Remembering that he was injured and that I must look like a raging lunatic, I spun back around to check on him. Only he was no longer there. My heart stalled in my chest as I glanced around, searching for a place where he could have gone but there was no place for him to hide. There were some trees a few hundred yards away, but in his condition there was no way he could have made it that far in such a short amount of time.
What if he was somehow caught up in the same spell that I was, had they sent him back to wherever he had come from? But why not send me back too? Now I was alone on a mountain, with zero idea of where or even what century I had landed in.
The air began to shimmer in front of me and I stumbled away, my hands instinctively flying out in front of me. Frosty air expelled from my fingertips. At least wherever I was this time, I still had my powers.
The dragon shifter appeared inside of what looked to be a portal. Once he stepped completely through, he spoke in a language that I didn’t understand and the tear sealed closed behind him.
To my disappointment, he was no longer naked. He wore low slung joggers, sneakers, and held a navy blue t-shirt.
I pointed behind him. “Where did you just come from? Please tell me that was a time portal and you can take me back home.”
The shifter’s midnight blue eyes narrowed in confusion. “A time portal? What year do you think this is?”
“I have no idea. The last time I was sent somewhere it was seventeen fifty-one.” I bit my lip and dropped my gaze to my bare feet, afraid to see his reaction.
His sneakers appeared in my line of vision, his finger gently lifting my chin. “It’s twenty twenty-one.”
His words barely registered in my ears, my gaze entranced by his piercing blue eyes. Like this stranger knew my very soul. I found my hand lifting, my fingers itching to touch the close trimmed beard that adorned his face.
The ache reappeared in my chest, promising relief if I gave in to the desire spiraling between us. The shifter’s head dipped lower and I held my breath. A stray lock of dark brown hair fell over his forehead and I brushed it away.
When his lips touched mine, a tingle swept through my entire body, and the ache in my chest now spread to my core. His hand cupped the back of my head, and I opened my mouth to him, granting his tongue entrance, while his other hand slid around my waist, pulling me closer.
I was kissing a complete stranger and didn’t give a damn. All I cared about was wanting more. And goddess did he give more and then some.
His tongue tangled with mine as he deepened the kiss. His lips soft as they moved against mine. I curled my fingers into his hair and lifted on to my toes to give him better access.
He devoured my mouth like it was his anchor in a raging storm. Each swirl of his tongue sent a surge of fire licking at my core. What was it about this shifter that made me lose control?
With a groan, the shifter finally broke the kiss, his blue eyes dark like a stormy sea. He pressed his forehead to mine as he tried to steady his breathing. Poseidon’s trident that was hot.
What was going on with me? First Callum and now this guy. They were both like a vibrator on clearance at The Magical Rooster promising me unlimited orgasms.
He stepped away, taking the heat of his body with him. I didn’t realize I was shivering until he tugged his shirt over my head and pulled it down, the hem falling to my thighs. The cold had never affected me, until now. Was I going into shock from nearly dying or was it that spine tingling kiss?
He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. My stomach fluttered as his fingertips skimmed down my neck before dropping to his side. I stood there unable to move, my body under some type of lust spell. Two sexy men in just as many days. How did I get so lucky? Maybe I needed to start looking at this as a glass half full kind of curse. It appeared to have more benefits than disadvantages.
Another strand of hair blew into my face. When I brushed it away, I realized my hair gave new meaning to the term messy bun. The rubber band barely held on to my knotted hair. I seemed to make lasting first impressions lately. Public nudity and crazy hair issues would be my designated trademark.
While I was trying to detangle my hair from the rubber band, the shifter cleared his throat and massaged the back of his neck. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I asked, pulling my hair up in an attempt to secure it into a ponytail.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
My hands stopped mid-motion. Did that kiss not affect him the same way that it did me? Or was it the fact that I’d dropped out of the sky in a bikini on his back.
How did I go from being dateless for months and in the span of days I’d slept with a Highlander and now kissed a dragon shifter. Peppermint was mistaken. My vagina wasn’t a time portal. It was a penis tracker.
When he saw my hesitation he held his hands out in front of him shaking his head. “Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to. I really wanted to, but you just had a traumatic experience … I took advantage of that.”
Goddess above, was this guy for real? Not only was he sexy as hell, but he was a gentleman too. I was actually the one in the wrong. He wouldn’t have been hurt if it wasn’t for me.
“I should be the one asking you for forgiveness. I hurt you and I’m truly sorry for that.”
He shrugged. “I’ll be fine. It was just my wing. It’ll heal, but I won’t be flying anytime soon.”
I was thankful that he would heal, but it still didn’t lessen my guilt.
“How did you end up here?” He asked. “You literally fell from the sky like a fallen angel.”
I hated to disappoint him, but I was definitely no angel. As for the how, I wouldn’t know that until I knew exactly where I was. He didn’t have a Scottish accent. Despite that I still needed to be sure that I wasn’t sent to present day Scotland to find Callum and somehow ended up landing on a dragon by mistake.
“I know this might sound hard to believe.” I shifted from one foot to the other, my anxiety over finding out the truth twisting my gut. “The last time that I just appeared somewhere, it was eighteenth century Scotland. We aren’t by chance in Scotland now are we?”
“No. We’re in upstate New York.” He motioned behind him. “My house is on the other side of those trees.”
My shoulders sagged in defeat. There went Peppermint’s theory about Callum and I being fated to be together. If we were, I would be in Scotland right now and not New York.
I forced myself to accept that it would never have worked out between us. We lived in two different times.
I guess I should at least be grateful that I was close to Silver Springs and wouldn’t need a time traveling spell to get me home. I just wish I knew why I was brought here and whose magic spell I’d somehow gotten myself tangled up in.
The guy took a step forward, his face a mask of concern. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. It’s just been a long few days. For some reason I keep ending up in strange places with a limited wardrobe. I’m Kari by the way.”
“I’m Dagen.” He held out his hand and I clasped it with mine. Warmth pulsed from my fingertips to my shoulder, finally ending at my chest. A knowing smile curled his lips as he glanced from my hand to my face.
I was about to ask if he felt it too when he interrupted my thoughts. “If you don’t mind a short walk to my house, I can get you some clothes and maybe you can tell me what you think caused you to time travel?”