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He brushed the hair from her face "You're beautiful This face A man would fall forever for this face alone Put it with your body and he's lost"

There was nothing lost about hie Still very much the dominant male He didn't move off her, his body still locked in hers She braced herself for that flash of pain when he withdrew,subtly to let him knoas time He just smiled down at her, and that took her breath

She'd tried not to look at him as a whole He had a purely masculine body There wasn't a soft spot anywhere And then there were his eyes So beautiful, all that blue-green in a sea of crystal She had deliberately not focused on his face She didn't want to see him as a man A shifter, mate of her female, that was fine, but if she looked at his face, she'd have to see him

He was beautiful in awomen dreamt of in a man That made her self-conscious of her too-wide hips, full breasts and wild, too-thick dark hair She cleared her throat, trying to think what to say to make him leave

"Don't," he ordered softly "I see it on your face This is normal for a shifter You probably had no idea about your female Most don't But she's beautiful and healthy, just like you She'll be this way for the next week You can give me your number"

She shook her head Eood measure "I'll keep her in I told you"

The gentle smile disappeared, replaced by a short shake of his head His eyes went to that piercing, scary stare his leopard had "My leopard will hunt yours You have to allow theether"

She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood Her teeth felt sharper than usual The bite stung, but only because he'd already ravated the small injury

He immediately bent his head and licked at the sht her lower lip between his teeth He tugged and then let her loose, his tongue soothing the ache "This isit"

"You did," she pointed out

"I can You can't Now giveup, and you're naked out here I don't want any others to find you There would be a fight, Sonia The leopards would fight to the death over a feive yours up"

She tried not to panic She couldn't begin a relationship with ahe wouldn't give her up He said his leopard She touched her tongue nervously to the indentation, where she still felt his teeth "I don't know , so I'll have to accept your word on that I'll ht I think I'll sleep most of the day, so I don't knohat time, but I'll come"

"Give me your word"

"I just did" She pushed at his shoulders "I have to go Really I have to get back"

"To what?" He shifted his weight and began to withdraw

Her breath caught in her throat The pain was exquisite The pleasure almost intolerable Streaks of fire raced up her spine Why did it have to be so good with him? She knew his brand was stamped into her bones He did own her body and she could--and would--deny it, but she knew better

"Seriously, move" She pushed harder

He laughed softly and took her mouth To her horror, she kissed hi along hers, coaxing her response until her tongue tangled with his in a bizarre dance that told her more than words could have, that he kneas in there deep

When he lifted his head, heto her knees Her body protested Ached everywhere Every ood kind of ache, sated Satisfied She could breathe on her own again She didn't need er

"Don't followdown her leg "We didn't use a condom Do you realize that?"

"Yep"

He didn't sound in the least upset, and she paused in the act of pulling on her shirt to glare at him over her shoulder "Don't smirk Think of the consequences" She jerked the shirt over her head and reached for her boots

"I have Condoms and other foret pregnant or you won't Believe me, baby, you're pretty damn fertile"

She could hate him She really could But there was his body He hadn't even atte at hi all over

"I' now" There was no retort she could think of to wipe his male-superior-aet out of there before she juain

"See you tonight"

She didn't deign to reply, but she kneould see her She'd be back, because now she was addicted to hi walk of shame home

2

SONIA groaned and buried her face in the pillow The nagging alarm wouldn't stop, and she couldn't reach it because she'd already thrown it across the roo to otten one of those soothing alarently? The clock blasted its horn-blowing, nerve-jangling ain, and she rolled over and threw the pillow at it The pillow hit the wall and fell--right beside the shrieking alarm

She groaned again and forced her body into a sitting position It wasn't easy Every muscle hurt Every muscle She felt as if she'd been run over by a truck

"You so deserve this, Sonia," she chastised aloud She dropped her throbbing head into her hands and sat on the edge of the bed, legs dangling over the side, and rocked to try to ease the soreness, the aches and the embarrassment of her awful, no, terrible behavior

She forced her body toher head, already pounding, hurt more With every step, deep inside, she felt the delicious soreness, her innerIt didn't matter how many hot baths she'd taken, her body still ached with every movement

It hadn't o back because it was hu that she couldn't stop herself, but she'd returned every night for seven nights They hadn't talked, they just stayed up all night, just like their leopards, all over each other The rougher, the better--it had assuaged the horrible need that just wouldn't let up It had driven her night and day, so et his nuoing to adone

Fortunately, her feed to breathe She didn't tell Joshua She kneould insist on her nuht he would eventually wear her down, or she wouldn't be able to do without his sex Instead, she'd walked away early in the , just as the sun rose, just as she always did, and left hio back

It was day three without hiht hours and then slept on and off for the next day and night She couldn't remember why she'd set her alarm, but it had been important

"The walk of shaht about that phrase, or envisioned talking about it with girlfriends Not so funny when one actually had to walk the walk--and she'd done it seven nights in a row Was that a record? Could she get in the walk of shame hall of fame? Probably

She didn't know his last naht, so if she was lucky he wasn't frohborhood or town She hoped to hell she'd never see hi she could take back the week Maybe if she had girlfriends she'd be able to find some huht now, all she could think about was the utter humiliation of what she'd done--and how spectacular it had been

"Okay There I ad wasn't blaring at her so accusingly She could judg

e herself--and she did--harshly It wasn't Joshua's fault that she'd been in heat right along with her leopard--that she'd used him ruthlessly

Her lip stung, and she touched it with the tip of her tongue He'd been equally as ruthless He'd ruled her their half of the night She found it strange that the leopards had given theether

Gatita? Why did you shift every night halfway through the night?

My mate insisted

Her heart thudded She pressed her hand over it If Gatita's mate had insisted, that meant Joshua had insisted Joshua had absolute control over his leopard even when the fe all of thehtly swollen She didn't reotten on her, but he liked to use his teeth, and he'd been wild and she'd been out of control

The ht she knehat kissing was until he'd kissed her She'd gone up in flames Both had She'd been married, had had an experienced husband, but not once had she ever had an orgasht she couldn't--that she just wasn't that into sex