Dragon Soul (Dragon Falls, #3)(45)

His eyes widened, then a little smile flirted with his lips. “You’re on fire.”

“I know I am. I told you that you’re a heck of a kisser.”

“No, I meant literally.”

I looked down at where he pointed. A small ring of fire encircled my feet. “Eek! Where did that come from?”

“You.” He gave me a heated look that made me want to rip off all his clothes and cover him in something lickable, like chocolate. “You are a mate, remember?”

“Kick-ass mate,” I corrected automatically, wondering how much chocolate the ship had on board.

“That goes without saying.”

“I still can’t get over this whole making fire thing.” I gazed up at him, and wondered how I could broach the subject of sexy times in the near future.

Rowan made a face, then admitted, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to last until later.” His voice was husky in a way that made me shiver with desire just hearing it. “I don’t suppose you would like to—”

“Yes,” I said, taking his hand and starting down the stairs. “Right now. Sooner, in fact.”

He chuckled as he trotted behind me. “I’m glad to know you are just as impatient as I am. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you—oomph.”

He bumped into me when a sudden, horrible thought made me stop midway down the stairs. I turned to face him, a horrible suspicion in mind. “Just one minute. You may trust May and Gabriel, but I don’t, and I’m the one who was hired to help out Mrs. P. Although she may be a bit scatty and frustrating as sin sometimes, she’s still a pretty nice old lady, and she did let me come on this cruise when she didn’t have to, so I’m going to do my job the very best I can.”

“She’s told you more than once that she expects you—us—to protect her. I wouldn’t be assigning to her quite so many altruistic motives as you seem to be wont.”

“You’re trying to distract me—”

He lifted his hand as if he was taking an oath. “I have no ulterior motives in getting you into my bed other than licking every square inch of you. Twice.”

Goose bumps rippled down my back at both the look in his eyes and mental image of his words. But I had to think of Mrs. P, so I pushed aside my own need. I brushed past him retracing my steps to the top deck. “That doesn’t mean I trust those two stalkers up there.”

“They aren’t stalkers. Gabriel and May are here to protect Mrs. P,” Rowan argued.

“So they say, but do you know for certain?”

“I know they are not trying to harm anyone, yes.” I reached the top of the stairs and turned to go out on the open part of the deck when Rowan scooped an arm behind me, and hefted me over his shoulder, one hand holding onto my legs as he descended to the floor below.

“What the hell?” I squawked, and slapped him on the back a couple of times before I realized that my boobs were perilously close to falling out of the Xena bodice. “Eek! Put me down! This costume wasn’t meant to defy gravity in this manner.”

“We’re almost there. You’ll be fine,” he said, and when I struggled to push myself off him, grabbed my legs with his free hand.

It was as is if I’d been touched by fire. Warmth swept up my legs, pooling in secretive parts of me, parts that wanted Rowan to revisit their depths. My breasts, nearly bursting free from their upside-down confines, were sensitized and heavy, the nipples rubbing on the soft interior of the corset cups making little shivers flicker down my arms. When the thought of Rowan’s hands and mouth on my breasts flashed into my mind, it was all I could do to keep from whimpering.

Mrs. P, I desperately told myself in an attempt to keep from ravishing Rowan the second he released me. I had to remain focused on her.

But when his hand slid up higher, under my leather skirt, and his fingers dove into the very parts that were pleading for him, I just about came unglued.

“Put me down!” I shrieked, kicking my legs wildly.

To my surprise, he did just that.

“Goddess above, man, you can’t do that to me,” I said, stuffing my breasts down into my Xena corset. “At least, not out in public where someone could see us. And just what do you think you’re doing by abducting me in that manner?”

“I’m arranging for us to have a private talk. It’s only fair you know what’s going on, since you have taken up the role of Mrs. P’s protector,” he said, opening his cabin door and tugging me inside.

“Oh, no sir,” I said, clinging to the door frame. I glanced over his shoulder, noticed the bed sitting smack-dab in the center of the cabin, and immediately my smutty thoughts went into overtime. “I know what’s going to happen. I won’t be able to resist you, and then May and Gabriel will run amok all over poor Mrs. P, after which you’ll propose to me, get me to agree to marry you, and then die, leaving me alone again. Well, I won’t have it, do you understand? I simply will not have it!”

Rowan paused as he entered the cabin, giving me the oddest look I’d ever received. “Did you… I’m not sure… did you just propose to me?”

“Don’t you dare be adorably confused at me!” I said, shaking a finger at him. I wanted to pounce on him, and yet, I needed to protect Mrs. P from the predatory dragons on the deck above us. “I refuse to fall for your charms! The steamy, mind-blowingly fabulous sex will have to wait.”