Up in Smoke - Katie MacAlister [20]
“It’s not that easy,” he answered seriously. “There is nothing more I wish to do at this moment than fulfill each and every one of those intriguing fantasies you have about me. The one involving taking you while on the back of a horse might be a little difficult, but with some practice, I think it would be possible.”
“And that’s another thing—why can you read my smutty thoughts about you, but I can’t read your mind?”
“I told you before,” he answered, taking the hand I was using to poke him repeatedly in the chest. His fingers stroked mine, lighting my fingernails on fire. “It is a trait I inherited from my mother. I do not know if you can do the same, although I suspect it’s possible.”
“Let’s get back to that point—you asked your mom for sex advice?” I had a hard time getting past that point. I pulled my hand from his, spreading my fingers through the hair on his chest. “Gabriel, I know I’m inexperienced, but don’t you think we could have discussed what it was that I’m not doing right before you had to consult your mother?”
“You are not doing anything wrong, Mayling. I am the problem, and it is that for which I sought advice from my mother. She is a shaman of much renown. Even if she was not the mate of a dragon, I would consult her, for she knows much of our ways.”
“Well, I may not be the most knowledgeable of people when it concerns dragons, but I do know that from where I stand . . . sit . . . lie down . . . there’s nothing you need to change. Except maybe this proclivity to stand around staring at me as if I’m a chunk of tenderloin and you’re a hungry wolf. More action and less talk, wyvern,” I said, kicking off of the loathsome bit of material that was all that remained of my ceremonial outfit. I slid my hands up Gabriel’s sides and around to the lovely terrain of his back.
He stiffened, sucking in a good quarter of the air in the room. “My mother told me that I was being selfish in thinking only of my own needs, and that even the most accommodating of women need time and attention to achieve full satisfaction.”
I bit his shoulder. “Have I looked unsatisfied with you? Other than this moment, that is?”
“No,” he said slowly, his eyes molten with desire. I licked the spot I had bitten. “But you are petite in stature, and dragon matings are not always easy.”
I decided that words just weren’t going to do the job, leaving actions my only choice. I tipped my head and bit gently on the little brown nub of a nipple peeking through his soft chest hair.
“She also said . . .” Gabriel groaned deep in his chest as I swirled my tongue over his nipple. His hands were on my shoulders now, fingers digging into my flesh, his eyes screwed up tight as he made a face that expressed both rapture and exquisite pain. “She said that my inability to retain control around you could be dangerous and risky, that you see me as a man, and I must go carefully before you see my true depths. I am trying to do so, little bird, but I begin to think it is impossible. You are too much a part of me now.”
I stopped tormenting his nipple and looked up, rocked to the bottom of my soul with what he had said.
“You’re stopping?” he asked, opening his eyes in surprise.
I put both hands on his cheeks, searching his face for signs of anything that hinted of an untruth. There was nothing, much as I expected. Gabriel might be many things, but he had never lied to me. “Did you mean that?” I asked.
“Mean what?”
“That you can’t control yourself around me because I’m so much a part of you? You meant that?”
He picked me up, carrying me over to the bed, spinning me around so I was astride his thighs as he sat. “I wish it was different. I wish I had the ability to retain my control when I’m with you, but I am obviously lacking in character.”
“Oh, Gabriel,” I said, my heart melting at the look shining from his eyes. “No one has ever said anything so beautiful to me.”
“Beautiful?” His dimples flashed to life for a moment as he shook his head. “I have never met a woman like you, May.”
“A doppelganger, you mean?” I asked, sliding my hands up his