“Yet you were okay with kissing me and stealing my things the other night.”He took a few more steps in her direction.She didn’t move and he hurriedly closed the space between them.She glanced up at him, her gaze pleading with him to leave her and at the same time beckoning him closer.His gaze dipped to her lips.Adam could almost taste her.
“You can’t help me,” she whispered, her tone sensual.His cock twitched.Without thinking about what he was doing, he cupped her face.Her green eyes widened, apprehension and craving clashing.He brushed his thumb across her jaw, reveling in the softness of her flesh.He didn’t give her a chance to question anything else.Lowering his mouth to hers, he possessed it.
At forty-seven he finally understood when people said kissing someone brought fireworks to their mind.He’d never felt anything remotely similar with his ex-wife.This kiss was different.It was as if another world had opened up.Katya offered colors, taste, and sensations he’d never felt.She whimpered, pulling him closer and entwining her tongue with his as if she too couldn’t have enough.Suddenly, she pushed him.
“Stop,” she cried.
He backed off immediately.
“I’m sorry, Katya.I didn’t mean to.I truly want to help you.I—”
She shook her head.
“Save it.”She turned toward the darkness of the alley.“Don’t follow me.”Without another word, she sprinted away into the gloom.Adam staggered backward as a large tiger jumped onto the frail fire staircase with a clang and climbed upward, disappearing in seconds.
He stared in silence.Too stunned to move.
Chapter Four
Katya ran across therooftop and jumped onto the next building.Her mind raced, she didn’t even know why she’d shifted, all she knew was she had to get out of there as fast as possible, and that was the only way.Her tiger was screaming the word “mate” so deafeningly she couldn’t drown it out.
And that kiss.
She’d never been kissed like that.Kissed as if it were their first and last.As if there was no tomorrow and he couldn’t get enough of her.She’d kissed hundreds of men.It was part of the job.Yet, nothing had felt like the kiss she’d shared with him.
Him.
Adam.
She didn’t want to remember his name.Katya made a point to never remember the name of the men she stole from.Yet, his name clung to her like smoke, impossible to get rid of even after washing it away.
It was utterly ridiculous.He was her victim.Another guy.A stranger who had contributed to her cause.She didn’t have time for romance.She didn’t have time for a mate.
She was so close to paying off her sister’s debt.So close to regaining her freedom.She jumped onto the fire emergency exit stairs and climbed to her room.It was on the first floor of the run-down building.She always left the window unlocked precisely for this reason.Once she shifted, she lost her clothes, so she needed a safe place to return.With a shake, she began to shift back into her human form.Her bones realigned, her fur disappeared.Little by little, she regained her human form.She put on a worn t-shirt which reached her knees and a set of clean undies.After she closed the window.
With a sigh, she went to the “kitchen.”She snorted.As if you could even call it that.Her living quarters were little more than a space crammed with a bed, a microwave, small fridge, and tiny stove.A narrow bathroom opened to the side.
