Temptation Rising (32 page)

Rome hadn’t doubted that. All the way out here he’d chastised himself for telling her, but there’d been no other choice. He hadn’t been able to hold back every part of his cat when he’d seen the man attempting to hurt her. Just like that night in the alley. He’d revealed himself to her once again. And even though it would jeopardize their entire people, he knew he would tell her even more.

“Let’s go upstairs.”

She paused. Going upstairs with him meant something. It meant that she was not only agreeing to stay here with him, she was agreeing to
stay
with him.

Was that what she wanted? To be Roman Reynolds’s woman?

If she’d been asked that question this morning or even earlier this afternoon, she would have probably said yes instantly. Right now, after seeing what she’d seen an hour ago, she wasn’t sure.

“You knew who I was all along, didn’t you?” she asked.

He approached her and Kalina stood her ground. He moved with a fluidness she’d thought was simply confidence before. Now it appeared to be something else, like carefully measured steps bringing not only his physical form but everything that lingered inside him closer to her.

“It feels like I’ve known you forever.”

Inside she sighed. Outside it was important that her resolve stay in place.

“Why?” He was close enough that her body was having its usual drop-everything-and-get-naked spasms. “Why me? And why didn’t you tell me that first day in your office?”

“It’s complicated” was his reply.

“Life usually is,” she quipped.

“That night, two years ago, I just happened to be there. I wasn’t following you then.”

That could be true, she surmised. But what were the odds that two years later he’d end up being the subject of her investigation? Considering where she was at this very moment, the odds were pretty damn good.

“You saved my life.”

He cupped her cheek with one hand. “I’m glad I did.”

The instant response to his touch sealed the deal for her. Not the intense heat that was steadily building, but the tender acceptance that seemed to uncurl inside her. The feeling that made her want to say
Finally
.

She pulled away, turned from him, and headed toward the stairs. As she took the first ones she berated herself for remembering part of the layout of this house. For knowing that his room would be to the left as soon as she got to the top; down the hallway at the very end would be the door. But as she walked and knew he was close by, she felt desired, needed, empowered.

Rome walked behind her, his slow steps quiet. But he was there, he was with her, his essence accompanying her as she moved. Kalina let that feeling mingle inside, finding there was a part of her that enjoyed it, relished this procession, like a duo finally joined.

Inside, she looked around again, taking measured steps around this room that belonged to him. She’d studied him for so long, read every article, every work-up the department had done on this man—and yet right now felt like she was just meeting the real Roman Reynolds.

These walls were dark, like the interior of the house seemed to be. He had lots of books, everything from Shakespeare to Carl Weber. There were law manuals and research guides. She smiled as her fingers traced the spine of the
Idiot’s Guide to Meditation.
She could certainly see the reserved and brooding Rome meditating in here.

The feeling was that of a sanctuary, a solitary place where he could be exactly what he wanted to be. A huge bed on a platform sat in the center of the room. She remembered that bed and what had happened between them in it. Walking past she stayed on the lower level of the room and passed his desk on her way to the patio doors. There was heavy brocade drapery that when closed she suspected kept all sunlight out. It was late afternoon and the drapes were partially open. She pushed them open all the way and sucked in her breath at the view.

It felt like she should be in a country house with all the lush greenery and the tips of full-grown trees she could see. It was open space then woods, a place where a big cat would like to run.

She turned and wasn’t surprised to see him standing a few feet behind her, his stance casual, hands slipped into the pockets of his slacks, chest moving evenly with every breath he took. He looked like some kind of god with his chiseled mocha-toned face and probing eyes. Lust slid through her as if she’d had that drink Baxter promised her and it was something of the alcohol family. Only she didn’t want anything about this moment impaired. She wanted the entire truth from him, because maybe, just maybe she hadn’t been crazy for the last two years. Maybe there really was a big cat protecting her. And if so, her next question would be why.

“Why are you here? Or should I say, always there when I need help?” She’d almost said
need you
but didn’t feel entirely comfortable admitting that just yet.

“Our kind come from the Gungi rain forest in Brazil. We’re born and most often raised there.”

“In the jungle?” she asked incredulously even though she knew there were human tribes living around the rain forests.

“We are a species that has been around for a couple of hundred years, a complex blend of human and animal. As you can understand, I’m sure, this is not common knowledge.”

“Who else knows about your kind?”

“Nobody, or at least no humans. And we’d like to keep it that way.”

“I want to see,” she said without hesitation. “I want to see what you are. Right here, right now.”

He frowned, and she knew he was preparing to say no. Taking a deep breath, she licked her lips and continued, “I’ve dreamed of you. Ever since that night two years ago, I’ve seen you in my dreams. Your eyes, your body. The muscled body of a cat. I’ve carried you with me all this time and I…” Her voice wavered for just an instant. “I’d like to see right here in the light of day while I’m fully awake that I’m not cr … crazy.”

A tiny smile tilted his lips and Kalina wanted to groan with the instant punch of arousal that speared through her. This had to be insanity as well, the way she continuously wanted him as if the two times before hadn’t been enough. Knowing what she now thought she knew about him, it was even stranger.

“You’re not crazy,” he said, taking steps to close the distance between them.

She laughed nervously. “I can’t tell. I mean really, first I’m in an alley being attacked, then here comes this … I don’t know. I hear roaring. Can you imagine that? Roaring like I’m in the jungle or something. Then I see—no I don’t really see it—” She felt like she was back in the therapist’s office, sitting on that fake-suede coach trying to dig deep enough into herself to tell the old bearded man what really happened. But she couldn’t. Yet now, she could.

“I saw you over me, grabbing him by his neck.” Rome was standing right in front of her now, his height towering inches over her own. Another time she might have felt like he was crowding her, but today she didn’t. His presence, this close, felt just right.

“Huge teeth and jaws and the man’s face went from shock to stark fear. When I saw your eyes, I closed mine.” Her voice was getting lower as the words came faster, her heart thumping. “I could hear the sounds and I felt the rain, splattering my face and my arms. My blouse was ripped so I felt cold all over. I wanted to get up, to run as fast as I could, but my body wasn’t working at first. There were these other sounds, like little growls, and I opened my eyes again.” Telling the story again after all this time had her trembling. Rome took her in his arms, rubbing his hands up and down her back. Tilting her head just slightly, she looked right into Rome’s face. “It was you. You were there, pacing, making those noises. Almost like you wanted to run, too, to leave that alley and just run.”

“I frightened you,” he whispered, lifting one of her hands to his lips and kissing her fingers.

“No,” she replied. “I don’t think I was afraid of you. Of a feeling, I think.” A feeling that had started from someplace deep inside her the moment she looked into the eyes of the cat.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

She was shaking her head. “No. It wasn’t your fault. I mean, you saved my life.”

He still held her hand and with his other his fingers feathered over her jaw. “I will always protect you, Kalina. Always.”

Kalina felt dizzy, like everything around her was spinning. Inside her body was on fire with need. But her mind craved more. She needed this confrontation, needed to end the speculation once and for all. “Please,” she whispered, turning her face slightly so that her lips brushed along his fingers.

He didn’t speak, just moved from her, showing her his back as he walked away. When he was close to the platform of the bed he stopped. She held her breath in anticipation. His shirt fell from his shoulders first, and she watched the muscles of his back bunch and contract as he bent over to remove his shoes and socks. Her nipples tightented when his slacks drifted past his hips, down his thighs, along with his underwear. If she thought he was a gorgeous specimen in clothes, out of them he was beyond words. Even a full back view was enticing enough to have her nipples puckering. Tight buttocks dimpled as strong thighs moved to kick the clothes farther away from him.

Then it happened. Right in front of her eyes, the six-foot-two-and-a-half-inch man dropped to the floor and shifted to a large cat.

The transition was swift, an elongating of bones she barely heard cracking. Dark fur rippled along the surface that was seconds ago smooth skin. The cat was as long as Rome was tall with a hulking body that gave the impression of being very heavy. But that was just the physical.

Even though her heart beat so loud she was sure Baxter could hear it from wherever he was in this house, Kalina walked toward the cat that now swished its long tail and turned to her.

She kept going until she was standing not even a foot away from it and could do nothing but sigh. Her shoulders sagged as she felt a tremendous weight being lifted. Going to her knees and letting her bottom fall back on the heels of her feet, she simply stared.

He was beautiful. Majestic. Regal. Powerful.

She reached out a hand and touched the huge circumference of his face, her fingers shaking only slightly as the softness of the fur tickled her skin. It was like onyx, this dark, smooth, thick fur that covered him, and yet she could see darker spots here and there. He made a grunting sound and the warmth of his breath from flaring nostrils drifted over her skin.

Kalina had always been afraid of cats. If she’d see a cat walking on her side of the street she’d quickly cross to the other. Mrs. Gilbert’s pudgy feline scared her on a daily basis, and yet here she was, with the head of what she presumed was a black jaguar in the palm of her hand.

Rubbing past his head, her small hands trembled along his back and down his sides. The pattern of rosettes was visible, giving him a distinct exotic look. To say she was amazed would have been an understatement.

Everything about him said strength and control and—she realized with a jolt piercing throughout her body with only a small amount of confusion—lust. Something, somewhere deep inside her rose, standing at attention. Her gaze found that of the cat once more and held. They were the eyes she’d seen in her dream, the ones she knew so well, and they were staring back at her. He made a chuffing sound, rubbing his head along the palm of her hand, and her heart raced. The flattened nostrils of his nose flared as he sniffed. Then the head moved closer, pushing past her hand and rubbing along the inside of her arm. The fur was so soft it sent shivers up her arm to trickle down her spine.

He sniffed again, this time closer to her breasts, and Kalina swore her own nostrils moved as well, searching for a scent she could recognize. And it was there, not completely to her surprise. A faint scent filtered in the air around them, a sweet sort of musk that once it reached inside her body had everything growing warm. That part of her that seemed to have risen to meet this animal part of him was at full attention now, pushing against the barriers of her human skin with an urgency that Kalina could not contain.

She dropped her arms to her sides as his head continued to move over her chest and down her torso. At her midsection he gave a little push and she instinctively opened her legs. He came closer, that chuffing sound muffled against the inside of her thigh. When his head settled between her legs, his nose at her center, Kalina shivered, her breath catching, nipples tightening. The scent permeating the air melted inside her like some liquid drug and she felt her body going limp against the floor.

She’d stretched out, watching as the big cat stood over her, stalking around her in slow languid movements. His eyes were intense as they raked over her body. When he paused at her feet Kalina wondered what would happen next. She struggled to differentiate between the sound thoughts of a human female and the rising sensations of another.

As quickly as he’d transformed from the man to the cat, the man returned in all his naked splendor. Above her Rome stood with one strong hand cupping his elongated arousal. She licked her lips, her tongue eager to touch the engorged tip, to lick its thick length.

He went to his knees, stretched his body along the length of hers, keeping the bulk of his weight off her by propping up on his elbows. Her arms were flat at her sides but she lifted her head, anticipating his kiss.