The first thing Carly realized when she woke the next morning was that she was not alone. Coarse, black hair that tickled her cheek and nose was her first clue. The second was the warm arm wrapped around her, holding her against a very hot – as in the smoking sexy, melt in your mouth kind of hot – body.

Correction, Carly thought, afraid to move. A very hot, smoking sexy, melt in your mouth, bare-naked body.

Carly cracked her eyelids open, curious to see if her assessment was correct. She carefully lifted her right hand from where it was resting over Drago’s heart and moved it down to the covers that were draped across his stomach. She paused and glanced up to make sure he was still sleeping. Yes! His breathing hadn’t changed and his eyes were still closed.

A delighted grin curved her lips. It wasn’t like she had a lot of experience to fall back on, but he appeared to be sound asleep. Carly decided if she had to do a trial run, she couldn’t have dreamed up a better guy to experience it with. Drago was built like ‘The Rock’ only with hair, not that TR wasn’t fine just the way he was. Still, never in a million, bazillion years would she have thought getting lost would turn out like this.

Biting her lip, she glanced back down. Her fingers hovered over the covers for a brief second before she slowly lifted the soft material. Her gaze followed the trail of black curls lower… and lower… and….

“Holy macaroni!” Carly hissed under her breath when she caught her first sight of aroused manhood. “That’s… wow!”

The sudden movement under her cheek told her that Drago had not only awakened but that he had heard her exclamation as well. Heat filled Carly’s cheeks and she slowly lowered the covers then patted them for good measure. Her fingers played with the material of the sheets as her mind raced to figure out what she would say next.

“You’re awake,” she said, watching the sheet where his cock was raised up a little.

“Yes,” Drago replied with another shake of his body which told Carly he was amused.

“You sure are big. Shut up, Carly. That is not what you meant to say. Brain before mouth. Jenny’s always reminding you of that. Brain… wake up. Carly is doing it again,” she commented, wincing when the words slipped from her mouth.

Drago’s deep laughter echoed through the room. Carly closed her eyes and decided if she was going to die from embarrassment, at least this was a good way to go – Drago’s laughter filling the air and his arm wrapped around her. Yes, she could think of a million other horrible ways to die.

“What is Carly doing again?” Drago asked after he quit laughing.

Carly released a long sigh. “Making a total fool of herself. She does that quite frequently. Jenny says it is one of the things that makes me – me. I think it is one of the things that drive people crazy. Mr. Kranz, my boss at the bank, is forever telling me I need to have a sensor installed on my mouth,” she rambled then released another sigh and turned her head to bury her face into his chest. “Just ignore me. I’m going to die of embarrassment now.”

“Carly…,” Drago said in a soft tone.

Carly felt his strong, firm fingers under her chin. She stubbornly kept her eyes closed and her mouth clamped shut in a tight line even as she willingly tilted her head back. Her mouth relaxed when she felt Drago run his thumb across her bottom lip. His touch sure did feel good.

“Won’t you open your eyes, little one?” Drago asked in a voice still rough from sleep.

“No,” she replied.

“Why not?” he asked.

Carly’s lips twitched in amusement. “Because I like the image in my brain,” she admitted.

There was a moment of silence before Drago responded. “And what image is that?” he asked in a voice laced with curiosity.

“I like your curls,” she finally said.

“My curls…?” Drago repeated in a slightly confused tone before his eyes widened in understanding and he began to laugh again.

Carly opened her eyes just in time to see comprehension dawn in his eyes. A muffled giggle escaped her. At least he was seeing the humor in the situation instead of thinking she was a total crackpot.

Her enjoyment of his amusement ended in a gasp when she suddenly found herself trapped beneath him. His laughter had faded and he was staring down at her with a very serious expression. Her hands rose automatically to splay across his chest. She couldn’t resist squeezing her fingers just a little to see if he really was as solid as he looked. He was – with some to spare for half the guys back in Yachats.

“You… you are very muscular,” she reflected in a slightly choked voice.

“I know,” he replied. “I want to kiss you, Carly Tate.”

Carly’s eyes widened. She wanted to kiss him too, but there was one little problem – morning breath! She couldn’t imagine kissing him without brushing her teeth. A sense of panic swept through her when he started to bend his head. She reacted without thinking, drawing her legs up to try to escape at the same time as she pushed against his chest. Two things registered the moment she moved. First, she hadn’t taken into consideration the position of her left leg between his thighs; and second, the part of his anatomy that she connected with wasn’t muscular, but very vulnerable.

Drago’s loud, indrawn breath, followed by his eyes closing and his face tightening told her that she had reacted rather more strongly than she had intended. His arms trembled before he released a low, guttural groan and fell to the side. One good thing happened… he no longer was in the mood to kiss her. The bad thing was… he probably would never want to try again.

Carly rolled out of the bed and stared down at Drago lying there pale and obviously in a lot of pain. His eyes were closed and his hands were cupping his groin over the covers. Mortification swept through her. She had done it again – sabotaged any chance of keeping a guy interested in her. She cupped her hands and lifted them to her mouth.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean… I…. Oh, hell. That must have hurt. I kneed you pretty good and you were probably still sore from the last time,” Carly whispered.

“Yes, yes, it does and I did not need a reminder of how painful the first time was,” he bit out.

Carly watched as Drago’s eyes slowly opened and he gazed up at her. His eyes were dark with pain and an emotion she wasn’t quite sure of. She hoped it wasn’t the desire to kill her – slowly, tortuously by dragon fire. Just the thought had her taking a cautious step backwards.

“I… Yes, I guess… I’ll just go brush my teeth. Then, if you still… but, I’m sure you don’t… but, if you did… I don’t have a toothbrush. I’ll just go hide in the bathroom for a bit if you don’t mind,” Carly stammered before she turned and fled to the other room.

Drago’s gaze followed Carly as she quickly left the bedroom. Only when the door closed firmly behind her did he roll onto his side and released a smothered moan of pain into the pillow. Goddess, but that hurt!

It had taken everything inside of him not to roll into a ball and cry like a babe. A startled chuckle started to escape him, but he quickly swallowed it back when the movement caused another wave of pain to wash through him. Carly’s stammered words, and the meaning of them, hit him hard.

“Teeth… She unwittingly strikes me down because she has to brush her teeth before I can kiss her,” Drago reflected, breathing deeply through his nose and releasing the breath through his mouth. “Goddess, she would have killed me if I had tried to make love to her! I need to wear protection when I’m within a meter of her.”

“I can hear you,” Carly’s muffled voice stated.

Drago glanced toward the door when it opened a tiny bit. He could see Carly’s flushed face, bright eyes, and… tears?! Yes, it was tears. She impatiently raised her hand and brushed it across her cheek.

“Why are you crying?” Drago asked with a frown, forgetting his own agony for a moment in his confusion.

“Because I always screw things up,” she sobbed with a loud sniff. “I wouldn’t have killed you if you had tried to make love to me. I might have maimed you, but it wouldn’t have been intentional. I just do things that always end up messing things up. Is it any wonder that I’m still a virgin? Who else do you know who accidentally sets their high school date’s car on fire – on the first date? Or knocks their date off a cliff because of a mosquito? Okay, so maybe it was just the front porch, but still…! Or causes their boyfriend to have a concussion just because they were trying to throw the softball back over the fence – to the other team?! Even poor Ross wasn’t immune to Carly’s Curse. How many girls do you know who have their own curse named after them? Huh?”

Drago blinked, each one of her statements bringing up vivid images of total chaos. It took a minute for him to realize that she had asked him a question. But in all honesty, he was still stuck on ‘virgin’.

“You’re a virgin?” he asked.

Carly glared at him with wide eyes for a moment before firmly shutting the door again. Drago didn’t realize his body had relaxed, the pain faded, until he lifted a hand to run it over his face. Rolling onto his back, he stared up at the ceiling, a grin curving his lips. His thief was a virgin?

“I wonder what will happen next?” he chuckled.