The Snow Leopard's Mate (Glacier Leopards 1)

His eyes kindled with an inner light, flashing from grey to a molten silver. “Good.”

And then he was kissing her again. She felt like she could spend forever exploring his mouth, the way his tongue traced her lips, the heat of his breath mingling with hers.

But he had other ideas. His hands were sliding down her back, his fingers tracing the gap between her shirt and her skirt before moving on to cup her ass. She moaned against his lips.

Grey took a firm grip and lifted her up entirely. She yelped in surprise, but automatically wrapped her legs around his waist as he moved toward the stairs.

“Wait,” she protested, “I’m too heavy!” She couldn’t think of anything more embarrassing than him tripping and falling while trying to carry her up the stairs.

He shook his head, smiling. “You’re just right.” He flexed his fingers, which showed no signs of loosening their grip on her rear end. “I love your curves. You feel amazing.”

And while she was still distracted by the warmth that flooded her all over at those words, he carried her up the stairs without any sign of effort or strain and laid her gently out on his huge bed.

Ali hadn't been expecting such luxurious softness, and she stretched involuntarily. Grey's eyes traced over her body as she took a second to appreciate the cloud of comfort she was lying on. "I think I'm jealous," she told him. "How come this bed is so amazing?"

He shrugged. "Well, I am a cat."

She laughed, loving the subtle hints of humor in him. Since he was so serious most of the time, it was even funnier when he joked a little.

Then he leaned forward, and she forgot about joking as he put one knee on the bed, and his hands came down on either side of her shoulders, caging her in.

She tilted her face up, and he bent down to kiss her...and then again...and again...

He kissed her until she was drowning in his taste and scent, and then his mouth moved down her jaw, her neck, over her collarbone, until he was trailing kisses along the neckline of her shirt. One of his hands slipped under the bottom hem at her waist. She shivered. His tongue left a hot line dipping just down into her cleavage.

Ali made a strangled sound. "Take it off!"

He lifted his head and smiled. "My pleasure."

He stripped the shirt up as she arched her back and raised her arms. God, it had been a long time.

She was glad she’d waited for so long, though. She wanted this man, whose eyes were hot on her exposed skin, whose hands were sliding behind her back to unhook her bra. She wanted him more than she'd wanted anyone. Ever.

Ali tugged at her bra, impatient, and tossed it to the side when it was finally off. Grey's hands cupped her breasts, warm and calloused. Heat washed through her body. His thumbs flicked over her nipples, and she gasped.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss against her breastbone, and then his tongue traced a hot stripe up to her nipple. He licked it gently, and then less gently, and finally he gave it a soft bite. Ali squirmed under the barely-there pressure of his teeth. It was like the nerves in her breast had a direct line to her center. She was getting wetter by the second.

Grey sucked at her nipple, while Ali bit her lip to keep from crying out. She touched his hair, sliding her fingers through the white-blond mass of strands, and he made a low noise as she tugged gently. He resisted for a minute, biting her again while she pulled, which made her wonder where this might go—the small pain in her nipple was leaving her breathlessly turned-on, and he seemed to like the sharp tug on his hair as well—but finally he lifted his head and said, "You want something, Alethia?"

His eyes were like molten silver. Ali couldn't speak for a second, lost in them, but eventually she managed, "You want to take this lower down?"

If she'd thought his eyes were on fire before, that was nothing to what the

y looked like now. "You know what you want."

There was no doubt about it, he liked that.

"I do," she agreed.

"So do I. You know what I want?"

She shook her head, her body tense with anticipation.

"I want to lick you open until you scream for it."

Hearing those words in his husky voice sent a rush of wetness to her pussy. After how gentlemanly he'd been, she'd never have thought he could talk like that in bed.

What a sexy surprise.