Just what he’d been wanting.
He took her mouth even as she kept taking him. Slow and deep.
His spine prickled.
Her cream thickened and her body stiffened. He held onto his control with all his strength. Held on until he felt the tremors caressing the length of his cock. Those slow, clenching spasms told him Erin was coming for him.
And now he could come for her.
His hands flew to her hips. He drove up and held her as tight as he could.
Jude thrust hard. Once, twice. He bared his teeth even as a roar rose in his throat.
Erin kissed him, muffling the cry, and he climaxed, exploding in her hot depths and plunging as deep into her as he could go.
Mate.
Zane glanced at the closed door. His senses weren’t as good as a shifter’s, but they were a whole lot better than a human’s.
And he’d heard that sound. A low groan.
His nostrils twitched.
Aw, hell.
No mistaking that particular scent in the air.
He shook his head. Lucky bastard.
The cute little redhead with the seriously cold shoulders marched toward him, a file in her hands.
Not really toward him so much as toward Erin’s office…
He stepped in front of her. “Now isn’t a good time.”
Her jaw tightened. “Erin’s due in court,” she gritted. “She needs this—”
He plucked the file from her fingers. “And she’ll get it. Thanks.”
After a hard glare, and another temperature drop, she spun away from him.
“Ah, man, you owe me.”
Erin stared at Jude, her heart rate slowing.
“Did I pass your test?”
Aftershocks had her sex squeezing around him.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
He could take it any way he wanted. She swallowed, trying to ease her dry throat. Okay, jumping him like that really hadn’t been her plan.
But she’d seen the heat in his eyes the minute he walked into her office.
She’d known what he wanted. She would have been an idiot not to know once he started sizing her up…and then glancing over at the chair like he’d been trying to figure out if they’d fit.
After a second’s thought, Erin had realized she didn’t want to wait on seduction.
And that she’d wanted to break some rules.
Sex in the office.
“Why?” he asked her and she could only stare back at him blankly.
Slow and soft—that’s what she told him, but it wasn’t what she’d wanted. Not really. She’d had slow and soft for too long. She’d wanted loud and wild. She hadn’t wanted to worry about the others outside or—or about anything but Jude.
She’d just wanted him.
The truth was that she would have taken him any way she could get him.
But, yeah, she’d wondered if the sex would be different if she held her primal nature back. If it would be as good.
The answer was…um, oh yeah. She felt freaking great. Sex with Jude wasn’t like being with other men. Never would be.
Soft and slow—still wonderful. Wild and hard— amazing.
The guy was ruining her for everyone else. “Soft and slow with you,” she finally managed, “is one hell of a lot better than the sex I had with other—”
“Don’t go there.”
She blinked at the banked fury in his voice.
“I don’t want to hear about other men, and I sure don’t want to hear about them when I’m still in you.” The edges of his teeth had sharpened and he was eyeing her neck with a little too much attention.
Erin scrambled back, rising off him in a rush and then managing to stand with shaky knees.
She clenched her thighs, aware of the sticky residue from their—
Jude jerked his zipper back up. He straightened his clothes fast, then rose, coming right at her.
Her panties were in his left fist. How had they gotten there?
Hmm…she’d really need those soon. She couldn’t go to court without them. “Jude…”
“I’ll take you any way I can get you, but I’ll be damned if I share you with anyone.”
Her eyes widened. “I wouldn’t—”
His hand, the one without the panties, pressed against her chest. Right over her heart. “Talking about in here, sweetheart.
When we’re together, there’s no room for anyone else.”
This moment was important. The air was thick. His hand was warm against her, and her heart galloped away with that touch. “No one else is there.” It was true.
She was in trouble.
He smiled at her and she thought about jumping him again. “Good,” he rumbled and pressed a hot, fast kiss to her lips.
“And, yeah, for the record, there had damn well better not be anyone else taking that sweet body.”
She didn’t want anyone else the way she wanted him. Never had.
“This insanity with the stalker is going to be ending soon,” he told her. Can’t end soon enough. “You won’t need a hunter anymore.”
She’d always need him. Not for protection or for his strength. She’d just…need him.
Erin hadn’t needed anyone since her father died. No, she hadn’t let herself need anyone.
How had Jude gotten so close, so fast?
He saw past the surface. He saw things that others didn’t. Couldn’t.
He always looked at me as if he couldn’t wait to get me naked. Always looked at me like I was a woman.
Not a monster. Not the way Ben had looked at her hours before.
“I’m not gonna disappear from your life when he’s gone.” His hand was a warm, heavy weight. “And you’re not gonna disappear from mine.”
What the hell? The knot in her throat—what was that? Erin swallowed, shoving it down. “No, I’m not.” She was done running.
And, maybe, she was ready to take a risk on someone.
With someone.
Jude.
He can handle anything I throw at him.
Even soft and easy. The tiger had held perfectly still and let her ride him. What a ride it had been.
She shifted from one foot to the other and realized she’d kicked off her pumps somewhere. Maybe near the chair.
His hand lifted. Her heart slowed.
Jude kneeled before her. He caught one foot in his hand and began to slide her panties back on.
Strength and gentleness. Hell of a combination. How was a woman supposed to resist?
He turned his attention to the other foot, and he eased the soft material over her toes and up her calf.
He pressed a kiss to her knee and lifted the silk even higher.