“Stop staring at me,” she whispered.
“You told me not to look. I assumed you meant your legs.”
The redness in her cheeks deepened another shade. “You’re enjoying this far too much.”
“No, if I were enjoying myself, Aradia, I’d be climbing into the stream along with you.”
Aradia blinked. Then, her neck bobbed, as she swallowed hard. “Stop that.”
“Stop what? Untying you?” I pulled the rope away from her wrists and dangled it before her eyes. “You’re all done.”
“I meant stop trying to seduce me.” She took a step back and glanced over her shoulder at the path. I knew what was going through her mind now. Plans and plots, ways to escape. She was calculating how many moments she might have to get away from me.
The answer to that question was zero.
“I’m not trying to seduce you, Aradia,” I said, closing the distance between us. Smiling, I lifted her chemise over her head and dropped it to the ground. Gently, I touched her bare shoulder, letting my eyes drop south. She still wore a garment over her breasts, but it was mostly see-through. Her hardened nipples poked through the thin material, enticing me to see more. When her lips parted and she did not step back, my self-control almost snapped.
“Liar,” she whispered, wetting her lips with her tongue.
Leaning down, I dragged my face across her lilac-scented hair. “I’m trying to wash the mortal smell off you.”
And with that, I pushed her into the stream. She fell back with a half-hearted scream, the waters splashing all around her. I stood watching, willing my beating heart to slow. I didn’t quite understand what had happened there. For a moment, it had felt like she’d wanted me to drag my hands all over her body.
Even if she hated me. And even if I hated her right back.
Her head crested the water. She glared at me, her eyes full of daggers. “What the hell, Yuto! I would have gone in myself. You didn’t have to shove me!”
“No, I didn’t have to, but it was far more fun this way.” I grinned.
“You are honestly the most horrible man I’ve ever met in my entire life.”
Not a man, love, I thought.A dragon.
With a growl, she spun away from me. The water sloshed around her waist and dripped from her hair. “How long do I have to stay in here anyway? The water is freezing.”
I was tempted to tell her it would take an hour, just to mess with her. But the weariness in her voice gave me pause. “You only need to take a short dip in these waters for it to wash your scent away.”
She brushed her chin against her shoulder in turning back to glance at me. “These waters are magical, too, aren’t they?”
“Most of what you’ll find in Inishfall is.”
Nodding, she flicked her fingers at me. “You’ll need to turn around again.”
I smirked. “Don’t trust yourself with my eyes on you?”
“Just turn around,” she snapped.
I chuckled, shifting on my boots to face the trees. Cocking my head, I listened to her movements. A splash as she edged toward shore. A slight gasp as the coolness of the water caressed her skin. The pad of her footsteps on the ground.
“If you run, I will catch you, Aradia. Please don’t waste your energy.”
“Maybe I could pick up this rock and knock you out.”
Whirling on my feet, I faced her. In fact, shehadleaned over a particularly large boulder and had placed her hand on top of it. Anger flashed in her narrowed eyes, water dripping down her sleek skin.
“If you can pick up that rock, then go right ahead and try,” I said.
“Icanpick up this rock,” she said hotly. “And once I do, you’re dead.”
