A flash of surprise crossed Braxton’s face this time, soon to be replaced with the heat of a thousand suns. “Be very sure about what you want, Jessa.” His husky voice was a low growl which turned my insides to liquid. “You’ve been a long time without sex, so right now it’s like being hungry and going to a buffet.”

He was calling himself a buffet … oh my.

Squeezing my thighs together to hold back my urges, I suddenly felt like the neediest supernatural in the world. As in, I needed to be butt naked and claiming myself a dragon shifter.

“… there is no going back,” he said.

I realized that in my roar of desire I’d missed some of what Braxton had said.

I didn’t want to ask him to repeat it, so I had to guess. No going back … did he mean that once the sexual relationship ran its course we wouldn’t be friends any longer? Surely not – there was no way that would happen.

A half grin lit his features. “Get that look off your face, sweetheart. There is not a single scenario that would result in us not being best friends.”

Relief.

Except … there was a scenario. What if one of us found a mate while we were together and the other wouldn’t let go?

Thinking it through, I was sure that even if I found a true mate, I’d still choose Braxton. I didn’t care what a true mate bond felt like, I was stronger than that. Plus my relationship with Braxton and the other Compasses was pretty close to mated relationships anyway. We ate, slept, and played together. We made joint decisions and consulted each other for the important things. We were a pack and a family. The only thing that I didn’t share with them was sex, but in every other way I was hogging those four morsels of deliciousness to myself. We all knew other members of our community thought I was banging all of them, but I‘d never given a single fuck what others thought.

It just didn’t feel like it was enough anymore, not with Braxton. I wanted more.

The dragon shifter seemed to be following along with my thought processes. Probably the emotions were showing themselves clearly on my face. “Sleep on it, Jess,” he said. “I know what I want, now it’s time for you to decide.”

He knew what he wanted? Shit, while I had been slowly coming to the conclusion that he was attracted to me, the serious nature of his tone … spoke of much more than a quick dalliance.

“You want me?” I braved the words and asked the big question.

I waited breathlessly for his reply.