Page 91 of Rejected By the Shifter King
Hexius set down Samira’s file, his fingers lingering on the manila edge. After delivering his proposal in that sterile clinic room, his every instinct as an alpha had demanded that he press his advantage. To simply crowd her space and pin Samira with his gaze until she submitted to the inevitable.
Mine. Take her. Claim her.
But because discipline ran deeper than desire—to be ruled by impulse was a dishonorable act of weakness for snow leopards like him—Hexius had reined his urges in and instead placed his business card on the medical tray beside her.
Give it some thought before making your decision.
His jaw clenched as he remembered how much effort it had taken him to simply walk away at that point, and his mood only went from brooding to grim the moment he stepped out of his office.
Qu’est-ce que...
A scent stopped him cold, delaying him from heading back to the bedroom to shower off the day’s tension.
It was faint but unmistakable, drifting up from fifty floors below.
Comme c’est inattendu. How...unexpected.
He made a call to reception, and twenty minutes later, Hexius walked into his living room, freshly showered and dressed in dark jeans and a black V-neck.
His guest, on the other hand, was perched on the edge of his leather sofa like a bird ready to take flight, and she let out a strangled gasp upon catching his reflection on the balcony doors.
She turned around rather clumsily, and he almost raised a brow at the way her face immediately bloomed rose-petal pink from her collarbone to the tips of her ears. The blush spread like watercolor on wet paper, and he found himself fascinated by the way it transformed her features from merely pretty to something that made his chest tighten.
All he’d done was walk into his own living room. His hair was still damp from the shower, droplets catching the light as they traced the strong column of his neck, but otherwise he was fully clothed and perfectly respectable. And yet...
She was staring at him like he’d emerged naked and still glistening with steam, and this innocent and unconcealed reaction of her...ah,how rigid his body was now, and only making things worse were how her sweet lips had parted, her breathing noticeably turning shallow. And when he saw the way her tongue darted out to wet her lips...
Hexius gritted his teeth against the clamor of his body.
“M-Mr. Mercier!”
Her voice came out breathy, almost strangled, and the sound went straight through him like lightning.
“Surely we’re beyond formalities by now.” His tone was silky, but the way he found himself moving closer to her, it was more leopard than man, and in his eyes, Samira was now more prey than unexpected guest.
His words had her swallowing hard, the movement drawing his attention to the delicate line of her throat, and that was when he detected it. Another scent beneath the familiar one that had drawn him to her in the first place.
Ah.
That scent...complicated things.
