Just like Kat had felt compelled to return to the Amazon and find Connor to thank him for rescuing her. She had often thought of him, bare-chested and barefooted, leaning over her, cutting the rope from her wrists, and then hurrying to bind her wounds. His eyes had focused on hers with so much concern and tenderness that she had often wondered what it would be like to be with a man like him.
Connor cleared his throat. “Yes, I was afraid she’d bite you to change you. Neither of us has ever tried to turn someone before. She knew I wouldn’t do it.”
Kat shifted her gaze from his muscled torso to his face. He hadn’t wanted her enough to change her himself. But then again, that made him more honorable, didn’t it? That he did indeed care for her but wouldn’t turn her against her will. “I wouldn’t have allowed it if I could have prevented it.”
“So now… you’re stuck with me?” That was a disagreeable notion.
His mouth curved in a predatory way. “Hell, Kat, I wouldn’t have turned you, but you’ve got to sense the chemistry between us. If I’d met you somewhere in Texas, you still would have garnered all my attention.”
“And?” She was dying to know what he would have done about it.
He shrugged. “I might have taken you out for a drink, maybe dinner, but I never would have gotten too close. Developing feelings for a human would be risky business, and I couldn’t afford it.”
“You would have wanted more than a drink.”
He gave her a dark smile. “With you, I couldn’t want less.”
“But you had vowed never to turn someone.”
“Yes. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of living a double life—as strictly a human in front of a woman I loved and, behind her back, as a jaguar-shifter with a sister cut from the same spotted cloth.”
She still couldn’t believe any of it, yet what had just happened had happened. She couldn’t deny it any longer. Used to dealing with matters that didn’t exactly go her way—the loss of her men on the mission, Roger leaving her, foster homes that hadn’t worked out—she’d make the most of this new change in her life. Somehow.
Kat took a deep breath and exhaled. “Now what?”
“Now we need to get you to Texas and hope to God you don’t shift somewhere along the way and create a real situation.”
She groaned, not having considered that new wrinkle in her life.
“Sorry, Kat.”
This nightmare was growing. “If we get to Texas, what then?”
“Then? We’re a family. You’ll live with us.”
“And I have no say?” All of a sudden, she felt as though she had lost total control over her life, and at a time when she thought she had just gotten it back!
“You can’t… live on your own, Kat. It’s too dangerous. If anyone learned what you were, they’d lock you up, study you, believe you were some alien race. No jaguar would be safe once you were discovered. There aren’t that many jaguars left in the wild. Can you imagine what kind of a sensation you’d be? They’d eventually find Maya and me. Although we’re careful, some have seen us with our jaguar pets—Maya with a jaguar, or me with Maya when she’s shifted into her jaguar coat.”
Kat hadn’t thought of that. In the back of her mind, she just thought they wanted to keep her because she would be like them. Not that she would need to be with those of her kind—for protection and companionship.
Yet she had read a lot about jaguars and their behavior, and they didn’t live as a family—at least not for long. The male stayed with the female during courtship and mating, but after the mother birthed her cubs, he was out of there, by her choice. Each male serviced a number of females, their territories overlapping his bigger one. Would she be considered part of a harem? No way, José.
“But jaguars don’t take a mate permanently. Any old jaguar will do. Just like a domesticated cat. Just like dogs,” she said. She had always figured that when she settled down and married a man, like she had planned with Roger, it would be forever.
“We’re human, too, and I promise if you decide to be my mate, I won’t stray.”
“What about others? You can’t be the only ones.”
That was a horrible idea. What if they were the only ones of their kind? Then Maya would have to turn a man, too, if she could. But what if he turned out to be dangerous?
What was Kat thinking? What if she became dangerous? What if she couldn’t control what she was, got hungry, and went after the neighbor’s dogs—or kids, even? Although she reminded herself that she had vowed she wouldn’t eat a monkey or colorful parrot, so she must have some control over being a feral beast.
“No, we aren’t the only ones. But with jaguars as elusive as they are, finding others of our kind is close to impossible.”
“That’s why Maya asked if I had a brother.”
Connor glanced back in the direction of the screen door. “She’d better not contemplate it.”
Kat harrumphed under her breath. “Yeah, one of us is bad enough.”
Connor turned back to study her, compassion in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Kat. I wouldn’t have done this to you, but I intend to make it up to you any way that I can.”
Frowning, Kat chewed on her lower lip. “What about the other jaguar? Roaring in the jungle. It was a male, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. I hadn’t been marking our territory well enough since we came back here this time.”
“Because of taking care of me—because I was so sick.”
“You were our first priority.”
“So… is he a regular cat or a shifter, do you think?”
Maya called out from the hammock. “It doesn’t matter, Kat. Taking care of you is what’s important to us now.”
Kat could barely keep her eyes open, but she had to take care of one little thing. “Can I brush my teeth?”
Shaking his head, he smiled. “You’ll get used to the transition of eating raw meat as a jaguar, then shifting into your human form.”
He helped her to the washstand where she brushed her teeth with the spare toothbrush and a generous amount of minty toothpaste.
Then he carried her back to bed where Kat closed her eyes, unable to keep them open any longer. “Maya needs a mate, doesn’t she?” she whispered to Connor.
“We don’t have to worry about that now. Sleep and we’ll talk more in the morning.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “’Night, Kat. If you get the urge to shift, wake me. Please. You can’t roam through the jungle alone. The rain forest is too dangerous for you.”
She took a deep breath, nodded her head ever so slightly, and then, unable to stay awake, she slipped back into the world of dreams.
Connor stared at her for what seemed an eternity, unwilling to leave her side. He kept worrying she would shift again and take off, unable to help herself. But now she knew something about them and what she was. If she shifted and needed to stretch her legs as a jaguar, he hoped she would wake him and wait for him to go with her.
Glancing back at the screen door, he couldn’t help admiring his sister for wanting only to take care of Kat, ignoring her own needs to investigate the male jaguar and see if he might also be a shifter. He knew Maya would want to check him out.
He caressed Kat’s arm. She shouldn’t have run like she did. She still wasn’t well enough to expend that much energy.
He looked at Maya’s bed but couldn’t force himself to retire to it. Not without worrying that Kat might shift and leave again, and he couldn’t help being concerned about the other male jaguar. What if he was a shifter and he found Kat alone in the jungle? Their mother had said their father would never stay with her. It didn’t matter that she was the only shifter he had ever found. He couldn’t stay with one woman, period. Kat didn’t deserve a man like that.
Connor snorted and folded his arms. Hell, he wouldn’t be like his old man.
Maya slipped into the hut and rubbed Connor’s back. “She’s sleeping. Go to bed. I’m sure one or both of us will wake if she tries to leave again.
”
She hugged him, then returned to her hammock on the porch.
Connor wasn’t taking any chances. He climbed into the small bed with Kat, pulling the wispy curtains around them as though they were a prince and princess in an Arabian Nights tale. Intent on making sure she wasn’t going anywhere without waking him first, he covered them with the light bed linen, closed his eyes, and tried to think of anything except how sexy she felt snuggled against his body.
Chapter 14
Sometime in the middle of the night, Kat grew restless. The first thought that came to Connor’s mind was that she was shifting into a jaguar. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, spooning her, while recognizing that he might be holding a big cat in his embrace at any moment instead of a soft, silky-skinned, naked woman.
She still smelled heavenly, like the fragrance of oranges and tangerines. He’d scoffed at Maya for buying the citrus-scented soap to wash in, wanting something less… feminine. Not now. He couldn’t stop breathing in Kat’s unique scent mixed with the sweet citrus fruits. He’d never eat another orange without thinking of washing every sweet part of her body in the waterfall.
For some time, she lay still, quiet in his arms, as if he had chased away any urge to shift. But then she tried to get free from him, kicking with her feet though her legs were twisted in the light cover, and he again tightened his hold on her.
His heroics earned him a hard-on, and he cursed his inability to keep his rampant craving for her at bay. He tried to think of anything but the way her warm, supple body felt pressed against him. He tried to avoid breathing in her sexy feline scent, mixed with the fragrance of the shampoo and soaps he’d used to wash every delectable inch of her body. He tried not to listen to her soft murmurs like those that he envisioned she would make as he brought her to climax at some later date. But he was drawn to her, needy, desiring her to the core.
At first, he thought she might be trying to get away to shift, but when she didn’t, he believed she might be having a nightmare. “Shhh, Kat, it’s just me.”
With her back to him still, she swung her clenched fist around and struck him in the hip. Night terrors. She was having a night terror, and she was trying to beat on him like she said she had done to that worthless scumbag, Roger, her ex-fiancé.
As far as Connor was concerned, Roger had deserved whatever she dished out. But Connor was determined to chase away her night terrors. Just as he had stated, she would not beat on him when they lay down together.
He took her hand and unclenched her fist, kissing the tender skin at her wrist and then the palm of her hand, though she squirmed to get loose.
“It’s just me,” he said again, whispering against her ear, kissing and nuzzling his face against hers. She quit moving, quit struggling, quit trying to fight him.
He took a deep breath, glad he could chase away her fear and encourage her to sleep again. But then she turned her head to stare over her shoulder at him, her eyes wide, luminous, and comprehending.
She licked her lips, making them glisten, and he watched with fascination as her tongue slipped back into her mouth.
She twisted around to face him.
“Did I hurt you?” she whispered, her eyes still wide, her expression glum.
He cast her an elusive smile, amused she would think striking him had made any impact, and shook his head. “No. You gave me a love pat.”
His comment earned him a sexy smile. He thought they’d both just sleep, although he couldn’t deny he wished to kiss her and push any hint of a reoccurring nightmare from her mind, but only if Kat was willing. Then the telltale sound of Maya pouncing on the ground below them changed his mind. Having shifted into her jaguar form, Maya was leaving them alone. As soon as Maya left, Kat seemed to be of the same mind as Connor. She began to kiss his mouth lightly as if she needed his touch, his affection, some acknowledgment that everything was all right between them.
He kissed her back, keeping the same measured pressure, not wanting to take this further than she wished.
But then her hands stroked his bare chest, her movements more desperate.
She seemed starved with need, and if she was willing, he wasn’t holding back, either. Their tongues intertwined, thrust, caressed, their breath minty fresh. Lips melded, brushed, kissed.
Her fingers yanked at the waistband of his boxers, trying to pull them down over his hips. He jerked them off and threw them on the floor.
She glanced down at him and took in his nakedness, his full-blown erection, his hard nipples.
He was already hot just from cuddling with her, trying to get his thoughts off the waterfall kisses they’d shared. He remembered the way she’d felt as his hands washed every inch of her, her rigid nipples and clit swelling beneath his touch, and how he had known she wanted him physically. And emotionally, he was certain. But now…
Hell, now that she was feeling stronger, he wanted to take this all the way. He wouldn’t wait, not when she was so eager. He cupped a breast, kneading a nipple and soliciting a soft mew from her mouth. The sweet, sexy sound she made was his undoing.
He kissed her mouth again, but this time with a pressing urgency that revealed just how much he wanted her. He craved claiming her for his own, wanting to put his scent on her, to prove she was his to anyone who had any other notion.
She pulled her mouth from his and kissed his throat and his chest, whispering, “Love me.”
Not make love to me, but love me.
That made him pause. He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes, saw them awash in tears, and he hugged her tight. “I will.” He kissed the top of her head and added, “I do.”
With all his heart, he meant it. He couldn’t envision returning to the jungle without Kat. Or returning home without her, either. Nothing would ever be the same.
The kissing renewed. Their lips and tongues touched and tasted, wet and soft and eager. The fervent need to bond, to connect in only the way a man and woman could, to become one in body and soul, shook him to the core. His hands cupped her face and their tongues mated, while her body arched against his, pleading for completion.
He’d never felt that way before when he’d had sex with a woman. Because that’s all it had been. A quick release and it was done.
But this… this was so much more.
He’d found his mate in Kat, and he wasn’t losing her now. The cover was already tossed on the floor, the light curtains draping out the world. The sounds of the birds and frogs and bugs disappeared as all he could focus on was the blood pounding in his ears and Kat’s soft murmurs of pleasure. He swept his hand down her hips, enjoying the satiny feel of her skin, the shapely curve of her flesh, the firmness of her thigh.
“Hurry,” she pleaded quietly, and he wondered if she was worried that Maya was in the jungle all alone or that she might return soon.
He slipped his hand between Kat’s legs and felt the silky wetness, the dark curls wet with need. She arched toward his questing fingers. His cock jerked in response as if following her lead of its own accord. Fighting the urge to plunge deep inside her, he began stroking her swollen flesh, and she looked as though she was ready to bolt from the bed.
“Uh,” she said in a moan of half pleasure, half disbelief.
He tongued a nipple and her eyes closed. Her tongue swept over her lips, and her hands slid down his back, her nails tracing his skin and his muscles in a gentle caress. His fingers kneaded her swollen nub until she opened for him like a flower unfurling before the sun.
The invitation given, he pressed a finger deep inside her. She startled a little at the intrusion, then pushed her body toward him, forcing him to go deeper, wanting more.
He smiled at her aggressiveness, loving it, loving her.
His thumb continued to stroke her, and his name slipped from her lips in a whimper as she reached around to cup him. Already engorged to the spilling point, he quickly clasped her hand in his.
“Not this time,” he whispered.
; Her eyes opened and flashed dark green with flecks of burning gold. They were beautiful eyes, luminescent in the dark. Her mouth pursed and she looked ready to protest, but he pressed the tip of his cock against her hot flesh, and she pushed against him before he was ready to end the foreplay.
Again he smiled at her and was rewarded with the most devilish smile back.
Unable to hold himself in check, he pushed into her slowly, filling her, and felt the heavenly tightness of her sheath expanding to allow him in, deeper and deeper.
Her hot, wet flesh clenched against his invasion but then eased and caressed him, holding him tight and forcing him to take it easy. Kat had stilled, her hands on his hips, her eyes wide, her moistened lips parted, her breathing nonexistent.
For an instant, he took in the beauty of their joined bodies, her dark curls splayed against the pillows, her even darker short curls wet and encircling his shaft, her skin glistening with perspiration. He wanted to memorize every detail of the sounds and smells and sights in that instant to take with him wherever he went.
Then he thrust once, twice, her body responding eagerly to his penetration, her hips angling to get the most of him. He loved the way she wanted more of him. Now. Not at his slower pace, but at her quicker one. Heels dug into the bed, she welcomed his thrusts as her hands skimmed his back and ass.
He began to stroke her again, watching her expression and enjoying the way her eyes darkened to midnight, the way her mouth parted to take in small gulps of air, the way she flowered under his touch.
“Harder,” she rasped out. “More.” She groaned. “Faster.”
He wanted to laugh, to shout with joy at the way she was ordering him about. He knew the moment the climax hit her by the ripples of spasms clenching his cock, the way her fingers dug into his flesh, the harsh exhale of breath and the words, “Omigod, Connor,” slipping out of her mouth in a breathy, sexy way.