Page 28 of Purrfectly Bound

“I know, well, I mean,” she shrugged, “I, uh, didn’t know last night. I just thought all that growly mine stuff meant you liked me a little.”

“Like you? Honey, you are my mate. My beast knew it the moment I breathed in your scent,” he knew his eyes were glowing as his Tiger peered through, but he couldn’t help it.

“I, uh,” she bit her lip nervously, “I called Gerri Wilder this morning and she explained it a bit.”

Lance stood anxiously. This is what he rushed here for, right? To tell her what she meant to him. He probably should have played out some scenarios in his head where she told him to fuck off.

“Lance,” she looked up at him, “Are you really twenty-six?”

“What?” he asked, but he nodded, “Yeah. I am. Why?”

“Well, I’m thirty, so maybe you want to reconsider this-”

“Shifters don’t care about things like that, love,” he smiled gently, “I want you. All of you.”

“You do?” disbelief swam in her eyes, “but you hardly know me-”

“I know everything I need to know, sweet. If you would just give me a chance to prove it to you,” he whispered. Please, he begged in his mind, please give me a chance.

Those deep brown globes were bright and beautiful under a curtain of wildly curly hair. And Lance stilled. Wait. What?

“Your hair is curly,” he grinned.

“What? Oh, yes,” she straightened her shoulders as if daring him to say something, “It frizzes all the time. Yesterday, I had to sit in that salon chair for an hour and a half to get it to look like that. And it’s not something I do very often. Also, the clothes, I don’t dress like that a lot as you can see,” she pointed to her leggings and sweater.

“Anna, not that you didn’t look gorgeous last night, because you did,” he stalked closer, “But why on earth would you be worried about how you look? You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

“Oh,” she swallowed.

“Can I?” Lance reached up tentatively, noting her tension.

Some women hated to have their hair touched, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed to get his hands on the wealth of hair atop her head. Like a crown, he mused.

The corkscrew curls were held together by a simple black band on top of her head. He could not stop grinning, imagining them spread across his pillow. They were so awesome, tumbling down like curly ribbon or spiral pasta. He sounded like a fucking idiot, but what did he know? He wasn’t a poet.

Still, Lance knew pretty, and that was her. All her. His Annalia with the incredible hair.

“Your hair is gorgeous,” he touched the tendrils carefully, testing its softness.

Then he cupped her face, kissing her head, then her nose, and finally her lips, “You are so beautiful.”

Everything that had gone wrong the last few hours seemed to slip away under the warm, steady pressure of his mouth on hers. She was in his arms, and she was allowing him to kiss her. Hell, she was kissing him back.

Anna’s ready acceptance and submission was his undoing. He deepened the kiss, tasting the apple she must’ve just eaten along with her own spicy chocolate sweetness. She was perfection itself. Anna sighed and leaned into him with her luscious body. Gods, he loved this woman. More than anything.

He ached for her. Cock throbbed, body trembled, he could hardly catch his breath as their kiss slowed. Lance pressed his forehead to hers, and she rubbed his shoulders and nuzzled his neck. Soothing him, calming the beast like no other.

Fuck, she felt so good in his arms. He never wanted to let her go. He would do anything to keep her right there where she belonged.

“Annalia? You’re on,” a young man with a microphone interrupted her.

He turned his head and growled at the young punk. How dare he interrupt when he was holding his woman! Grrrr. But Anna was pushing out of his arms, and albeit reluctantly, Lance had to let her go.

“What? Oh damn,” she looked at him then at Lance, indecision in her eyes, “It’s my job, I have to go and talk,” her cheeks were bright pink, and he smiled, realizing she wasn’t leaving forever. Just for a moment.

“Go on,” Lance said, “I’ll be waiting. Oh, here,” he handed her the pump, and accidentally, the speeding ticket.

“Whoops, that’s mine,” he scratched the back of his neck.