Page 77 of Into the Lion's Den (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

That’s when the purr turned into the growl of an alpha mountain lion. He deepened the kiss with a thrust of his tongue.

The taste of him... My god... How had I lived my whole life without knowing this kiss?

My nerve endings flew into overdrive, firing off in every direction with electric sparks of pent-up energy.

“Better than I imagined,” he said. “Beautiful.”

“Yeah?” I was actually panting. Panting! From just a kiss.

“Know what else is beautiful?” His gaze roamed my features and he pushed my hair back on the sides, framing my face with his hands.

“What?”

“How you were strong-willed enough to pull off the impossible, all behind my back. An alpha needs a…” He paused, as if censoring his choice of words, then said, “I need someone who isn’t a pushover.”

“The barn, you mean? You liked it? It’s...differentfrom what you’ve done in the past.”

“I like it. You should be up there to accept the praise. The Maddoxes seem to love it.”

I shook my head as my trepidation from earlier settled back in my gut. “I can’t go.”

“Then what’s with the dress?” His hungry gaze raked over my body, and I looked down to make sure one of my breasts hadn’t escaped the deep V-neckline of the partially unzipped bodice.

“I started to,” I said. “I wanted to go. But I can’t be there.”

“Why not?” He leaned down and rubbed his bearded jaw along mine before placing a kiss behind my ear, breathing in.

For a second I couldn’t remember the reason I hadn’t gone to the party. Then I did.

As much as Reese swore he could protect me, not even a mountain lion could successfully step in the way of a bullet. His father was proof of that.

I wouldn't risk DaBruzzi's men finding me here, finding Reese and his family...

“It’s a big guest list," I said, "and I couldn’t get everyone cleared absolutely.”

“Cleared for what?” His breath was warm against my neck, making me remember the mountain lion who'd cornered me in the barn.

“Cleared forme. Then there was the matter of them posting photos online.”

“This is about your secret?” He moved to kiss along my jaw.

Damn. He was going to do exactly what I feared: tease the truth out of me.

I nodded, helpless to stop the inevitable.

He kissed my lips again, whisper soft. “I look forward to figuring you out.”

“Please, don’t.” It was a last-ditch effort and a feeble one at that. “You have enough mysteries to deal with up here.” Oh god. His hand was on my breast, his thumb toying with the loose neckline of my dress. “We could...um...figure out the other mysteries first.”

Breathless. Toes curling. I was babbling nervously again and unable to stop. “We can figure out what happened to your dad. And we’ll figure out if you have terrible bad luck or...”

He pulled back with a dark look on his face. “Or figure out if someone is intentionally sabotaging our business?”

“Well... Yeah. That.”

“And until we learn the truth, I can have more of this?” He squeezed my ass again, making his meaning more clear.

Before I could answer, someone else knocked at my door.

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