Step. “Admission, I want to kill whoever bit you, and I wanna do it slowly, inflicting maximum pain.”
Annalise closed her eyes and inhaled sharply at how good it felt that he was protective of her. If he saw what she was really capable of, he would run, but if his animal urges matched hers, perhaps she could keep him longer. They were so close now, just a couple feet away from each other. He was tall and strong, straight-backed. Fists still clenched at his sides, chin held high and proud, eyes blazing that striking green.
“Admission.” She closed her eyes tightly because she was too big a coward to watch his face when she said this part. “I always imagined what it would be like if we met, and I got to touch you. You said you wished you could hug me. That you would make a bad day okay.” She dragged in a sharp, emotional breath and tried to control her emotions. “Jax, it’s been a really bad fucking day. A lot of bad days actually.”
The softest brush of his fingers touched her cheek, and her response was instant. She sagged forward and slid her arms up his strong chest around the back of his neck. Jaxon didn’t hesitate. He bent down and lifted her against him until she had her legs wrapped around his hips. She held him tight, and his arms went strong around her back as he crushed her in place against his chest. He didn’t rock them side to side, or gentle the hug. This embrace felt like desperation. He slid his massive hand up her spine to the back of her neck, and he squeezed. She should’ve felt trapped here against the brick wall of his solid body, held in place by his impossibly strong arms. But all she felt was safe.
“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.