NocC 017 - Caridad Pineiro - Night of the Cougar - Harlequin 2012-06 by Nocturne Read Free Book Online Page A

with his hand. “That, and you. You saved me.”
    Heat traveled over her with his words and with the way he was looking at her again. Her nipples peaked in anticipation, but the reality was, she was sore as hell at the moment.
    As he cupped her breast and ran his thumb across the tip, she covered his hand with hers to still the motion, but he grasped it and made her cup her own breast.
    “Sometimes it’s just about the pleasure in the touch. About experiencing all the sensations before passion overwhelms.”
    She moaned and nearly came just from his words, but he kept up that gentle touch, exploring the weight and shape of her, bending his head to taste and tenderly teeth the hard tip of her.
    She held his head to her, caught up again in desire, but it was slow-growing this time and so heady she didn’t want it to end. “If this is your way of making me want to leave, it’s failing badly.”
    His laughter spilled his warm breath against her breast. “Christ, Jamie. Don’t you know how torn up I am about making you go.”
    Reaching between their bodies, she nestled his erection against her belly and stroked it softly, wanting to explore him as he was exploring her. She learned every inch of him before lowering her hand to the soft nest of curls between his legs and cupping his balls.
    Against her belly came a more noticeable vibration, not unlike the rumble of the cougar. “I guess you like,” she teased.
    “I like. Too much,” he said, and bent to kiss her breasts again. They were sensitive from their earlier loving and at his kiss, she moaned from the sensation of his mouth, warm and mobile, along her flesh.
    She didn’t know how they managed it, but somehow an hour passed with them just lazily caressing each other, enjoying the pleasure of each other’s touch and bodies until the midmorning sun spilled onto the bed, as if to warn them that they couldn’t linger like that all day.
    “Are you hungry?” he asked, and at her look, quickly added, “For food?”
    Grinning, she said, “Starving.” For good measure, she gave one final stroke along his cock and he jumped beneath her hand.
    “Later,” he said, and she was pleased that he seemed to have changed his mind about having her go. Although she knew the argument would arise again.
    For now, she would accept their tentative truce.
    As he slipped on his jeans, she grabbed his robe, but asked, “Have you seen my clothes?”
    “They were muddy and wet. I washed them for you this morning when I was hoping that you could head back down the mountain,” he replied, and she followed him to the laundry room on the lower level of the lodge, which also held the kitchen. He pulled her things from the dryer and handed them to her.
    “What more could a girl ask for?” she kidded with a smile, and her heart did a little twist at the promise in his eyes as he responded.
    “How about a man who can cook?” he teased, his emerald eyes alive with merriment.
    “I take that to mean that you’ll make something to eat while I get dressed?”
    “Sure, but don’t expect anything too fancy,” he replied as she dashed back up to the other floor to change in his bedroom and then find her knapsack. Her editor was likely wondering what was up, but she was surprised to find that he had yet to call.
    Tucking her phone into her jeans pocket, she skipped back down the stairs to the kitchen, where Galen was busy frying up some bacon. The smoky smell mingled with that of the bread he was toasting in a small oven. A metal basket with eggs sat on the counter beside a bowl and whisk. She walked over and said, “Scrambled?”
    “Sure. I eat about six of them myself, though,” he warned, and she peeked over at the bacon to see he probably a full pound cooking in the large cast-iron skillet.
    He had a big appetite, but then again, he was a big man. And a were-cougar, although even as that thought came, it sounded as impossible as it had the day before. But the night had proved that