“I can’t have you,” he whispered, his voice shaking, his arms shaking, his body shaking. “I can’t fucking have you, Anna.”
“Shhh,” she said, burying her face against his neck. He smelled so good, familiar already somehow. His cologne, and the scent of dominance and fur. No pain, though. He didn’t smell like his injuries from the fight were still hurting him. Good.
Mindlessly, she licked his throat with the very tip of her tongue just to taste him. He gripped her hair in an instant and leaned into her, rested his whiskered cheek against hers. They were moving, but she didn’t want to open her eyes to see where. She just wanted to be lost in this feeling right now. How many hundreds of times had she imagined the moment they met? How many hundreds of times had she imagined how it would feel to be wrapped around his body like this, lost in each other’s embrace?
Her butt hit something cold, and she realized he’d settled her against the hood of his truck. Jaxon hadn’t loosened his grip at all though, not even a little.
“Babe, I’ve wanted this so bad,” she whispered, out of her mind with how good his strong hands felt gripping her hair and her back.
“Fuck,” he said, his voice tinged with desperation. “I have to…” He eased off her and locked his muscular arms onto the cold metal of the truck, and he rested his head against her shoulder and then shook it slowly. “Anna,” he murmured.
She didn’t know why, but she wanted to cry. No moment had ever felt this important. Jaxon was falling apart with her. She was filled with such relief at finally, finally getting to touch him, but she also knew this was temporary. And how could they go back to not seeing each other after soul-changing moments like these?
She ran her hands through his longer hair on top and scratched them gently down his burred hair in the back just to feel the texture, just to feel him. He shivered curiously as he left his head resting against her shoulder. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her back and stood. His bright green eyes were full of a deep emotion she didn’t understand. He tilted his chin up high again, proud man, and looked like the fierce warrior she’d seen in the woods today.
“Tell me what to do.”
Annalise licked her lips. “What do you want to do?”
“Real story?” That was what he’d always asked if she got onto him for joking his way through an important conversation.
She dipped her chin. “I think we should only do real stories from here on.”
His blazing eyes practically glowed in the dim light as they dropped to her lips. “I wanna kiss you.”
Her smile was instant, and her cheeks heated with pleasure. Her stomach filled with a fluttering sensation that she’d only ever gotten with him when he texted sweet things to her out of the blue. “You gave me butterflies again,” she whispered, cupping his cheeks just to touch him. Just to feel his rough whiskers against her smooth palms. Just to be connected to him.
He turned and bit one palm gently and then straightened and slid his hands up her bare legs to her shorts, and then he gripped her hips. He was a massive man, a giant, and his hands nearly encircled her waist, but it wasn’t intimidating. It was sexy as hell being so small next to him. It was nice thinking She-Devil didn’t even stand a chance against his grizzly. It was nice knowing she wasn’t the biggest beast here in these woods. And Jaxon was steady. He’d controlled his animal today. He’d stopped mid-charge on Ben.
Can you teach me how to be this thing? She wanted to ask him so badly, but there was some barrier between the panthers and the outside world that she didn’t understand yet, so the question stayed lodged in her throat.
Jaxon’s dark brows lowered slightly as he eased forward, and his hand went from her hip to trail up her ribs and then arm. Across her cheekbone, he brushed the barest touch. The corner of his lips lifted slightly.
This was happening, the moment she’d yearned for all these months. As he leaned into her, she closed her eyes and angled her face, and his lips pressed to hers. This was a first-love kiss. This was the big one a girl thought about her whole life.
Jaxon pulled her closer and inhaled deeply as he pressed his kiss more firmly onto her lips. He took her wrists in his big hands and pushed his thumbs onto her tripping pulse for just a few seconds before he smiled against her mouth and pulled her hands behind his neck. Oh God, he was good. Jaxon was like a damn professional kisser, and she was clumsy compared to him. Smooth operator. He sucked gently on her top lip and pulled her waist until their hips connected. And there was nothing sexier than this, right here, kissing on the hood of his truck, tasting each other, alone in the woods, under the full moon. Happy. Lost in each other’s arms. She wanted to stay like this forever. Well…maybe not just like this. Sweet kisses were amazing with him, but her naughty hands tingled to feel his body. She controlled herself for a while, up until the point where he let off a sexy little snarl and nipped her bottom lip. Annalise let off a helpless sound and pushed her knees open wider, so his hips could rest right between her thighs, pressed up against her. Jaxon pushed his tongue past her lips and dipped it against hers, shallowly at first, but then harder and deeper and more desperate with every stroke after that. The man worked her into an inferno. Her insides turned to lava, sparking every time he gently rolled his hips. Fuck, she had to feel him.
She-Devil was making noise now, growling low and deep in her throat. Mortified, Annalise drew back and pressed her fingers against her lips, swallowed hard to try and stop the noise.