Page 71 of To Kill a Badger (The Honey Badgers Chronicles #6)

That was enough for Nelle. She grabbed the already open box from his hand while hooking her foot behind his and lifting. He crashed to the floor, and she was on him in seconds.

“Where do you badgers get your freakish strength from?” he asked as she put the condom on him. Once she’d done that, she straddled him again and pressed herself down on his cock. When he was buried as deep as he could go, Keane wrapped his hands around her waist and rolled her onto her back.

Nelle spread her legs as wide as she could, making sure she was absolutely taking all of him in, then slapped her hands against his hips and dug in her manicured nails. She left her claws sheathed. She didn’t want to tear him apart, simply get him moving.

The manicured nails seemed to do the trick, though, Keane slamming his hands on either side of her head and thrusting his hips hard. Which was just what she wanted. Needed. She’d never needed anything more.

It took him a few seconds to get his rhythm; then it seemed like his cock took over. Eyes closed, snarls coming from the back of his throat, he powered into her. And Nelle loved every second of it.

She moved her hands to his shoulders and did nothing more than match him thrust for thrust. She let her mind be wiped of the shitty day that had passed, the worries about her family, the fact she might be the lead suspect in a terrorist attack on French soil.

Or that she may never again be able to shop at the Champs-élysées Louis Vuitton store!

She let this cat and his long, thick cock take every horrible thing away from her but the enjoyment of being fucked by someone she really, really liked.

Wow. That was so weird. She actually liked a male that she was fucking.

She couldn’t remember if that had ever happened before.

She’d tolerated past lovers, but liked them?

Wanted to spend time with them outside her bed?

Wanted to wake up in the morning with them beside her?

She couldn’t remember that ever happening before, and she had a very good memory.

Realizing she simply liked someone who wasn’t a fellow honey badger or on her basketball team or the lead designer at a major Italian fashion house had Nelle arching up against Keane, her legs wrapping around his waist. She squeezed him with her body and her cunt, and the growl that came out of him had her following him right over the edge until they both dropped to the floor next to each other.

She knew he hadn’t wanted to crush her under his weight, but she wouldn’t have minded.

He still didn’t get that she wasn’t some fragile thing, did he?

Some full-human that would crumble at the first sign of his cock and those fangs.

Well, there was nothing like seizing the day, as Horace once wrote.

* * *

Panting and gazing up at the ceiling, Keane allowed himself these few minutes of absolute blankness. For once, he wasn’t worried. He wasn’t worried about his family. He wasn’t worried about his team. He wasn’t worried about anything.

He was, however, a little hungry. But that was to be expected. Actually, getting something to eat while he gave Nelle some time to recov—

“What’s happening?” he asked when the badger grabbed his foot and proceeded to drag him from the room.

“We shouldn’t fuck in the kid’s room. It seems wrong, but I wasn’t exactly rational a few minutes ago.”

Keane knew he wasn’t a light man. Even in his human form. He was more than three hundred pounds. It was the only way he could handle those bears that had cleared the four-hundred-pound human weight range when they were in their teens.

“Where does this crazy strength come from for you people?” he demanded to know.

“There’s a rumor we were around when dinosaurs roamed the lands, which means we have adapted, survived, and thrived for at least one cataclysmic event on this earth. Who knows, maybe we were there for the earlier ones, too. So dragging a tiger around a French chateau really doesn’t challenge me.”

She pulled to a stop in the bedroom with the adjoining bathroom.

Lying on the floor, he watched her take the remaining condoms from the box they’d jacked from the college kid’s bedroom and carefully place those on the bedside table.

Like she was setting up that cheese plate the She-badgers put out after their meal less than an hour ago.

When she seemed satisfied with that, she stood over him, legs on either side, before dead-dropping onto his chest.

With one knee planted against the floor and the other raised so she could rest her elbow on it, she sat there a moment, her gaze focused somewhere else. When he felt that “moment of silence” had gone on long enough, Keane asked, “Is that it?”

“No, no,” she said, waving a finger. “I’m still dealing with this.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“I’m not used to this.”

“Sex?”

“Don’t be a smart-ass.”

“Okay,” he said on a laugh.

“I’m not used to this. Where I like the person I’m having sex with.”

“Okay.”

“I usually just hit it and quit it.”

“Good to know.”

“But that’s not what I want from you.”

“Is that why you’re squatting on me like a farmer in a field?”

She glanced down at herself and said, “This is how I squat during a game when we’re discussing plays with the coach.”

“I see.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, motioning between them. “I really like this. Really like you, no matter how much it confuses the fuck out of me.”

“If it helps, I like you, too.”

“It doesn’t help. Not at all.”

“Oh.”

Nelle closed her eyes, and her face contorted into a mask of pain.

“Are you okay?”

“No. Because I’m realizing I’m heading to a world of family barbeques and Christmases with your unpleasant mother and you and your brothers arguing over who gets to grill the generic, store-brand hot dogs.”

“No, no,” he quickly cleared up. “We buy Nathan’s.”

“Oh, my God,” she said, dropping her head, her entire body shuddering in horror.

“If we think about it in advance, we can usually snag Hebrew National. They’re Kosher.”

“That’s it, isn’t it?” she asked. “This will be my tragic, sad, suburban life if we start a . . . a . . .”

“Relationship?”

She flinched like he’d swung at her. Then she shook her head and said, “Wait. I don’t think I’m seeing the big picture.”

“What’s the big picture?”

“I’m rich. Fabulously, wonderfully rich.”

“That is true.”

“So at any time, I can jet off to another country or sail the Mediterranean in the family yacht.”

“Also true.”

“And I will make you come with me.”

“Is that supposed to sound like a threat?”

“It is. Because . . . my mother.”

“I’m a cat. We can adapt to any horror.”

“Good to know.”

“A few things, though.”

“Sure.”

Keane put his hands behind his head. “Can I constantly complain about how much money you spend on stupid things?”

“I’d expect no less.”

“Can I roll my eyes dramatically when you whine about the quality of toilet paper I got on sale at the grocery store?”

“As long as you know I will have the softest three-ply delivered each day, whether you want it or not.”

“Not a problem. Also, when I have to spend time with your family, can I allow myself to be so bored that I’ll start swiping things off the table with my claws until your mother screams at you hysterically for bringing a cat into her perfect home?”

Nelle froze, her gaze locked across the room. Her breathing became shallow. “I’ll allow that,” she finally said, her voice low, “only if you promise to knock over the Ming Dynasty vase that my mother will lie and tell you is a fake because she actually stole it from the Chinese government.”

“Huh. Do you want it to tip over and land on the ground with a smash, or do you want it to fly across the room and hit the wall, bursting into a thousand pieces of ancient and precious art that your mother can never get back or replace?”

“Oh, my God,” she gasped out, her entire body heaving. “I am so wet right now. I think I just came.” She pressed her hand over his heart. “Would it be weird if I asked you to marry me?”

“I’m a cat. Our level of weird is vastly different from everyone else’s.”

* * *

Nelle didn’t really think much after that. What was there to think about?

Instead, she simply stood, took a step, and dropped down onto his face with a perverse amount of satisfaction. And it didn’t help the situation that he proceeded to eat her out like he’d been waiting to do that for decades. He tongued her, fingered her, and nibbled until he had her screaming.

He rolled her over then, a pillow under her hips, pushing her legs apart as he entered her slowly from behind.

He’d already gotten off once, so he took his time this go-round.

Sliding his hands and lips across her shoulders, down her spine.

When she looked at him, he kissed her. A sweet, slow, eternal kiss that made her feel incredibly wanted, which only made her hotter and wetter.

Damn cats and their evil sex ways.

Several hours later, Keane left the room and soon returned with a bottle of wine, a couple of boxes of water crackers, and the cheese plate that had been left on the kitchen table.

While they ate and drank right from the bottle, she sat on his lap, facing him, and he had his cock buried deep inside her.

She had never enjoyed brie more.

When they’d finished satiating one hunger, they proceeded to deal with the other until they both eventually fell asleep, holding each other tight.

* * *

They’d only been asleep a few minutes when Keane woke up to those cold blue eyes gazing down at him.

“Who kicked door off room?” the Russian asked, uncaring that he was still inside Nelle at this moment.

“Now we must get it fixed,” she complained when he didn’t answer. She studied them a moment before announcing, “There is food. You are welcome to it. But wash the cum off each other before we are forced to deal with you.”

“Yeah,” Keane told Nelle when the door slammed behind the Russian. “I completely understand why you hate her.”