Page 25 of Alistair

She was a little dizzy as he helped her from the carousel, leaning against him with a laugh.

“This was so cool,” she said as the dizziness faded.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, I thought it would be fun.”

“It really was.”

She gazed up at him, lost in his storm-gray eyes.

And then they were kissing, and everything drifted away from her mind except for him. The way his whole body was warm against hers, the tenderness of his touch as he held her close, and the way his cologne made her think of a sky full of stars, all dark and cool.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself closer, letting go into the kiss that made her feel like she’d found the guy she could spend the rest of her life with.

How was that even possible? How could she feel like Alistair was her forever guy, when she’d known him for a day?

He let out a low growling sound that made her skin prickle as the kiss deepened, and her whole body heated. She couldn’t stop the moan in her throat as he slid his hand up the front of her body, under her top but over her bra, his warm hand cupping her breast and squeezing gently.

His fingertips were rough, but the friction felt good and she wanted more.

Wanted all of it.

All of him.

He eased from the kiss and she whimpered and bit her bottom lip, tasting the sweetness of him again.

For a moment, she swore his eyes changed color, the storm-gray eclipsed by amber.

But that wasn’t possible—she must be in some kind of lusty haze and seeing things.

Eyes didnotchange color randomly.

“Stay with me tonight,” he said gruffly, rubbing his thumb gently along her bottom lip.

His eyes were gray now.

She hadn’t seen a change, and she hadn’t heard him growl. She was at a safari park with animals and had just spent the last twenty minutes or so riding around a carousel on a horse. Of course she had animals on the brain.

But more important was all his sexy gruffness and the statement he’d just made.

Would she stay with him? Could she?

Why did things feel so right with him when she’d never felt an attraction so instant and so deep this fast?

“Sweetheart?” he asked, his eyes darkening as he brushed his lips over hers.

Her skin felt electrified, her heart clenching as she thought about what might happen if she said yes.

Or if she said no.

But she didn’t want to say no, she only ever wanted to say yes to him.

“I will. I’d love to.”

Alistair wasn’t a nervous male by any stretch. He’d fought for his people, battled dangerous shifters to protect those he cared about with hardly a passing thought. But as he held Maggie’s hand and walked her to the second-floor apartment in the small complex at the back of her park, he was fucking nervous.

His elephant was excited, trumpeting in his head and demanding he move faster.

But the rest of him?