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)
She felt a disturbance in the air and then he was in front of her, blocking the way. She halted so she wouldn’t run into him, but she refused to back up even one step. Leopards could leap long distances, and evidently so could their human counterparts.
“Get out of my way.”
“You’re angry.”
“You used Jerry to get to me.”
He shook his head slowly, his blue-green eyes every bit as piercing as his leopard’s. “I am in need of a contractor. Everything I told Jerry was the absolute truth.” He gestured toward the house. “It’s beautiful and damaged. I want it restored, but with more modern conveniences. It was Jerry who said he had just the person to do it.”
“You followed me home.” Her voice vibrated with accusation.
“Of course I did. I wouldn’t be much of a gentleman if I didn’t make certain you arrived home safely. I followed you every morning.”
Sonia didn’t know whether it was the fact that she’d told him not to and he’d done it anyway or that she hadn’t detected him that bothered her most. “That wasn’t cool.”
“Maybe not, but you were safe. I like your home. It’s a smaller version of this one. I looked it up to see if another family member had that house, but I couldn’t find much on the family that had both houses built. They were secretive.” His eyes told her he thought the family were shifters, and she agreed with that assumption. It made sense. The tree branches that deliberately formed a highway in the grove the family had planted throughout the acreage leading from the large mansion to her smaller one suggested shifters.
“I need someone to work on the house, Sonia,” he reiterated. “I knew you worked for Jerry, but if he hadn’t been the one recommended for this type of restoration, I wouldn’t have chosen his company.”
She tapped the notebook she’d been documenting the damage in against her thigh. “I don’t like surprises, and you’ve given me quite a few.”
“You’re wearing my mark and my leopard’s mark. Your female accepted him. You accepted me.”
She looked around quickly, but Evan was gone and no one else appeared to be close. “For seven nights. That was it. Through her heat. Okay,” she admitted when he continued to look at her. “Our heat. I was as bad as she was. I don’t know about you, but I don’t especially want anyone to know about my leopard. Rockets went off, you’re that good, but I’m not looking for a relationship. I told you that.”
“You told me you were mine.”
“I was. For seven days,” she insisted.
“Not going without you, baby,” he said, stepping closer.
He took her breath, just like that, leaving her lungs burning and her heart aching. The way his voice went even lower, that note that caressed her skin like fingers, the intensity of his eyes – all of it got to her. When he stepped closer, she was once again surrounded by his scent, enveloped in him until she breathed him deep with every breath she took in. She didn’t know how he did it, but he made her feel safe when she knew she wasn’t. Especially not with him.
She couldn’t have him. She wasn’t going there. Seven nights of bliss, in the swamp, hidden from the world had to be enough for her. He was safe. She was safe. Gatita was safe. Safety would be gone if they stayed together beyond those days. She’d always treasure them, think of them, maybe even fixate on them, because the kind of sex he’d given her was addicting.
She shook her head. “Look, Joshua, I really, really had the best time with you a woman can possibly have, I’m not going to lie, but it can’t possibly go beyond what we had.”
He reached out slowly, as if she might bolt if he made the wrong move – which was entirely possible. Everything in her told her she was in fight-or-flight mode. She stayed frozen to the spot, unable to run, unable to draw her leopard out to fight him. She just stood there, allowing him to take possession of her just the way he had in the swamp.
His palm slid around the nape of her neck, and her heart thundered in her ears. His fingers curled around her neck, right over her pounding pulse. She felt the whisper of his warm breath as he bent his head toward hers, and then his mouth brushed lightly over hers. Her sex clenched hard. Her breath caught in her throat in absolute anticipation. He didn’t disappoint.
Joshua’s lips rubbed against hers like a cat, back and forth. His tongue traced the seam of her lips and then his teeth were there, tugging at her lower lip, biting down slowly, sinking deeper and deeper until, shocked at the stinging pain, she gasped and he was there, sweeping in, taking her over.