Light My Fire (26 page)

Chuan Ren spat something in Chinese. I lifted my
chin, gave her a look that let her know I wouldn’t dignify
whatever insult she had hurled at me with a response, and fetched the small extinguisher from where it hung next to
the door. By the time I put out the fire on the couch, coffee table, two chairs, and Shing, Drake had managed to get her to the other side of the room. She stood with her
feet slightly apart, her eyes burning, looking every inch a
dragon lady.

“I am willing to admit I might have been a bit hasty
with the first interpretation of what I saw,” I told Drake as
I set the extinguisher down and stepped over the slightly smoking, still-moaning Shing. “But the fact remains that
you”—I pointed at Chuan Ren—”just declared war on
him.” I stopped next to Drake and leaned into him in a
way that I hope screamed possession. “And as odd as
dragon politics are, surely lip wrestling the person you
just declared war on is not standard operating procedure.”

“I was supposed to meet Gabriel here to discuss a
cease-fire,” Drake said calmly, putting his arm around me
and pulling me even closer. “He did not show up.”

“OK. That explains why you are here. Now would
you like to tell me why you were kissing him?” I asked
Chuan Ren.

She turned her back on me, shaking her long black hair
so it hung in a perfectly straight line down her back.

“She was attempting to seduce me again, that’s all.”
Drake’s voice might be placid, but I could feel the angry
fire within him.

“Thome guyth get all the breakth,” Jim said, walking
over to drool on the top of Shing’s head.

“Again?”
I asked, twisting around to look at Drake.
“As in, she’s seduced you other times?”

His jaw worked for a second, his eyes wary. “We have
a somewhat complicated history,” was all he said.

“Complicated in that she’s another ex-girlfriend?” He
said nothing but didn’t dispute it. I sighed. “I seem to be
running into them with increasing frequency. Can you
warn me when the next one pops up, so I’ll know that she’s likely to try to kill me or get me sent to prison?”

One side of Drake’s mouth twitched. “I will try,” he
said gravely.

“Thanks.” I turned back to Chuan Ren, who was now
poking around a desk. “So, I take it peace is out of the
question.”

She looked down her nose at me. “We will not rest
until the green dragons are destroyed.”

I forbore to comment on her sleeping-with-the-enemy
tactic and simply said, “OK. It’s on now. Just so you
know—you’re going down. Drake did it before, and I
have every confidence he can do it again.”

We left her sputtering and slamming things around the room. Sying raced in when she hurled a vase through the
window.

“We’re going thraight to a dentitht, right?” Jim asked
as we walked through the lobby.

“I’ll get you an emergency appointment with a vet
who specializes in dentistry,” I promised. “I’m sure Nora
must know of a good vet.”

“Can I get a gold thooth to replathe thith one?”

“No.”

“How abouth an enamel thathoo? I heard they’re all
the rage.”

“No.”

“Meanie,” Jim muttered, sucking on its loose tooth.

“What you said to Chuan Ren was not, perhaps, the
wisest way to end a conversation,” Drake told me as he
beckoned the hotel doorman. “Her temper was difficult enough without you reminding her of her past failures.”

I raised my eyebrow at him. “Do you honestly think
you’re getting off this easily?”

“No.” He grinned as I followed Jim into a waiting cab.
“I have every confidence you’re going to have much to
say on the subject. But I anticipate the making-up process
will be most enjoyable to both of us. In fact, I’m looking
forward to it.”

The little smile I tried to hide curled my lips. I knew
that Drake wouldn’t betray me, but it wouldn’t hurt him
to wish to placate me.

Drake wasn’t the only one looking forward to our
discussion.

16

I woke up the following morning to find my breasts on
fire.

Literally.

“Oooh,” I purred, shivering a little with excitement de
spite the flames that licked up my body ... right next to
Drake’s tongue, which was licking a suddenly aching
breast. “We haven’t spent enough time together for me to
be certain if you are the type of man who wakes up in the
mood to frolic, but I see you are.”

“Kincsem,
where you are concerned, I’m always in the
mood to ..
.frolic.
Did you get enough sleep?”

“Oh, yes,” I said, although whether I was answering
his question or responding to his touch was unclear. Plea
sure, sweet and pure, started at the touch of his mouth to
my flesh, rippling out to all points on my body, turning
me into one gigantic quivering erogenous zone. My
hands slid up his chest, around his ribs, then down his
back. I flexed my fingers and dragged my nails gently up
his spine, something I knew he liked. His head rose from the sweet torment he was laving up my breast, the fire in
his eyes so bright it made his eyes glow.

I traced the line of muscles around his hips to the front,
my fingers wrapping around the heavy, hot part of him, marveling yet again that such a simple bit of flesh and
muscle could bring so much pleasure.

“You were right, yesterday.”

“I am always right,” he growled, his entire body stiff
ening for a moment as I caressed him.

“Not even close. But you were right about the making-
up part being enjoyable.”

His mouth was busy with a sensitive patch of my flesh,
but I heard him mumble something about my ire being
worth tolerating just for the resolution of our differences.

“You promised me you’d teach me to breathe fire,” I reminded him, licking his lips as he groaned when my
fingers found sensitive skin. I bit his shoulder, releasing
one hand to push him over onto his back. “I think it
would be an extremely handy skill to have, and what bet
ter time than the present to learn it?”

“What better time, indeed?” he agreed, watching with interest as I flicked my tongue over two little pert nipples
peeking through the dark hair of his chest.

“Let me have it, Drake.”

“It is all yours,
kincsem.”

I bit gently on his nipple, enjoying the little shiver of
pleasure that shook his chest. “Not that. I want your fire.
Let me have it.”

Dragon fire roared up within him, spilling over into
me. I allowed it to fill me, embracing and welcoming it.

“Focus it,” Drake said in a tight voice as I moved over to nibble on the other nipple before using my tongue to
trace the glossy trail of hair that led down his belly to
points south. “Make it take the form you want, then re
lease it.”

A thick, abrupt burp of fire escaped me.

“Focus more. You’re allowing yourself to be dis
tracted.”

I looked down at his penis, standing so patiently yet
proudly, waiting for me to make my way to it. “There’s a
lot to be distracted by. I had a thought about this shape-
shifting issue—you shift when you have an orgasm, did
you know that? I figured maybe if we make love a whole
lot, it’ll ease up your shifting muscles, or whatever it is that’s holding you back. Um. I don’t seem to be able to
breathe the fire, do I?”

“You must exercise control, Aisling. Without it, you’ll
never be able to harness the fire. It is a tool for you to use.
Make it into what you want.”

I flicked my tongue across the tip of his penis, savor
ing the salty drop of moisture collected there. I gathered
the fire within me, holding a mental picture of just what
I wanted to do with it. As I opened my mouth to take him
in, fire blazed out, setting the lower half of his body
ablaze. I concentrated until the fire was in a fine stream, and licked a fiery path along the length of his shaft, send
ing a blast of it at the sensitive underside of the head.

Drake shouted and just about came off the bed. I
laughed. “You can’t tell me you don’t like that.”

“Christos,
like
doesn’t even come close to it.”

“What does it feel like?” I prompted, using both hands
with my mouth to set up a rhythm that had his hips thrust
ing upward.

“It’s an agony of ecstasy,” he groaned, his fingers tan
gled in my hair. I glanced upward to see his eyes closed,
his jaw tight as his fire and my mouth worked their
magic.
Agony of ecstasy
was a good description, so I decided to let him off the sharing hook, and concentrate on
bringing him to the very edge of rapture.

Our bodies were coated in flame, Drake groaning non
stop and begging me to climb on him and end the torment, when a cool breeze whispered along my back.
Dragon fire being what it is—formed from the originating dragon’s well of emotions—it had never yet harmed
me, or left me feeling anything but empowered and usu
ally aroused. But for some reason, this time I was left
slick with sweat, as if the fire was impure.

Just as Drake had had enough and was hauling me
over himself, his penis poised to impale me, I caught the
flash of something yellow from the corner of my eye.

That’s when I realized that what I had thought was
sweat was really water. . . coming from the overhead
sprinklers.

“Imps,” I yelled, sliding off Drake to point at the nasty little yellow creature bolting for the opened window. Although Drake’s bedding had been fireproofed, the rest of the room hadn’t been so treated, and everything from the
drapes to the wardrobe, uncomfortable Louis XIV chairs,
and a squat, ugly desk in the corner was aflame.

As the word left my mouth, a smoke detector near the
door went off, sounding a piercing siren that seemed to cut through the thick black smoke that was filling the
room.

Drake snarled an oath and was across the room before I could blink, the imp in his hands for a second before he
hurled it out the window to the ground three stories
below. He slammed open a second window.

“Not again,” I cried, grabbing up his discarded shirt to
slip on as urgent voices sounded in the hall. Pal and
Istvan burst into the room, both bearing fire extinguish
ers. Drake snatched a third out of the bathroom, and
mindless of his nudity (thankfully, he no longer exhibited
visual evidence of his ardor), stood with the other two
men to put out the fire.

“What is going on here? What is that appalling noise
at such an unholy hour?” Drake’s mother stood in the
doorway, clad in an elegant rose-colored silk negligee,
her scowl enough to douse any flame. Her eyes pierced
me, narrowing at the sight of me standing in nothing but Drake’s shirt. “You! It is all your doing, this unpleasant
ness!”

The smoke billowed out around her as Nora appeared,
peering over Catalina’s shoulder, her eyes owlish as she
watched the three men quell the last of the flames. “Imps
again?”

“Yes. Drake caught one as it was trying to leave.”

“Aisling, I am prepared to be tolerant of many things,
but this situation with the imp kingdom must come to an
end,” Drake said, coughing a little as the last blaze died under the white chemical foam. “My house is well prepared to deal with the commonality of dragon fire, but it
is not built to withstand fires set by murderous arsonists.”

“I know. I’m so sorry.” I wrung my hands, feeling
utterly helpless as I surveyed the damage caused by the
fire. It hadn’t had long to burn, and yet the furniture was destroyed, the walls stained black by the smoke. “I’ll take
care of it. I promise.”