The Snow Leopard's Mate (Glacier Leopards 1)

He still couldn’t believe he’d made her run after him in four-inch heels.

But she’d made it look easy.

Grey hadn’t been kidding when he’d said that took grace and strength. It also took a certain awareness of her surroundings. If she’d put a foot down on a tree root or a loose stone, it wouldn’t have mattered how strong or graceful she was, she would’ve gone right down. But she hadn’t made a single step wrong.

He suddenly wished that she could have shifted with him. That they could’ve run through the woods together. That he could have taken her up above the tree line as a leopard, where they would’ve become ghosts among the rocks, up to where the snow began.

It was a strange thought. Big cats were naturally solitary, unless they were mated. In his adult life, Grey hadn’t ever felt alone in his snow leopard form. It was natural to be on his own.

Maybe it was a sign he’d been out here with the logging bears for too long. He wanted his own kind again.

Well, that would happen or it wouldn’t. For now, he opened the door for Alethia and gestured her inside.

***

Once they were inside again, Ali knew what she wanted. She wasn’t sure how to say it, though. It had been so long.

Grey turned to face her and said, “Are you still cold? I can get you a blanket or a sweater…”

That was definitely going in the wrong direction. She shook her head. “That’s not what I want.”

She could hear the rough desire in her voice, and it focused his attention immediately. His gaze felt like a physical thing. She could feel her nipples hardening, her pussy getting wet, just from the heat in his eyes.

She stepped toward him. “Grey, I know we just met. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression of me.” Too many people had the wrong impression already.

Ali found it hard to keep going. She’d been planning on propositioning Grey when she suggested they go to the cabin. Heaven knew she’d propositioned other men that quickly in her past. She didn’t know why she was so shy now. Out of practice, she guessed.

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘wrong impression,’” Grey said in his deep, husky voice. He closed the distance between them with such a strong, masculine grace that it was impossible to look away.

Catlike, Ali thought.

“I think you might mean that I would think less of you for being the type of woman to go to bed with a man right away.” He was right up close to her now, his spicy scent washing over her.

She nodded, starting to get a little breathless.

“I know men who think that. But they’re all happy to go to bed with women right away. So I don’t know what they think is wrong with it.”

He touched her shoulder gently, his hand warm and dry against her skin, and Ali shivered, her nipples drawing tight. They were barely even touching, but she was already more turned on than she’d been in a long, long time.

“I don’t think I have the wrong impression of you, Alethia.” Hearing her full name in that warm, textured voice gave her shivers all up her spine.

“I think you’re thoughtful, and smart, and caring, and beautiful.” He leaned forward and kissed her softly right where his hand was resting, at the join of her shoulder and neck. Ali almost moaned aloud.

“I also think you’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever met,” he murmured against her skin, and kissed her higher on her neck, and higher again, trailing kisses up along her jawline, while she trembled and waited.

His lips met hers, and set her on fire.

Her arms were around his neck, without her having consciously put them there, and she was opening her mouth to his. He tasted like spice and heat, and when his arms came around her, their strength pulling her in, she melted into him.

Suddenly, he pulled back. Ali almost let out a bereft noise, but bit her lip before it could escape. She felt cold without his heat against her.

“Is that what you meant?” he asked.

She tried to get her thoughts together. “What?”

“I got a little ahead of myself there,” he said ruefully. “Did you mean that you wanted to go to bed with me?”

It was such charmingly old-fashioned phrasing, she thought distractedly. “Yes. Yes, I want to go to bed with you. Now, preferably.”