He didn’t even flinch or try to stop the movement. “Good job. Do it again.”
They worked for another hour, and she was glad he’d made her fortify herself with eggs and toast when they’d returned to his house. He taught her some general moves, for those times when she couldn’t Catalyze and now, when she didn’t have the stick. They moved past the Chilis back to the music Cyn had loaded into his music system, and Robert Plant, lead singer of a group called Led Zeppelin, belted out about needing a whole lotta love.
Which she really did not need to hear with Cyn periodically pressing some part of his body against hers.
She faced him, blocking his attempts to grab her. “So is this what you would have been doing if Mon had brought me to you when I was thirteen?”
“Yes. At the dojo though, in a class.”
She knocked his hand back, hearing their flesh collide with a loud smack.
Her eyes met his. “And now I get private lessons.”
He merely grunted in response, then lunged forward to grab her. Remembering the move he’d just taught her, she grabbed him back. Which, unfortunately, knocked them both off-balance. He tried to right them, she overcorrected, and down to the wood floor they went, her on the bottom.
He braced himself with his hands to keep from falling on top of her, which left him hovering over her. “It would not be effective to have the demon land on top of you.”
He didn’t get up, even though she could see the strain of his arm muscles as he poised over her like he was going to do a push-up. She could feel his heat, and more so, the heat in his gaze as his eyes locked onto hers. He lowered his mouth, so subtly she might have imagined it. Her body strained to meet him halfway. God, her Dragon was going nuts.
He suddenly stood, reaching down to help her to her feet. He’d been about to kiss her. So why hadn’t he? She had to get a handle on her disappointment, and the fact that her disappointment meant she wanted it, too.
He released her hand the moment she’d gained her footing. “Now we do some Dragon work. I don’t know how much time we’re going to have here, or if we’ll get back to the dojo. Still need candles?”
Oh, yeah, a challenge. She saw it in the glint of his eyes. “Yes.” She had to stop letting him manipulate her.
He had a lazy sway to his gait as he walked over and lit the candles. She hit the lights, plunging the room into a den of candlelight.
“You’re going to have to grow up and get over the candles,” he said as he returned.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I am grown up.” She pulled off her shirt and tossed it to the floor, her gaze on him.
He paused, embers flickering in his eyes. “Ruby, don’t do that.”
“Do what?” She pushed down her pants and kicked them off.
“Play the seductress. This is not the time nor the place for it.”
She laughed, more of a sputter. “Me, a seductress? You’re kidding, right?” Like she could seduce a man like him.
He did not seem to share her amusement. Or her disbelief. “Look at yourself.”
She found her reflection, taking in the cant of her hips and the swell of her breasts because of the way she stood straight and confident. The soft, undulating light played over her skin. “I’m…”
“Beautiful.”
She met his gaze in the mirror, her heart thudding at the way he’d said the word, the way he’d meant it. “I was going to say different. I feel different since you Awakened me.”
“It’s the Dragon. They’re very sensual creatures, and now that sensuality flows through your veins.”
Yes, it did.
“So that’s why I threw myself at you?”
“The only reason.”
“Then why did you kiss me back?”
He shrugged. “Caught up in the moment. Let’s get to work.”
She Catalyzed. He shucked his pants and became Dragon, too. She charged him, eager to release some of her pent-up energy. If she battered him a bit, all the better, since he was the source of it. She rammed into his shoulder, bouncing back because he didn’t budge.
“Give me what you got, Ruby.”
Sheesh, even in Dragon speak, he could say her name like that. She faced off with him, figuring out her next angle of attack. He lunged beneath her, lifting his head and sending her rolling down his back. She landed off-balance but bounded up quickly.
“Good recover,” he said.
He swung his head around and pinned her against his shoulder. “As Dragon, your throat is your most vulnerable area. There’s a kill spot just beneath your chin where the scales are thinner. Our enemies know this. Never let anyone near your neck.”