Master of Smoke

me from running off the road.
    So he got in the car and draped the jacket over his lap as if humoring a crazy person.
    Unfortunately, it wasn’t helping. Her memory was way too good, and TDN’s naughty bits weren’t really bits. More like hunks. Of hunk.
    Really, really naked hunk. Eva fought to keep her eyes from sliding sideways while she tried to drive. Meanwhile, TDN filled the passenger seat with lots and lots of delicious bare muscle.
    She couldn’t keep calling him TDN. For one thing, she intended to get him dressed as soon as possible, if she had to wrap him in a sheet like a refugee from Animal House. “What’s your name? I’m Eva Roman.”
    There was a pause that went on entirely too long. Either he was thinking up a lie and wasn’t bright enough to do it fast, or he didn’t know. And she didn’t think he was dumb.
    Eva flashed him a look and had to drag her eyes back to the road. Her inner werewolf was drooling again. “That question is not supposed to require so much thought.”
    “I ... do not seem to know.”
    Oh, hell. She really hated amnesia plots in comics. Living one would be even worse. “What do you remember?”
    “You.”
    Something about the velvet purr in those words made her nipples tingle. Eva turned to stare at him again, then had to whip around when the car swerved, and drag it back onto the road. She was going to get pulled over for DUI if this kept up. “What else?”
    “My enemy.” TDN paused. “He has a great many teeth.”
    “No shit.”
    TDN looked at her, puzzled.
    “That means ... never mind. Do you know why he was after you, other than he thought you’d make tasty kibble?”
    The puzzlement intensified.
    “That means ... Oh, forget it. Why. Is. He. After. You?”
    “You do not have to enunciate like that. I am not stupid,” TDN said with vast dignity.
    “I know that!” The other bad part about That Time of the Year was that her temper went straight to hell.
    “I do not remember why he wishes to kill me.” He paused. “That is bad.”
    She opened her mouth to say “No shit,” then closed it again. “What would you like me to call you?”
    He looked at her, and his lips curved. “Whatever you want.” That was definitely a purr, deep and rumbly and ...
    “Cut it out!” Hearing the snarl in her own voice, she winced. “Sorry. This time of year, I get a little bitchy.”
    “Why?” He looked honesty interested.
    “I don’t know.” Eva took a deep breath. She had to tell him. He needed to know, and anyway, he was pretty damned weird himself. “It has something to do with me being a werewolf.”
    TDN turned to look at her. He didn’t seem in the least frightened. More interested, like she’d said she was a firefighter or a doctor or a comic book artist. “Like my enemy?”
    “Yeah, only I’m not going to eat you.”
    “Too bad.”
    “Please don’t.” He blinked, and Eva drew in a breath, wrestling her inner werewolf for control. Fluffy just loved to take over. “Look, like I said, this time of year is difficult for me. I get very ...” Horny. “... Short-tempered.”
    “Why?”
    “You’re like a two-year-old, you know that? You keep asking questions I don’t know the answer to.”
    His lips twitched. “I can see how that would be annoying. But how do I know which questions you cannot answer?”
    “Take a wild guess.” He was making Fluffy crazy, and Fluffy was making Eva incredibly bitchy. Okay, bitchier. “I’m sorry.”
    “I accept your apology.” He let several seconds slip by before adding slyly, “Would you like to make it up to me?”
    “Would you like to share this car with seven feet of pissed-off werewolf?”
    Honest to God, he seemed to consider the question. “I do not think so.”
    “Trust me, it wouldn’t be any fun. Fluffy has the anger management issues of the Hulk.”
    “Who is ...?”
    “Never mind, comic book reference.”
    He looked confused. Even that looked good on him. “Fluffy?”
    “Oh. No, that’s not from a comic book. That’s what I call my werewolf.”
    TDN blinked. “You have a different name for your werewolf?”
    “Well ... yeah.”
    “Fluffy?”
    “It kind of fits.”
    “I sincerely doubt that, if you look anything like my enemy.”
    “Well, she’s definitely not as big as that guy.”
    “Why do you talk about your werewolf form as though it’s someone else?”
    “Because she is. Kind of.” Eva sighed. “It’s a little hard to explain.”
    “Apparently.”
    “Let’s