She yelped when the clear glass buzzed and began to slide into the door. Afraid, she broke the thing; she looked at Kingston who smiled and demonstrated on his side.
“This button controls the window. You can lift it up to close it again if it is too cold-”
“Oh no, I love it,” she laughed as the cool Autumn breeze flew inside the vehicle, chilling her skin and whipping her braids behind her.
The look on the Diamond Dragon’s face as he watched her made Holley’s stomach flip. Of course, that was for another reason altogether other than nerves.
She was a maiden still, even after three hundred years, but she understood the heat in his dragon’s gaze. That golden glow that spoke of his physical appetites and lust for her. How thrilling!
The Keep allowed her to see many things during her captivity. Though she tried not to spy on private moments, she had not been altogether innocent. Well, a girl had to get her education somewhere.
Mostly, that was from television. Holley arrived at the conclusion that sex was fast, messy, and altogether something she desperately wanted to experience in the present.
The Guardians had eclectic tastes in entertainment. And while she sometimes watched Elena’s suspense thrillers, she often found herself watching rom-coms with Fergie. TV was marvelous in her opinion, as were books. But it was hard to open a book when you did not exist in reality.
Now that she did, she had hundreds of volumes on her list. Something she could not wait to indulge in. Kingston enjoyed books, but rarely had time. He never seemed to watch television.
Byram however was an aficionado of something called erotica films that often involved graphicly detailed scenarios that Holley could hardly comprehend. Who knew a human being could contort themselves into such shapes?
Still, something about everything she had witnessed triggered a response deep within her woman’s soul. Curiosity mainly, but it was more. Longing, desire, the need to complete the mating bond they’d begun when his bite broke the spell that kept her captive to the Keep.
The spontaneous kiss they’d shared had awakened something inside of her. Something primal and fierce. She knew times were different, but she could not help but tremble at the idea that a woman, that she could want someone in such a carnal way.
And yet she was certain he was the only man she would ever want. The only man whose body she wanted claiming hers in every way that mattered.
Holley had accepted his kiss with enthusiasm, if not skill. But something had him ending the exchange far too soon for her liking. Maybe her inexperience was unattractive to a worldly Dragon? She would have to ask Fergie or Jessenia about that when they returned to the Keep.
Meanwhile, she would enjoy this outing. Kingston’s smoky scent teased her senses in the closed confines of the luxury automobile, and she almost missed his question.
Holley was a daydreamer by nature, but now she was trying to distract herself from carnal thoughts whilst in his company. It was proving a most difficult job. He was so, what was the word, ah, blazing.
Yes, that was what Fergie had said. Her delightful vocabulary was the cause of much entertainment for Holley. But she agreed with the she-Wolf, her mate had certainly set her heart ablaze.
“Is there anything else you can think of that you need? Besides shoes,” he glanced at her bare feet and rolled the car to a stop in front of a store with an enormous sign that read Victor’s Shoes.
“No, I don’t think so,” she answered.
“Right,” he nodded and walked around to her side of the car, opening the door for her and lifting her out of the seat before she could step on the ground.
“People are staring.”
“Let them,” he replied in a husky whisper that sent shivers down her spine.
Holley leaned forward but the moment was gone. He turned and carried her into the shop, placing her on a bench while he spoke to the proprietor. She saw in the man’s aura that he was a Shifter. Badger was her guess from the scent and the general ornery tsk that followed every curt phrase.
“So, you need to be measured? Don’t know your own shoe size then?”
“I am sorry, I-”
“You don’t have to apologize. Victor, you are being rude,” Kingston growled.
“Oh hush, I’m just playin’ with the girlie. Come on, let’s see what you’ve got. Size nine! For a petite thing you have a big foot, lady. What?” Victor whistled at Kingston’s growl and shook his head, “Fine. No more commentary. I’ll see what I have in back for you.”
“Comfortable shoes, Vic, none of that nonsense Storm’s mate prefers,” Kingston ordered.
“What if I want that nonsense?” she asked, eyebrows raised.
“Do you?”
“No.”
Kingston raised one eyebrow, giving himself an air of arrogance that she would have found obnoxious on anyone else. But he was right. Holley did not want high heels. She did want something though. Not nonsense. Him. Only him.
Kingston’s nostrils flared and his golden eyes glittered at her in the dimly lit shoe store. For a moment, a wave of dizziness swept over her. She closed her eyes and steadied herself.
She wasn’t prone to headaches, but after all, this was her first adventure outdoors in two-hundred and seventy years. Her stomach rumbled, and she covered her lips at the audible sound.
“Are you okay?”
Kingston appeared at her side.
“Yes. I am sorry, where are my manners?”
“Who cares about manners? You’re hungry. I should feed you,” concern darkened his gaze, and she gasped.
From what she knew of Shifters, if he accepted her as his mate, his knowledge of her needs and desires would only grow. So far, he’d kissed her once and seemed entirely unaffected, but maybe she was wrong. Maybe he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.
How could she tell? She licked her lips and watched as his eyes followed the movement. Holley was on borrowed time, but she couldn’t tell the Diamond Dragon that. Would not force him into making another sacrificial mating. It would be too much like what he’d already gone through.
She could never do that to him. Not after loving him from afar for all these long years. The way he gripped her hand now was definitely promising. She had some time yet. Perhaps it was possible he cared more for her than he was letting on?
“I am a little hungry, I think,” she confessed.
His face remained unsmiling as he brought one long, masculine hand up to caress her cheek.
“We should head back. I am sorry, I didn’t think-”
“No, I love being outside.”
“Holley, it’s too much for you. I should have made sure you ate breakfast first-”
“Please. I want to stay out. We can get something to eat, can’t we?”
“Yes. That’s a possibility.”
“Thank you,” she whispered huskily, “You have no idea what it was like.”
“I can’t imagine,” he smiled kindly.
“Here you are,” the stout shopkeeper came into view with a wheeled cart full of boxes.
Holley laughed in delight as he opened each one, displaying a variety of different shoes and boots all made to fit her feet. Imagine that!
“In my day, common folk were lucky to have slippers made of woven cloth or rough leather with thin soles that wore out quickly,” she exclaimed as she lifted shoe after shoe out of boxes made of something called cardboard.