Startled, she whips around, her long hair flying out. Her arms windmill, and she loses her balance all at once. She hits my chest with enough force to knock me backward a step. I clutch her close.
Safe.
If she’s with me, she’s safe. I clutch her tightly, breathing in her intoxicating scent.
“Ow.” She shakes one arm and wraps the other around my neck. “Are you made of iron, Killian?”
“Only my heart.”
Not the only thing that’s hard. Even now, when our lives are at stake, I want her. Hell, the danger only makes my need to bed her more urgent.
“That’s what you’re concerned about?” I jerk my head. “Not that?”
“My elbow hurts.” She winces, then glances cautiously at the dragon. “I don’t think it means me any harm.”
I set her on her feet. “You are insane. Dragons eat people. It’s not going to make an exception for us.”
Briar laughs. “It seems to be more curious than menacing. All it did was sniff my skirt.”
We back away from the rocky hillock, staring up as the dragon shuffles forward, lowering its massive head to stare directly at her. I snatch up my sword and push Briar behind me.
Sure enough, it whuffs as if trying to scent her.
“That’s a little one,” I inform her.
“I’d hate to see a big one,” she mutters.
“See the diamond-shaped scale on its forehead?” At this proximity, it’s a rhetorical question. “My shield is made from theone I defeated.” I tap my fist to my chest. “This was made from the smaller scales.”
The dragon’s elongated catlike pupils dilate suddenly as it fixates on me. A high-pitched whine starts in its throat, and hot breath blasts out between dagger-sharp teeth.
If it had been full-grown, we’d have been incinerated where we stand. Instead, the beast spreads its leathery wings and pumps, taking flight.
Briar tucks her soft hand into mine. We stand like that, gaping at the retreating monster in awed silence.
I’ve never shared a moment like this with anyone. Never had anyone to share with. That fragile tender feeling is back, winding around that spot near my heart. Part of me wants to fortify it behind a wall of impenetrable dragon scales.
To keep her inside with me.
I’m so fucked. This is supposed to be temporary. I’m no hero. No knight in shining armor. I’m the man who’s worse than the monsters. That’s all. I can’t let her worm her way beneath my skin like this.
“Killian.”
Briar moves in front of me, sliding her hands up my chest. She exhales in a shaky breath. Still rattled. Needing something from me.
We’re alone.
Right.
A fraction of a second later I have my hands in her hair and my lips on hers in a devouring kiss.
“I can’t touch you,” she complains, breaking contact with an adorable growl of frustration. “This. Off. How?”
She fumbles with the buckles on my armor. I free them with a quick motion and shrug out of the hard shell encasing my upper body. Briar makes a sound of feminine satisfactionthat goes straight to my dick. The fucking dress has got to go. Immediately. Before I lose my mind.
Driven by frustrated need, I fist her bodice in both hands, level my elbows and rip the damn thing straight down the center. Briar blinks up at me, and for a minute I’m worried I scared her. She’s an innocent, despite her boldness with me yesterday.
A slow smile spreads over her lush lips. She shoves the pieces of her dress down and kicks them away, then tugs the hem of my shirt out of my pants.
