Barbara Faith - Kiss of the dragon by mag

her. His face was calm, his green eyes serious. "I think I have known from the first moment I saw you what would be between us, Bethany. But I did not expect... I did not dare to dream that it would be so much."
    Dazed by happiness that was mingled with an edge of apprehension, Bethany looked at Tiger in wonder. How is it possible, she thought, that something like this could happen so fast? I don't even know him. He's different from all that I'm familiar with, yet with him I've experienced a joy I never thought possible.
    She closed her eyes and rested her face against his chest. Tiger Malone. She repeated his name like a litany before she fell into a deep sleep.
     
    The next morning they dived off the bow of the Golden Dragon. There was the threat of rain in the air as they swam leisurely, side by side, around the lee side of the island. When they were out of sight of the boat and their feet touched bottom, Tiger pulled Bethany close and gave her a salty kiss.
    "You are even more beautiful this morning than you were last night," he told her. "Your eyes are shining, your face has a look of pleasure."
    "Because of you," Bethany said. "Because of the way you make me feel." She smoothed the sleek black hair off his forehead. "I didn't want all this to happen, Tiger. But I think I, too, knew that it was inevitable."
    "As inevitable as love." His hands caressed her back, then gently crept around to push the bikini top aside so that he could touch her breasts.
    Bethany shivered in the early morning air. Head back, long blond hair streaming over her shoulders, she yielded herself up to the lips so tenderly caressing her. When Tiger picked her up and carried her toward the shore she buried her face in his throat, shivering with the anticipation of what was to come.
    He laid her down under the shelter of a sea grape tree. For a moment he looked down at her, then knelt to slide the bikini bottom down over her hips.
    Bethany heard the soft patter of raindrops on the overhang of leaves as she held up her arms to receive Tiger. He kissed her. "You taste of the sea," he said with a smile. "I must see if you taste this way all over."
    "Tiger...?" Then his mouth found her breasts and there was no need for words.
    When he came up over her , she received him with a glad cry, embracing him with her arms and her legs as she lifted herself to him. She was unmindful of the rain or the hard-packed sand beneath her body. All that mattered was the feel of him inside her, the lovely slowness of his movements, the look on his face. She reached up to touch him, to trace the high cheekbones, the line of his jaw, the curve of his mouth.
    "Bethany!" Tiger's green eyes closed, his face tensed, his movements quickened as he carried Bethany higher and higher into a vortex of emotion that left her throbbing with need. She cried his name. He took her cry into his mouth; his body tightened and exploded.
    They lay on the sand, still heedless of the rain and of the rising wind, until Tiger said, "There's a storm coming, we have to get back." He helped Bethany up and led her down to the beach. Then he kissed her and smoothed the rain-wet hair back from her face. "I wish you could see the way you look," he said. "Your eyes are beautiful and your lips are swollen from my kisses." He ran his hands down her shoulders to the rise of her breasts, circled her waist and smoothed the curve of her hips. "I'd like to keep you naked forever," he said, "but we must dress and swim back to the Dragon."
    Tiger hesitated. His hands crept around to cup her bare buttocks. "But first..." He dropped to his knees on the sand. Still cupping Bethany he urged her closer and rested his face against her before he began to trail a line of kisses across her stomach, down and down. A tickle of flame licked at her insides.
    "No," Bethany whispered. "Tiger, no, please." She tried to move away but his hands tightened and he pressed her closer. He nipped the inside of her thighs, then quickly,