“No, it doesn’t.”She reached for the shower to turn it off, but his hand clamped over hers, still fast despite how numb it must be.It felt like a glove of ice.
“Ruby, I’ll meet you back at the cottage later.”
She ran her other hand back up to his shoulder, now half in the shower’s spray herself.“I forgive you, Cyn.”
He didn’t seem to register her words, staring fiercely into her eyes.
“I forgive you.”She placed her palm against his cheek.“For killing my parents.”
He shook his head.“No, you don’t get to f-forgive me.”
She arched her eyebrow.“I can do what I damn well please.”He gave her the expression he wore whenever she questioned a command.“You don’t get to tell me what to do on this one.”
He gripped her wrist as if he were going to pull her hand away.But he held fast.“I don’t want your forgiveness.”
“You do want it.You just don’t think you deserve it.”All those words he’d said to her earlier tore at her, how he wanted her, how the thought of not having her hurt so badly he thought he was actually bleeding.“You do deserve forgiveness.And me.”
He groaned, so obviously fighting what she was offering.She stepped fully into the stream with him, pressing her body against his.His Dragon became a deeper, more vivid blue.He resisted, remaining stiff as she kissed the Dragon through the water, up his pecs to his collarbone.
“It’s the magick here,” he said on a raw whisper.“I warned you?—”
“It’s not magick.It’s everything about you, Cyn, your honor and loyalty, and even the fact that you’re resistingforme.But all I want is you.”She kissed the hollow beneath his jaw as he stared at the wall with the ferocity of his resolve.She wrapped her arms around him, continuing to kiss the bristle at his chin.
He broke, burying his face in her neck and pulling her so close that her body was crushed against him.“Ruby,” he whispered, the one word a plea, a thank you, and a declaration felt by her Dragon.
Mine.His.
She nodded, tilting her head back and relishing his surrender.She dug her hands into his hair.“Come back to the cottage.Let me warm you up.”
He held on for another second before releasing her and shutting off the water.His hair stuck out in wild strands, but his eyes entranced her.That was where the magick was.
He grabbed the towel on a shelf but wrapped it around her, carefully drying her even as he trembled.“Let me get another towel,” she said, searching for a door to get inside the building but finding none.
“I’ll put this on.”He pulled on the sort of garb she’d seen some of the other residents wearing.
She took his cold, stiff hand and led him to their cottage.As soon as she closed the door behind them, she went to the bathroom and got a towel.He’d already stripped out of the now wet clothing.His Dragon shifted, its eyes as fiery as its human’s.
She removed her cold, wet clothes under his watchful eye.As if she were the most gorgeous, sexy woman in the world.She did move with a new kind of sensuous grace now.It coursed through her as she approached him with a dry towel.She dried him the same delicate way he had done for her, rubbing the towel over his hair and mussing it even more.He took the towel and tossed it aside, tilting her chin up and taking her mouth.His hands pulled her close, one tangling in her hair, the other sliding down her backside.
Despite the cold, his body—all of him—was hard against hers.His tongue slid against hers, brushing the edge of her teeth, and she found it difficult to focus on all the different sensations rushing through her.She was no longer cold, not with the heat of his hands, his body on hers.
He maneuvered her to the bed, sliding down with her and kissing her as though he couldn’t get enough.In between kisses, he said, “Ruby, if I make love to you, my Dragon will consider you mine.I didn’t get a chance to tell you that part.Your Dragon will consider me yours.It’s?—”
She gripped his face, touching her nose to his.“My Dragon already has it in its head that you’re mine.Ours.Whatever.”She kissed him hard, pulling him down so she could feel the weight of him on top of her.She sank into the soft mattress under him, feeling fully encompassed.For so long, she was the tough one, or so she thought.Now she gave in to his strength.
Need.
Not only her need, but her Dragon’s.Its craving roared through her, nearly sweeping her away.She held on to control, even as its heat licked through her.
Cyn rolled them to the side and nibbled down her neck, sliding his hands around to cup her butt and pull her tight against him.He met her eyes before kissing her again, wrapping his body around hers.
She pushed him back onto the bed and straddled him, breathless at the sight of his naked body against the moss green sheets.She leaned down and kissed his beautiful Dragon, feeling its heat beneath her lips.Her Dragon stirred where it touched the side of his stomach.
He caressed her breasts, rubbing his thumbs over her nipples.He’d said he wanted to get lost in her, and she knew the feeling of that madness.She left a trail of kisses across his ridged abdomen and then lower.He let out a sound between a growl and a sigh.
She worked her way back up, slowly, and then wrapped herself over him.His arms slid around her, squeezing her tight against him for a few moments.Then he rolled her over and pulled her onto his lap, facing him, encircling her waist with his arms.She eased onto him.And in the way her Dragon had filled an emptiness she’d harbored since adolescence, Cyn filled her soul.She’d never had sex in this position before and relished how close she was to him.
She wrapped her legs around him and kissed him.He devoured her.His intensity shot from a slow easing in to flying.He gripped her as though he’d never let her go, invading her mouth the way he invaded her body.And hers welcomed, no craved, that invasion.Her Dragon responded, pulling her into an intensity that equaled Cyn’s.She sucked on his tongue, bit his lower lip, and nipped his neck.
