The statement made Jilly blink. “I’m not a what?”
He closed the door behind him without breaking their stare.
She jumped at the solid thud, and then bit back a whimper as another wave of sexual hunger swept over her.
“Dragon,” he repeated, slowly walking toward her even as she stumbled away from him. “You’re not a dragon shifter. I can feel that, now I’m this close. But there’s no denying you are my Fire Mate, so that’s a bit confusing. Any chance you know what’s going on?”
Gaping up at him—wow, he was tall. And gorgeous. And scary. And sexy as sin—Jilly tripped over her heel, failed to regain her balance and promptly fell on her arse.
He scooped her up from the floor before her brain processed what the hell was going on.
His hard chest molded to her body.
Muscles. His muscles are so hard. So hard. Holy fuck, he is so hot! So hot and hard and strong and—
“You know what?” he said, his voice husky and deep, his gaze roaming her face as a playful smile curled his lips. “We’ll get to the bottom of this mystery later. It doesn’t matter at the moment. Right now, I need to kiss you more than I need to draw breath.”
“Oh God, yes…” she burst out, incapable of denying the raw, surreal hunger consuming her. “Kiss me. Kiss—”
He captured her lips with his. Once again, Jilly couldn’t fight the power of the kiss.
Fire razed her flesh, a million pinpricks of delicious heat. Her heart smashed against her breastbone. The chanting rose in her head again for that one second, as powerful as his kiss, as right and familiar as her own voice. Sang in her head…
In her head. Chanting in her head. What the hell?
Jilly shoved at his shoulders. Hard. Hard enough to dislodge herself from his arms.
She tumbled to the floor again, hitting it hip and elbow first. Pain sheared through her, but that didn’t stop her scrambling to her feet. She snatched at the edges of the towel before it could abandon her, glaring up at him. “What the hell is going on?”
He frowned.
Being this close to him for the first time, she could see the mesmerizing colors in his eyes. They were the most incredible sea blue, with chips of green flecking through them. She could drown in those eyes. If he hadn’t appeared at her door going on about dragons and kissing her senseless, that was.
Wait. Isn’t this your fantasy? Without the weird dragon bit, of course? And you’re complaining why, exactly?
Straightening her spine, she sucked in a slow breath. She needed to shut down the carnal desire to mount him and ride him like a…like a…
Dragon?
“Is this some kind of messed-up promo thing for that dragon show?” she asked, fixing him with another glare. “’Cause I gotta tell you, I don’t even know the title of the show, so if that’s what it is, it’s not working.” She shook her head, wriggling in her towel a little. “And it’s weird.”
Her Harley hunk studied her. That strange light burned in his eyes again. Another small smile played with his lips. How freaking unfair was it that an insane person could have such an infectious, sexy smile?
You have no idea what I’m talking about when I say dragon shifter, do you?”
An icy ripple tickled up Jilly’s spine, and her nipples hardened. She shook her head, her breaths shallow. “No.”
Dragon shifter. Why did the sound of those two words uttered together make her feel…odd?
Good odd. Pleasurable odd.
Aroused odd.
Damn it.
“Is the show about people who change into dragons?” she asked, inching back a step when he took one toward her. “Like that guy who could change into a wolf in that old TV show about vampires?”
His infectious smile stretched into a drop-dead gorgeous grin and he threw back his head and laughed, filling her apartment with the sound of unadulterated delight.
A base hunger she had no control over detonated in Jilly. A soft, whimpering moan fell from her lips. Her belly clenched. Her sex did the same.
His mesmerizing blue eyes returned to her, but this time she couldn’t mistake the emotion burning in their depths. Raw lust. Open desire.
“I don’t know how this is remotely possible,” he said, resuming his slow walk toward her, amusement curling his lips. “But I like it.”
Jilly swallowed. “Like what?” she croaked. When had she stopped walking backward? Surely she should be attacking him? Or screaming? And what the hell was the chanting she kept hearing in her head every time he kissed her? What was going on? What—
“You,” he answered, as he reached where she stood motionless and hooked one finger over the edge of her towel. “Every delicious inch of you.”
Before her pleasure-fevered brain managed to offer a word in response, he tugged her to him via the towel, which promptly gave up its tenuous job of covering her body and pooled at her feet in a fluffy purple puddle.
Druid magic?
Fucked-up, ancient druid magic.
Had to be. That was the only explanation Ari could think of for how the now-naked goddess gazing up at him could be his Fire Mate.
Dragon shifters and humans were not meant to mate.
In all his centuries, he’d only known of two situations—and both involved druid magic.
Sure, sex between humans and dragon shifters occurred often; there was even a group of humans who called themselves Riders who traveled the world seeking out dragon shifters to sleep with. Dragon-shifter groupies who courted death by fire and seemed to get off on that idea, more than the sex itself.
He’d been approached by a Rider or two himself in the past, his brusque rebuke of their advances adding to his reputation as “unobtainable” and “picky.” It had nothing to do with being picky and everything to do with being sensible. Too much danger for a human as far as he was concerned.
But here he was, facing a human… Drawn to her.
It didn’t make sense; to