I couldn’t break my gaze from his even as his hardness pressed against my backside. Anticipation raced along every nerve ending in my body and I panted. “I’m sorry.” My breath hitched. “I’d love to take this slow, but I’m a newborn and it’s too—”

“Shhh.” His palms ran over me, caressing my stomach, my breasts, and finally my lips. His thumbs traced over my jawline; his fingertips spread along the back of my neck. “I wasn’t going to be able to wait either. If you had touched me in any way, I would’ve exploded. I just wanted to make sure you were happy.”

“I’m so incredibly happy.” To prove it, I took his thumb in my mouth, surprising us both. I sucked, pulling hard, and we both growled in pleasure. I turned my head to taste the other one before he slid them both down and ran the wet tips back and forth across my aching nipples. My head fell backward and I moaned, arching my head up, lost.

“Gods, you feel so good,” he murmured. He ran his hands up and down my sides, each of his fingertips sending tingles of energy pinging into my skin.

His touch was threatening to overload me on every level.

My eyes were fully dilated. Rourke was talking to me, but I couldn’t decipher his words. Instead of trying to understand, I rocked my hips, rubbing myself over the tip of his hardness.

He gave a strangled yell as our heat met.

I bent forward and angled my hips up, readjusting myself, bracing my knees along the length of his body. I splayed my palms across his hard chest and broke contact with his skin for the first time. His hands shot to my waist. “Yes, Jessica, just like that.” He guided me upward, the rumblings of his voice making me shudder.

In the moment before we connected, I lowered a hand between us and caressed his length softly all the way to the base.

“Jessica! My gods, do it now!”

“Glad to see I’m not the only harlot around here.” I arched up and guided him into me, stroking my hand down his length as my body took him fully.

The moment his tip broke through my barrier, everything changed.

Energy and power swirled around us, engulfing us in a fog of magic. Every touch we exchanged was electrified, every connection point heightened. I seated myself on him, rocking forward, absorbing the moment, my head tilted up toward the sky, my hair streaming down my back.

“Jessica,” Rourke whispered. “Look at me. Please.” He moved beneath me and I cried out.

I brought my head down slowly, arching over him, my hair falling onto his chest. I ran my hands across his shoulders, my fingers stopping to cup the back of his neck, the cool grass contrasting my searing heat.

He growled, eyes pinned on mine. At once he shifted his weight and eased himself up into a sitting position. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he moved, my arms winding tightly around his neck, and in one swift motion we were connected completely, every one of our body parts aligned.

He leaned up, his mouth covering mine, his tongue thrusting deep.

I moaned into his lips as we started to move together. His hands slid around my thighs, his muscles deftly angling me up and down in a rhythm that made me cry out. My hands sought his shoulders tightly, my nails sinking into his flesh, every inch of me on fire.

Intensity mounted with each stroke, making me frenzied. I rocked my hips harder against him with each thrust. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t climaxed yet, but the passion and energy kept building, needing to reach its absolute peak before the final crescendo.

“We come together,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I’m so close,” I panted. “But it feels so good … I don’t want it to stop.”

Rourke’s grip tightened; his chest strained against my stomach as the strokes came harder and harder. My hands fisted into his hair. It was almost there. I lowered my gaze to meet his, my eyes blazing violet. His emerald stare consumed me, his features crushing me with their need. I leaned down, connecting our lips right as I reached my release. I latched on to his mouth as I came, my body contracting hard.

“Jessica,” he shouted, right behind me.

As the shudders came, one after another, a blast of energy raced through our bodies, connecting us, binding us together.

My eyes shot open as the last of the currents of pleasure claimed me, my arms encircling Rourke’s neck, my cheek to his. “Did you see that?” I murmured. “Was it my imagination or did we both just light up like Christmas trees?”

“You definitely had an inner glow going on for a beat or two,” he said. “That was intense.”

“Crazy good.” I traced the tip of my nose along his stubble. He smelled rich and potent. I wanted to bathe in his scent.

He chuckled. “Good doesn’t come close. That was the best sex I’ve ever had in my entire life, and believe me—”

I rapped a knuckle down on the top of his head, which he responded to with a laugh as he rolled me carefully onto my back.

To my surprise, he was still hard enough to stay inside, and as he braced his hands on the ground next to my shoulders, he drew himself in and out languorously, his face full of mischief. My fingers curled around his forearms as delicious aftershocks rippled through me. “Oh,” I said. “You are extremely … talented.” My toes curled as my body pulsed for a third time.

He leaned down to nip at my neck. “Did you doubt it?”

Cocky bastard. No, I didn’t doubt it. This is the best sex I’ve ever had.

That’s good to know, because this is how I’m doing it each and every time. Nice and thorough.

“Ohmygod,” I sputtered out loud. “You heard my thoughts!”

He chuckled. “Yes, I did…” But just so you know, I’m the last cocky bastard who ever gets to do this to you. He rocked into me hard to prove his point, putting the perfect pressure right where it belonged, and my body spasmed again.

I grabbed handfuls of earth to steady myself. He felt so damn good.

When my body finally quieted, Rourke lay down on top of me, covering me with his warmth, grinning like a cat. I obliged by locking my thighs around his ass. “We needed that,” I said. “I finally feel settled. Well, other than all the tingling and zinging, I’m totally and completely content.”

“We are a bonded pair now. I can feel your essence inside me, and you can do things for me no one else can, including calm my beast, as I can quiet yours. It’s a good thing, too, because you’re going to need it.”

I tried to swat at him, but he batted my arm away, chuckling.

“Speaking of your beast—you are magnificent.” My voice was full of awe and respect, and I wanted him to hear it. “I know your species is extinct. I’ve only seen pictures of Big Cats in books, but nothing exact. What are you? Some kind of saber-toothed tiger?”

“There’s actually no ‘tiger’ in saber-toothed tiger. We’re just big cats, but yes, I’m from a similar gene pool. I’m what humans classify as a Barbour’s Cat. Those big saber-toothed cats were my ancestors. A small pack of Barbour’s evolved and remained alive until roughly a thousand years ago.”

“Barbour’s are certainly fierce,” I said. “You radiate strength.”

“We were always the fiercest,” he said, a little sadness tingeing his voice.

“How long have you been alone, away from your Pride?”

“A long time.”

I lifted my head and gave him a long kiss. “Well, you’re not alone anymore.”

His eyes flared as he rolled off of me, disconnecting us and making me feel an instant loss. Before I could protest, he bent down and scooped me up, cradling me closely in his strong arms.

“I could get used to this.” I laughed as I wrapped my hands around his neck.

He walked us out of the circle of pines, and as we passed through their protective branches, the foggy night air opened around us. I shivered and glanced over his shoulder as he made his way toward the cabin. The air inside the circle seemed to shimmer.

Rourke carried me to the door of the cabin. Our cabin. It was unlocked, and I reached down and turned the knob so we could enter together. He carried me over the threshold and I smiled like a fiend. It was bar none the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me.

“My first priority is to feed you,” he said as he slid my body slowly along his and set me on the counter. “Which I’m going to thoroughly enjoy watching.”

We’d both been politely ignoring my stomach grumbles for a while.

I had learned to master my hunger, which meant I ignored it. There was no possible way I could ever feed myself enough to feel fully satiated, so I continued to parcel it away so it didn’t drive me insane.

But he was right; I was starved.

“Then I’m going to take you again right on this counter.” He bent down and cupped my bottom, nipping my lips as he readjusted me on the smooth surface.

“When you look at it like that,” I said, “all I want for dinner is you.” I ran a single finger from his chin to his sternum, a sly smile playing on my lips. “Unless, of course, you need time to recuperate before … what is it? Round three?”

“I’ve never had to recuperate a day in my life.”

I barely had time to grab on to the cupboards.

9

“We broke the countertop.” My voice was full of sleep as I peered down at the carnage from the loft. Sunlight had begun to filter out of the small western window. It was going to be full dark soon. We’d slept all day—well, almost all day. “And that adorable antique table is in pieces.”

“It can all be fixed,” Rourke murmured as he wrapped his warm arms around me and nuzzled my back. “I’ll make sure I bring stronger building material next time. Something tough enough to withstand an insatiable female werewolf.”

“Very funny.” I ran my hands over his warm forearms, my fingertips tracing his beautiful tattoos. “You’re the one who should talk. You threw me around the room like your own personal puppet. This place is breakable. We need to watch ourselves. I love this cabin. I don’t want to destroy it.”