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)
Sonia moved closer to the surface the moment Gatita was uncomfortable. The female and her male had played and rested for well over an hour. She had crouched in front of him a few times and he’d been on her fast. They rested after copulating four times in less than two hours and then they ran again.
Sonia tried to soothe, to tell her to trust in the male, but she remained close, willing to put her life on the line if anything threatened her leopard. Out of the trees came three other big males. Gatita whirled to face them, and then backed up until she ran into Shadow. He nudged her and rubbed along her body with his.
One by one the leopards came up to the female and touched noses. Sonia realized Shadow was introducing the other shifters. She got the impression the three were bodyguards for Shadow. Not Shadow – Joshua. Why would the head of a security team need bodyguards? She needed to look into him. She could contact Drake Donovan’s agency and ask if Joshua really worked for him.
Immediately she was ashamed of herself for thinking about checking up on him. She’d be furious if he started doing the same to her. She’d been deliberately vague about who she’d been married to. That was a good thing. He couldn’t investigate her without tipping off her husband and his father. They had ears and eyes everywhere.
Gatita ran with the four males, exploring Joshua’s territory. Shadow turned her after another hour, which meant Joshua wanted to take back his form. Sonia would have been happy to allow Gatita to have her form until dawn in the hopes that Joshua wouldn’t have to spend too much time in her bed.
It wasn’t sex she was afraid of. It was the way he held her. So close. His body tightly against hers. He held her like she was cherished by him. Like she was the most precious thing in his life. He whispered to her. He stroked her hair. Those things were what wore her down, not his creative brand of mating.
Shadow pushed Gatita to the verandah, where Shadow shifted. Joshua dropped his hand to Gatita’s fur and the leopard walked with him to the French doors of the bedroom. He opened them and the two walked into her bedroom. She loved her room. It was enormous for her. Wide open spaces. She loved the high ceiling and all the glass facing the swamp. She loved the floor with its cool rings of various shades in the wood, a pattern of medium circles throughout. It had taken her a long time to do the floor right. She knew wood wasn’t the best with a leopard, but she wanted to duplicate the original floor to the best of her ability, and it had been hardwood.
She shifted as Joshua turned back to get her red lace from the table and then closed the French doors. “They had fun.”
“Yes, they did, but you’re tired, sore and your muscles are achy.” He moved past her to the bathroom, where her extremely large claw-foot tub was waiting. He turned on the gold taps and steaming water poured into the porcelain bathtub. “Do you have any bath salts? Something that might soothe away soreness?”
That made her blush, but she nodded and walked past him, trying not to be hyperaware of the differences in their bodies. She was certain he didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. He had defined muscles in his chest, his abs and more muscles forming a vee as his waist narrowed into his hips. His thighs were twin columns of muscle.
Then there was her body. She had muscle, but she was fairly certain no one could see it, except maybe those in her arms. She was tempted to pump her bicep to see, but she crouched in front of the sink where she kept boxes of salts. She handed him one of the more neutral scents. He took it from her, smelled it and grinned, one eyebrow shooting up.
“Grapefruit.”
“I have oranges and spice.”
“Grapefruit it is.” He poured it into the steaming water.
He was really built. She had ample curves, with the stress on the ample part. Her breasts were full, her hips full, and because her rib cage was narrow and so was her waist, it only served to emphasize the generous endowments given to her. Then there were her thighs. She ran all the time, why weren’t her thighs bone skinny? She was not model material.
“You keep it up, and I’m going to bite you somewhere that will make you unable to sit down for a week or two.”
Startled, her gaze jumped to his face. He didn’t look as if he was joking, nor did he sound it. He looked intimidating. “You already did that.”