41. Sizzling

{Naya}

"I think Zayn has a crush on your mom," Uri whispered to me over dinner.

I had to admit that Uri was right. Zayn was usually so smooth and unruffled. Around my mom it was a different story. He stumbled over his words whenever he gave her a compliment. Sometimes he could not meet her gaze while other times, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

It was no surprise to me that Mom seemed completely oblivious to Zayn's strange behavior. She was too caught up in the opulence of the mansion and the gourmet food.

After dinner, the servers cleared the tables while Mom and I made plans to spend some time together. We decided on visiting the Knoxville Museum of Art and then meeting up for lunch in the city with Zayn and Uri.

The ease with which all of us came together over dinner and made plans as if we had always been family pained me slightly. Even at a young age, I remembered meals shared between Mom and the reverend always feeling staged and tense. On the surface, we were the perfect family, but underneath it all, my poor mother was drowning and I was simply next in line.

I kissed Mom goodnight and we parted ways for the evening. Even though I was still pretty pissed at Uri for casting that shame spell, I invited him to join me on the terrace connected to my room. There was already a hookah pipe there from all the nights that I had smoked alone or in the company of Ritsu.

I took a seat on the wicker lounge chairs while Uri packed and lit the pipe. We hadn't said very much to each other since that afternoon. I could tell that Uri was doing his best to tread cautiously with me, which was wise on his part.

Uri passed the handle of the hose to me. "Your mother is a phenomenal woman."

I didn't meet his eyes as I accepted. "Yeah, I saw you flirting with her down there by the fountains." Then I glanced up and winked. Uri took the gesture as an opportunity to move onto the lounge chair with me and lay his arm across the headrest.

"Naya, I'm sorry."

"I've already forgiven you, remember?" I playfully blew a couple of rings between his eyes. There was a fluttering in my chest when he gently lowered the hose to the table and moved closer. Once again, the color of his irises warmed to that familiar grenadine shade. My own fire flickered in anticipation. When we kissed, the flickering transformed into a steady burn.

I pulled away. "Sorry. I want to keep going, but lately whenever we're touching for too long . . ."

"Your suit of fire is growing faster than you can handle it."

I shook my head. "I didn't even know it was there for the longest time. Not until Ritsu took over my body to fight the ifrit. He talked to my fire or something. Now it feels like it's permanently awake. If it gets too excited, it starts to hurt. I don't know how to control it."

Uri moved some of my hair behind my ear. "Zayn and I will teach you how. Because of the bond between us, our fires will constantly react to each other. It's a bit annoying, but there are ways to keep them subdued."

"When can we start?" I was tired of being held back from Uri. First the collector, then Uri's stupid spell, and now my own fire wouldn't behave.

It's as if the universe keeps trying to find ways to cock block me!

"Let's wait until after your mom leaves," Uri said. "We want to keep the magic to a minimum while she's here."

I sighed. Uri was right, though. Reluctantly, I returned to smoking. Doing so seemed to calm my inner flame.

"So does this mean we're sleeping in separate beds tonight?" I said, hopeful that there could be a way around the restrictions.

The red in Uri's eyes seemed to stir like embers crackling. "It would be possible to sleep together as long as we don't become too physical."

I passed the hose to him. "Define 'too physical'. Can we cuddle?"

Uri shrugged. "Depends on if you can keep your excitement in check."

I nodded a bit too quickly. "That shouldn't be too hard. Besides, I could use the practice."

Uri blew a smoke ring at me. "Then it's a date."

***

After we burned through the coal, Uri and I got ready for bed. My pajamas consisted of an oversized T-shirt and polka dotted underwear.

Uri decided to shed everything except his boxers. This was the first time I was seeing him without a shirt, so I found it difficult not to stare. His waist was slender, his chest and abdominal muscles defined, but not too bulky. Just the way I liked them.

There were also faint etchings along his shoulder blades and chest that only appeared when the light hit at certain angles. I approached him and traced a finger to the partially visible designs.

"Are these like white ink tattoos or something?"

Uri entwined his fingers with mine and pulled my arms around his neck.

"They're veins. The ifrit had them too."

I thought back to the image of the rivulets that burned and sparked with white fire along Sabur's massive frame.

I wanted to ask more about them, but Uri steered me to the king-sized mattress. We climbed in together, getting as comfortable as possible. Meanwhile, I was fighting every urge I could. Judging by the waves of heat rolling off his skin, Uri was struggling just as much as me.

We ended up on our sides facing each other. I couldn't help but stare at Uri's torso and he kept his hand snug in the bend of my waist. After a moment, I couldn't hold in the laughter.

Uri grinned and gave my hip a squeeze. "What's so funny? You want me to leave?"

I shook my head into the pillow. "No. This is just so awkward. We should be – you know. But instead we're lying here just staring at each other and sizzling. Literally sizzling."

"I would kiss you, but we both know that like this . . . wearing hardly any clothes, we're bound to take things too far."

I groaned and covered my head with the edge of the blanket. "I know. I know."

The sheets and pillows shifted around as Uri snuck under the covers with me. He rolled until half of his waist overlapped mine.

This was not a part of the plan.

"What are you doing?" I gasped.

"Hush."

A cloud of smoke drifted from Uri's lips and expanded in the space of our tiny tent. I held my breath, using all of my willpower to keep my fire asleep and unaware of my attraction.

"Just tell me when you need me to stop, okay?"

Uri brought his mouth to mine, pushing smoke into my lungs, his tongue against my teeth.

I clenched my thighs around his in confirmation. We granted ourselves permission to touch until I could no longer keep my fire down. Then we really did have to call it quits and even put some extra distance between us.

It wasn't the kind of contact that I hoped for and it was barely second base, but spending my first night with Uri was as good as it was going to get . . . for now.