I spread my fingers on either side of my rib cage, sliding them down to where my hips flared out. Two flicks of my fingers and the dress pooled with a soft sigh at my feet.

Drake made a choking noise, his gaze following the dress down to the floor before slowly sweeping upward, lingering for a few breathless moments on my thighs, the very naughty underwear made up of a couple of scraps of satin and a little lace, then up higher to where I was unhooking my black lace strapless bra.

"Kincsem, you are the most glorious creature to ever walk this earth," he said as I dropped the bra, his gaze so heated my nipples tightened with just the merest glance. "And you are mine. Every inch of you is mine."

I walked toward him, enjoying the way his eyes turned almost solid green as his pupils narrowed. I swung my leg across his body, my shoe resting next to him on the rim of the tub, "Help me with the buckle?" I said in a pathetic little voice.

He eyed the exposed part of me, vaguely hidden by my underwear, following the line of my leg down to my foot. "Poor mate. Cannot take off her shoes. It is my duty to give you assistance whenever possible."

His warm hand closed around my ankle, his head dipping toward it. His teeth closed around the buckle, the leather giving almost immediately under the pressure. Long, sensitive fingers stroked away the sting, freeing my foot. He threw the shoe behind him, then licked a path down the top of my foot to my toes.

My knees almost gave way at the touch. He lifted his head and held out his hand. "Your other foot?"

I placed my bare foot carefully next to him in the tub, the warm water lapping at my knee just as sensually as in my dream. My other foot I draped over his shoulder. His hand slid along my calf toward my thigh, trailing little paths of fire. His mouth closed on the top of my foot, his tongue swirling in a way that raised goose bumps up and down my body. He plucked the shoe off my foot, pulling me a little closer so he could flick his tongue on the spot behind my knee.

"And now, I think, we have no need for this."

My leg slid down his arm as he put both hands on my underwear, literally ripping it right off me. The undies drifted softly to land next to a discarded shoe.

"You're absolutely right. We don't need them," I agreed, sinking to my knees, straddling his thighs, my back arching of its own accord to press my breasts against him. His hands were everywhere, sliding up my thighs, fingers spreading to brush oil-slicked water up my rib cage to where my breasts were aching and heavy with need. I leaned forward to kiss him, tasting his fire, tasting him, the two things merging as my tongue did a sensuous tango around his. His fingers found the hard little knots of pain on my breasts, gently rolling, teasing, tormenting my nipples until I was overwhelmed with the need for him to fill me.

"I want to go for a dragon ride tonight," I said, aware but uncaring that my voice was just as husky as his. My hands slid down his chest, my finger following the slick trail of hair down to his belly. His chest heaved as I found him, hidden in water made inky by the black stone of the tub, a groan slipping from his lips as I stroked his length, fascinated by the feel of the softest velvet over a hardness that resembled the stone surrounding us.

"Ride me, mate," he said on another groan, the tendons in his neck standing out as I nipped his neck. He slid forward a little as I sank downward, his fingers finding the very heart of my desire, opening me for his invasion. I let the tip of him enter, then sucked his lower lip into my mouth as his hands moved up my back, around to my breasts.

"Breathe fire for me again, Drake," I said a moment before dropping down on him. The slickness of my desire for him, combined with the oil and water, meant there was little friction to slow his penetration. A little scream of pleasure burbled in my throat as my body clasped him in an unforgiving embrace. Sharp pinpricks of fire touched my hips, where Drake was holding me, urging me upward again. I resisted the need to move, savoring the feel of him deep inside me, touching parts of me that no one had ever touched before.

His tongue twined against mine as my body's demands became too much for me, and I moved on him, his hands and mouth and every touch of his flesh urging me on faster. Flames licked around our joined bodies, but I paid them no heed. My focus was on the man in my arms, on my heart, which beat so loudly it almost drowned out the sultry, heated words he was moaning into my mouth, on the feel of his flesh sliding along mine, burning me more than any mere fire. The tension inside me that had been building since I had stepped into the bathroom wound tighter, faster, harder, deeper until I knew it was about to explode within me. I tightened my muscles around Drake, willing him to find his release at the same moment I found mine. He yelled something, his body jerking beneath me, his hips thrusting up as I moved down. I arched backward, the orgasm sweeping me up before it, the flames of OUT passion racing through me, to Drake. His body erupted into mine, his shout of exultation joining mine as we burned brighter than the brightest sun.

I didn't notice the flames until I managed to peel myself off where I had collapsed against him, my heart beating a wild tattoo, my lungs .struggling to bring much-needed oxygen into my body, while the sound his harsh breathing in my ear as he did the same was strangely comforting. With arms weak and trembling, I pushed myself back, smiling at the look of bemused sat-edness in his dusky green eyes. A flicker at the perimeter of my sight had me looking around us in surprise.

"Wow. You lit the water on fire."

"No, kincsem, it was your passion that did this," he corrected, pulling my boneless body forward to claim another kiss.

One of these days I really was going to have to learn how to control his fire.

"... which more or less means if I don't do what he asked, the committee is going to decide I'm guilty of the murders, even if they know full well I didn't do them. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?"

"No."

I pushed myself back from where I was draped across Drake's chest. We were in bed, my legs having been so useless that he had to carry me there, but I've long maintained that a little he-man attitude is good now and again, especially when it comes to carrying women to bed. "What do you mean, no? No, I couldn't possibly have been responsible for summoning the incubus that killed the two Guardians, or no, you've never in your life heard anything so stupid?"

"No, it is not a ridiculous idea."

His eyes were closed, his voice sleepy, his hands making lazy, drowsy circles on my behind. "You're asleep. You don't know what you're saying." His eyes opened. My fingers curled into his chest hair, tugging on it. "You have to be sleeping, because if you were awake, you'd see how crazy the whole situation is."