Page 47 of Owned By Two

He tied it up with the reins.

G'kood quite happily munched on the foliage and brightly colored mushroom-like fungus that protruded from the tree’s bark.

Uhti reached up to help me down but I waved him off.

“I can manage, thanks,” I said.

I threw my leg over the side but my foot got caught in the stirrups.

I lost my balance and fell from the G'kood’s back.

A powerful pair of arms caught me in midair, holding me firmly in place.

My face wasn’t more than three inches from the hard-packed soil and would have given me a nasty bump if I’d collided with it.

Uhti held me confidently in a single arm and used the other to remove my stuck foot from the stirrup.

Then, as easily as if he were handling a small child, he turned me around and placed my feet on the ground.

“Thanks,” I said, tucking my hair behind my ear.

His hands remained on my hips, holding on tight as if I might float away.

My breasts were pressed against his thick and mighty chest, his golden-purple eyes mesmerizing.

There was the unmistakable look of hunger in his eyes again.

It must have been what looking into the face of a starving wolf felt like.

He cleared his throat, blinked his eyes, and looked away, seeming to come awake as if he had been in some kind of trance.

He cleared his throat. “Be a little more… careful,” he said.

“I will,” I said, mouth dry.

I loved the feel of his arms on me, his hands clutched around my waist, and wondered what it would feel like if he speared me relentlessly as he did so…

“So, um, why did you bring me to this place?” I asked.

“This is where your father always had his best ideas. He would go swimming in the pool. By the time he came out the other side, he would always have another business idea, sometimes even something that would change how business was done. He liked to refer to it as his Pool of Infinite Creativity.”

It was hard to reconcile the loser my mother had always described my father as with this infinitely successful creature.

I reached for my top and pulled it off over my head.

“What are you doing?” Uhti said.

“Well, you said he got his best ideas swimming in the pool, right? So maybe I’ll come to a decision about the contract too.”

I smiled over at him and saw that harsh hunger on his face once more.

This time, he did nothing to disguise it nor to pull his eyes from my body.

And Iwantedhim to look.

It was the first time I had been completely open and honest with myself about how I was beginning to feel attracted to him.

As he reached up and removed his own top, I couldn’t help gaping either.

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