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It had been over a week since Serena had left. She took nearly everything with her save a planner that had fallen out of her bag. She certainly hadn’t needed it up here. But of all the things she took with her, it was his heart that he missed the most. Never had he felt so hollow as when he first came back up the mountain without her. The walls of the lair echoed the silence that took the place of her laughter. The bed held her sweet scent on the pillows but not her sweet curves.
Jacob waited hopelessly for people to come snooping around, looking for him. But after a week passed by, and he was left alone, he wondered if she had printed anything at all. He was curious now what she had written about her experience with him. He never thought to ask her when she was here. She seemed like she kept a lot of her work private until she was ready to share, much like he did. He could respect that.
Today he’d decided to go to her. He would just explain to her that even if she chose to print something about him, he didn’t care. Even if it caused him more problems in the long run, nothing was worth losing her. He could forgive her for anything. It terrified him to know that, but he had no choice. He knew fate brought them to one another and they belonged together. Jacob was willing to move and adjust to whatever life she wanted.
If she wanted him to be in the public eye, he would do it for her sake. If she wanted him to stay with her in England, he would do that too. He just knew that no matter how uncomfortable the situation might be with her, he would be with her, and that meant everything to him. He was foolish to let Serena go without her knowing how he felt about her.
He packed up his necessary belongings and made the trek down the mountain. After making a few phone calls, he made his way to the train station to get to the airport. He had a late-night flight that would arrive in the wee hours of the morning. And then, well, he would just go to her doorstep and hope she let him in. He had her planner with him and hoped that the address listed on the inside cover was up to date. Without that, he figured he could look up every Serena Jeffries in the city and eventually, he would find her.
As he waited at the station, he found a newspaper on the bench that was left behind by another passenger. He skimmed the front for the contents, saw Serena’s name and froze. His palms began to sweat and he took a deep breath before turning to the page where her article had run. Where was it? He flipped back to the front of the paper and then to the page where it was listed. It wasn’t there. There was a cartoon there instead. A dragon cartoon. He peered closer, it was her cartoon. He read it and saw a picture of the dragon giving a tour of the lair and telling a woman that looked like her that it leased for an outlandish price because it was a skyscraper. He was shocked. Then he smiled a little and began to laugh harder and harder than he ever remembered laughing before.
She did love him. Or at least he hoped she did. She never printed the article that he thought she was going to print. She wasn’t capable of that. The more Serena tried to get him to understand, the more stubborn he became. He’d never had anyone accept him for who he was, not even his own parents. It felt foreign to him and he felt like maybe it wasn’t something he deserved. But she’d shown him otherwise. If nothing else, he could spend his time trying to convince her to stay with him. He would give her all the material she needed for her strip, and then some.
The train ride was longer than the flight itself, and by the time he got off, he was exhausted. He felt unsure of what he was supposed to say to Serena when she opened the door. If she opened the door. It was already so late, he didn’t know if she would even wake up to answer it. What if she didn’t live alone? No, she’d never mentioned anyone else. He realized he knew so much about her, yet very little about her day to day life outside of what they had lived together in the past weeks. He wanted to know everything, and he hoped she would give him the opportunity.
At last, he was in front of her apartment building. He paid the cab driver and got his luggage out. He looked at his watch. It was past midnight. Not one light glowed in the windows that faced the street. He felt bad waking her up, but he would make up for it, he resolved. He pushed the buzzer for her apartment and waited. Nothing. He pushed again. Nothing. He hadn’t planned for this. Maybe he should come back tomorrow, he thought.
He turned away and began to call another cab when he heard the door creak open. “Jacob?” Serena whispered.
He turned and just as he was about to climb the stairs back up to talk to her, she was already down them and had thrown herself into his arms. He held her tight and she wrapped her legs around him.
“Serena,” he groaned burying his face in her curls.
They stayed like that for a long time until Serena slid down his body and grabbed his smaller bag. He grabbed his bigger luggage and they walked into the apartment hand in hand.
“When did you come? I—”
“Shhh...” Jacob quieted her with a finger to her lips. He shut the door and looked at her in the soft glow of the lamp in the foyer. “You’re wearing my shirt.” Her shoulder was poking out again and her eyes looked like saucers.
“Yes,” Serena suddenly looked embarrassed. “I, uh, may have taken it. On purpose. It’s comfortable,” she added defensively. She was wearing it without pants, and it came down to her knees. She looked adorable.
“I know it is. It’s mine,” he said in mock indignation. “I also remember the last time you wore it you didn’t want to stay in it for long.”
She smiled shyly at him. “I think tonight’s no different.” Then her face crumpled and tears began to cascade down her cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” Jacob was alarmed.
“I missed you so much,” she wept. “I wanted to come back but I had to wait for some meetings to wrap up before I could. I’m so glad you came. I didn’t know how to contact you.”
Jacob tucked a soft curl behind her ear. “Do you know how hard it was to continue living in a place that didn’t feel like home anymore after you left?”
She sniffled and looked at him. “Really?”
“Well, you don’t have to sound happy about it,” he said.
Serena gave a short laugh, “I’m not happy, well maybe a little. But only because I felt the same way when I came here. It didn’t feel like home. I love you, Jacob.” She stared up at him and he felt a mix of emotions coursing through him.
“Serena...I know. I love you too.” He bent down to kiss her and she stopped him with a small hand on his chest.
“Wait, what do you mean you know?” she asked curiously.
“I mean, I left to come find you. I was ready to tell you that I’ll do whatever it takes to stay with you. Live with you, be with you. Whatever it is, I’ll do it. I just never want you to leave me again. Anyway, when I was at the train station earlier, I saw this. He took the scrap of newspaper out of his back pocket to show her.
Serena’s eyes flicked over it. “You mean you just saw this today?”
“Yes, on my way to you.”
“You didn’t know that I had printed this?” she pressed him further.
“I thought you went ahead with the article, to be honest. I half expected tourists and townspeople alike to come hunt me down. I’m sorry I doubted you,” Jacob said sheepishly. “I should have trusted you.”
Serena didn’t say anything and then cried harder.
“I’m sorry, Serena. Really, I am,” Jacob said quickly. He couldn’t bear the sight of her tears. It was too much.
“No, I can’t believe you still came. You did trust me. You left without knowing what I had printed. Don’t you see?” She threw herself against him and he held her close.
“I never want to let you go,” Jacob murmured.
“You’ll have to do a lot to get rid of me now,” Serena said. Then she drew a breath and took his hand to lead him to her bedroom. “We need to talk.”
“Oh, so what were we doing out there?” Jacob jerked his thumb to the entryway. “Is ‘talk’ code for what I think it is?” he joked.
Serena was serious. “No, just sit.” He sat at the edge of her bed and she paced in front of him. His hands itched to yank her onto the bed and cover her mouth with his, but he stopped himself.
“I’m pregnant. We’re pregnant,” she said, stopping in front of him suddenly.
Jacob felt as if the wind was just knocked out of him. He stared at her and then at her belly. He reached out to her in awe, and stroked her stomach. It did seem slightly rounder than it had last month. He looked back at her. “Serena, I’m happy about this. Are you?” He looked concerned.
“Yes, of course! I didn’t know how you would react.”
He looked thoughtful. “Wow. Mating season is real.”
“What?” She looked at him, perplexed.
“For dragons, this is mating season. That’s why I had to go to the mountains for a couple of months. Every year I’ve gone, but only because it’s difficult to control my shifting during this season. I never thought I’d reproduce, and during mating season, at that!”
Serena stroked his face. “I’d say you’ve made your fellow dragons proud.”
Jacob kissed her hand. “I failed because I never forced you to stay in my lair.”
Serena smiled. “I think you’re a wonderful man and an even more wonderful dragon. And I’m not going to let you leave my lair this time.”
With that, she slipped out of his t-shirt and his mouth went dry at her beautiful round mounds thrusting out to him. He reached out to cup them and she swatted his hands away. “I’m in charge.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said hiding a smile. She looked so beautiful and he was already loving the way pregnancy was changing her body. The small swell of her stomach was cradled by her rounded hips. He longed to kiss and touch her everywhere and she knew it. That was why she was making him wait.
She undressed him slowly, deliberately. Then she climbed onto his lap and pushed him back on the bed. “What do you have to do if you want to leave?”
“I don’t want to leave,” he said hoarsely. She was driving him crazy already and after nearly two weeks without her, he wasn’t sure how he was going to withstand this torture.
“Good answer,” Serena whispered huskily in his ear.
She was already slick to the touch and as impatient as he was. She kissed and nibbled a bit but unable to wait any longer, she positioned him at her entrance and pushed her hips back to fill herself with him. He groaned and grasped her hips. She placed her small hands on his chest and threw her head back as she rode him. “Jacob, Jacob, Jacob,” she chanted.
“Serena,” he bit out. “Slow down, I can’t...”
Serena slowed her movements down somewhat, but their needs were too urgent to appreciate a slower pace.
“I’m close too,” Serena panted after a few minutes had passed. “It’s been too long, I can’t wait.”
Together they reached their peak before exploding.
Serena collapsed on top of him and he eased out of her. It was several minutes before either could catch their breath.
Jacob was the first to speak. “So, I guess we need rules in place. If we’re at your lair, you’re in charge? Is that how this works?”
Serena giggled. “I don’t care who’s in charge as long as we can be together and have that as often as we want. I don’t want to have to wait for mating season.”
“Oh, that’s just dragon mating season. Regular human mating season never ends.” He pushed against her, his member hardening again already.
Serena gasped. “I need more time to recover!”
“We have all night,” Jacob assured her pulling her in for a long kiss. “And the rest of our lives.”
THE END