“Um,” I said, distracted by from my pity party by the burn he was firing up inside of me. “You have your hand on my shoulder.”

“Yes, I do,” he agreed. His gaze flickered past my ear again.

“My naked shoulder.” The words seemed to come from my mouth without awareness, but that was likely because my whole being was focused on the sensation of his fingers on my bare flesh.

He stiffened slightly. “Does it displease you?”

“No. That is ... well ... not really. But it’s kind of ... forward.”

“Is it?”

“I didn’t ask you to put your hand on my shoulder. My naked shoulder.”

“You didn’t ask to put your hand on my chest earlier, but I didn’t complain,” he pointed out.

Instantly, I stared at that bit of skin that showed through his opened shirt. I swear my mouth started watering just looking at it. Without realizing what I was doing, I put my hand on the open triangle of flesh.

His skin felt as hot as the fire inside me.

“You see?” He smiled, and I had to lock my knees to keep them from buckling. “I do not object.”

We stood there for a moment, him with his hand on my shoulder, me with mine on his upper chest, and I suddenly realized that the tension in the air had to be addressed.

“I’m not a fool, you know.” I let my fingers stroke the dip in his collarbone. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“I very much doubt that you do,” he said with a flash of humor in his eyes. They were definitely more blue than they had been earlier ... or maybe it was just the lights?

“You’re thinking that we’re alone in a house together, and we’re both adults, and you’re handsome as sin, and we’ve both already admitted that we like each other, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t hook up. But that doesn’t mean that’s going to happen.”

A little frown pulled his eyebrows together. I waited for the inevitable question.

“Hook up?”

“Sex.” I lifted my chin, and hiked my towel up a smidgen higher. “I’m not going to have sex with you. So if that’s what you’re thinking, you can just stop. For one thing, I don’t jump into bed with men I’ve just met, especially when they are gods. And for another, I ... er ...” I stopped. My brain seemed to have run out of reasons why I shouldn’t jump his bones.

“Don’t engage in casual sexual congress?” He looked thoughtful, his fingers now absently stroking my shoulder. “I’ve always felt that an understanding of a sexual partner was the preferred method. Luckily, I am fairly understanding.”

“In what way?” I asked, suddenly breathless. My heart started pounding like crazy, and I knew, I knew with every ounce of my being, that he was going to kiss me, and it was going to be the best kiss I’d ever had.

“I understand you.” His gaze seemed to pierce all the guards I’d put up to keep people away from my true inner self, the light from those bright gray-blue eyes chasing away all the shadows.

I leaned in a little, unable to keep from smiling at the sheer folly of my feelings. “I do not fall for men right off the bat,” I said, my breath fanning across his lips. “So don’t even go there.”

“The very last thought in my mind is that of seducing you,” he said just before his mouth closed on mine. His hand slid from my shoulder, down my naked back, and stopping at my waist, leaving a trail of fire behind. Or at least that’s what it felt like. I slipped my hand under his shirt, and enjoyed the warm velvet-over-steel feel of his chest, soft little hairs tickling my fingers.

“Good. Just so we’re on the same page. Absolutely no sex.” Those were the words that came out of my mouth, but my mind and body had very different ideas. I pushed him backward, out of the doorway and in a direct path for the bed, all the while nibbling on his lips. He tolerated that for about six seconds, but when he bumped up against the bed, both of his hands slid lower to my derriere, his fingers digging in as he pulled me upward, his tongue twining around mine, my mind and body and soul filling with fire.

“You must tell me if the fire gets too hot,” he murmured against my lips. I was too busy divesting him of his shirt to pay much attention to his words, pausing to stare with wonder at the tattoo starting at the bottom of his breastbone before moving down to his belly button, and then curving around his right side to his back.

“It’s a dragon,” I said, tracing the intricate indigo-black lines. They looked Celtic in origin, the head and neck of the dragon stretched upward, and the body twisting around to the side. “I guess that makes sense, but I never thought of a god having a tattoo. Does it go all the way ...” I moved around behind him. The tattoo continued around his back, the Celtic coiled body forming a beautifully intricate pattern that held symbols within its scales. I followed the curving path around to his left front side, where the tail coiled around and dipped down into his waistband. “That’s utterly gorgeous. Where did you get it?”

He nipped my shoulder, his hands sliding around to the front, discarding the towel I still held clutched to my front. “One of Alexander of Macedon’s men did it. He thought it fitting. Does this hurt?”

I shivered at the sensation of the heat he licked across one breast. “Goddess, no. Do it again. And then do the other one.” My fingers dug into the muscles of his shoulders for a second while the heat shimmered across now-aching nipples, and sank deep into my core.

He frowned at my breast for a second, then took one of my hands, and traced a symbol onto my palm. The symbol burst into flame, and instinctively I snatched my hand back, adrenaline jolting through my body. It was then that I realized the flame was warm on my hand, but not burning, not in the sense of normal flames.

“What ... what did you do?” I asked, staring at the symbol. It was a complex circle, one of the symbols that had been repeated on the dragon tattoo.

“It is dragon fire.” He watched me for a couple of seconds. Then a slow smile spread across his face. “You can embrace dragon fire.”

“I don’t know about embrace it,” I said, touching it with my fingers. It felt like a warm liquid, one that seemed very responsive to my desires. I turned my hand and placed my palm on his belly, pressing the fire into his flesh. “It is interesting, though.”