Total pages in book: 172
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
“Before I actually found a woman and claimed her, I made certain there were features built into this room so that I could have my woman close and ensure that she was safe at all times as well. Not only that she was safe, but that I was and our leopards were.”
Flambé sat up slowly, pushing her hair back from her face with one hand and looking warily at him with large cat’s eyes.
“That you were safe? Why wouldn’t you be safe from your woman?”
“I’m an Amurov. My family would always be willing to pay someone to assassinate me.”
“I see.” She said it slowly, frowning, as though she didn’t really see. “So, a woman might go so far as to seduce you and then kill you in your sleep. You wouldn’t hear her lies, and neither would your leopard because you’d be so enamored with her that you just would fall all over her, like you did me.”
That was a trap if he ever heard one. He set traps, he didn’t fall into them. He stared at her without replying.
“What are these sleeping arrangements?” Suspicion colored her voice. She moved to the edge of the bed.
He turned away from her on the pretense of checking the water filling the bathtub. She looked too tempting with her breasts jutting toward him covered in his marks of possession and her hips, mound and thighs marked with the same. Satisfaction coursed through him. He was far more primitive than he ever thought he was. He’d tied so many women, but never once had he wanted to see those rope patterns on their skin. Never had he thought to sink his teeth into them in a claiming bite even though shifters were extremely oral. Now, just the sight of his marks on Flambé had his cock stirring all over again.
It was a large bathtub, but the taps were high pressure and would fill it rather quickly. Steam rose, curling into the air. He liked hot water and he intended to bathe with her. He wanted to start their life together as it would continue. She joined him, surprising him by walking in completely nude, her hands in her hair, winding it into some messy knot that she clearly was well versed in making when she took baths. It didn’t seem to matter that her hair spilled out of the knot in disarray; she looked more tempting to him than ever.
“It looks hot.” Flambé bent down to test the water with her fingers.
“Very much so.” He made it a statement as he put both hands around her waist and lifted her right into the middle of the tub.
She hissed her displeasure, but she didn’t try to claw at him to get out as he half expected. The water wasn’t so hot it would burn her skin, but it was hot enough to maybe be a little uncomfortable. He’d poured healing salts into it in order to help ease any soreness their wild fucking had created.
Flambé stood for a few minutes as the tub continued to fill with the hot, steamy water. “You were telling me about the sleeping arrangements. Just what are the options? I assume there are options.”
His gaze swept over her body deliberately. “I could tie you to our bed in a different position every night. I’m very imaginative. It would take quite a while before we would have to start repeating positions.”
“Seems like a fire hazard to me. I think sleeping downstairs appeals to me more.” She gave a little sniff of disdain.
He turned off the taps and stepped into the tub, towering over her. Crowding her, when there was enough room that he didn’t have to.
Flambé stepped back and then had to catch at his hips to stop herself from slipping. He continued to stand, trapping her between his larger body and the high side of the tub. Very gently, but with firm command, he put one hand on her shoulder and applied pressure. The order was clear. He wanted her to sit down in the water and he wanted her to do it right there where there was little room between their bodies.
She tilted her head to look up at him, her cat’s eyes meeting his for just one moment. There was a brief hint of defiance that had the dominant in him rising fast, a sharp brutal power unfurling in him that raked and clawed just as violently as his leopard. He stared straight into her eyes, letting her see who he was, what he was and what she would always have to deal with.
A part of him detested that he had been born twisted and fucked-up, created by a strain of vile men who thought only of themselves and wanted nothing but power over others. He had fought the cruel streak in his makeup, the raging temper, and he’d kept others safe from both his leopard and himself. He cupped the side of her face and leaned down to take her mouth.