“Color within the lines.”

What a message from my life. Yeah, conformity was safe. And look where it got me. I decided feeling nothing at all was worse than any pain taking risks might bring me.

That night at the street market, I passed the stilted ladies with skirts lit by lights, ignored the wild-haired clowns juggling balls for kids, and went straight to him. I had to wiggle my way to the front of the circling crowd for a better look. Danger has a pull, and I stopped pretending otherwise when I saw the dragon.

Unlike me, he moved like he owned his life. He shone the brightest just before he arched his back and blew a ferocious plume of fire from his mouth—a flame that threatened to lick the stars. So self-assured and alive!

His name was Stefan.

I rushed him, refusing to let another take my place because of my hesitation. My first words: “I wanna taste your fire.”

When he looked at me, his eyes held the same heat he’d just wielded. His challenge: “But will you swallow it?”

We both looked at the burning torch he held between us before locking eyes again.

“If you teach me,” I answered, half afraid of what he’d say next.

His eyes shifted to my mouth. “I can teach you, babygirl.”

Sweet fuck, I stirred inside at the risk I’d be taking. And for the first time in my life, I didn’t run from it.

<|>

He dressed me in a showgirl’s costume covered in fancy red sequins and beads to catch the street lights. Fixed my hair how he liked it. Painted blue smoke across my lids and crimson gloss on my lips. I didn’t recognize the woman in the mirror, and that was a good thing. He named the new me Seraphina.

After we reached the street corner, it didn’t take long for people to notice us and gather around. I wondered how many of them looked at me and thought the same thing I’d felt when I saw Stefan. Was I sparkling? I hoped so.

He turned my back to the crowd and lifted my chin, wanting my focus. “Do exactly as I say.”

I wanted to lighten the intensity, so I teased, “And if I don’t?”

He picked up an unlit torch and tapped it against my forehead. “Then you’ll get burned.” I saw the fire in his eyes.

The first time he told me to get on my knees, I had second thoughts. I didn’t belong there… with someone like him.

I believed he knew what I was thinking, and confronted me.

“You’re where you need to be. Release your fear.”

“But it’s fire!”

“And you have the power when it’s in your mouth.”

I’d remember those words later.

He stepped closer so I felt the heat from the flame… from him. But I leaned back from it.

“Trust yourself.”

I nodded.

“Control it with your breath. Don’t breathe in. Ever. Breathe out, and the fire is extinguished.”

I nodded again, but my mind screamed, You can’t do this!

“Now, open.”

I lost count of how many times we repeated that scene. He never let me walk away, never gave up on me, meticulously breaking down fear that had taken root within me. That moment when I finally accepted the flaming rod into my mouth, my rebirth began.

“Exhale.”

I did, and found I liked the taste of danger. When he showed me the extinguished torch, I cried.

The nights blurred together after that. I grew braver. I began to crave the way his tone would deepen when he ordered me to my knees. Told me to open my mouth.

He pushed me over the lines I’d built in my life.

I even licked the flame. He transferred the fire to my extended tongue, then to another torch. But the biggest challenge was when he had me seal my lips around the torch with the flame inside my mouth. Sweet fuck, what if I’d never taken that risk?

And the oral fixation. So much attention to my mouth and how I handled what was in it. How could I not think about his cock? Surely, he knew how all of this affected me. My not-so-subtle peeks at his crotch. He caught me looking, but said nothing. His brown eyes smiled, though. Yeah, he was packing heat in his pants. No doubt he knew how to wield it.

Now, I’m here… with him… performing in public. I needed to stay focused, though. I was literally playing with fire.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, and his firm pressure had me dropping to my knees. My head fell back. The dragon stood over me and I melted.

“Close your eyes,” he silently mouthed.

I tensed. That wasn’t how we’d practiced. I’d always seen it coming.

“Close. Your. Eyes.”

Yeah, I saw the twitch at the corners of his mouth. He was enjoying watching me squirm. I should have known he’d push me further tonight.

My moment of truth: Did I trust Stefan?

I did.

I blocked out the gathering moths and focused on one singular sexy-as-fuck voice that whispered, “Open your mouth.”

My lips parted. Mouth gaped wide. Sweet fuck, my mind went somewhere else. Focus.

“You control the fire.”

Warmth passed between my lips. It was in my mouth.

“Seal your lips.”

I did. And tasted him. I mean it—the flame.

Don’t breathe in. Don’t breathe in. Don’t breathe in.

My saliva protected me from the burn. There was no oxygen, and the flame went out.

“Open.”

Only when he withdrew the torch without its flame did I let the rest of the world back in. Some clapped. Others Woohoo’d. All adored us.

“Seraphina, open your eyes.”

And there he still stood over me. The sensual, affecting dragon who’d introduced fire into my dismal life.

He extended his hand to help me off my knees, and we bowed, but my eyes remained fixed on him.

The crowd began to thin, leaving us alone on that street corner where Karen first met him. Seraphina stood here now.

I guessed the adrenaline had captured us both, because he unexpectedly pulled me into a hug, squeezing the breath from me. “You did it.” His lips touched my ear.

“It was more you.”

He shook his head. “No, no. I just lit the flame. You swallowed it.”

Sweet fuck. What now? That word “swallow” caused a drip or two whenever he said it.

He was the first to step back, but his hands held my shoulders. When I looked into his eyes, I knew what scribbling outside the lines felt like.

“I noticed you held the flame longer tonight.”

His thumbs gave my skin a slow caress and, “I did it for you,” tumbled out of my mouth.

I’m pretty sure he moaned. Then he asked, “How did it make you feel?”

I moved his hand on my shoulder to cover my heart. “Alive.”

He looked where his hand rested and no doubt felt my thundering heartbeat.

“Yeah, fire does that to you.”

“And I felt connected,” I added.

“To what?”

“To the fire. To you.”

I decided in that moment that if I didn’t make my desires known, it would forever mess me up because he’d taught me to feel restless when not taking risks.

“I want more from you.”

There I said it. The next move was his.

He took a deep breath and studied my face, shifting his gaze from my eyes to my lips and to my throat, before speaking in a lowered voice just for me. “You’d be playing with something even more dangerous, babygirl.”

I lifted my chin and leaned in until our lips almost touched. “You taught me no fear, remember?”

He’d trained me well, and I didn’t miss the heat reaching from his body.

<|>

He fed me, trusting me to pull back my teeth while he held my head that hung off the bed.

My spittle fueled this fire, and he warmed and pulsed inside my mouth. Blood ran to fatten his cock. My tongue swirled and licked without worry of burning.

I opened my eyes to find him watching me. And I watched the dragon losing control for the first time. His eyes tried to roll back. He chewed on his lip.

Swallow it, he mouthed before forcing his throbbing flesh down my throat.

My throat tightened immediately at the invasion. The unexpected fullness blocked my airways. But our connection was insane!

We spoke with our eyes. He saw I wanted his cock even when I flailed a bit on the bed. I learned his was the sole fire that thrived without oxygen. I reached for him, encouraging him to thrust deeper even though tears poured from my lids.

And he did until his cum soon soothed my burning throat.

After he pulled out, he made sure his lips were the next thing I felt on my mouth.

Stefan kissed breath back into me, and I lived the rest of my life without fear, no longer afraid of getting burned. And what a fucking sweet life it was.