Page 25 of His UnBearable Touch

It nearly slayed him when she leaned closer and took in another breath along the side of his neck, nearly where it met his shoulder. It took his breath away and he could feel his bear crouched within him, waiting.

“How did I not know?”

Her words stoked a fire within him. “How do you know?” he wondered aloud.

She flushed and his mouth when dry. He wanted to know if that beautiful flush that colored her face and neck, colored more of her supple flesh. His bear pushed him with a shoulder, rising up to break his fangs through and score the inside of his lip.

“One of my therapists, the one who taught me how to get around with my cane, was a jaguar. The scent was something… new. It was like I could smell a faraway place not a person, something wild… more,” she shrugged, “than human.”

Valerio couldn’t stop the low growl that escaped his lips, nor the arms that wrapped around her lush body.

Allegra wiggled a little and instead of loosening his embrace, he gathered her closer. “What?” She didn’t fight him for freedom, instead, she cuddled closer, setting her hand on his chest, calming the bear within. “What’s going on?”

He struggled to keep his breathing even. Struggling to find his human voice to explain. When he opened his lips, his bear rode him hard. “Mine.”

She relaxed even more, lowering her hand over his chest and around to his side.

His bear luxuriated in her touch, the feel of her body against his. “Mine.”

Her laughter peeled his lips back from his teeth in a snarl.

“Are you jealous?”

Valerio pulled her closer to him and she sucked in a breath when her rounded backside shifted in his lap, he knew she could feel his erection under her thigh. He was rock hard and hungry and when she sighed, her breath heating the side of his neck, she cuddled closer.

“Yes,” the word nearly hissed out from between his lips, “did you… care for him?”

Her laughter wasn’t the response that he was hoping for… or even expected, but when she leaned her head back against his shoulder he nearly forgot the whole reason he was jealous, but she didn’t.

Through her laughter, she stroked his chest and regrettably, his ego. “My therapist was a jaguar shifter and a woman,” she confided. “As much as I’m sure she was as gorgeous as she was good at her job, I think the only woman I’d date would be Catherine Zeta Jones and last I checked, she’s taken.”

He nodded, struggling to catch his own breath. “So, no.”

“No, that I’m not interested in my therapist. Or is there another question that I missed between all of the growling?”

He nodded and then shook his head, struggling still.

“Then maybe I get a question.”

Her fingers found their way to the buttons on his shirt. Drawing in a breath, he pressed his chest against her curious fingers, watching as she used her fingertips to walk her way up through the line of buttons. Buttons to his collar. Collar to the heated skin of his neck and to the line of his neatly trimmed beard.

“What are you?” She smiled as he swallowed and his Adam’s apple pushed against her fingers.

He dropped his head and nipped at her fingertip, holding it for a moment between his teeth before letting it go.

He expected her to lower her hand away, but he was just learning that Allegra wasn’t going to be what… or who anyone would expect. She raised her hand, fumbling her touch over his chin and smoothed her fingers over his lips.

“Tell me?”

He leaned into her touch, felt fur push through his skin, drew her scent into his lungs.

Her hands touched his cheeks, stilling for a moment and then smoothing her palms back towards his ears once and then again, as if she was petting him, soothing him.

Instead the bear wasn’t in a mind to be soothed. He wanted to be closer. He wanted their mate.

Valerio did too. So, he needed to answer her question. He needed to know if who he was… was enough for her. “Bear.”

“Bear,” she repeated the answer, her eyes moving over his face as if she could see… and maybe she could. “Grizzly? Brown?” Her laughter made him thirsty for her kiss. “Dare I hope… a panda?”

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