"Who says it's a lie?"

"I do, Zarek. For a man who doesn't care, you've made a great effort to make sure I'm safe." She smiled at him. "I do know you, Prince Charming. I really do see what's inside you."

"You're blind."

She shook her head. "I'm not nearly as blind as you are."

Then she did the most unexpected thing of all. She leaned forward and captured his lips with hers.

Something inside him shattered at the contact, at the sensation of her moist, sweet lips. Of her tongue sweeping against his.

This wasn't a dream.

This was real.

And it was wonderful. As good as she had tasted before, it was so much better now.

He crushed her to him, taking control of the kiss. He wanted to devour her. To take her right now on the floor until his hard-on was spent and sated. But if his dreams were any indication, it would take more than a single act of sex to ease the fire in his groin.

He could love this woman all night long and still be begging for more when the morning came.

Astrid couldn't breathe from the fierceness of his kiss. The heat of his body set fire to her own.

He was truly wild, her warrior.

He slid his cool hand under her shirt until he could cup her breast. She shivered as his fingers pushed the lace of her bra aside so that he could run his palm against her swollen nipple.

She'd never allowed anyone to handle her like this. But then, she'd done a lot of things with him that she had never done before.

All her life, she'd been circumspect and proper. The kind of woman who lived by the rules and who never sought to break or even bend them.

Zarek freed something within her. Something wild and wonderful.

Something unexpected.

He pulled back from her lips as his hand moved lower, over her belly, down toward her waistband.

She trembled as he unbuttoned her pants, then slid her zipper down. In their dream, there was still some protection of it not being real. Of everything being a dream.

Tonight that barrier was gone. Once he touched her in this realm, there was no going back.

What the heck? There was no going back for her anyway. She would never be the same.

"Would you let me screw you on my floor, princess?" he asked, his voice ragged and deep with hunger.

"No, Zarek," she breathed. "But you can make love to me anywhere you want to."

She took his hand in hers and slid it down her pants, into her cotton panties.

Zarek's breathing was ragged as she opened her legs in invitation. He stared at her lying on his floor. Her crumpled shirt was pulled up, showing off her rounded stomach while his hand was stark against the light pink cotton of her underwear.

Tiny tufts of her hair peeked out from under the waistband as he massaged her mound gently.

She unzipped his pants, spilling his erection out. He couldn't move as she took him into her warm hands.

His body on fire, he slid his hand down through the moist curls at the juncture of her thighs so that he could touch her intimately while she stroked him.

She was so wet already, her nether lips swollen, begging for more. Her hands massaged him, causing him to harden to the point of pain.

He slid his fingers over her cleft, delighting in the sound of her murmured pleasure.

He dipped his head to her breast, to toy with her nipple. He sucked and teased, taking his time tasting her.

Wanting more of her, he went to slide his fingers into her, only to touch something that stunned him. Something that hadn't been there in the dream.

He went cold.

Pulling back, he frowned as he felt her hymen under his probing fingers. "You're a virgin?"

"Yes."

He cursed and moved away from her.

"You're a virgin," he repeated. "How the hell can you be a virgin?"

"Easy. I've never slept with a man before."

"But my dreams..."

"Those were dreams, Zarek. That wasn't really my body."

His vision turned dark. Unwarranted jealousy gnawed at him. His little nymph had found one hell of a loophole. "So how many men have you fucked in their sleep?"

"You bastard!" she snapped, rising up into a sitting position on the floor. "If I could find your face, I would slap you format!"

Angry, she straightened her clothes and moved away from him. Her cheeks were flushed, her hands trembling, as she continued to curse both of them under her breath.

It was then he knew.

She wouldn't be this angry at them if she were guilty of what he'd said. She'd never been with another man.

Only him.

That knowledge floored him.

He couldn't begin to understand why she would offer him something she hadn't offered to anyone else.

It didn't make sense in his world.

"Why do you want to be with me?"

She paused as she dressed and glared in his direction. "I have no idea. You are surly. Rude. Obnoxious. I have never in my life seen anyone more ill-mannered and... and... aggravating. You have no respect for anyone, not even yourself. All you can do is pick, pick, pick. You don't even know how to be happy."

Astrid opened her mouth to continue, then stopped as she became aware of the tone of Zarek's voice when he had posed his question to her.

It had been gently searching. Not accusatory.

Most of all, it had come from deep inside him.

And so she answered it from her heart. "You want to know the truth, Zarek? I want to be with you because there's something about you that makes me hot and shivery. Whenever I feel you near me, I want to reach out and touch you. To slide you into me so that I can hold you close and tell you that everything is all right.

That I'm not going to let anyone else hurt you."

"I'm not a child," he said angrily.

Astrid reached out through the darkness and found his hand on the floor in front of her. She took it into hers and held it tight. "No, you're not a child. You never were. Children are supposed to be protected and cared for. You had no one to hold you when you cried. No one ever soothed you. They never told you stories or made you laugh when you were sad."

The tragedy of his life reached out to her then, penetrating her heart, making her want to weep for all the injustice that had been dealt him.

Things she had taken for granted as a child had been denied him. Friendship, happiness, family, treats. And most of all, love.

His life had been so unfair.

She trailed her hand up his muscular arm, to bury it in his hair so that she could stroke his scalp. "Make love to me, Zarek. I can't take away your past, but I can hold you now. I want to share my body with you, even if it's only for a little while." He pulled her forcefully against him and kissed her heatedly. She moaned, arching her back as he laid her back down on the floor.

Astrid kicked her shoes off, then removed her pants and panties. She pulled her shirt off and unsnapped her bra.

She should be embarrassed-she'd never stripped in front of anyone before.

Never been naked while they were clothed.

Yet she was not ashamed.

She felt powerful with him. Womanly. She knew he wanted her and she desired only to please him.

She lay back against his icy floor.

Mesmerized, Zarek couldn't move as Astrid bent her knees up and opened her legs in invitation.

Her nipples were puckered from the cold and her desire. Her hair was loose, spilling over her shoulders, and her hands rested on her stomach.

But it was her core that he stared at. She was already wet for him, her body swollen with need just as his was.

"I'm cold, Zarek," she whispered. "Will you warm me?"

He should get up and leave her there like that.

He couldn't.

No one had ever offered him such a precious gift.

No one but Astrid.

He grabbed the blankets from his pallet and covered her with them. He stripped his own clothes off, then joined her. Spreading her thighs wider, he took a moment to stare at the most private part of her body.

She was beautiful.

He ran his fingers down her rigid cleft, making her shiver even more under the warmth of his furs. Using his thumbs, he spread her open, then dipped down to take her into his mouth.

Astrid gasped at the sensation of Zarek's tongue sweeping against her. He licked and teased her, his breath warming her bottom.

His hot hands cupped her hips, pulling her closer to his mouth and to the prickly skin of his face.

He moaned as if the taste of her were heavenly. Licking her lips, she reached down to cup his face while he pleasured her.

Her heart pounded at the feeling of his jaw flexing under her hands.

In her dreams his touch had been incredible, but in reality it was far more intense.

Far more satisfying.

Her head swirled as her heart raced. Unbridled ecstasy danced through her and left her calling his name as she pressed herself closer to his lips.

And when she came, she screamed out, holding his head to her while her body disintegrated into a thousand sparks of pleasure.

Still he licked and teased her until she was whimpering from the bliss.

Zarek pulled back to see her panting on his floor. The top part of her was covered by his furs and blankets, but her lower half was bare, glistening in the low light of the lantern from the combination of her juices and him.

Her face was flushed, her eyes bright.

He'd never had a woman in his place before. Most especially not a naked one.

He pulled his covers away from her. She gasped as they scraped against her swollen, sensitive breasts. Zarek moved away from her only long enough to remove his clothes.

She reached out for him as he laid his body down over hers and let her heat warm him.

Zarek growled as her hard nipples rubbed against his chest. The tip of his shaft pressed against the damp hairs between her legs.

Astrid covered them with the blankets again and cradled him with her body.

Gods, how good she felt under him like this. Face to face. Her legs wrapped around his waist. Her hands stroking his naked back.

He lowered his head and kissed her, probing her mouth with his tongue.

But it wasn't her mouth he wanted to penetrate...

He trailed his hand down her arm until he could lace his fingers with hers.