The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 36

MIDAS.

He catches her scent, sweet and heady, before he even opens the doors to his study.

He has not seen her since the night of the introduction.

Though he would never admit it, would die before he says it out loud, he has been avoiding her.

Because if he has to sleep with her in his bed, he is not certain he can keep his hands to himself.

And the way she looks at him, that mixture of fear and hate...having him in her bed is probably the last thing she wants.

He steps into the space and his study is saturated in her scent.

He does not see her, but he can hear her hiding under his desk, trying not to breathe too loudly.

What in all the realms is she up to this time?

She does not realize that he knows she's there, that he can hear how fast her heart is beating all the way from where he's standing.

He walks towards the door and locks it.

Her heart rate triples and he smirks in wicked fascination.

"So how long until we stop pretending I do not know you are under there?"

She says nothing and he takes a step forward.

"Am I to assume you intend to remain there the entire time or just until after dark?"

Still no answer.

"Hera..."

She sighs. "It is hard to pretend I am not here if you keep talking to me."

"That is kind of the point. Come out."

"No."

Maddening, deliciously frustrating woman.

"Answer my question then."

"If I give you an answer will you pretend you never saw me and unlock the door?"

"No."

"Then what does it matter?"

He advances nearer, enjoying the way her heartbeat increases with each step he takes closer to her. "You're right, it does not. Nonetheless I am curious about one thing." "Which is?"

He stops directly in front of the table, leaning on it and folding his arms in a relaxed gesture of nonchalance. "How in all the realms, does hiding under my work bench, factor into your escape plan this time around?" "I wasn't..."

He hears her shuffle to her feet and he turns around to watch her crawl out from beneath the opposite side of the table.

"I was not trying to escape."

It has been two days. Only two days.

Yet even with cobwebs in her hair and a smear of dust across her left cheek, seeing her causes something in his chest to tighten and release.

It makes him want to take a step back just so he can drink in the sight of her properly. A man whose thirst is finally being quenched by something he did not even know he needed.

He raises one brow at her words. "Is that so?"

"I really wasn't."

He makes a show of thinking her answer over. "Does this then perhaps have anything to do with the castle seamstress and her assistants who are even now running all around the palace grounds hunting for you?"

She lowers her eyes, her cheeks flushing a pretty shade of pink and Midas bites back a groan at the not so faint stirrings of arousal he instantly feels.

"In my defense, they were attempting to poke holes in me."

The corners of his mouth tilt upward in amusement, bordering on the edge of a smile but not quite reaching it.

"So you wish for me to believe that this is not all part of some elaborate scheme on your part to run away from me again?"

She tilts her chin up at him. "Believe me or not dragon king, it does not matter to me either way..."

Her eyes meet his and hold. "...I am done running."

He feels it instantly, that acute, intoxicating flush of sinful, primal craving made even worse by the tether bond.

She is right there, as if taunting him, so very much within touchable distance.

Were it not for the table between them Midas would have...

He cuts the thought off before it can form fully and folds his arm across his chest instead, desire making his voice rough. "So what exactly are you doing here Hera?"

"......"

"At a loss for words I see... I did not think that was possi..."

"You never came."

He frowns slightly. "What?"

She looks as surprised at the outburst as he is but she repeats it again, her voice tiny and quiet this time. "You never came."

"Never came where?"

She lowers her head and exhales softly. "Every night I go to bed thinking you'll be there when I wake up yet the morning comes and half the bed is cold and empty. You never come."

His feet are taking him around the desk, pulling him towards her.

His heart pounding just the tiniest bit faster. Surely she couldn't mean...

"You wanted me to come?"

She bites her lip, suddenly replaceing the surface of his table immensely interesting. "I...I do not even know what I want anymore."

He stops at the edge of the table, just short of reaching her and tilts his head. "Are all humans always this fickle and indecisive?"

Her head snaps up at his words. She narrows her eyes and squares her shoulders, her voice dropping many degrees to land at ice cold. "Forget I said anything. I apologize for my sneaking into your study without permission..." She curtsies; she has never curtsied to him before.

"I shall take my leave now."

She bows her head slightly and readies herself to walk away.

Except the right side of the stone slab that serves as his table is built into the wall and so the only way to get away is by passing around the table on the left side, the same side where Midas' presence has left little room in the way of movement for her. Of course he could move out of the way, take one small step to the side so she doesn't have to brush up against him on her quest to leave but he does not do so.

Does not want to.

Yet she attempts to pass any way.

Turning to face him so she can walk sideways and slip through and around him with the little place left.

But as she does so, her front brushes up against him like he knew it would.

The bodice of her gown snags on the roughness of his shirt causing her to tug at it and Midas clenches his jaw at the jolt of liquid l**t, hot and burning, caused by the friction between their bodies, that sends blood rushing somewhere below his belly. And he might have left it at that, his hands balled up in fists at his side.

He might even have opened the door and let her pass.

If she had not done what she did.

If when their bodies touched, she had not made that sound of sharp breathless surprise.

But she did and his entire being is set on fire.

He moves without even thinking about it.

Lifts her off the ground, ignoring her little squeal of surprise and turns around to promptly place her on the table.

His arms planted on the table on either side, hedging her in.

She stares at him lips parted, blue eyes wide at the suddenness of his actions.

"What are you doing?"

Her hands are gripping the hard muscles of his arm and his biceps tingle wonderfully beneath her touch.

She is attempting to control the breathlessness in her voice but he can see the pulse jumping erratically in her neck.

And he knows...just knows from the way her skin flushes and her tongue flicks out to wet her lips that he isn't the only one feeling everything.

Which of course only makes his own appetite grow and the part of him he has been trying to keep under control the entire day goes rock hard that same instant.

When he eventually does speak, his voice does not sound like his voice.

It is rougher, deeper, the voice of a man tempted with the one thing he wants most in the world; a man on the very edge of his restraint.

"Do you mean that?"

She swallows, her eyes staring at something on his chest, almost like she does not quite trust herself to look up at him.

"Mean what my Lord?"

Her hands are moving on his arm. Tracing small circles with her fingers and making tiny gripping motions she probably isn't even aware she is doing.

Movements he however is painfully aware of because they are making it harder and harder for him to keep thinking...to keep talking.

She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and his gaze heavy with pure unadulterated l**t drops to it.

A nervous habit she has that threatens to drive Midas to the brink his sanity.

He touches it, pulls it out from beneath her teeth with his thumb, resisting the urge to take it in his mouth and taste it.

"Stop that. I've told you it's distracting."

She lifts her head at the dark gruffness of his voice, her eyes holding his ransom and there is no denying what he sees there.

Gods above...

She wants him...she wants him almost as badly as he wants her.

He leans in closer, enjoying the way her breath quickens when he presses their bodies against each other. "You say you do not know what it is you want..."

He tilts his face towards hers, his eyes dropping to that pretty, inviting mouth. "...Shall I help you decide?"

She doesn't say anything but her hands slide higher on his arms, over his shoulder and towards his neck, her lips part in anticipation and her eyes begin to drift slowly shut.

But just when he would give in, his control about to snap, a loud knock, exactly like the one from this morning echoes around the room.

She jumps as if coming awake, her hands falling from his shoulders and just like that, the moment is broken.

Midas does not remember if he has ever hated a sound more in his life.

He straightens and takes a step back to lift her off the table. She wobbles on her feet and he reaches out on instinct, arm around her waist to steady her.

"In the future..."

His reaches out to remove the white, silky strands from her hair. "I would prefer..."

Thumbing wiping at the smudge of dirt on her cheek. "... if the queen of my castle is not found hiding under tables like a common thief."

She gazes up at him, all traces of earlier gone like they were not just moments away from tearing off each other's clothes and shrugs, a movement only she somehow manages to make graceful. "What can I say my Lord, must be the echoes of my criminal past you are always so quick to remind me about."

He narrows his eyes at her flippancy but whoever is at the door knocks again before he can say anything. "Are you going to open the door and let them in or...?"

His grip tightens around her waist.

He is pulling her closer again without even knowing it. His face dipping towards hers. "Or..."

"Your majesty, are you in there? The kingmakers are here and they request your audience."

He groans and she smirks up at him which of course only makes him want to kiss her even more.

But Midas is a king with a strong sense of duty who prides himself on his control.

So he pulls on that control with all his might and steps away from her.

He opens the door and the guard bows low.

"Show them to the throne room and inform them I shall be with them shortly."

"Yes my King."

When he turns back, she's already behind him.

She hands him his cloak that he didn't even realize she had taken and he holds out the door for her sending a mind link to her two guards to meet her on her way.

She bows her head and starts off in the opposite direction.

"Hera..."

She turns back to look at him.

"The seamstress is hiding out by your door waiting for you to return."

Her eyes narrow in suspicion. "Why are you suddenly on my side?"

He fastens the cloak around his neck and adjusts his crown.

"I am not. I simply do not want you hiding under any more tables if I'm not there to replace you."

She laughs, sudden and unexpected and Midas feels something in his chest fall defiantly into place.