Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
He immediately bent his head and licked at the small red drop and then caught her lower lip between his teeth. He tugged and then let her loose, his tongue soothing the ache. “This is mine. I don’t want you biting it.”
“You did,” she pointed out.
“I can. You can’t. Now give me your number. The sun is coming up, and you’re naked out here. I don’t want any others to find you. There would be a fight, Sonia. The leopards would fight to the death over a female. My male will never give yours up.”
She tried not to panic. She couldn’t begin a relationship with a man. Then again, he wasn’t claiming her. He wasn’t saying he wouldn’t give her up. He said his leopard. She touched her tongue nervously to the indentation, where she still felt his teeth. “I don’t know much about shifters. I’m learning as I go along, so I’ll have to accept your word on that. I’ll meet you here tonight. I think I’ll sleep most of the day, so I don’t know what time, but I’ll come.”
“Give me your word.”
“I just did.” She pushed at his shoulders. “I have to go. Really. I have to get back.”
“To what?” He shifted his weight and began to withdraw.
Her breath caught in her throat. The pain was exquisite. The pleasure almost intolerable. Streaks of fire raced up her spine. Why did it have to be so good with him? She knew his brand was stamped into her bones. He did own her body and she could – and would – deny it, but she knew better.
“Seriously, move.” She pushed harder.
He laughed softly and took her mouth. To her horror, she kissed him back immediately. His tongue did a lazy exploration, sliding along hers, coaxing her response until her tongue tangled with his in a bizarre dance that told her more than words could have, that he knew he was in there deep.
When he lifted his head, he moved off her. She rolled away from him, coming to her knees. Her body protested. Ached everywhere. Every muscle. Every cell. But it was a good kind of ache, sated. Satisfied. She could breathe on her own again. She didn’t need mouth-to-mouth from a stranger.
“Don’t follow me.” She yanked on her jeans, heedless of his seed spilling down her leg. “We didn’t use a condom. Do you realize that?”
“Yep.”
He didn’t sound in the least upset, and she paused in the act of pulling on her shirt to glare at him over her shoulder. “Don’t smirk. Think of the consequences.” She jerked the shirt over her head and reached for her boots.
“I have. Condoms and other forms of birth control don’t work on shifters. Either you’ll get pregnant or you won’t. Believe me, baby, you’re pretty damn fertile.”
She could hate him. She really could. But there was his body. He hadn’t even attempted to cover up and just looking at him made her body come alive. She felt the burn starting all over.
“I’m leaving now.” There was no retort she could think of to wipe his male-superior-amused smirk from his face. In any case, she had to get out of there before she jumped him again.
“See you tonight.”
She didn’t deign to reply, but she knew he would see her. She’d be back, because now she was addicted to him. She kept her back to him as she began the long walk of shame home.
2
Sonia groaned and buried her face in the pillow. The nagging alarm wouldn’t stop, and she couldn’t reach it because she’d already thrown it across the room. The pillow did nothing to muffle the sound. Why couldn’t she have gotten one of those soothing alarms? The kind that woke one up gently? The clock blasted its horn-blowing, nerve-jangling message again, and she rolled over and threw the pillow at it. The pillow hit the wall and fell – right beside the shrieking alarm.
She groaned again and forced her body into a sitting position. It wasn’t easy. Every muscle hurt. Every muscle. She felt as if she’d been run over by a truck.
“You so deserve this, Sonia,” she chastised aloud. She dropped her throbbing head into her hands and sat on the edge of the bed, legs dangling over the side, and rocked to try to ease the soreness, the aches and the embarrassment of her awful, no, terrible behavior.
She forced her body to move, mostly because the alarm was driving her crazy, making her head, already pounding, hurt more. With every step, deep inside, she felt the delicious soreness, her inner muscles protesting. It didn’t matter how many hot baths she’d taken, her body still ached with every movement.
It hadn’t mattered how many times she’d promised herself she wouldn’t go back because it was humiliating that she couldn’t stop herself, but she’d returned every night for seven nights. They hadn’t talked, they just stayed up all night, just like their leopards, all over each other. The rougher, the better – it had assuaged the horrible need that just wouldn’t let up. It had driven her night and day, so much so that she’d been tempted to get his number just so he’d meet her there during the day. She wasn’t going to admit to him she was that far gone.