With one graceful pounce, Simon landed on the bed and straddled her frame.

If there was one place Helen never thought she’d be, it was lying under a lethal panther without one ounce of dread.

A long, wet, rough tongue licked the side of her face and she reached up and touched Simon for the first time. He was soft and warm and completely at ease in fur.

He licked her again.

“Okay, you can sleep in here.”

He let out a soft roar, as if in approval, and changed. In only a few seconds, he was back in his own naked skin and kissing her.

Every muscle in her body started to relax and her arms wrapped around his waist and pulled his full weight down on top of her. His fingers ran down her side and nudged into the waist of her jeans.

Helen broke away from his kiss. “You couldn’t do that with claws,” she told him, nipping his ears.

“You’re right. I’d rip your clothing off instead. Use that cat tongue to taste every inch of your delicious skin.”

Heat shot to Helen’s core. “That shouldn’t turn me on.”

Simon tasted the corner of her mouth and down her neck. “But it did.”

“I didn’t say that,” she denied.

“You didn’t have to. I smell your desire.”

She wiggled against the bed, her jeans felt tight. “You can’t smell that.”

Simon grasped the edges of her shirt and pulled it off. He left her bra and moved to the button on her jeans.

“I was just a predator of monstrous size. I smelled your brief fear and your heat from across the room. I scented your sex, desired a taste. Those instincts stay with me long after the animal is gone.”

He’d undone her pants and shifted them down her hips.

She panted, just like the cat. His words inflamed her more than they should. When her jeans made a soft swooshing noise as they met the floor, Simon smiled up at her as he nudged her knees apart.

Heady with want, he leaned into her thigh and sucked in a breath. “Will you let me taste you while the cat’s instincts are still here?”

Her whole body wept with desire and her ni**les hardened. He read her mind and dipped his head.

His tongue passed over one side of her sex, then the other, and Helen fell back onto the bed, her legs opened wide for whatever he wanted from her.

Simon chuckled, or maybe it was a purr. She couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter when his tongue found her. He lapped her up like cream. His tongue found places Helen didn’t know existed. She felt her body grow moist as Simon hummed into her sex.

How could this man drive away all her inhibitions? She’d never been one to seek comfort from men in the past, certainly didn’t initiate intimacy often, but with Simon, her world opened up.

The house was full of people, yet all she could think about was what she could do to please him.

She shouldn’t be enjoying him as much as she was. Their time together was limited.

“Oh, right there,” she softly cried, as her body reached toward his.

Something deep inside her body started to clench and build. Desire shifted to uncontrollable need. Just as her body started to peak, she felt Simon’s tongue go slightly rough and pushed her over the top. Helen covered her mouth with her arm to keep from screaming out as her body shuddered with pleasure.

She hadn’t begun to recover when Simon entered her again. His body covering hers, his erection buried deep. “You taste divine.”

Unable to talk while his body rocked with hers, his c**k found the back of her womb, making it want his seed.

He felt perfect. His body covered hers and kept her safe. All Helen could do was think of pleasing him, giving him everything she could. A tiny warning echoed in her mind, reminding her that this closeness would end up in emotional suicide if she wasn’t careful.

Ignoring the warning, she wrapped her legs around his waist and gave him more room inside her.

He groaned and took.

He wasn’t gentle and she loved it. All the stress of the last week, of all the days back in his time drifted away as he blinded her with his passion.

Never in her life had a man made her feel so alive. Helen broke over the melting point a second time, and Simon caught her cry with his lips. She moaned around his kiss as he emptied inside her.

“Oh, Simon.” She reached behind his back, holding him as his body stopped shaking and his breath started to even. “That was…” Amazing, incredible. “Magical.”

Her body still shivered all over with zips of energy. The same feeling she got when her gift led her to what she sought.

Simon lifted his head and removed some of his weight. His deep, penetrating stare and a small lift of his lips told her he enjoyed her praise. He ran the pad of his thumb over her lips. “You’re magical.”

“Says the man with the cat-tongue,” she said laughing.

His brows shot up. “You like?”

Her body shivered just thinking about it. “There should be a law against such pleasure.”

“I’m sure there is, somewhere.” He rolled to the side, tucked her into his body, and covered them with a blanket.

Simon stroked her arm and her eyelids started to drift close. “Simon?” she murmured.

“Aye?”

“It’s okay isn’t it? You being in here with me? I know your mom is—”

“My mother doesn’t need to concern you.”

“But isn’t this frowned upon in your time?” She glanced into his eyes, gave a wan smile.

“We aren’t in the past. Besides, my mother understands I’m a grown man.” His expression turned thoughtful, stoic even.

“I don’t want to put you in an awkward position.”

“Do you want me to leave?” His body tensed. His head lifted from the pillow.

Reflexively, her hand gripped his waist. “God, no. I don’t want anything to be weird for you. Lizzy seems like an understanding woman, but she is your mom. It seems like your family is really good at sticking their heads into everyone’s business.”

Simon slid his leg between hers and laid back down. “They care. ’Tis why they watch and comment on everything. Don’t worry over my family.”

Smiling, she snuggled back in his arms.

Simon felt Helen’s body relax. Her arm lay over his hips, his leg tucked between hers. As her breathing evened out, and she succumbed to sleep, his mind was fully awake.

The woman was intoxicating. He lost all sense of direction when he was with her, except when it came to claiming her. As a cat, that need crawled up his back to the tip of his nose.