Page 32 of Wrong Number, Right Lion

“No. It was because of me.”

I stood there, letting the silence grow between us—not wanting to push, but at the same time, wanting to hold him.

“I…” He was so hesitant. “Can we go in? I have some things to say.”

His tone was unreadable. Were they going to be good things? Bad things? I opened the door, and we went inside. He waited until the door was closed between us to speak.

“I… I feel it. I do,” he said. “I don’t know why I was scared, but I’m not scared anymore. I want you.”

“I want you.” I took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

He exhaled. “No. I mean… I want this. I want you. All of you. For as long as I can possibly see. I’m in.”

I’m insuddenly became my two favorite words.

“I am too, Arlo. I am too.”

“Mate me. Make me yours.”

17

ARLO

Dragging Kalen by his hoodie, I fumbled the bedroom door.

Ahhh, I needed shifter reflexes so I could be cool, calm, and collected. I was anything but.

His eyes were fixed on my face. Oops, no, lower. Much lower. A frisson of excitement tore through my body, not only for the sex we were about to have, but also us mating. A permanent mark on my skin, letting all shifters know we were mates. And I’d do the same to him, though the mark might be so puny, no one but us would be aware of it. And that’d be fine. We’d be bonded, and it didn’t matter if the mark wasn’t visible to the rest of the world.

I’d swear heat was seeping from my pores as we stumbled into the room. I kicked the door closed, and Kalen raised a brow.

“Princess is out there. She can’t witness this.”

“Right.” He nodded with a sly grin. “Gotta make sure the kids don’t see us having sex. Good thinking.”

Gods, he was cute, and if he didn’t wipe that smirk off his face, I might slam him against the wall and leap onto his dick

“I came prepared.” I shrugged off my robe, marked with dust and a twig from me lying on the porch.

“You arrived in your bathrobe,” he placed his hands on my hips and pulled me to him, my arousal pressing against the ridge in his sweatpants. “So you planned to have your way with me.”

Gripping his hoodie, I brought his face to within a hair’s breadth of mine. “Let’s forget that little interlude with me being a horse’s behind.”

Kalen squeezed my butt before I dived onto the bed, enjoying how I bounced. Spreading my legs, I noted his eyes wandered over my naked body, and goosebumps, like loyal soldiers, trailed along my skin following his gaze.

I grabbed my cock and wrapped my fingers around the shaft, sliding it slowly from the base to the tip. A tiny mewl escaped my lips, and Kalen’s eyes grew darker and his nostrils flared. He stripped so fast as though a film had been accelerated, and the clothing whizzed around the room.

He flopped over my prone body, causing a sharp intake of breath from me, and he paused an inch from me, his chest heaving in unison with mine.

“Nice save.”

He lowered his head and flicked my nipple, sending a blistering heat surging through my veins. I was all tingly, almost as though my fingers and toes had fallen asleep, and he’d hardly touched me yet.

With my mouth shaped in a huge O, my head fell back as Kalen captured my nipple with his teeth. Pleasure and pain battled for dominance, and I teetered between both as though I werewalking a tightrope and almost falling off, leaning one way and the other.

Wanting him to experience the same thrill, I tangled my fingers in his hair and tugged. He gasped, his eyes grew dark, and he tweaked my other nipple. Was this a competition to see who’d let go and come first?

Kalen shuffled lower, sticking a tongue in my belly button. It tickled, as he knew it would, and I giggled.

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