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THIRTY-SEVEN

After another night making love with Leo, Lily expected to wake up aching and exhausted. Instead, when the sun rose, she felt like she could run laps around the grounds. Or dance all day.

When she told Leo over breakfast, he only grinned. "So you feel it, too? We should go hunting together, and run off some of that energy. I'll even let you choose the prey, and follow your lead."

He had talked about deer and wild boar, but the thought of hunting a wild animal, especially while she was eating breakfast, only made her queasy.

"Maybe we could go dancing instead?" she suggested.

"In the clearing? Oh, I have a much better idea. I'd like to introduce you to the Felix 5000." Leo's eyes glittered.

Lily balked. "Is that some sort of super sex toy? No, thanks, I'm not into that sort of thing. You're all I need in the bedroom, honestly. And we can absolutely do that later. But right now, it feels like my blood is fizzing and if I don't do something seriously energetic, I'm going to explode or something."

"Come with me. You'll love it, I promise." He took her hands and drew her outside. It was such a lovely day – with the sort of sunshine you rarely saw in Scotland. She found it even harder to resist as he pulled her toward the woods. Finally, they reached the clearing, and he pulled something out of his pocket that she was sure was some sort of dildo. "Now take your clothes off."

"Leo, I told you I'm not into sex toys..." she began.

He set the toy on the ground in the middle of the clearing and pressed a button. Then he started shucking off his own clothes.

"Leo..."

A red beam shot out of the toy and splashed against a tree on the other side, bouncing a few times before streaking high into the branches of another tree.

Lily was naked and furry in an instant, crouched low on the ground as the red spot came closer...closer...until she pounced.

The red beam streaked out from under her paws and ran up a tree.

Leo let out a roar of laughter. He swatted the beam with both paws, but it kept running, unfazed.

Lily growled. That red spot was going to die, if it was the last thing she did.