He moaned loudly. It was rare for him to get loud. It simply wasn’t his way. But he loved my tears. Some memory from long ago, he’d once told me, when my tears had moved him deeply. He said I’d been crying the first time he’d realized that he would love me forever.

He moved a hand to my face, the other still gripping my hip like a vise. He traced my tears with an unbelievably soft touch, never stopping his hard thrusts. He licked his finger, then bent forward and started kissing the sides of my face from behind, licking and sucking at my tears. That did it, and I came. He followed me, like he’d been waiting for my cue, which I knew he had.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Epilogue

 When I came to again I was laying on a warm, hard chest. I could feel Dom stroking my hair. What had woken me? I couldn’t put my finger on it. A feeling, maybe. An instinct. A sound? I looked up at Dom’s face. His head was tilted back, his eyes open wide and staring at the ceiling, lost in some faraway thoughts.

A cel phone started ringing on the beside table. I lifted my head, glancing around the room, vaguely recognizing it as the room Dom had been using the last time I had been at the druid casino. The bed was different. “Did you get a new bed?” I asked him. He seemed to be getting more distant by the second, his face closing off completely as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

His mouth twisted. “I did. I tore the last one to pieces after I found out you’d been captured by the dragons.”

Oh. The phone stopped ringing for a few seconds then started up again. “Aren’t you going to answer your phone?” I asked him.

“It’s for you,” he said, his voice hollow.

I blinked at him. “I don’t have a phone. I don’t have anything, for that matter. This is the first place I’ve been since I came back from the dragon-trance.”

“It’s my phone. But it’s for you.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do. Are you going to answer it?” His eyes stayed glued to the ceiling.

It stopped and started again. I picked it up. “Hello?”

“Jillian, we’re in Summerlin. You need to get here, fast. We have a lead.” It was Caleb’s voice, sounding a little animated, for him. He was acting as though I’d been gone for a day, instead of seven months.

“How did you know I was back?” I asked carefully, glancing at Dom. He hadn’t moved a muscle.

“I have the casino under 24/7 surveillance. The pale dragon landing on the roof was a dead giveaway.”

I shot Dom a worried glance. “Do you think that’s a wise move? You do not want to f**k with the druids.”

I heard a snort through the phone, then Christian’s voice in the background. “Look who’s talking!”

I pushed up on my arms, becoming momentarily distracted by the sight of my gold hair trailing across Dom’s naked torso. I might have drooled a little. I’ll never tell. I shook myself out of my distraction.

“While you’ve been playing dragon, to fly around the world, we’ve been trying to find Lynn. We finally have a lead, so get your ass over here,” Caleb was saying impatiently. “We’ve got Luke spying for us, and he’s actually damn good at it. But he wants to talk to you before he goes back undercover. He’s insisting. Your sub is becoming a little too assertive here. It’s too bad we need him…” Caleb’s voice trailed off in a threat that I knew was directed at Luke, who I assumed was in the room.

“He’s not my-” I shot a worried look at Dom. He was still in the same pose, but his expression was positively arctic now.

Christian took over Caleb’s end of the phone, his excited voice making me smile. “We’ve missed you, girl. Especially Luke. He’s written you a stack of love letters that I read for you. For future blackmail purposes, of course. Chop, chop, Jillian. He’s dying here, and he’s been bloody helpful. He’s earned at least a kiss. Dinner and a blow job would be even more appropriate, considering that he’s been risking his life.”

I shut my eyes tight in annoyance, knowing Dom was hearing every word of this, and would take it all wrong. Christian knew Dom was with me, I was on his phone, but he just didn’t care. He liked to stir the pot. Damned instigator.

“It’s tiresome, Christian. Give me your location.”

At my words, Dom got up suddenly, spilling me from his chest in the process, and not directing so much as a glance in my direction. He strode, naked, out of the room. I admired the view, unable to help it. He had the most magnificent ass in the world. I wondered where the door he’d left out of led.

I shook my head, telling Christian to start over. I got it down this time, memorizing the address. “Shit.” I suddenly realized I had nothing. No clothes, no phone, no car. My mind went blank.

Christian was still chatting happily on the other end of the line. I could tell he had missed me, by his excited chatter. Even Christian wasn’t normally this ADD, jumping from one subject to the next before I could get a word in.

My mouth went dry when Dom strode back into the room, still completely nude, and carrying a large duffle bag. He was semi-hard and getting harder while I stared, open-mouthed, at his perfect cock, with absolute fascination.

Abruptly he threw the bag in my lap. He handed me a phone. I studied it dumbly. It was the updated version of the top of the line cel I’d had before I was captured. Apparently a new model had come out while I was away.