Page 37 of Bad Blood Panther

Chapter 14

On Sunday, Xander really did make Jenny leave the territory with Lissa and Caitlyn. “What am I supposed to do all morning?” she asked plaintively, as they stood at the head of the path by the main clearing.

“I don’t know,” he said blankly. “Girl stuff. Eat brunch. Go shopping. Buy clothes. Get your nails done. Something. I have to get your surprise ready.”

“But I want to know what it is,” she said, attempting to pout adorably.

Xander narrowed his eyes. “No. And no sneaking back and peeking,” he added. He tried to sound stern, but ruined it by leaning in and smooching on her neck. “You’ll ruin it. And tell Caitlyn no fly-bys, either. I’m watching the airspace.”

Damn. That had been her next choice.

“Can’t I even have a little hint?”

“Not even if you stroke my redwood,” he said. “I have a will of iron.”

“Bad mate,” she muttered. “You’re supposed to turn to moosh in my hands and give me everything I want.”

“The surprise is something you always wanted,” he said. “You told me once when you were drunk.”

She gaped at him. “You’re getting me something I said I wanted when I was drunk?”

“You’re going to love it,” he said. “Now get the fuck out of here. Sloan and I have to make a run to the home reno store.”

“I said I wanted home renovations when I was drunk? I don’t think so. Anyway, if you need supplies, why don’t you just steal stuff from one of Tank’s projects, like you usually do?”

“I love that you know me so well,” he said, kissing her nose. “It makes me all squishy inside. Am I going to have to tie you up and dump you in the back of Tank’s truck so Lissa can drive you away? Because I will.”

“If you tie me up, I’m sure you can think of better things to do with me than have someone drive me away.”

Xander tipped his head back and groaned to the sky. “Woman, you are going to ruin me. Now I have a boner, and I’m probably going to still have it when I get to the home renovation store, because I’m not going to be able to get that image out of my perverted imagination.”

Jenny just smiled at him. “Poor Xander.”

“Wicked,” he said, pulling her behind the trunk of a large tree and pressing against her, making slow circles with his tongue right in the hollow of her throat. He slid his hand under her shirt and cupped her breast, running his thumb over the nipple. “I love wicked panthers. I might have to do the boingo with you right here, before I send you off with Lissa.”

Jenny moaned.

“Or not.” He pulled her shirt down, straightening it. “See you later, sexy. Think of me and my boner while you’re gone.”

He strolled off, smirking.

Evil. Evil, sexy mate. She was aching with wanting. She hoped this surprise involved lots of wild nakedness. If it didn’t, she was going to have to change the plan.

She and Caitlyn and Lissa had brunch in town, and then wandered around the shops. Jenny couldn’t stop thinking about Xander—the feel of his hands, the taste of his lips, the sexy way his butt filled his jeans when he was walking away.

The idea that he was spending the entire morning putting together a surprise for her. Something wild and wacky and extravagant, probably, knowing Xander.

“You all really don’t know what he’s planning?” she asked the other two, when they’d stopped for a Coke at an outdoor café. “It’s making me nuts.”

“Uh-uh,” Lissa said, and Caitlyn shook her head. “He swore Sloan and Tank to secrecy. Made them promise not to even tell us.”

Lissa said, “I tried real hard to get it out of Tank. All my best sexual temptations, and he wouldn’t crack.”

“Me too, with Sloan,” Caitlyn said. “Same fail. But damn, I had such a good time trying.”

The two of them high-fived.

Jenny said shyly, “I tried to get it out of Xander, too. There was lots of moaning involved, but he barely spilled anything. I think I have to work on my technique.”