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

He was shameless.
    Still, she gave as good as she got. All it took was a tickle behind his ear and she could get anything she wanted.
    Composing herself, she poured two cups of tea and pushed his towards the edge of the tray nearest him.
    She slowly raised her eyes to meet his and when she saw the hunger in his honey eyes, she dropped them again. She toyed with the spoon and told herself to get a grip.
    Her heart leapt into her throat when his hand covered hers, his thumb lightly caressing the back of it.
    Bringing her eyes back up, she stared into his, forcing herself to hold his gaze so she could drink up all the love she could see in his eyes. She smiled, wrapped her hand around his, and wondered just when she'd fallen into this dream. It was too good to be true. It really was. Maybe they had died that day they'd got stuck in the lift at her work. The memory of it sent a shiver through her and it was hard to tell whether it was residual fear of lifts or desire from the way he'd touched her.
    “Something wrong?” he said, his voice calling her back to him.
    She sighed and shook her head and then frowned. She nodded.
    “Yes...” she said and her gaze dropped to his body again, hunger rising inside of her as she watched the way his muscles bunched and relaxed as he moved to pick up his tea. Damn, he was Adonis in human form, or lycan form anyway. “How am I supposed to concentrate on eating breakfast when all I want to do is eat you up?”
    She blushed at the fact she'd actually said that out loud and he grinned at her, giving her a look that said he'd noticed how much more confident she'd been getting lately. She couldn't help it. It was his fault. Having the attention of a gorgeous man like him made her feel incredibly sexy and not at all plain like she really was. The side effect of feeling sexy seemed to be confidence.
    It was no wonder Erik was so confident. Growing up with such good looks and money, he was bound to be sure of himself. At least he wasn't conceited. In fact, he never seemed to notice his looks. Whenever she told him he was handsome, he managed to brush it off, as though he didn't think he was.
    He was. She'd never seen a man like him. It wasn't just his beautiful face, athletic build, broad shoulders and to die for abs that made him gorgeous. It was more than that, although it helped. It was all the love he held inside of him, the affection and the need. It was who he was as a whole.
    “I can arrange that,” he said and a frown marred her brows.
    “Arrange what?” She looked at him.
    He smiled. “All those naughty thoughts drifting about in the back of your head.”
    She blushed again. “I thought you'd taken care of that this morning.”
    His smile became a grin and she could see he was remembering what had happened after her bath. There was nothing quite as satisfying as making love first thing in the morning, especially when they both let go and showed each other everything they were feeling. It was frightening sometimes, but thrilling too.
    She sipped her tea and then made a little growling noise when he stretched, muscles going taut as he yawned.
    “It's too damn comfortable here. I could fall asleep.” He rolled his shoulders and then gave her a look she couldn't quite make out. There was a hint of something in it. Fear? It couldn't be. There was nothing for him to fear, not that she knew of. She was probably reading him wrong. His look shifted into a contented smile and she remembered how he'd looked when she'd first met him. She'd never seen someone take so much pleasure from something as simple as sunlight bathing their skin and warming them. Of course, back then she hadn't known he was a black panther shape-shifter. Now his affinity for the sunshine made perfect sense. All cats loved the sun.
    “That's not good. It's barely ten.” She stifled her own yawn. “It must be the fire and not having anything to do. You're horribly used to working. I, on the other hand, am perfectly adept