Leopard 03 - Burning Wild

I’ve been reading about it in one of the parenting books I have.”

    She looked up at him, startled. “You’re reading a parenting book?”
    He looked sheepish. “How else am I ever going to figure this out? Things keep changing as they get older. It used to be I could just pick them up and hold them and they were happy. Now I have to do things. I don’t have a clue what makes a kid happy.”
    Emma pressed her lips to his chin. “You’re awesome sometimes.”
    He leaned toward her, his gaze holding hers. “You know you could be shifter like your mother, right?
    Have you thought about that? You’re giving off the scent, very potent, of a woman in her first heat.”
    She wrinkled her nose. “That doesn’t sound good. Are you saying I stink?”
    He rubbed his shadowed jaw. “I wish. The scent is very alluring to males. All leopard males, whether they can shift or not. Drake, Joshua and Conner have a difficult time being close to you now. And I’m ready to lose my mind over it.”
    “Really?” She knew she didn’t sound as upset as she should. Sometimes she felt something wild inside, and she often hoped there was the presence of a cat, but she doubted it. On the other hand, she didn’t mind in the least being alluring to Jake.
    “I’m going back to work,” he said, frowning at her. “I can see you’re not a bit sorry for making me as hard as a rock.”
    “Not really, no.” She smiled up at him.
    “You’re going to be taking care of it,” he warned.
    She nodded her head. “I’ll be looking forward to this evening.”
    17
    THE ache in his body invaded his mind for the millionth time. He couldn’t concentrate. There was just no way. He dropped his hand to his lap and rubbed in an effort to alleviate the burning tightness. If he grew any thicker, he was going to burst right out of his skin. He’d been fantasizing more than working, wishing Emma was in his office with him instead of just outside his door, somewhere in the house with the kids.
    Was she thinking about him? Did she hurt the way he did? He could only hope that she was. He wanted to occupy most of her thoughts and found himself a little jealous of her spending so much time with everyone else. He rarely had her to himself, and when he did, his emotions got in the way. He tapped his pencil idly on the desktop. There had to be a way to seal her to him. Yes, he could keep her pregnant, but that didn’t mean her loyalty would be to him. He had to find another means.
    Again his hand fell to the thick, throbbing length of him. He was so engorged he was afraid he might split his trousers, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to make it until the evening. He had many women and none sated him the way she did. He didn’t crave their soft skin, or want their bodies wrapped around his. It was as if his body knew hers, remembered hers from another life. Maybe all the nonsense Drake told him was more truth than legend, but whatever the reason, his body was tied to Emma’s body.
    He knew a million sexual tricks, ways to make any woman want more, crave more, become obsessed.
    If he could get her to go along with him while he trained her body, she’d always need him. She’d be bound to him completely.
    He rubbed his jaw for a long moment and then dropped his face into his hands. He didn’t know what was right anymore. He only knew that he couldn’t live without her and he couldn’t live with being so emotionally vulnerable to her. Somehow, some way, he had to get the upper hand. He had to take it back, return their relationship to a footing he could deal with.

    EMMA took several different types of lettuce from the refrigerator, trying to ignore the building tension in her body. Her body temperature was going up; she could feel the heat radiating off her, coming from her very core. She was hot and aching and needy, and getting moodier by the moment. She was slick and inflamed, the dampness between her legs keeping her on edge. She’d snapped at Brenda when she brought the children in for a snack. They sat in their high chairs eating, as she began to make the preparations for dinner.
    There wouldn’t be any eating for her. She was tempted to try a cold shower.
    “Emma.” Jake’s voice was quiet on the intercom.
    She glanced up automatically, although it was just his voice and not his body. A note in his voice. Soft.
    Sexy. Commanding. Her body tightened even more in instant response, flooding with more heat. She was going to have to ask