Page 12 of Claimed By the Panda
My cheeks were hot as I looked down at my feet, shoving my hands in the pockets of my sweatpants, wondering how that would be if it were true. Did he really find me kind? And what did he have that I craved?
“You’re lucky to have them. Luckier than most people.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Are you an orphan?”
“Nothing so dramatic. Just your usual child of a busy single mom who found her child more of an inconvenience than anything.” “Fuck, I’m sorry.” “She wasn’t mean or abusive, just… probably shouldn’t have had a child. That’s all.”
Before Jian could answer, we rounded a bend, and the path opened into a clearing where an open-sided pavilion housed a dozen people, probably middle-aged and older, moving in slow, synchronized patterns.
“Tai chi?” I asked as we walked over to the Pavillion and stopped to watch.
“Yeah.” Jian shrugged. “The big guy up front leading the class is my uncle Chung. The whole family pitches in.”
“It’s so peaceful; it reminds me of watching water flowing.”
Jian looked at me, something shifting in his expression. “It’s just old people moving slowly.”
“No way.” I shook my head. “Look at how centered they are, how in control of every movement. That takes serious discipline.”
When I looked up, he was staring at me. He pulled me behind the nearest tree, pressing me against the bark until it bit into my back, but I didn’t care. Jian was captivating, and when he nuzzled my nose, I tilted my chin up, offering him my lips.
“You’re not an inconvenience,” he whispered, then leaned in, capturing my mouth with his. I melted into him, the heat of our morning encounters still putting me on the edge of wild desperation. He tasted like the jasmine tea we’d had with breakfast—sweet and complex—and I wanted to keep kissing him for as long as possible, so I yanked him closer and wrapped a leg around his waist, clinging to him. He made a sound low in my throat and drove his tongue in deeper, ravishing my mouth in the most delightful way. He surfaced for a breath, tracing his lips down my throat. “What was that for?” I asked.
“You looked too fucking cute.” He frowned as if this fact annoyed him. “Stop tempting me.”
I laughed, trailing my fingers along his jaw. “Make me.”
He growled and kissed me again, harder this time, all teeth and rough desperation. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing as close as I could get, drinking him in like I’d been parched for years.
The sound of a group of people coming down the path startled us apart, and he looked down at me, dazed, cheeks flushed.
“The wushu building is next.” He stepped back, holding out his hand to me. “Come on.”
The wushu practice building was beautiful—a soaring space with polished wooden floors and racks of practice weapons along one wall. I ran my hand reverently over a staff, imagining Jian wielding it, all coiled power and precision.
“You teach kids here?” I glanced back at him.
“And adults. It’s nothing special.”
“I don’t think you believe that.” I stepped closer to him. “I think you love it.”
His eyes darkened as he backed me against the weapons rack. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know you kiss like you’re starved for it.” I tilted my head, challenging him. “I know you’re pretending to hate all this, but your eyes light up every time I ask about it.”
“I’m not starved, just horny.” He kissed me again. I wondered if he even realized how often he was touching me, how his hands seemed magnetized to my body.
“Are you still going to turn into a panda and let me pet you?”
He glanced around, then dragged my hand between his legs, where his cock pulsed, hard and thick. “Do I have to be a panda to pet me?”
“I suppose I enjoy petting you either way. But maybe you’d better turn into a panda just to be sure?”
“I can’t shift in public. Many of our customers are humans, and I’m a magical creature with secret abilities.”
I squeezed his cock. “Right, so we need somewhere to get more private.”
He pulled me close, fingers digging into my ass. “You’re a menace.”
