A Jaguar's Kiss by Katie Reus Read Free Book Online Page A

survivor.
    Owen knelt in front of her, the muscles in his arms flexing
    as he reached for her leg. He always had an earthy scent
    but now it was so much stronger, drawing her to him.
    Silently, he unzipped her knee-high boot and slid it off, then
    did the same with the other one. Stil kneeling, he braced
    his hands on his knees as he stared hard at her.
    She wanted to drop her gaze from his hungry stare but
    she held it, wondering what he was thinking. In the past
    she’d never had much of a problem reading him but now
    she’d never had much of a problem reading him but now
    she felt a little lost.
    Final y he spoke, his words low, guttural. “I never meant
    to hurt you. I’d rather cut out my own heart than ever do that
    again. Words mean nothing. I know that. I stil want you to
    know—”
    Gabriela shook her head, silencing him. “I don’t want to
    talk about the past. I just want to be with you tonight and not
    worry about anything else.”
    He sat there with a preternatural stil ness and if she
    hadn’t seen the uneven rise and fal of his chest, she’d have
    wondered if he’d been breathing at al . “Once I have you…I
    don’t know if I can let you go, Gabriela.”
    Those words were torn from a very deep part of him. She
    knew it as clearly as she knew he had a giant scar on his
    upper inner arm from when he was ten and tried to jump
    from tree limb to tree limb and got snagged on a sharp
    branch, almost losing his arm.
    “I can only promise you tonight.” Even though a very dark
    part of her had once relished the thought of hurting him and
    walking away, that wasn’t her intention anymore. She
    couldn’t make promises to him because the thought of lying
    to his face shredded her insides. Right now she didn’t know
    what she wanted past this moment.

Chapter 4
    Owen looked into Gabriela’s dark eyes, seeing the firelight
    reflect in their depths. One night? He wanted a hel of a lot
    more, but he could see the determined set of her jaw. A jaw
    he wanted to nibble kisses along.
    She might think this was a onetime thing but he’d
    convince her it wasn’t. He had to. Reaching for the button
    on her jeans, he said, “Lift.”
    The quiet order seemed to startle her but she raised her
    hips and let him tug her jeans down and off. Now she was
    just wearing a shirt and barely there green-lace panties that
    didn’t cover anything . He could see the soft patch of her
    honey-brown hair covering her mound through the sheer
    material. From earlier he knew that the fine hair had been
    perfectly trimmed.
    Suddenly it hit him how cold the floor of the cave was.
    Even if they had higher body temperatures than humans, he
    wanted to give her as much comfort as he could.
    Moving with a supernatural speed, he picked her up and
    moved her until she was stretched out on his sleeping bag.
    He’d only meant to stay in the cave for a few hours. Until
    dawn. This area of the woods was on the outskirts of his
    pack’s territory and he’d wanted to scout it out and get
    some solace.
    Of course now he didn’t want to be alone. He wanted to
    be buried inside Gabriela.
    Taking him by surprise she reached for the hem of her
    shirt and tugged it off. For a split second, his brain short-
    circuited. She was completely bare to him. When they were
    kids and innocent they’d shifted in front of each other and
    gone running al the time. That had al changed when they’d
    become teenagers. She’d become a lot more self-
    conscious then. And when he’d had her trapped up against
    the door of the cabin wal this morning he’d forced himself
    not to drink his fil of her.
    Now he could stare al he wanted. Her breasts were on
    the smal side and perfectly rounded. Perfect for him to
    stroke and kiss. Her nipples were a light brown, though they
    were slightly darkening as the buds turned harder. A very
    sweet scent rol ed off her, letting him know just how turned
    on she was.
    He heard a strangled sound and realized it came from
    him. He