When an Alpha Purrs (13 page)

She stared at him for moment, trying to digest what he’d said, but it still baffled her. Arik was a mature businessman, not one given to flights of fancy. He wasn’t really going to try this line of BS on her, was he? “Oh, come on, no way you can expect me to swallow the fact that you believe in soul mates, or love at first sight.”

“As strange as it sounds, yes.”

“Fated? Really?” She snickered. “Please don’t tell me that harem downstairs fell for that dorky come-on line.” The irony didn’t escape her that she kind of had.  He’d spouted possessive and flirty things, and she’d fallen right into his trap—and his arms.

In her defense, the man was sizzling hot, and she really didn’t regret the sex. As a matter of fact, even though he was completely freaking nuts, she’d do it again. Kind of like her addiction to chips and dip, the man proved irresistible.

“First off, those women aren’t my lovers or part of a harem. That would be really unseemly given they’re all pretty much related to me in some way, shape, or fashion.”

“They’re family?” She couldn’t hide her surprise. Then again, hadn’t she thought the eyes freakily similar to Arik’s? Knowing they were family also put a whole new spin on their remarks. They weren’t sizing her up as competition for Arik’s affection. They were checking her out to see if she was good enough for him.

Poor guy. She knew how cousins could be. “I wish someone would have explained that earlier. Still, the fact you don’t have a harem doesn’t change my point of view. I think you’re feeding me a line about the whole soul mate thing, which you might as well stop. If you want to have sex again, just say so.” He could rock her world anytime.

“This is not a con to get you into bed. We both know all I’d have to do is kiss you and…” His sensual smile said it all.

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” She shook her head at his arrogance. An alpha male at his most extreme. Frustrating and yet inexplicably sexy.

She really should seek some professional help.

“You’re right. I can’t help myself. I’d heard of the pull when a male meets his mate, but never expected it would hit so hard and fast. You are mine, mouse. The lioness, if human, to my lion.”

“Lioness? And things just went from weird to where’s the hidden camera.”

“I am a lion. Therefore, it stands to serve that my woman would be my lioness.”

Kira gasped as the truth hit her. “Oh hell, don’t tell me you’re one of those guys who likes dressing up in those big teddy bear costumes? Do you have some fuzzy Leo the lion costume that you like to wear and then get it on? You’d better not be because, I’ll tell you right now, I don’t swing that way.”

Arik chuckled as he stretched his arms across the back of the couch, the movement pulling his shirt taut and outlining a perfection her body remembered only too well. Her blood heated, and moisture pooled between her thighs. She crossed them.

Why did he have to be so nuts? Why did her curse with men have to strike with him?

“I must admit, mouse, your mind works in really wondrous ways. But let me clarify. When I say I am a lion, I mean real lion. As in I turn furry, have great big teeth, roaring kind.”

Said with utter seriousness. He truly believed he was a lion. Which meant he was working with a few loose screws, which, in turn, meant he could be dangerous.

She shivered.

As quickly as fear tried to insinuate itself, it dissipated. No, no matter what Arik’s fetish, she didn’t get the impression he was a violent man. Yet that belief didn’t quite curb all the nervous hysteria from her giggle. “Joke’s over. Good one. Ha. Ha. Can we get serious now and talk about our situation?”

“But that’s just it. We are. There is a lot about this world you don’t understand, Kira. Mysteries you can’t even begin to imagine and truths I will have to reveal. The first being my feline side. However, that doesn’t mean you have to fear me. As my mate, I will never harm you or allow others to bring you harm. I will be your staunchest defender. Another promise I make is that I will be faithful. From henceforth, you will be the only one to feel my touch. And, in return, you will not touch another. I have jealousy issues.”

“Jealousy issues. Dictator issues. Freaking a girl out issues.” Kira wrung her hands, a part of her doubting every word he said, recoiling from it. However, another part of her, the girl who used to believe in romance and the concept of love at first sight, wanted to trust. Who didn’t want to live and enjoy the kind of love Arik proposed?

But what about freedom?

“I can’t be with a guy who keeps me locked up.”

“Ah yes, your continued insistence that I am holding you against your will.”

“Well, you are.”

“Don’t make me kiss you and prove you wrong. Actually, on second thought, please do. It has been much too long since I held you naked in my arms.”

Was there a comeback for that kind of brazen challenge? Not a verbal kind at any rate. Her body, on the other hand? It shivered, it woke, and all her senses came alive, hoping she’d do or say something that would force him to act upon his word.

She used the facts to bolster her resolve. “Attraction to you still doesn’t explain why you locked me in your condo.”

“How about a lack of time to have you placed within the condo’s security system? An issue I rectified in between meetings, actually. See, I trusted you to stay inside. I took you at your word.”

She shifted uncomfortably. “How do I know you’re telling the truth? Maybe you’re just saying that to make me look bad?”

“Don’t believe me? Then touch any of the screens. See what happens.”

“You’re trying to trick me. There’s no way it will work because you never took a handprint or thumbprint or whatever the hell it is that you use to make that stupid thing function.”

“Your signature was captured when you tried to use the screens while I was gone. So yes, I do have it and as I said, I programmed my system to accept your touch.”

This time, she didn’t hesitate. She moved immediately to the display by the front door. Casting him a glance, she expected to find him watching, poised to stop her.

Wrong. Not only did he not move, he didn’t even look back at her.

He’s lying. He didn’t—

“Access granted. How can I
serve
you, Kira?”

The innuendo from the house system was evident, but that wasn’t what made her mouth round in an O of surprise. “You programmed it to talk to me in your voice?” She couldn’t help a note of incredulity.

“Do you like it?” He flipped on the couch so he faced her.

“It’s weird.” Everything that had happened since she’d met him was Wonderland weird.

“Yes, and there are more weird things to come. Such as the first time I show you my beast.”

Not that again. What was with this insistence on him being a lion?

“If you’re a lion, then prove it. Let’s go. Show me.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not right now.”

“Why not? You keep saying you’re some great, big, furry beast, so let’s see it. You want me to believe, and I’m willing to, with some proof.”

“You don’t know what you ask, mouse, but since you insist.” He stood, removing his loosened tie as he did. He unbuttoned his cuffs then the seam that ran up the middle. The entire time he stripped his shirt, he kept his eyes locked on her. Eyes that burned golden fire. Eyes that were unlike any other eyes she’d ever seen. Human eyes at least. But there was something about the pupil that was different. And grew even more different as she stared.

Great, soon he’ll have me believing he’s a lion too.
Just because he had unique and amazing eyes didn’t make him part feline.

His voice was deeper, more growly, when he spoke. “I should warn you that this might be disturbing to watch.”

Disturbing to her libido as he kept peeling layers. The shirt hit the couch, revealing his muscled upper torso, the flesh as smooth and tanned as she remembered.
I remember running my hands over that skin, the ripple of his muscles when he flexed, his body moving atop me.

She swallowed. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this.”

“No, let’s get it over with.”

His hand went to his belt buckle. It went soaring, a sinuous strand of leather. His fingers unsnapped the button. His slacks hung low on his lean hips, the vee of muscle leading…

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Someone pounded on his door and shouted, “Arik. It’s me.”

Frustration contorted Arik’s features, and he bellowed. “Does no one know how to use a bloody phone around here?”

“You left it in the boardroom.”

“On purpose,” Arik muttered, almost too low for her to hear.

“Jeoff called. They think they have him cornered, which means get your ass out here if you’re coming.”

Him as in Gregory?

Whirling back to face her, Arik confirmed it. “I’ve got to go. It seems we might have located your ex. Will you stay here until I return, or should I tell the system to lock you out?”

“I’ll stay.” It wasn’t a complete lie. A part of her kind of did want to stay. Another part snorted hell no.

“When I get back, we’ll finish our talk, and I’ll show you my lion.”

Wait a second, maybe by lion he meant his… Her gaze dropped, only to see the smoothness of his chest inches away.

He’d crossed the room too fast for her to react. His arms came around her, drawing her to him while his mouth slanted over hers in a scorching kiss.

One touch. That was all it took. He was right. She couldn’t resist. She didn’t even think of protesting, just melted at his touch, embracing him back with a fierce hunger that made no sense, but felt so good.

Felt good until he broke the kiss off, the idiot at the door pounding again and yelling, “I’m leaving.”

“I’m coming,” snapped Arik before releasing her.

As he grabbed at his shirt, Kira rubbed her lips, their tingling swollenness making it hard to forget the simmering passion he’d stirred.

“What are you going to do with Gregory?”

In the process of slipping on his shoes, Arik paused and faced her, an almost feral smile tilting his lips.

“I am going to make sure he never comes near you again.”

Well, that sounded violently unpleasant, for Gregory. She should protest, but given what he’d done, she rather wished she could watch. Maybe get a kick or two in herself, payback for what Gregory had done to her.

With a growled, “I’m trusting you,” Arik left.

And so was she before he could revoke her access.

She pressed her ear against the door to listen and heard the murmur of voices. They were cut off abruptly, probably because the elevator door slid shut. She counted to sixty before she slapped her hand to the touch screen and winced in guilt as his velvety voice said, “Access granted.” The door clicked open.

Out she went, only to stop dead before the elevator. Only one cab for this level and it was on its way down with Arik, or so she assumed as she watched the numbers tick slowly backward.

What about the stairs? She vetoed that idea before seriously considering it. Twenty flights of stairs and her lazy ass weren’t happening. Foot tapping, she waited for the elevator to reach the bottom floor. It paused there, disgorging its occupants. Then it began to rise. She waited for it to stop, move, and then stop again before calling it.

She hoped the stop and go meant it had disgorged its passengers. If not, she might run into another ambush by his family.

Finally, the elevator reached her, the door opened, and Kira didn’t hold in her groan of dismay. “Not you again.”

“Are you still here?” asked the harpy known as Arik’s mother. “I would have thought you’d have grabbed all the silverware and run by now. Or were you hoping for a bigger cash-out?”

Someone didn’t think Kira was good enough for her boy, which irked.
Arik likes me, a lot.
The knowledge made her bold. “Oh dear, is someone having problems cutting the apron strings? Does someone have a Norma Bates fetish for her son?” Kira’s smirk probably accounted for some of the mottling on the other woman’s face.

She sputtered. “You are the most impertinent chit I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”

“And you are the clingiest, peroxided, straw-haired harpy I’ve ever encountered. What do you say I leave and we pretend we never met?”

For some reason, that made Arik’s mother snap her jaw shut. “You want to leave.”

“Well duh. I wasn’t just standing out in the hall for the view.”

“Does Arik know?”

“No, he doesn’t, and I really don’t care if he likes it or not. I don’t think I’m ready for the kind of commitment he’s asking for.” Not to mention she wasn’t sure she could handle a guy who thought he was a lion.

“You’re rejecting him?” The woman seemed indignant.

“Think of it more as just admitting that we’re not quite looking for the same thing right now. And why do you care?  You should be glad I’m going.”

The woman shook herself and straightened. “You’re right. I am glad. Arik needs to settle down with someone more suitable for his lifestyle.”