RILEY
Aiden started carrying me towards the kitchen. I pressed my legs together as I felt wetness build in my core at the idea of what dessert could mean. He must have sensed it because he growled like he was struggling.
"Are you trying to kill me, Aurelie Moreau?" he turned to me with a strained voice before he chuckled. "It's not that kind of dessert though."
When we finally made it to the kitchen, he placed me on top of the island in the middle of the room and I couldn't help but notice how he tried to readjust his chinos, his bulge clearly visible.
I looked away and that was when I noticed the chocolate fondue that was set up on the island. My eyes widened at what was in front of me. Inside the pot on top of the burner was a molten dark chocolate mixture and on the side of it, I could see a selection of strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and small chunks of waffle.
"Oh my, you really know how to treat a girl. I'll be here every day if I will always get this kind of treatment," I exclaimed with excitement.
My enthusiasm was clearly amusing to him as he let out a sincere laugh. "Here- let me do the honours." He grabbed a strawberry with the fondue fork and dipped it in the chocolate before he brought it over to my lips for me to try.
"Mmmmmmm, strawberries and dark chocolate- it's the best combination in the world."
"If you keep on moaning like this with the dark chocolate, I might have to find another use for it," he teased me, making me punch him playfully in the arm. " Ouch, my lady, you pack one hell of a punch. My feelings are hurt now so I won't give you the gift I had in mind then."
Aiden feigned a sad face while I couldn't believe that he had gotten me a gift on top of the relaxed and super fun date that he had put together.
"What are you talking about?"
I saw him pull out a bright red velvet square box, which he then handed over to me. When I opened it I was stunned- inside it lay a gorgeous red gold bracelet with shimmering crystal and a lustrous, deep red stone as the centrepiece. It was absolutely breathtaking.
"You didn't strike me as the flowers kind of girl and I wanted to get you something. The red ruby is quite special to fire dragons because it is usually associated with nobility, fire and passion," he explained.
I was mesmerized by the whole piece- it was truly a work of art and one that I was not sure I could accept.
"Aiden-"
"No, you can't turn it down, Riley. It's a gift, not an engagement ring. A beautiful piece of jewellery for the most magnificent woman in the world."
"Bet you say that to all the girls you wine and dine," I tried to joke as I didn't know what else to say because I was so overwhelmed by his feelings that I could feel deep down inside me as if they were my own. I took another bite from the chocolate fondue in an attempt to make myself busy.
Aiden raised an eyebrow at me, which I had half expected, given my lame attempt to change the focus of our conversation. Attempt number two. "When did you manage to get this anyway? We only got back from the cottage yesterday afternoon."
"When I went into town to grab some things for tonight," he shrugged as if it was no big deal.
Now it was me who was raising eyebrows. "When you went into town?" I repeated. "Come on, Luss is hardly jewellery-central."
He smirked before he replied. "I didn't say which town, did I?"
My eyes widened as I hoped that he hadn't driven all the way to Glasgow or Edinburgh to get me a bracelet, although on the inside I was a puddle of mush.
"Don't worry, there are perks to having your own jewellery business." I looked at him with surprise. "What can I say, dragons have a love for treasures and shiny things. Now, will you let me put it on? Otherwise, we will be late for the final surprise."
"There is more?" I marvelled as I stretched out my hand so that he could place the bracelet on my free wrist.
"I told you to layer, remember? Get dressed and I will meet you outside."
The moment I stepped out of the castle the chilly air made me shiver. As a typical knight in shining armour, Aiden came to my rescue with a thick, wool blanket. He passed me a backpack before he turned to me.
"Do you trust me?"
"Well, the jury is still out- you might turn out to be a psycho killer because flawless men do not exist."
"Good thing that I am a shifter and not just a man then," he winked mischievously. "You might want to keep some distance."
"Why?" I quickly forgot about my confusion when I saw Aiden start to undress. "What on earth are you doing, Aiden? You will freeze."
But he didn't even acknowledge what I said as he continued to remove each piece of clothing until he was completely naked in front of me. It was a clear night with no clouds in sight but there was no moon either, making it darker than usual. Even so, I could still see the outline of Aiden's perfectly-shaped body, down to the last detail. One thing was sure- the Sun and Moon Goddess must like me a little bit at least because they had both given me pretty well-endowed mates.
I was going to keep ogling him if it was not for the familiar sound of bones cracking that I heard before I witnessed how the body of the tall handsome man in front of me turned into a magnificent, enormous red dragon, identical to the one in the painting that hung on my living room's wall back in London. He stood perfectly still there while I walked around him to get a better look at the beautiful creature.
The dragon had four powerful legs and feet which were tipped with sharp talons, as well as a tail with spikes along it. His body was covered in red heavy scales that felt hard to the touch when I ran my hand over them. A large, long bat-like wing was attached to each of his shoulders. He looked fierce, vicious, monster-like. Yet, when I looked into his yellow eyes- the same kind of golden colour that I had around my own irises- I could still feel Aiden's warmth underneath. In fact, I felt connected to his dragon, protected. Even more so when he lowered his head, allowing him to pat him in between his horns- in a surreal kind of way, it was like petting a house pet, except mine seemed to come straight out of a fantasy story.
As I continued to explore Aiden's dragon, I got the feeling that he wanted to tell me something. I couldn't quite figure out what but our minds seemed to be linked somehow.
"You want me to get on?" I asked as he kept on trying to nudge me to get on top of him while he sat on the ground to allow me to climb up.
"Are you sure that this is safe?" All I got in return was a huff like he was trying to tell me that I had nothing to worry about.
I sat on his shoulders, just above the wings, and I grabbed hold of the spikes that ran along his neck to keep steady as he spread his wings and we took off. He was slowly but steadily soaring through the sky. I looked down and the view beneath was indescribable, truly giving me a new meaning of a bird's eye view.
A few short moments later, a small island appeared in front of us while we flew over the lake and I realised that this was where Aiden's dragon was heading. It looked uninhabited but that made it even more beautiful because it was wild and untouched. A few tall trees towered over the island, allowing for privacy to anyone who set foot there.
Once we landed, I jumped off the dragon's back and dropped the backpack on the ground. The magnificent rubbed its head against me like a pet would when it wanted some loving and I could sense that he didn't want to go. I rubbed his head gently, making acquaintance with him.
As I turned around to have another look around the island, the bones cracking behind me told me that Aiden was back to his human form, which meant that he was naked once again and my hormones were once more messing with my head.
"I hope you have clothes in the backpack, Aiden, because I won't be able to save you from hypothermia on this island," I pointed out as I threw the bag to him.
"Don't worry," he chuckled, "this is meant to be a fun night, so I wouldn't do anything to jeopardise it."
"So do you want to tell me what we are doing here then? I mean, seeing your dragon and flying here was amazing but I am a bit perplexed about the location."
"Blaze."
I looked at him confused as to what he was talking about.
"My dragon's name. And he really likes you because it was quite a struggle to get him to change back. He wants to spend more time with you and I can't say I blame him."
I looked aside, trying to hide my grin from Aiden's intense gaze. While I was trying to figure out what we were doing on this island in the middle of the lake, he was already laying a blanket on the floor, as well as two metals mugs and a thermos- all of which must have been hidden in that Mary Poppins' bag-like backpack. He grabbed some wood from around us and piled it together, setting it on fire with the snap of his fingers.
"Okay, you really have to tell me how you do this."
When he finally sat on the blanket, he patted the spot next to him for me to join him. The moment I did so, my body instinctively moved as close to him as possible, cosying up to Aiden as he wrapped his arm around me, while his other hand was busy passing me the mug that he had just filled in.
"Is this mulled wine?" I exclaimed as I took a whiff of the liquid inside. It was impossible to confuse the pine-like smell with hints of citrus, and the rich combination of cinnamon and cloves. "Wait, are we doing a midnight picnic?"
"Nearly," he smiled at me. "This is my favourite spot to come to whenever I need a moment to myself. I've never really brought anyone here but I wanted to share it with you because it is special to me like you are, and tonight even more so. Look," he said as he pointed at the sky above us.
When I looked I realised that the sky was full of thousands-no, millions- of twinkly stars above us. The lack of any light pollution around us and the darkness of the night allowed us to see everything clearly to the point that we could see the Milky Way with a naked eye.
"This is absolutely stunning," I whispered.
"I couldn't agree more."
His words made me turn towards him and I realised that he was looking at me instead of the stars. I felt the urge to move closer to him, my lips longing to touch his again. As we closed the distance between us, everything around us suddenly became greener, like someone had turned a green light above us.
"This was the other reason why I wanted to bring you here," Aiden said as we both looked up. There, right above us, we could witness the enthralling dance of the Aurora Borealis, the glorious Northern Lights that many people made the considerable effort to find and see at some point in their lives to no avail and here they were, playing the most spectacular lights show that I had ever seen right in front of me. The colours of the Aurora were breathtaking, switching between various shades of green that were shifting to yellow and purple on the edges. It was like watching fiery fires burn across the sky. The whole moment was so magical that I was scared that if I blinked, it would turn out to be a dream.
I was so hypnotised by Mother Nature's impressive creation that I had not even realised how cold it had gotten, nor that my body was shivering by now.
"Riley, you are freezing. Come here."
Aiden pulled me closer to him, unzipping his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt before he pulled my hands underneath to warm them up against his burning skin.
"Aiden, you are crazy- you will freeze like that yourself."
"I am a shifter, remember? I barely even feel the cold."
I wanted to protest but I couldn't fight how good it felt to have my hands on his skin and his body. Some animal instinct switch must have gotten flipped inside me though because the next thing I knew, I was straddling him, running my hands all over him like he was my lifeline. My face was aligned with his and I didn't think twice before I leaned forward and started tracing his face with kisses.
With each kiss, I felt a burst of happiness and joy from the memories of tonight's unforgettable date. My heart was so full of all the respect, appreciation, care and love that Aiden was showing me that if I didn't let some of those emotions out, it would have surely burst. I wanted to make him feel good, I wanted to give back at least a fraction of what had done for me. But most of all, I could feel deep inside me that making him happy made me happy- something that I had never felt towards any man in my life until now. Not in a submissive way- hell no, that would never be me. In the way that you care enough for someone to want to put a smile on their face and make them happy, knowing that you did that for them. Did I also feel like that towards Rafe as well? Well, that was another complicated story and tonight I didn't want to be the girl with two mates- I wanted it to be only Riley and Aiden.
"We should head back." Aiden's voice brought me out of my thoughts.
"Why?"
"It's 2.30 am, Riley- I hadn't really planned for us to stay here all night." He placed a hand on my cheek and pushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
His face looked pained like he was fighting on the inside, and I just couldn't figure out why he had suddenly pulled away when things were going in the opposite direction. As I tried to figure out what went wrong, Aiden was already collecting our things.
"Aiden-"
"It's okay, Riley- I get it. We got caught in the moment." His voice sounded like he wanted to reassure me that it was not big deal. "I promised to give you time to decide what you want to do and to get to know each other, and I intend to make good on that promise, no matter how difficult it is when you are next to me."
Did he think that I only wanted to do this because of the moment? I mean, sure, the whole moment- scrap that, the whole date- made me want to jump his bones but it wasn't just about that. I wanted to do this. I wanted to be with him. Tonight. Did it mean that I wanted us to be mates? Maybe. Maybe not. But I knew one thing for sure- I was becoming a lot more open to the idea than I had been when I first found out.
I started walking towards him, desire building up with every step I took.
"Aiden-"
"Riley, stop! If you take another step, I can't be held responsible for my actions."
"Will you stop interrupting me, you stubborn man?" I cried out exasperated. "I know you want to give me time but what if I want this? What if I need this? I don't care about tomorrow- I care about right now. And right now I want you, Aiden."
By now I was barely an arm's length from him, which made it all the easier for Aiden to pull me in for a kiss that took my breath away. My brain felt so high on emotions and arousal that I was ready to have this man right there on that tiny island.
He looked into my eyes like he was trying to reach my soul.
"I told you I will give you pleasure over and over again, Riley, and tonight will be the start of it but as exciting as having sex outdoors is, I am not having my way with you here. Not this time at least." His eyes held a promise and a challenge at the same time. "Our first time is not going to be on the freezing ground on an island in the middle of the lake."
He grabbed me for another desperate kiss before he shifted, flying us back to the castle.