Page 36 of Colton’s Mate

He looked at her like she was a goddess, and touched her like he was worshiping her.

She ached to have him inside her.

She wanted to make him feel what she felt, to give him back a fraction of this intense pleasure.

“I want you,” she told him fiercely. “I need you inside me. Now.”

He smiled at her insistence, but his eyes were glowing with a greenish light that said his animal was near the surface and he was feeling wild.

So was she.

Callie pushed Colt onto his back and straddled him, guiding him inside her. He was huge and hot inside her, filling her.

Making her feel somehow complete.

He cupped her hips with his hands and began to move, watching her eyes. Callie moved with him, slow at first, getting used to the feel of him. She tilted her head back, closing her eyes, losing herself in the sensation.

She felt one of his hands move to her breasts and one between her legs. She leaned forward, resting her hands on his chest, and gave herself to the moment.

The wild tension began to build in her again, and she felt a deep yearning for something she couldn’t name. Her lynx was running wild, and Colt moved one hand to the small of her back and shifted position to drive deep inside her.

She could feel his control slipping, his desperate need to be deep within her, to make himself somehow part of her. And she suddenly wanted that desperately, calling his name out just as he was groaning hers.

Just as her climax took her, Colt wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her to him. She felt as if something opened up in her chest, like a sunflower, and she could feel his heart thundering.

He called her name once more as he reached his own release, holding her close, both of them shaking with the force of it.

And somehow everything felt different.

Colt woke the next morning alone. For a minute he couldn’t remember where he was.

Strange room, strange bed. Not for the first time. But this time…

His leopard was curled blissfully inside him. Callie, it said. Lick her all over.

Callie. Callie of the stormy eyes and silky skin and surprising, mind-blowing passion. Her scent was all around him, permeating the sheets, the indentation of her head still on the pillow.

For a moment he closed his eyes, just breathing it in.

The warm place in his chest ignited by their night together still felt like it was shining. He wished she were here so he could pull her back into his arms, stroke her skin until she purred, watch her face as she came in his arms, bury himself inside her and lose himself in bliss.

Where was she?

The house felt empty. The shining place inside his chest dimmed a little.

Love ‘em and leave ‘em. Maybe she’d really meant that.

After looking around, he found a note on the bedside table. Had to go out and do some errands. Coffee in the kitchen. Hope your leopard is housebroken.

That was it.

He stared at the note, fighting disappointment.

What had he been expecting? She was a lynx. And he’d promised her ‘no strings.’ Hell, even if she wanted to stick around, he didn’t know what he would do with her.

He wasn’t looking for a relationship.

Except that was a lie. For the first time, he’d lied to a woman to get her into bed. But not by promising her anything. By promising to give her nothing. Not to care.