Page 65 of Primal Mirror

This time, he didn’t remain in a crouch.

From shoulder to flank to calf and everything in between, he was all liquid muscle and gleaming healthy skin. And wicked smile. “Hey, my face is up here,” he said, the leopard there in the growl in his tone.

Her eyes jerked up, her cheeks blazing.

Eyes of leopard yellow-gold gleamed at her. “How about a back massage?”

Breath a roar in her ears, and skin so hot it was a wonder it wasn’t melting off her body, Auden said, “Um.” She knew words. She knew lots of words. They were just unfortunately missing from her brain right now.

“No pressure.” A purring rumble that seemed designed to soothe. “I know I’d still be a naked man in your bed.”

A naked man.

In her bed.

Those words somehow computed themselves into meaning. And her mouth opened. “Maybe a towel?”

“I’m teasing you, Auden.” A smile in his voice. “I left my clothes outside. Give me a minute.”

Disappointment curled into the pit of her stomach when he vanished out the door, even though she knew she’d been rude in how she’d stared. Except…he hadn’t seemed to mind.

She turned toward the bed, not knowing what to do…and felt a stir at her back.

The movement had her turning—to look straight at an upper body that rippled with muscle, his chest lightly dusted with dark hair, and his shoulders broad. Big, she realized, he was a big man. She’d never appreciated exactly how big until this instant, when he was naked but for jeans hitched low around his hips.

“My sweatshirt is a bit damp from the morning dew.” He held it up. “I’ll hang it over your chair to dry. So, you comfortable with me giving you that massage?”

She jerked up her eyes again when they wanted to wander south, trace the path of the hair that narrowed down toward his groin. “How should I…?”

“Hmm.” He rubbed his jaw, a frown creasing his forehead. “How about lying on your side? Is that fairly comfortable?”

Nodding, Auden got into bed, and positioned herself the way he’d suggested. The loose pajama pants and soft sweater in deep green that she’d changed into after waking covered her more than well enough, but she still felt exposed with her back to him.

Then the bed moved, and the wave of heat that hit her was very much a primal thing.

“Okay?” Another one of those rumbling purrs that felt as if he was stroking her with his voice. “I won’t touch if it’s making you tense. I can run down and get a heat pack.”

“No, it’s okay.” She forced herself to exhale. “I’ve just never…Tactile intimacy isn’t common in my race.”

“Yeah, I heard.” The bed moved again, as he situated himself. She’d expected him to lie behind her, but instead, from what she saw in her peripheral vision, he was kneeling in a position that allowed him to see her back.

“I think I can get better leverage this way,” he said. “But you tell me how it feels.”

She nodded.

“Auden?” This time it was mostly a purr.

Her toes curled. “Yes?” she whispered.

“I need you to tell me if it hurts or if you don’t like it or even if my touch is too much for you. Don’t let me hurt you without meaning to.” Gentle words that held a demand—the first hint this morning of the dominant alpha that lived under Remi’s skin.

She shivered, responding to that in a way that confused her. Control was critical for her. She didn’t want anyone else to have it over her. And yet there was a wild pleasure in knowing that if she yielded it to him, he’d know exactly what to do—and the one thing he wouldn’t do was hurt her.

“I’ll tell you,” she promised, because even in her confusion, she knew this was important.

“Good girl.”

She wasn’t a girl. But her toes curled even harder at the praise, her teeth sinking into her lower lip.

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