Heart of the Jaguar (7 page)

She looked up at him with a questioning look.

He swallowed hard. “I don’t want to come in your hands.”

Fighting a grin, she stroked him again, a quick swipe of her hand from the base of his cock to his crown. His eyes narrowed so she did it again, teasing him.

Even though she’d meant to challenge him, she was surprised when he grasped both her wrists lightning quick and tugged them over her head as he pinned her flat against the wall.

All the air left her lungs in a whoosh as he pressed his body against hers. Instinctively she lifted one leg, wrapping it around him and digging her heel into his ass.

“You like playing with fire,” he murmured.

“You’d never hurt me.” She knew he’d never hurt her physically. That was a given. She was referring to emotionally. Despite her lingering doubts, some primal part of her had realized it by his response to what she’d thought would be a complete deal breaker for their relationship. Instead of pushing him away, she’d realized there could truly be something between them. And she wasn’t going to ignore the burgeoning feelings growing inside her. As it was, she’d barely been keeping them on lockdown, but now that she knew something real could develop between them she was going to see where things went. Hell, she was tired of living in fear of having a real relationship.

“Never.” At that, he captured her mouth with his. Pushing past her lips, his tongue danced with hers in erotic little strokes that mimicked having sex.

Her inner walls clenched as she remembered what it had felt like to have him pushing deep into her. Right now, he was apparently happy holding her captive against the wall and teasing her.

She slowly, sensually ground against him. With her one leg wrapped around him, her body was open to him. Open and waiting. All he would have to do was shift just a little and he’d be inside her.

He pulled back from her mouth only to blaze a trail of kisses along her jaw. “I love how impatient you get,” he murmured as he reached her ear and gently nipped her lobe.

She rolled her hips against him and inhaled that pure male scent. Even as the water washed away the soot and other scents, there was something so earthy that was all Elias, and it intoxicated her. “Then do something about it.”

The hand holding her wrists flexed once and she thought he might torture her longer, but he reached between them with his free hand and cupped her mound. He slid one, then two fingers in her and groaned. “You’re so wet.”

She arched her back into his hold, clenching around him. “That’s what happens when you walk around naked,” she rasped out. Okay, it didn’t even take that. All she had to do was catch his male scent and her body flared to life. She wondered if she’d ever get used to it, but she had no doubt this was part of the mating call. Now that she’d let herself accept it, the knowledge was so settling, the truth something she couldn’t deny. Since she’d never thought she would experience it, she didn’t know what to feel. Stunned, elated...there were too many descriptions, and she could barely think.

When he drew his fingers out, dragging them along her inner walls, her lower abdomen tightened and she clenched around nothing. She needed to be filled by him so badly she was practically shaking with the need.

“So impatient,” he said as he smoothly buried himself in her, thrusting hard once.

Hell yeah she was, and she’d never apologize for it. He filled her so completely it took a moment for her to adjust. She tried to drag in a deep breath but found it impossible. Her entire body was humming with the need to climax. A raw, pent-up energy thrummed through her with wild abandon, and she could actually feel her inner jaguar clawing at her, demanding that she take this man and mate with him. She wasn’t ready for the actual mating yet, but they could both find pleasure.

When he pulled back, she thought he was withdrawing completely and she struggled against his hold on her wrists. He instantly let go, so she grasped his shoulders.

Holding tight, she could barely catch her breath as he started thrusting into her. Burying his face against her neck, she felt his canines rake against her, but he didn’t break the skin. Her nipples tightened even harder at the thought of him doing so. The pain, the pleasure. A shudder rolled through her.

Each time he slammed into her, she pushed closer and closer to climax. Her body was bowstring tight, and when he grabbed her from behind and squeezed her soft skin in a dominating grip, something inside her released.

Her orgasm shattered through her, streaming to all her nerve endings like a pulsing wave. Normally she needed clitoral stimulation, but she’d been so primed for him he could have looked at her right and she would have come.

He let out a growl, his canines coming dangerously close to piercing her skin as he came with her. When she thought he might actually do it, he pulled his head back and let out a shout as the full force of his orgasm surged through him.

She wasn’t sure how much time passed. A minute. An hour. It felt like an eternity before she could finally release her legs from around him. The moment she did, she almost collapsed, but Elias held her up.

“It’s time to get you into bed.” He gently wiped a washcloth between her legs before turning off the shower.

Though he still had a few smudges of soot on his arms that hadn’t been completely washed off and he hadn’t gotten a real shower, she didn’t argue because she wanted him in bed with her. She wanted to curl up into that strong embrace and let him hold her through the night.

When he wrapped her in a towel and dried her as if she was too fragile to do it herself, she let him. Her body felt like Jell-O and she wasn’t above letting someone help her. Especially someone as sexy and giving as Elias.

“I’m totally falling for you,” she blurted out, then felt mortified and horribly exposed.

They were still in his bathroom and he was kneeling at her feet as he dried her left leg. His head snapped up and his gaze was a mercurial storm of wicked, erotic promises. “The feeling is mutual.”

His deep voice wrapped around her with such intensity, she couldn’t fight the elated shiver that rippled through her. A wild mix of terror and adrenaline. Oh yeah, she wasn’t just falling. She’d already fallen. Head over heels.

Chapter 8

Elias opened his eyes at the sound of a harsh beeping.
What
the
hell
? Rolling over, he glanced at his alarm clock, but it was off. As he turned back toward Cindy, she was already sitting up and stretching her arms above her head. She let out a yawn then slightly shook her head, as if she was trying to wake herself up. With her naked back displayed for him, he couldn’t help but reach out and stroke his hand down her soft skin. “What are you doing?” he asked, his voice raspy with sleep.

She looked over her shoulder at him, a private smile on her face, and his entire body tightened with immediate need. “I’m getting up—and don’t look at me like that or I’ll never get out of bed.”

He frowned as her words registered. That’s when he realized she’d set the alarm on her cell phone and that was what had woken him. “It’s not even noon. You’ve barely slept at all and there’s no reason for us to get out of bed. For
days
.”

Pressing her lips together as if she was fighting a smile, she jumped up and dodged away from him when he went to drag her back to bed. “Days?”

“Yep.” He kicked the covers off completely, watching as she strode naked and unselfconsciously to one of the bags she’d brought. He could watch her all day.

“I need to go to the office for a few hours. I had one of the nurses’ call in a temp because of everything going on, but I’ve never met him before, and I want to make sure my patients are in good hands.”

There was no way he was letting her go to work. He sat up, an argument prepared, when she shook her head.

“I’m not staying all day. There’s no way I’ll inadvertently risk my patients in case that maniac tries to hurt me at work, but I want to feel this doctor out and see what he’s like. Reading a file is not the same as talking to someone in person.” She didn’t look at him as she dug through her bag.

“Your patients are important to you.” He wanted to be frustrated that she was insisting on leaving, but he admired her.

She dragged a pair of black slacks out of her bag and frowned at them. “Of course they are...ugh, these need to be ironed.” Cindy glanced at him. “You don’t happen to have one do you?”

Wincing, he shook his head. He didn’t even have a hair dryer. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay. I’ll just wear jeans. I’m not staying long anyway.”

“I’m going with you.” He rose from the bed, anticipating an argument.

She just smiled. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

The tension in his chest loosened. He was going no matter what, but he liked that he didn’t have to argue. Cindy was smart and cared about not only her safety, but also that of her patients. Even if Tyler was a human—and they still weren’t sure it was him behind the recent attacks—Elias would never underestimate anyone motivated enough to do her harm. He hadn’t been in town long enough to know if there were any other possible threats against her and no one else had any suspects since Cindy was so well liked. While he was protecting her, he was letting the police do their job. Of course he still wished his FBI friend would hurry up with that information—if there was any to be discovered. It hadn’t even been a full twenty-four hours since he’d called in the favor, but Elias wanted to know as much as he could about the only suspect right now.

Cindy might be strong and heal faster than humans, but she wasn’t indestructible. Which was why he was going with her to work. Well, that and he couldn’t
not
go. Not when he was half in love with her and feeling crazed at the thought of her being out of his sight for even a few minutes. This mating-heat craze was more than he’d expected, but he was fully embracing every bit of it.

* * *

Six hours later, darkness had fallen and Elias finally felt as if he could breathe again. Cindy had stayed a lot longer than she’d said she would, but he couldn’t blame her. Her office had filled up, and even with two doctors and three nurses, they were still in desperate need of help. Elias was going to put a few feelers out to shifters and humans he knew in the medical field. Cindy couldn’t keep working this much. The town might be small, but it needed another doctor. That was a conversation for another day though. Right now, he was just concerned with getting her back to his home.

“I could get used to you chauffeuring me around.” Cindy laid her head back against the headrest of his truck and turned her head to face him.

“I could too. As soon as we get back to my place, you’re going to bed.” He steered out of the small parking lot behind her practice.

“Ah, okay then. But you’re joining me.” Her grin was wicked as she closed her eyes and let her head fall back.

He kept his gaze on the road and tried to keep his thoughts off her naked body. “After you get some actual sleep, then hell yes I’m joining you.”

“I bet I can change your mind,” she whispered in that sensual voice.

He knew she could too, but he didn’t respond because he didn’t trust his voice. He’d come so close to marking her earlier this morning, and it scared him. When they bonded and became mates—if they did—they would need to mark each other together. He couldn’t exert that right when it wasn’t his to take. He’d felt like such a jackass when he’d almost done it, but she hadn’t said anything. Now that they’d moved past the one big hurdle she seemed to have, he wanted to broach the subject of officially mating. While he didn’t want to rush her, he felt crazed with the need to claim her. Rolling his shoulders once, he tried to shake off those thoughts.

Elias shot another glance at her. Cindy’s head was back against the seat, her neck bared, and each time her chest rose, a hint of cleavage peaked out from the V-neck sweater she wore. Just a hint, but it had him going crazy since he knew exactly what she looked like without clothes on. Her amber-and-vanilla scent twined around him, settling into his skin and taking over the vehicle as she made a permanent mark on his life without even trying.

A flash of movement in the rearview mirror caught his attention, but before he could react, his truck jolted forward under the impact of another vehicle slamming into them. The sound of crunching metal rent the air.

Cindy let out a yelp of alarm as they jerked forward against their seat belts and their heads snapped back against the headrests. Elias gripped the steering wheel tightly and started to slow down when whoever had hit them crashed into them again.

This was no accident.

The driver didn’t have on the vehicle’s lights, but Elias could make out the outline of a lone figure in the driver’s seat.

He started to speed up, but the vehicle followed, ramming into them as he did.

Cindy turned in her seat. “Do you think it’s Tyler?”

Elias gritted his teeth. “Not sure.” But he was sure it was the man who’d been harassing her. He didn’t care who it was though as he mentally ran through his options. They were coming up on a bend in about a hundred yards. After that they had two miles until they reached the turnoff for Wright pack land.

Crunch
.

The truck jolted forward again. The impact pissed him off more than anything. Cindy let out another yelp and then a growl of anger.

“I’ll call the cops,” she said, digging out her phone.

He increased his grip on the wheel, his knuckles turning white. He couldn’t speed up without endangering them. If he picked up speed, they would careen over the hill once they reached the bed. “No. Call Owen. Tell him what’s going on and to send a tracker.”

Crunch
.

Okay, fuck that. “Forget it. Do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

Her immediate answer warmed him. Elias rolled down their windows and picked up speed, hurtling toward the bend. Fifty yards now. He knew how agile jaguars were and had seen Cindy shift in mere seconds. She could pull off what he had planned with ease.