Dragon Fire

3. Swimming Lessons

"I'm going to let you go now," Orion said slowly as his hands left her sides. Skylar made a noise that she would never admit was a squeal and hurled herself forward, wrapping herself around him. He chuckled and gently pried himself away from her. Her dragon hissed at Skylar for embarrassing them, but she had to admit that their situation was at least sort of daunting. She didn't know how to swim, and the ocean wasn't the first place she'd choose to learn such a skill.

"I don't see why this is necessary," she said, looking into the water. They were deep enough that Orion could still touch the bottom, but Skylar could not. He'd eased her out that far without her noticing, she would give him credit for his distraction tactics, and then he'd tried to let her go.

He swooped down to kiss her cheek as the waves lapped around them. They were gentler than earlier, not breaking until they were closer to shore, so she and Orion just bobbed with them. "Because, love, everyone needs to know how to swim."

"I can't think of any situation where I would need to know to swim," Skylar argued, glaring up at him. Droplets of water sparkled on his tan skin and dark hair, nearly as mesmerizing as when the light hit his dragon's scales. His golden eyes twinkled in amusement as he lifted an eyebrow.

"What about this?" Then he was gone, out of her grasp, and she was left flailing in the water. He popped six feet away, shaking his hair out as his head broke the surface, his broad shoulders following.

"Orion!" she gasped, her hands grasping at the water and her legs kicking wildly. Her dragon wanted to break free so that she could fly them to safety, but Skylar was too focused on keeping her head above water to let down the wall that would set her dragon free.

Orion was as calm as ever, simply holding his arms out and tilting his head at her. She knew he wanted her to swim to him, but she growled in his direction. She didn't like this whole sink-or-swim situation.

"Come on, Skylar," he coaxed, waving his hands at her. She snarled louder, baring her teeth a little. Why did he get to talk to her in that patronizing tone? She had no desire to go near him, and neither did her dragon. He was their mate, supposed to protect them, not put them in situations where they could drown! Sticking her nose in the air, she turned away from him and paddled to shore. Once her feet hit the sandy bottom again, she stood up straight and sauntered out, waving her hips at him as she went. Of course, they hadn't had any clothes to swim in, so Orion had convinced her to walk into the water without anything on. She'd been mortified at the notion and covered herself until she was completely submerged in the water. Not now though, now she wanted to punish him for abandoning her in the water. She casually walked back to their blanket, feeling his gaze burning into her the entire time, but completely ignoring him. Once she was seated on the blanket, she picked up his shirt and pulled it over her head, effectively covering herself from his gaze once again. Her dragon purred at the scent of the shirt; she loved that it smelled so strongly of their mate, and now they would too. Not that they didn't before. It was hard not to smell like something when it was always touching you.

Skylar huffed and took a sip out of the bottle of wine before popping a strawberry in her mouth. She would have ignored Orion as walked out of the water, but her dragon wouldn't let her. It wasn't often they got to watch their mate walk around in all his glory in broad daylight. Besides, she couldn't look away from the golden eyes that were burning with desire for her.

He walked up to her with no shame, and she forced herself to look away, pretending to dig for something in the basket of food. He pulled his trousers on over his wet legs and flopped down beside her. She felt him staring at her, but refused to acknowledge him.

"So," he began conversationally, "how was the swim?"

"You mean flailing?" she shot back with a quiet growl. "Terrifying."