He frowned, just as I knew he would. “Cyrene seldom let me speak, and she always lusted after my body.”

I thought about it for a moment, decided I had asked for it by introducing the subject of his ex, and made a decision. “Right,” I said, sliding off the bed. “New rules: one, no mention of ex-lovers immediately before, after, or during lovemaking. Yes, I realize that I brought her up, and I won’t make that mistake again. Two: you may think that domineering attitude is going to fly, but it won’t. I don’t like pushy men, and I really don’t like pushy lovers. Three: I’m going to take a shower. You can join me or not—at this point, I don’t give a flying squirrel’s butt.”

He made an objecting sort of rumble when I pushed past him into the bathroom. I took off my clothes, noting some grubby dirt and soot marks from the fire that morning and wishing again that I had a fresh outfit to put on. By the time I was clad in nothing but a towel, Kostya entered the bathroom naked, complete with erection and frown.

“Silly me,” I said, noting both. “I assumed that the act of physical pleasure would make you stop scowling.”

“Scowling? I’m not scowling,” he said, putting his hands on his hips and deepening his frown. “I never scowl. I am a wyvern—my feelings are hidden from all. That is the way of dragons.”

“Seriously?” I turned him so he could see the mirror and pointed at his face. “That’s a scowl. Or if you like, a really annoyed frown. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.”

His frown shifted to a glare directed at me. “I am not frowning.”

“Yes, you are. See how your eyebrows are pulled together? That’s a scowl, pumpkin.”

“I am not a pumpkin, and my eyebrows look normal.”

“Well, they’re not. That is to say, I’ve seen them locked into normal position, and what you have now isn’t that.”

He snorted. “I look as I always do, and since I know you will ask, no, I am unable to change my human form. If you find me unsightly, I will take reasonable steps to improve my appearance, but there is a limit to what I can do.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at both the fact that he seriously didn’t realize he was frowning and at the notion that he was unsightly. “Kostya, you are anything but unsightly.”

He glanced at the mirror. “I admit that I do not think of my human form much. It is what it is, although I did have a tooth replaced when the silver wyvern knocked it out.” He pulled back his upper lip to show me a gold tooth along the side of his mouth. “It was a vanity, but one that makes eating easier, so I indulged myself.”

“It’s very nice, and completely understandable. All of you is nice, more than nice, really quite yummy, to be honest. That widow’s peak is seriously sexy, and I love the cleft in your chin, although I have to admit I want to bite it more than I probably should. You have nice shoulders when they aren’t broken, and I love your hands, but I’ve always had a thing for men with big hands. And your legs are good, and of course, your butt is really outstanding, and honestly, I can’t ever say that I’ve seen a man with a six-pack before, but you definitely have one. All in all, you could quite easily grace the cover of GQ and not look out of place, so about that, at least, you can relax.”

He stopped scowling, and instead looked pleased. “I am glad my form gives pleasure to you. Now that you have cataloged me, take off the towel so I can do the same.”

I clutched the towel a little tighter. “I’m not even remotely comfortable with standing here stark naked and letting you examine me. For one, I could stand to drop a few pounds. And for another, I got horribly out of shape when I was at the crackpot center, and I lost a lot of muscle tone.”

“You just invited me to shower with you,” Kostya pointed out with maddening reason. “And yet now you do not wish for me to see you unclothed?”

I raised my chin. “I never said I made perfect sense all the time. Besides, there’s a difference between soaping each other up in a steamy shower and standing around staring at someone while they stand awkwardly wishing they’d used the treadmill in the nuthouse gym.”

“You stared at me. I simply wish to have my turn.” He tried to tug the towel off me.

I slapped at his hands. “You are gorgeous. I mean, seriously, Kostya, just look at yourself. You’re all muscles, and lovely bulges, and don’t at all look like you need to join a Zumba class, whereas I do.”

He frowned again. “What is—”

“Aerobics. Stop trying to take my towel, dammit!” I backed up toward the shower, still holding tight to it.

“You have no reason to be concerned that I won’t like your body,” he said loftily, which just made me want to pinch him. “Even if you were deformed in some manner, which I do not believe is the case, I would pay it no mind.”

I stopped backing up to stare at him for a few seconds. “I… I don’t… holy cranberries, Kostya, I don’t know how to take that. It’s flattering and yet at the same time condescending as hell. Honestly, I feel like your arrogance is showing, and I really don’t like that.”

He gave one of his martyred sighs, then marched forward and, before I could stop him, whipped the towel off me, pulling me up against his body when I started to protest. “No, no more stalling. You wish for me to make love to you, and I will do so happily, no matter what image you have of yourself. I find you… enticing. Your breasts are enjoyable. Not so large as to be ungainly and yet sufficient to tantalize. Your body pleases me. You please me. Tell me that you accept me as I am.”

I stopped rubbing myself against him, feeling that I had to know the worst before I could commit myself any further. “I please you? Like… like a book pleases you? Or a nice meal? Or a gift from a loved one?”

“No one has ever given me a gift,” he said, sidestepping the issue. His eyes were a combination of onyx with little molten flecks of silver.

I pinched his arm. “Kostya, I need to know what you’re thinking. No, I need to know what you’re feeling. Are we just giving in to perfectly ordinary lust, or is there something more going on here?”

“We are not, in any sense of the word, ordinary,” he murmured, his hands suddenly busy with my behind, while he slowly pulled me against his chest, his mouth hot on my shoulder as he kissed a path toward my neck.