Perfect Mate by Jennifer Ashley Read Free Book Online Page A

the kitchen counter to her and rested
     his hands on her waist. “Especially a sweet, lovely, warm female bear who tells it
     like it is.”
    “No one tells it plainer than I do,” Nell said.
    “Glad to hear it.”
    His hands on her waist were warm, distracting. Somehow there was less distance between
     them, his body an inch from hers. Nell’s breasts touched his chest when she took a
     deep breath.
    “I don’t want to talk about anything,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about Magnus,
     or why he killed himself, or what happened to me after that. Or the letter, or why
     you decided to find me. All right?”
    Cormac’s eyes had darkened to his bear’s, his smile gone but his mouth still soft.
     “All right.”
    “You agreed easily.”
    “I know when to shut up.”
    Nell swallowed, her voice softening. “All this digging up the past, it hurts me.”
    “I know.” Cormac skimmed his hands up her arms to her shoulders, his face now closer
     to hers. Unshaved whiskers, black against his tanned skin, glistened in the growing
     firelight.
    “I don’t want to have sex with you,” Nell said, the words difficult. “Not right now.
     I’m too upset.”
    “I know.”
    Cormac’s hands warmed her, and so did his eyes. The heating system came on, brushing
     toasty air through the cabin, and the fire started to crackle.
    Cormac’s lips warmed her even more. Nell let him kiss her, not fighting, not pulling
     away. Kissing was fine. Not dangerous. Not heartbreaking.
    At least, it never had been before.
    Cormac coaxed her lips open as his hands moved to her back. Nell clenched her fists
     at her sides as his skilled tongue dipped inside her mouth, licking the moisture from
     behind her lower lip.
    The taste of him, a new sensation, heated her, opened her. Her body warmed as the
     room lost its edge of cold, her muscles relaxing whether she liked it or not.
    She was too old for this. Nell was in command of her body, her mind, her emotions.
     Always. She had to be. Fun was one thing. Becoming a blubbering idiot was something
     else.
    As he kissed her, Cormac’s hands closed over hers, caressing, easing them open. He
     twined his fingers through hers—blunt, callused fingers that held the strength of
     ages.
    Heat gathered at the base of her spine. She wanted to flow against him, to reach for
     him with her whole body.
    “No,” she whispered.
    “I’m only kissing you.” Cormac’s breath was hot on her lips. “That’s all, Nell.”
    She liked how he said her name. A plain, short syllable, but his voice rumbled it
     and filled the empty spaces.
    “All right,” she said softly. “Kissing only.”
    Cormac smiled, his eyes glittering in triumph, and Nell’s heart squeezed.
    Cormac kissed like he danced. He started a rhythm of small kisses across her lower
     lip, gentle ones on the corners of her mouth, nibbles where he’d kissed her.
    His whiskers rubbed her chin, then her cheek when he took the kisses to her cheekbone,
     the bridge of her nose. Nell struggled to breathe. When she inhaled, she got the scent
     of him, a male wanting a female, and the nice, clean smell of his breath.
    He kissed her cheek again, and she felt the touch of his tongue. He brushed kisses
     and little licks all the way to her earlobe, then came the small prick of his teeth.
    She sucked in another breath. “Kissing only, I said.”
    “This is kissing.” His voice tickled deep inside her ear. “And this.” He touched kisses
     to the shell of her ear, then her temple, her forehead.
    Nell closed her eyes. He’d released her hands somewhere during the kissing, and she
     now clutched the fabric of his shirt. She tried to make herself let go and couldn’t.
    Cormac kissed the tip of her nose, smiling as he did it. The man smiled too much.
     He had to stop that, because he made her want to smile back.
    He touched kisses to her mouth again, this time interspersing them with little licks.
     Every lick sent a stream of fire through her,