Pressed against hers, Shaozu's body was warm, hard, muscular, everything she could have imagined. His hands roamed over her clothes, the heel of one palm brushing tantalizingly against her breast. Their mouths still locked together, he was just starting to pull her toward the corner where she was sure his futon lay when his bare foot encountered the water she had been bending, now drenching the rug all around them.

Shaozu's reaction was immediate, and unkind.

He shoved her away as if she had burned him, his eyes flashing, his teeth bared.

"I told you!" he snapped. "I told you I didn't want the floor wet. Now there will be mud everywhere!"