In Heat: Mating Call (In Heat Shapeshifter Romance Series #2) Read Free

noticed the tray of tea and breakfast that Rose was carrying. She held her hands out. “This looks great... do you mind if I take it in?”
    Rose smiled, her old face warming with it and making Kim's smile grow wider. She'd always liked Rose. They'd instantly hit it off when she'd first come to the house and there was something about her appearance that always made Kim smile. It was the wild white hair that refused to stay restrained in the tight bun at the back of Rose's head and the kindness she could always see in her eyes.
    She could only picture Rose at this age and looking this way, even when she was imagining what Erik would've been like when he was younger and sneaking down to the kitchen to get some peanut butter on toast. Rose would've been all smiles, even as she told him how naughty he was being.
    A weight in her hands made her come out of her thoughts and she stared at the tray she was now holding. She watched Rose disappear down the corridor and heaved another sigh. It must have been wonderful growing up here, with such a loving housekeeper and mother. She wondered how much his parents deaths must have affected Erik and continued searching for him.
    When she walked into the drawing room, she smiled.
    There he was, lounging limply in one of the big armchairs in front of the grand fireplace. He was staring at the fire, its warm light flickering on his handsome face, making his eyes even more intense and honey-coloured than usual, and making his dark hair even blacker. Heat swept through her when she dropped her eyes to his body and saw that he wasn't wearing any top.
    She stopped and couldn't help staring at him. His physique had always been nothing short of amazing, breathtaking. It had always taken hers away anyway. The firelight danced across his bronzed skin, highlighting the taut muscles of his torso as he moved. She could feel his eyes on her, boring into her and raising her temperature higher until it burned her. She didn't stop staring at him, couldn't stop. He knew what he was doing. He knew how much she was attracted to him and that he could easily get her attention by lounging half naked.
    When he looked like that, she just wanted to slide into his lap and throw her arms around his neck. She wanted to explore every inch of him, slowly taking him all in and memorising his body all over again.
    She tore her eyes away from him but only managed to move them far enough to stare at his legs instead of his chest and stomach. He was wearing black jogging bottoms, his lithe and powerful legs stretched out in front of him.
    Swallowing hard and then taking a deep breath to steady her pounding heart, she gripped the tray a little tighter and continued towards him. She cursed her hips as they wiggled side to side, ignoring her when she told herself to act demure.
    Erik raised a brow and narrowed his eyes on her legs, raking them upwards to her hips and then her breasts.
    So she was acting up a little, trying to get his attention. It was harder for a plain Jane like herself to draw a man's attention, or at least she thought it was.
    Erik purred.
    The tea cups and pot rattled on the tray, sounding like a discordant melody when the knives joined in, clattering against the plates. She frowned at him, cursing the way he could so easily fluster her, and blushed deeply when he smiled. Her knees trembled and she sat quickly in the armchair opposite him, taking the tray with her and not daring to pause long enough to put it on the small side table.
    She busied herself with rearranging everything when she finally put the tray down. She wasn't going to let him fluster her. It had been almost two years since they'd met but he could still make her knees go weak and bring a blush to her cheeks with a single heated look. He'd quickly discovered what effect his purring had on her and he happily abused his power, stirring her hunger for his touch at the most awkward times.
    Namely very public places, like her work and coffee shops.