Jake deepened the kiss, bringing his hands from the sides of her face down to her waist. Rose's own curious fingers were fiddling with the bottom of his shirt, before bringing it up and over the top of his head. He walked her backward, laying her down on his bed before sliding over her. Rose pressed her trembling hands to his warm chest, leaning her lips away from his so she could speak.

"Hey, Jake?"

"Hey, Rose?" He copied, meeting her eyes.

"I, um," Rose blushed, not sure how to say her next words – not sure how to ask him if he wanted her like that now, because she felt that she was finally ready for him. She played her hands across his defined stomach muscles, trying to gather her thoughts though he was making her feel dizzy.

Jake kissed her temple, guessing what she was thinking. "I'm ready if you are," he whispered in her ear.

Rose smiled to herself, glad that she had someone who was so in tune with her and didn't make her say things that embarrassed her because he just understood.

"I'm ready," Rose admitted. "But, um, do you have …?"

"'Course," Jake grunted.

"So you were expecting this?" Rose teased, playfully. "Is that why you brought me to this beautiful island?"

"Duh," Jake snorted, rolling his eyes. "It's got nothing to do with world peace – I just wanted you in bed."

"I knew it," Rose breathed, though the words were lost in a gasp as Jake removed her shirt and brought his lips to the tender spot on her neck.

Rose felt her hands shaking as she slid them down to the button and zipper of Jake's jeans. The closest she'd ever been to a man's groin was feeling Jake's against her when they were making out. As the Huntsgirl she'd never had much contact with males – it was strictly professional when she did – and, as Rose, no one had ever caught her attention. She'd been terribly busy, beyond all of that, and if she'd done something stupid and gotten herself pregnant, Master would have lost his mind and definitely would have terminated the pregnancy. When she was older, she knew that she would probably have to mate and produce an heir, though just because she'd had children it didn't mean they would take over the Clan – Master had children but here she was, ruling.

She knew that Jake had been with one girl before but that girl hadn't been her and she didn't know how he was going to react to her body. Already he was tracing a finger along her scars. Once, she had lain in his bed with him as he caressed her injuries, but he hadn't known how she had gotten them. Now, he knew, but he didn't treat her any less tenderly now that he knew how tough she was.

Rose used her feet to work his jeans to the ground, and sucked in a breath when Jake's nimble fingers went to her pants. She felt a rush of heat inside of her body feeling his fingers so close to the space between her legs. After a moment, there was nothing between them but her bra, her panties, and his boxers.

It was so little but so much at the same time.

"We don't have to," Jake murmured in her ear.

"I want to," Rose assured him.

Using a bit of her supernatural strength (the only way she could move him while lying on the bed), Rose flipped him onto his back, straddling his waist. He let out a moan, caused by her position, and Rose couldn't help but shift her weight a little, creating friction between them. She watched his whole body tense and felt him swell beneath of her.

"You keep that up," he panted at her, "and we're not going to do this properly."

"And what does properly look like?" Rose asked, trying to make her voice sound sultry – though she had no idea how to do so.

Jake brought his hands up to the back of her bra, fumbling with the clasp. Rose waited patiently as he pawed around the garment, having absolutely no success. Finally, Rose took pity on him and reached back and undid it for him.

"I would've gotten it."

"I know. I'm just not that patient."

With swift fingers, Jake traced along her collarbone, before dipping further down her chest. Rose couldn't help but arch her back into his touch, thus grinding on him even more. With a swift movement, Jake flipped her back under him.

"I know how much you like being in control," he said as he slid her underwear off of her, fingers coming up to between her legs, "but let me have this one, hmm?"

"Mmm," Rose managed, not capable of further thought than that.

He, with just one of his fingers inside of her and a thumb on her clit, had her limbs feeling like hot lava and had her trembling from the inside out.

His hand left her and she released a tiny squeak of displeasure. Jake shifted over her, their skin colliding in delicious friction. Their chests – including her sensitive nipples – ground against one another (and a different sort of sound escaped from between her lips) as he shimmied his boxers off. With curious fingers, she reached down his body and lightly touched him.

She didn't know what she was expecting it to feel like but it was certainly … softer, than she would have imagined.

Just as her fingers had rested upon him, though, Jake's hand slipped down, moving her away.

"I'm a twenty-year-old boy, who has been waiting for a time we were both ready, which somehow took a year and a half," he reminded her quickly. "You can't be doing shit like that."

"Shit like this?" Rose asked, taking her free hand to him.

"Yeah, shit like that," Jake mumbled, but with a smile in his voice, coming down and gripping her hand. "Now stop it."

"Well, then do something to distract me," Rose challenged.

Jake kissed her strongly, before he rolled slightly, dragging his bag toward him. Rose waited, impatiently, running her fingers teasingly along the cradle between his hips, eliciting small noises from him. His digging became more and more frantic the lower down his abdomen she travelled, finally springing up with a square package in his hand.

"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten it."

"Oh, no," Jake said, sliding the condom over himself. "I brought you here with no other reason than to seduce you, remember?"

"Oh, right." Rose grinned, "How could I possibly forget?"

"No idea."

Jake slipped between her legs and Rose instinctively looped them over his narrow hips. She felt her stomach muscles clench as he found his place. She also felt his hesitation before he entered her.

"Jake, please," she begged, not even caring about the pleading by this time. She was arching up toward him, trying to bring him into her. She was beginning to feel as though she was going to explode if she didn't have him now.

Rose had never been known for her patience.

"Since you said please …" He cut himself off when he pressed his lips against hers, able to feel the suck of her breath and the pressure of her mouth when he finally took her.

(-.-)

Rose let out a yawn, curling closer to the warmth of his body. His t-shirt, which hung like a dress on her, bunched around her body as she moved. She curled her toes up, finding warmth on his thigh, toes brushing his boxers.

"How the hell are your toes cold?" Jake demanded. "We're on a tropical island."

In response, Rose rested her toes against his stomach.

He swatted her feet away and Rose returned them to his leg.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything; you know that."

Rose propped herself up on one elbow. "Your scars … I've never asked where you got them, specifically."

"If you want to know all of my injuries, we'll be here for a few years." He ran his thumb along the scar on the back of her neck; the one he had just recently learned the gruesome history of. "Same with you."

Rose shrugged, knowing that he spoke the truth.

"Why do you want to know anyway?"

Rose bit her lip. "It's a weird question, isn't it? Yeah, it is. Really weird, too weird. I'm sorry."

"Calm down," he smirked at her, dropping his hand to caress the net-shaped scar. "Tell me about this one," he requested.

"Just before I returned to New York – actually, this was one of the main reasons I returned to New York when I did, despite the stories and reasons Master made up – one of the Clan members was betraying the Clan. He had been telling this young girl in the city we were in all about the Clan. Now, the girl was like your Mom – she had a dragon lineage but not the dragon powers.

"I knew it was happening but I hadn't yet time to prove it. I knew that I couldn't wait for the next time he went to see her to gather my evidence, either. I knew she would be reporting back to the magical side. So, I did what was only logical at the time …" Rose sighed. It would never get easier to tell him about her past follies, especially after the episode they'd had only hours before.

"They're both dead," Jake guessed.

"Yeah. I killed her right after he left. I waited until that night, when everyone was sleeping, to go after him in his bed. I succeeded but when the branch leader discovered me, they needed a quick way to subdue me before any other Clan members became injured. So, they threw a net over me. I fought against it, naturally, and it cut into my skin – thus the scar."

"Ouch."

"What about this one?" Rose asked, tracing her index finger along a deep scar near his heart. "What happened here?"

Jake looked down at the injury and immediately flashed back to a cold winter day, and shook his head. "Pick a new one," he rasped.

"What happened to anything?"

Jake reached up and dragged her against him, wrapping his warm securely around her slender form.

"All right," he said in a low voice. "I hadn't transformed in months – not since before rehab. I was meeting Haley. When I arrived, she was in danger and I realized that I needed to save her and the only way to do that was to transform. So, I did. And I got the scar when I was saving her."

"What were you fighting against? What big, evil monster got a piece of you?"

Jake kissed her forehead before continuing with the story – he was amazed that she hadn't recognized the tale yet.

"See, Haley was wearing the Air Gem at the time and someone thought they needed it."

Rose sat up, easily shattering his embrace.

"That was me?" She breathed, inspecting it more closely. "I thought my staff had barely caught you."

Jake shrugged. "It was worse in dragon form – all injuries are."

Rose pressed her palm against his chest and felt his heart beating.

"How many other wounds did I cause you?"

"How many did I cause you?" Jake countered.

"Touché."

"Let's not compare injuries," Jake suggested, tugging her back down into the mattress. "It happened, but it's not going to happen again, right?"

"No, of course not! I could never hurt you again, Jake."

"Good." He pressed a kiss to her temple, clinging to her tightly. "I wouldn't ever hurt you either. I love you."

"I love you too."

Rose closed her eyes, feeling exhausted but content with the world. This was where she belonged, oddly enough. Growing up, if anyone had ever mentioned that she would find happiness in the arms of the American Dragon, she would have gutted them. It was strange, how things could change – it didn't seem like any time had passed since she had been that impressionable young child, but it also seemed as though it were a lifetime ago.

It didn't matter though; it didn't matter where she had been, only where she was going.

I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my beta: Gift Of The Dragons. As of today, I am back in school so I'm going to try to keep updates regular on Wednesdays, but please understand if there's interruptions.

~TLL~