Page 28 of The Heart of the Dragon

"Now who's not making sense?" I had no business touching a man I barely knew. Especially one possibly not from this world. My breath caught in my throat at the mere thought. I was supposed to be a woman of science, not fantasy. But I'd walked between both worlds for so long, it didn't surprise me that they'd somehow crashed together.

"Go to sleep, Rose. We can talk more in the morning. When both our minds are clear."

"That's assuming they will be," I said, grasping him by the shoulders and pulling him down on top of me. "But it's kind of hard to apply logic to what is happening."

Whether I meant he was otherworldly or something else didn't seem to matter. Not when the heat of his skin pressed directly against mine.

"Logic is often overrated," he pressed his face closer until our lips were only a breath apart.

"Says the man who claims he isn't human."

"I have as many human traits as you, but fae are simplymore." His breath mingled with mine, bathing us both in a wash of impossible to deny desire.

"More?" I asked, barely keeping my mind on anything but the color of his eyes and how they'd darkened as he stared into mine.

"All living creatures were, at some point, born of fae."

As if that automatically explained everything.

"You're crazy," I whispered against his lips in a feather light touch of breath and soft skin.

"Probably." That was his last word before he took my mouth in an urgent kiss that caused heat to stir in my core and spread like wildfire to every living, breathing cell in my body. A sensation I not only gave into, but luxuriated in. Heat coursed through me until my heart threatened to beat out of my chest. Before my mind could even comprehend what had happened, frenetic energy exploded between us. I grabbed at his shirt until the buttons holding it together broke free and scattered in every direction.

“Magnus,” I breathed when he briefly broke the kiss. “Please.”

Half of me didn’t know why I needed this so bad, but the other half didn’t care. For better or worse this man—or this creature—had sparked an explosion of need in me that I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.

And I didn’t.

“We need to stop.”

My entire body jerked at his words as a frisson of cold shot through me. “What? Why?”

He pulled from my arms and stood to his full towering height next to the bed, a firm scowl stamped across his face.

“You need sleep. You said yourself we have a long journey ahead of us. Neither of us can afford to be distracted.”

I sighed audibly. An angry retort sat on the edge of my tongue that I swallowed down before it could escape. What point would there be in arguing with him? If he didn’t want this, I would never push it. I’d made that mistake before, and never again.

“Fine, I groaned, falling back against my pillow. I was too tired to deal with whatever his problem might be. Besides, I’d made enough mistakes in the last forty-eight hours to last a lifetime.

Not even the annoyed frown he aimed in my direction stirred me to move again. I relaxed into the mattress and went lax. It was his loss. Or so I tried to convince myself as he turned and skulked out of my room.

Who needed the biggest strongest most gorgeous man I’d ever met pressing his body against mine?

Not me.

I rolled away from the door and closed my eyes. I was better off without him in my bed. This way, there’d be no awkward morning after or a long drive where neither of us knew what to say to the other.

This was the best decision…

But when the heat between my legs didn’t dissipate, I half considered taking matters into my own hands. Except then he’d know, and I would have to die of embarrassment.

Although making him listen could be interesting…

But instead of moving my hand between my legs, I tucked it under my chin and let the sleep I needed more do its thing. But the last thought I remembered before passing out was the scent of cloves and burning fire that had clung to his skin. It had tingled my nose, and left me with a strange tugging sensation low in my abdomen...

And something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

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