Gemma
Gemma wasn’t sure what to think. Her brain was completely empty. All she could do was feel the strength of his arms as he held her close to him. She smelled a scent she had never encountered. It rushed to her head and clouded her senses.
She bit her lip and groaned as his lips touched her skin. The wetness of his tongue flooded her body with a heat she had never known. He gently nipped the back of her neck.
Embarrassment flooded through her as she realized she was reacting like a wanton floozy with a man she barely knew.
Gemma would have given everything to have been able to run and hide. However, she didn’t even have the physical or mental strength to push away the arms that held her so tightly.
Her body trembled. The feelings inside her were so intense, so overwhelming, that she was sure she was going to pass out. She had never fainted in her entire life, but she was pretty sure this was what it felt like.
Slowly, he raised his head, and they stared at each other. No man had ever looked at her the way he was right now, but she was no fool. She knew exactly what it meant because she was feeling exactly the same way.
That thought was like a slap in her face, and she jumped off of Theo’s lap.
She slumped in the chair she had been sitting in and buried her face in her hands. Gemma had never been able to outgrow the blush that always gave her away.
“I know this is all new to you. The feelings are natural, even if I’m not your forever mate. Everyone feels them, and there is nothing wrong with them,” he said.
He pulled her hands away from her face gently and said, “You have to get comfortable being in my arms and having this physical contact. You have to learn to accept my kisses and signs of affection, and you have to learn to give them back. It’s the only way this plan is going to work.”
She looked at him and nodded. “I know. I’m sorry. I know you must think that I’m a silly little girl.”
“Not at all. Whenever we learn something new, especially about ourselves, it can be nerve-racking. Why do you think teenagers are so damn crazy? They are learning all kinds of things about themselves all at once,” he said.
“Great. I hope I don’t go through the pimple period again,” she said, smiling at him.
He put two fingers under her chin and lifted her face up to his. “You have to learn to touch me and let me touch you without any kind of nervousness, fear, or aversion. The other dragon shifters will smell it. It will stink on you like you rolled in a pile of cow manure. And they will attack. A few of them are vultures,” he said.
Gemma sighed. “There are those kinds of people in every pack, aren’t there?” she said.
Theo nodded and waited for her to make up her mind. They both knew she had no choice, but she also knew she had to tell him she was willing to put a hundred percent of herself into it.
“Okay. I will be a pimply faced teenaged girl with a huge crush on the gorgeous, muscle-bound quarterback of the football team as he actually says hello to her as they pass in the hallway,” she said.
“I prefer soccer, actually,” he said, puffing up his chest.
She laughed. She liked that not only was he willing to do this for her, which she suspected was not easy, but he was trying to make her feel better about it. She could see the sadness that always stayed behind his eyes and sensed the aura of loss hanging around him like a dark curtain.
“We have to practice,” he said.
Gemma nodded. Her heart was pounding hard. A lump of air stuck in her throat.
“We practice kissing. That sounds like a line at a bar,” she said.
“How do you think I learned it?” he asked.
Then, he opened his arms wide.
