“That was just because we were newly mated. We’re old hands at this now,” I said, swirling my fingers around his belly button. “Kaawa says that she raised you to be considerate of a lover, and that the fact that you can’t seem to control yourself around me speaks volumes about you.”

He made a little face. “Perhaps, but she knows the way of dragonkin. She, as a mate, is aware that there are times when a dragon must have his mate in the most elemental of ways.”

“Yes, but we seem to have an awful lot of elemental experiences. What I’d like is the chance to experience what other people do.”

“You mean mortals.”

“And immortals. Nondragon immortals. Your chest is lovely, Gabriel. I like looking at it. I like touching it. I want to taste it.”

Fire lit deep in his eyes and body.

“I want to taste you. All of you. I’ve heard that oral sex can be most gratifying. I’d like to try that.”

He stopped breathing.

I smiled a secret little smile and bent down to flick my tongue over his nipple. “It all starts with your chest, you see, because it’s so very wonderful. It doesn’t have a huge amount of hair, but it’s not bare as a plucked chicken, either.”

“I’m glad you think so,” he said, his voice sounding like he was gargling cement. “I haven’t spent much time thinking about it.”

“That’s all right, because I have.” I paused, struck by a thought. “Did you choose this form, the way a demon chooses its? Or did you one day shift to human form, and this is what happened?”

“Human form is always a matter of chance, just as it is for mortals,” he answered, suddenly stilling, his eyes going wary. “You are troubled by the fact that I appear ethnically different from you?”

“Mortals make much out of differences in outward appearance,” I said, kissing the sudden doubt right out of him. “We are not them. We both look beyond a mere form to the person within.”

He relaxed, his hands reaching for me again.

“Hands flat on the ground, please,” I instructed, waiting until he complied before I rewarded him with another kiss, one to each dimple. “Where was I? Oh, yes, this trail of hair, now,” I said, stroking the silky line of hair that gathered in the center of his torso, and headed to regions south. “This trail makes me go all weak in my knees.”

He groaned, his eyes shut as I let my fingers wander around his hips and belly, avoiding his rapidly growing erection.

I kissed my way down his chest, savoring the salty tang of it, taking a tentative little nibble on his ribs.

“This is going to kill me, May.”

“No, it isn’t. You’re a strong man. You can do this.”

“I’m not a man. I’m a dragon, and dragons take their mates when they insist on touching and tormenting and tasting. Dear god. Do that again.”

I chuckled as I dipped my head down to his flank, licking the lovely indentation around his hip joint with long, sweeping strokes of my tongue, a line of fire following my mouth. “You see? I knew you would enjoy this.”

His body twitched as I kissed a path over to his belly, pausing to bite it gently, blowing fire on it, too.

“I’m sorry, May. I know you want to do this, but—”

His hands closed on my shoulders, obviously ready to pull me over him again, but I held him back with a hand on his far-too-delectable chest. “I can see I’m going to have to take your mother’s advice after all.”

His eyebrows rose. “Which advice?”

“She told me that if you couldn’t control yourself, I would have to do it for you.”

I could feel his confusion as I moved away from him a few yards, digging through the wet pockets of the jeans that looked as if they’d been through a shredder. Luckily, the objects I brought out survived Gabriel’s method of removing clothing.

“You intend to restrain me?” he asked as he saw the thin strips of rope I held.

“Mother knows best,” I said with a smile as I tied one of the ropes around his wrist. I looked around for something to anchor the rope. “Ah, that’ll do nicely.”

We were close enough to a tree that I could loop the rope around its narrow trunk, then back to Gabriel, where I tied it around his free hand, shortening the rope so that his hands were pulled up to his ears.

He frowned. “May, I am a wyvern.”

“I know you are.”

I checked the knots on his first wrist. They looked solid.

“Wyverns are naturally dominant. We do not like being restrained.”

“Mmhmm. Is the rope too tight?”

He considered his hands, wiggling his fingers. “No. I think we should discuss the fact that, about this, my mother may be wrong.”

“You think so?” I sat back and admired my handiwork. “I have to admit, Gabriel, there is something strangely exciting about seeing you spread out before me, every glorious inch of you just lying there waiting for me to touch you, and there’s not a thing you can do about it. You can’t distract me, you can’t touch me, you can’t stop me. Oh, yes. Kaawa is a genius.”

His frown faded as he gave me a jaded look. “It would take more than a bit of rope to keep me from touching you, little bird.”

“Oh, we both know you could snap that rope like it was a piece of thread,” I agreed. “But that’s not its real purpose. You’re well aware that the only reason I tied your hands is because it’s important to me to be able to touch you the way I want to.”

His eyes glittered with the cold light of the moon. “You did not tell me that you were troubled by the method of our lovemaking, mate. I have allowed myself to indulge in dragon ways because you bear the shard, and thought you understood and shared those pleasures, but I realize they are foreign to you. I will adapt to your desires in the future.”

I kissed him quickly, his breath hot on my lips as I said, “Don’t you dare—I told you I had no complaints, and I meant it. The way you do things is just fine with me, Gabriel, as if you weren’t aware that you make me mindless with pleasure. I just want to try this, too.”

He glanced over at one of his bound hands, then sighed. “Very well,” he said, letting his head fall back to the ground. “Proceed. Although I should warn you that I am uncomfortable with the idea of being bound, and thus am likely to not respond the way I would should you release me and allow events to proceed in a manner befitting drag—glargern!”