pick you up?” he asked, flashing a brilliant smile.

Shit.

Pearl Landon wasn’t feeling very eloquent at that moment.

CHAPTER THREE

Ares

Fuck, she looks good.

And she did. Pearl looked just as mouthwatering as she had the first time they met. He’d been in Delaware for a show, playing guitar for a friend’s band and generally having a good time, when he came across the most gorgeous creature he’d ever seen while crawling through the local bars.

When he saw her, it was like time and space stood still for a moment. She had stormy gray eyes that made him think of autumn winds and a plush, scrumptious smile that made him want to catch those plump lips between his teeth until she yelped for him to let go. And then he’d move down that absolutely divine body of hers until he reached her bountiful breasts and…

Fuck.

He wasn’t feeling very eloquent either.

Ares smirked. It was hard to settle down when he was faced with the object of his desires. She still hadn’t said a word and he was starting to wonder whether that was a good or a bad thing. No heavy objects were flying in the general direction of his head, so that was good. And, shamefully, he hadn’t got a kiss yet either, so that wasn’t so good. A day of ups and downs, most certainly.

“W-what the hell are you doing here!?” Pearl finally screeched, making Ares grimace.

Sheesh. She could be loud when she wanted to. He couldn’t wait to test out just how loud he could make her. Looking at her, she seemed to be the kind of woman who would enjoy a bit of hair-pulling and dirty talk.

Plenty of time to figure that out…

“What do you mean, princess? I’m here to whisk you off on a romantic date, filled with tequila shots and beer nuts. And if you’re particularly nice to me, maybe I’ll even let you say thank you.”

He winked at her and she didn’t look very amused. Inwardly, he shrugged – couldn’t win them all. That material would have slayed in New York, for instance. Those Upper East Side types really liked to be told to get on their knees and suck some cock. He’d always figured it was some sort of power thing – amped up women who like to be told what to do by men much stronger than they. But, apparently, his little Pearl wasn’t that type of woman… Oh well.

“Oh no, I’m not going anywhere with you. Now, I’ll ask you again and you’ll pretend to have the processing power of a snail or a small houseplant and actually give me a real answer. What. The hell. Are you doing here?”

Now he sighed in earnest. He’d always liked a challenge but this particular one had been eluding him for a month and he was getting sort of tired of the bait and switch. He’d almost managed to get her to come out with him in Delaware, having flown all the way back there just for her, only to find out that she’d suddenly decided to pack up and move without warning.

Then, as she was being adorably and infuriatingly cryptic with him, it had taken another week or so to figure out where the hell she’d gone. At times, Ares had even considered dropping the whole thing, but as long as she was keeping him around in texts, he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Especially not when his dragon had promised in no uncertain terms to make his life a living hell if he didn’t get this woman to go out with them. While Ares had become adept at merging his human and dragon, he’d also become equally as good at being entirely brainfucked by his dragon half. He assumed it came with the rampant drinking and general aimlessness of his life, and older, wiser dragons had confirmed as much.

If a dragon shifter wasn’t focused on his inner self, on who he wanted to be and how he wanted to contribute to the world, then the world would just roll over him like he was so much flotsam in its way. In his case, it meant that his dragon could really do a number on him if it wanted to. Damn those ancient spirits and their boundless power.

“I maintain that I at least have the reasoning capabilities of a cactus, thanks.”

He couldn’t help but clarify when she arched one of her beautiful brows at him, looking like an expectant mother hen readying to chide one of her enraging young. “You know, spiky on the outside, soft and squishy on the inside?”

He batted his lashes at her, putting on his best puppy dog face, and there it was, a little smile at the very corner of her mouth. Success!

Ares relaxed, his smugness flowing back into him like a tide. Yup, he still had it… As long as he ignored the fact that every muscle and nerve in his body was drawn as tight as a guitar string from having to keep himself at bay, lest he throw her over the counter and fuck her senseless right then and there.

It might be a bit much before their first date, though he certainly wouldn’t mind giving her that kind of ride. Nope. Not one bit.

“You still didn’t tell me what you’re doing here,” Pearl said, looking resigned to her fate and his presence.

Victory through attrition – he’d take it.

“Are you stalking me?” she added, glowering at him.

“Maybe,” he said, shrugging. “I mean, if by
stalking
you mean figuring out where you were moving to from those plentiful location updates you
accidentally
turned on on SassyDate like a week ago, then yes, I am a big old stalker. Grr. Alert the sheriff.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s been alerted already,” Pearl said wryly, pointing her thumb at the main window.

Diesel, the big werepanther shifter, was standing on the sidewalk, glaring into the store through the window. He gave Ares the international sign of ‘I’m watching you and if you do anything I don’t like, I’ll send you back to your family in three different body bags’, before nodding to Pearl in a pleasant manner and heading down the street.

Ares smirked. He was getting on like gangbusters with the locals.

“Nice guy. I’d love to go bowling with him sometime. Now, back to more pressing matters. Date – when?”

Oh, how he loved that look of struggle in her eyes. He knew she wanted him. He could smell it on her. He had to count his blessings that his dragon had decided to desire a human woman and not another shifter, because he was pretty sure he was stanching of pheromones as well. Ares would have to have a cold shower before he came across another shifter in town or they’d be able to smell his lust on him immediately.

And yet, she would say no. He could predict that just as clearly as the fact that eventually he’d wear her down and get a yes out of her. Maybe it was better that way. If he had to chase her, he’d get to enjoy the thrill and all that other good stuff romance novels were always talking about. Maybe if he had to work hard for her, it would be all the more sweet when he got his first bite.

Ares fought the urge to sneer – dragons hated work.

Finally, Pearl shook her head and crossed her arms. It pushed up her tits a little bit and made Ares have to muster up all his self-control to keep from sporting a raging hard-on.

“No, Ares. I don’t have time. I need to set up the store and we’re opening in a few days. Most of the furniture still needs to be arranged, I have trucks arriving tomorrow that need to be unloaded and it’s just me and loverbear back there, who I bet is TEXTING MISSY RIGHT NOW AND TRYING TO GET FIRED!”

“Sorry, Miss Mae,” Dalton yelled, followed by the sounds of scrambling and a phone being shoved into a pocket somewhere deeper in the vacant store.

Ares grinned. He sure did love a woman with an attitude, and Pearl had plenty of that.

“Oh, come on. You practically
begged
me to come and find you. I saw your message from last night. ‘Lonely in the mountains’? I can keep you company all you need, princess. And what’s with this Mae business?”

“I’m trying to start fresh, Ares. And that doesn’t include some playboy bad boy from out of town, okay?”

She could argue with him all she wanted but he saw the smile she was hiding. And he could smell the need on her. She was fighting herself and he was determined to make her give in.

“Okay. Alright. You’re a busy woman, I respect that. Gotta make your own way in life. But,” and he couldn’t resist, ever the gambler as he was, “What you’re telling me is that if this place is ready ahead of time, you could come out with me?”

Her eyes laughed, even if her lips were turned downwards in an annoyed pout that he wanted to kiss away. Those damn pink lips that called to him… Delicious.