Leopard 03 - Burning Wild

him. And no one had ever done that for him either. He was leopard and he smelled lies. He knew deception. There was none in Emma. Only her sweet, giving body wrapped around his, open to him, willing for him to use her however he chose. A gift without a price—only there was. And she didn’t realize how much she was asking, how much he was willing to pay and how difficult it was for him.
    He caught her ankle and pushed her knee up farther toward her chest, adjusting his angle, listening for the little hitch in her voice, the one that told him he was sending sweet agony surging through her body.
    Each time he moved in her, he felt as if he were in another dimension, another plane of existence.
    Although he didn’t want to examine the feeling too deeply, he felt almost spiritual as he thrust deeper, wanting her crying out, wanting her pleasure above all else.
    Jake knew he was losing himself in her body, but right at that moment, nothing mattered but the earth-shattering pleasure roaring through him, her soft moan of complete surrender, the sound of her shattered cry as she whispered his name, her purr of satisfaction and the intensity of his emotion welling up, pouring over him like a tidal wave every bit as strong as the soul-searing pleasure. He was amazed that he could no longer separate the two.
    Love. He had detested that word, used for everything, meaning nothing. It had become a trivial word.
    And it meant nothing at all. Nothing. But lying there with his heart pounding, surrounded by her silken body and her heat, he knew there was more than sex. Far more than sex. He could no longer imagine his life without her in it. It terrified him to think that she might learn the way he felt inside.
    He kissed the side of her mouth and slipped off her, not looking at her, afraid she’d see him—see too much.

    EMMA poured Jake a second cup of coffee as he finished his breakfast. Susan had remained very silent throughout the meal. Emma wasn’t certain if she was so intimidated by Jake that she couldn’t speak, or if she was bursting with questions and was afraid one might slip out before she could stop herself.
    Emma frowned at Jake and tossed her head toward Susan. He made a face at her, took a fortifying gulp of coffee and tried.
    “How long are you staying with us, Susan?”
    She dropped her fork and turned bright red. “Not very much longer.”
    Jake gave a long-suffering sigh. “I wasn’t implying I wanted you to leave, I was merely trying to be pleasant.”
    Emma kicked him under the table—hard.
    “Ow!” He jerked his injured shin out of reach and looked down at his immaculate shirt. He’d managed to keep his arm steady and no coffee had spilled. He let Emma see the promise of a later retaliation in his eyes. Okay, maybe his tone had been a little condescending, but he’d talked to the girl, hadn’t he?
    Emma leaned forward. “I forgot to tell you, Jake. Susan’s father is sending her calculus tutor, Harold Givens, here this morning. Would you add him to the list at the gate for Jerico’s men?”
    “How long will he be here?” There was a bite in his voice he couldn’t quite hide. He didn’t like strangers in his home at all.
    A regular security sweep was conducted once a week, varying the day and hour, but it didn’t matter to him anymore, not after the small microchip was discovered. Anyone coming on the property was now suspect, particularly Harold Givens, as he’d been one of the two suspects they had. As a rule he had his employees sign an ironclad privacy contract before he hired them, insisting on complete silence during and after employment. He couldn’t very well do that with unwanted visitors, as much as he would like to.
    “I can ask him not to come,” Susan said hastily, lowering her eyes.
    Jake scowled at her. “Did I say I didn’t want him here?”
    That earned him another kick. He moved his legs out of harm’s way once again, and this time reached under the table and put his hand on Emma’s inner thigh. High. Her gaze flicked to him, but the warning in his eyes kept her from pulling away.
    “He’s just going to stay a few hours, Jake,” Emma said. “We told Evan and Joshua to meet us at the stables at one. He’ll be gone by then. And of course he has to come, Susan. I promised your father we’d make certain you continued with your studies.”
    “Maybe he should stay home and pay more attention to his daughter instead of pawning her off on other people and having