Falk Clan Tales - Chapter 20: Chapter 20

“No, I’m sorry, but it’s impossible.”
“Mr. Falk-”
“Call me Sander.”
“Okay, Sander then, please. It’s Christmas, and these kids have nowhere else to go. Besides I have a signed contract.”
“It was signed by my brother. Not me.”
“But it’s for this address.” Noelle couldn’t believe her ears.
Just when she thought they were getting along. He’d even made a few jokes, and then, bam, Mr. Wannabe-Grinch was back in gear. What happened to make him this way?
“You have to go, I just want to be left alone,” his anger seemed to come out of nowhere. No, not anger exactly, more like frustration.
“No,” she narrowed her eyes at him.
“No?” His look of astonishment amused her further.
“You heard me, no.”
“I think maybe I heard you wrong,” he glowered at her, but Noelle didn’t back down.
“Nope, you heard me just fine. Excuse me,” she turned her back to him and jotted notes on her tablet before shooting off a message to her assistants.
She walked into the ballroom where the party was to be held ignoring the tall man who practically oozed energy as he stalked behind her.
She felt his teal eyes burning holes through her, and she wanted to tremble. Instead, she turned to face him. He glared some more. Noelle lifted an eyebrow and yawned, barely covering her mouth with her free hand. She turned her back to him again. Dismissing him, as it were.
She lifted the tablet again and sent off another message. They were going to need several small tables to fill the area so people could mingle and fill the space. Food brought people together and rather than serving from one central spot, having several small stations would create movement and encourage conversation.
It was going to be perfect.
Sander was reeling. The little vixen yawned at him. At what he knew was his most scathing glower. Where did she think she was going with this anyway? It was his house, dammit.
She turned her back to him and kept right along taking notes and sending messages. His sensitive ears heard the little whoosh noise every time she clicked send. Jealousy reared its ugly head as he wondered who it was she was messaging. A boyfriend perhaps? Grrr. No fucking way. Es meus.
Startled at the turn of his thoughts Sander closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face. Who was this little ginger perfumed minx anyway? Why did he want her so damn badly?
His Dragon growled in his mind’s eye, and Sander stiffened. He needed to get more fully in control. He couldn’t think straight with her so close to him. He walked over to a window and threw it open. He inhaled the fresh, cold air, allowing it to wash over him and soothe his beast.
She is not mine. He was destined to be alone. His heart safely locked away. His sapphire rose would never go to another. He would go cold. And he welcomed it.
There was a reason he was an IceDragon. The white lightning that shot from his mouth was colder and could burn faster than any flame, save his brother’s.
He was an outcast in his world. Any hopes he had as a youth to find a mate was destroyed when Chief Dragomir cut his hand in half. He could still feel the searing pain of his torture during his enslavement. Fury flashed through his blood only to be replaced by the familiar emptiness of his current state.
The dull thud of his heartbeat was a constant companion. A reminder that he was still alive, though he had resigned himself to a solitary existence. One that was all too fleeting.
Ever since he opened the door that morning, he’d felt different somehow. A strange stirring in his blood. An awakening in his Dragon that he never thought to feel. The beast moved under his skin, prowling, hunting, as if he sensed something close by. Something the human side of Sander was fighting tooth and nail.
No. I am broken. Maimed. Not long for this world. But we could have pleasure with her, completion. She is ours. Mine. Es Meus. His dual natures warred within him. The sweet sound of her laughter rang in his ears, piercing the cold ice surrounding his heart. He wanted to roar his frustration.
This was far too dangerous. He could not allow himself to form an attachment to this woman. This gorgeous, sweet, and surprisingly tough as nails, woman. She was not for him.
He snorted aloud. He couldn’t believe she was carrying on with her plans. Completely ignoring him. It was outrageous. Sander fumed.
“Excuse me, it’s getting a bit drafty,” she side-stepped him and closed the window.
“I said there will be no party here tonight.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Oh, you heard me. You, big bully. The answer is no. I will cater this event, and it will rock, despite your Scroogey attitude. Now, excuse me, I need to make some calls,” she grabbed her cell with slightly trembling hands.
Sander couldn’t help the smile that curled his lip. So, she wasn’t as unaffected by him as she seemed. Good. He’d hate to think he was losing his touch, but still, he felt ashamed.
All he had to offer her was an afternoon tryst. It was a pretty shitty thing to do to someone as bright and full of optimism as she.
No. He must resist temptation. She was not responsible for his acceptance of his fate. She was not the reason for any of it. Fuck. He had no right to drag her into his fucked-up world.
Sander needed to remain strong. It was best if she left the castle grounds and he simply forgot about her. Before he asked her to go, he’d best apologize for his rudeness.
“Noelle?”
He turned down the long hallway that led to yet another section of the castle he had yet to explore. The place was huge. He’d have to remember to tell Callius what a fine job he did of it. He almost called out her name again, when he heard her trembling voice.
“Yeah, I’m okay. No, he’s, he’s not that. Oh, Fred, I am so sorry to bug you. But why didn’t you tell him I was coming? You forgot? Saying he was shocked is putting it mildly…No it’s not that, he just hates the holidays…No, of course, he didn’t come on to me…Oh, well, no I mean, Fred. Of course, he’s attractive. He’s freaking gorgeous. No, no he doesn’t strike me as being the type of guy to, well, you know, be interested in someone like me… I don’t know, but that’s not the issue…I won’t let those kids down. You got it… Okay, have a great trip. Bye.”
His teeth ground together. He had no idea what he was about to do, but he couldn’t just stand there. Sander caught up with Noelle in three long strides. Her eyes flashed up at him as he turned her to face him.
“Sorry, that was-”
“My nosy sister-in-law.”
“Well, it was Fred, but-”
“Did she hire you to seduce me?”
“Seduce you? No. I’m a caterer. I mean, do I look like a seductress? I mean, how could you think that I-” She sputtered and looked down at herself shrugging as if to say, not in a million years, but Sander interrupted her reply.
“Because if she did, I have absolutely no objection.”
For one instant, Sander stopped fighting the intense attraction he had to this woman the second he’d laid eyes on her. He pulled her flush against his hard body noting the flash of desire in her blue eyes.
All rational thought left his head. Every single reason he’d given himself for why he should refrain from touching her, was gone. Just. Like. That.
His body was being taken over. More beast than man, and he had only one master. Noelle.
The soft fullness of her womanly curves made him harden instantly. He didn’t wait or pretend. No clever wordplay or shallow flirtations.
Why should he bother with all that trifle? He was Dragon. Dragon’s took what they wanted. And he wanted her. His Noelle. He felt his teeth elongate and he bit down hard against them.
Not forever. I will not doom her to life with a malformed beast. No marking. I will borrow her, just for the now, he told himself firmly.
He could have now. But that was all. His teeth retracted, and he growled, pressing his lips firmly against hers.
Sander swallowed her moan, dipping his tongue into her sweet mouth and losing himself in the oblivion of pleasure that was her kiss. She tasted as good as she smelled, like ginger. A hot, spicy flavor that was almost enough to melt his resolve. Es Meus.