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“I like that.” His hands slid up the back of my legs and beneath my skirt. Lucian’s incendiary gaze heated my blood, and a pulse jumped between my legs.

Hot damn. I could already tell he was a phenomenal lover.

Lucian stroked the back of my thighs with his warm palms, sending a shiver up my spine. “Only this once?” He lifted my blouse with his nose and drew in my scent as his lips brushed teasingly across my skin.

“Let’s table that for now. Can you keep this a secret? It has nothing to do with you personally. I don’t want a reputation. That means in public, you still have to be formal with me. No touching, no flirting, no heated looks. Treat me as you always have.”

“I can do that.” His tongue circled my tummy in slow, suggestive movements. Lucian crouched lower, and when his lips touched my inside thigh, I thought I might collapse on the floor. “What are the rules?” he murmured.

“Rules?”

“Sex always has rules.”

I reclined my head and swayed as he kissed one leg and then the other.

My skirt lifted. Lucian cupped my ass and gently stroked his palms up and down until I was trembling and needy.

Rules? What kind of sex is he having that he needs rules? Does he want me to draw an outline on a whiteboard?

Then I remembered how Lucian thought things through, and he was right. We needed to discuss boundaries even if this was just a one-night stand.

Lucian lifted me up and sat me on the table. He swiped his arm across the surface, and the box of checkers scattered across the floor. With sexual tension bouncing between us like an electrical storm, he caged me with his arms. When his lips neared mine, I leaned away.

“No kissing,” I said.

He tilted his head. “Why?”

“Kissing makes it too intimate.”

“So does sex.”

“You asked for rules. Are we going to argue over this?”

His gaze dropped to my mouth. “No.”

“Also, not in here.”

“Why not?”

“Besides not wanting my favorite wineglasses broken?” I gestured toward the kitchen. “If you wanna know what’ll send my father to an early grave, it’s walking in on his daughter getting pounded by the security guy in the family room. He sneaks up here occasionally to snack.”

When Lucian tried to carry me, the chain got in the way.

I scooted off the table and ensnared his wrist. “Come on, lover.”

He followed me to the hallway, and I closed a sliding wood door behind us that blocked off the hall.

When we reached the end, I turned left and switched on a light in the bathroom.

Lucian obediently followed, and that excited me. This was a man who suppressed his emotions, and I wondered just how much control he really had. Desire licked over my body when I glanced across my shoulder and caught him staring as if he were going to devour me.

Once in the bathroom, I leaned against the sink. “Undress me.”

“Yes, my female.”

Lucian got down on his knees and unzipped the side of my skirt. It fell to my feet, where he picked it up and carefully folded it.

He was drawing this out, and I loved every second of it.

Lucian put his nose to my thigh and inhaled. A growl thrummed deep in his chest. The slow way he pulled my panties down was torturous. When he finished, he stood and unbuttoned his pants.

“Do I look undressed?”

He frowned at me. “Your blouse won’t come off because of the cuffs. Do you want it hanging from the chain?”

I opened a drawer where I kept my scissors. “Cut it off.”

Lucian picked up the sharp scissors. With every snip of fabric, I unraveled. The scraps littered the floor, but it wasn’t one of my favorite shirts. Hell, even if it were, this would totally be worth every penny spent.

He brushed his fingers over my satin bra and licked his lips. “This too?”

“What’s the holdup?”

“How do you plan on leaving the house tomorrow to get the key if you can’t put on a shirt or bra?”

I unlatched the bra and pulled my right arm out of the strap. Lucian’s breath hitched.

“I happen to own a sundress with an elastic top. If you’d rather go back in the living room and play checkers all night?—”

Snip went the scissors. When the bra slipped off my arm, he leaned down and sucked on my breast. Lucian’s sexy mouth on my nipple, his eyes locked on mine, had me panting. He touched me like a man with gifts to share, and I was ready to receive.

I hastily unzipped his pants and yanked them down. When he kicked out of them, the large outline in his black trunks revealed just how blessed he was.

“Do you want to cut off my shirt?” he asked, still holding the scissors.

“I don’t have another sundress for you. Keep your shirt on.” I took the sharp instrument and set it on the sink. “But these have to go,” I murmured, cupping his thick erection and stroking it.

Lucian sucked in a sharp breath and leaned into me.

I licked my lips and held eye contact while the energy crackled between us.

I’d never been with a Chitah and wasn’t sure about their seduction rituals.

Something told me the women were submissive.

My instinct as a tiger was to use this man for a week until we were both spent. Sex, food, sleep, sex and more sex.

My tiger could be a greedy bitch.

Lucian turned me around, and the cold chain pressed against my stomach. I moaned when he squeezed my hip and moved my hair out of the way. He watched me in the mirror as his free hand skimmed across my left shoulder, down my arm, and over my lower belly.

“You smell so damn good.” His fiery kiss branded my neck.

I admired the way we looked together. His light skin beautifully contrasted with my dark complexion, his taut muscles wrapping around my soft curves. Lucian touched me like he meant it.

A fever came over me when he palmed my breast and teased my nipple until it hardened.

“Is that what you like, female?”

All I could do was watch us in the mirror and feel the wild vibration in his chest. I gripped his hand and drew his index finger into my mouth.

Lucian sucked in a sharp breath and slid his other hand between my legs. “You’re the sexiest female I’ve ever seen,” he growled into my ear. “Can I kiss these lips?”

His intimate touch was unhurried, heating my blood like kindling. If he kept stroking me like that, I was going to climax too soon.

I pulled his finger out of my mouth and turned to face him. “Should we go into the bedroom?”

He grabbed my ass and kneaded it. “I’ll fuck you on the floor if you let me.” Lucian walked me against the open door until it struck the wall. “I’ll fuck you against this door.” He drew in a breath and then backed me into the hallway. “Should I fuck you against the wall?”

“I know what you’re doing.”

A roguish grin touched his lips. “And what’s that?”

“Using your nose to suss out what I want isn’t playing fair.”

“This takes the guesswork out of it.”

I gripped his trunks and pulled them down. “Believe me, I have no trouble telling you what I want.” While on my knees, I took his length in my mouth.

Lucian’s vocalizations made the hair on my arms stand up. Before I could really work him over, he hoisted me up and pinned me against the wall with his body.

The chain limited movement of my left arm, so I gripped his nape with my other hand and kissed below his angled jaw. Biting him. Licking him. Sucking him.

God, he smells delicious.

I breathed in the intoxicating fragrance on his skin but couldn’t identify the scent.

Lucian raised his arm so I could remove his T-shirt, and once it was over his head, he let it slide onto the chain.

He looked better naked than dressed, and I soaked in every inch.

His taut muscles and V-cut revealed a physically active man.

From my knowledge, Chitahs who ran top speed and climbed trees often had lean, hard muscles, and Lucian was no exception.

Two small scars on his abdomen briefly drew my attention.

We were skin-to-skin. Lucian pressed his body against mine, his heat enveloping me.

My tiger prowled beneath the surface. His lips barely grazed over mine before he lowered his head and kissed my neck.

Then he gripped my thigh, raised my leg, and stroked his shaft against my core until it was slick.

“I need you inside me,” I whispered.

His lips touched the shell of my ear. “Whatever you desire, my female.” He pushed the blunt head inside me but stopped short. “Are you sure?”

Every nerve in my body vibrated with need. This man knew how to torture a woman in the best way.

“Yes, please.” I held back a whimper.

“Say my name.”

I wondered what might happen if I didn’t.

“Say it,” he repeated.

“Lucian.”

When he slid inside me with a demanding thrust, I cried out. Lucian fucked me hard and fast.

I clawed his shoulders, and spotted patterns rippled across his skin in a beautiful display. The cords of muscle in his neck strained when he turned his head to the side. I realized he was trying to hide his canines from me.

I turned his head and brushed my thumb over a pointy fang. “What are you gonna do with those, baby? You gonna bite?”

He leaned in until our noses touched. “Only if you want me to.”

Meeow .

I’d never once desired a Chitah because I didn’t think they were sexually compatible with Shifters.

They were a different Breed entirely. I preferred predators—mostly lions, tigers, leopards, and the occasional wolf.

Lucian Cross was shattering all my beliefs.

His energy matched mine, and his animalistic traits made my tiger roar with pleasure.

He slowly pulled out and then walked me backward into my bedroom. Lucian scanned the dark space with a predatory gaze. His attention fixed on a low shelf by the window.

“Help me move all this stuff,” he said, collecting the candles.

“Why?”

His arm ensnared my waist. With a fervent gaze, he replied, “Because I’m going to fuck you on it, and I’m going to fuck you hard. I don’t want to break your stuff.”

“Say no more,” I purred.

I loved this take-charge side of Lucian.

After moving books and a fake plant off the top to a corner, I backed up against the shelf while he caressed my arms.