Read Online Animal Instincts by Gena Showalter - Free Book Online Page A

heart. He grinned. “I heard your stomach growl. If you were any hungrier, I’d worry you were about to gnaw off my arm.”
    “You’re hard of hearing, remember? My stomach did not growl. Your ears must have been ringing because of your inner-ear problem. And just so you know, I had a big breakfast.” As a preventive measure, I eased out of his grasp and shifted out of reach.“Really big.” My stomach chose that moment to growl again. “So big I may not be able to eat ever again.”
    He crossed his arms over his chest, causing his shirt to tighten over his well-defined, corded muscles. Holy Lord, he had the body of a Trojan warrior. I shivered. I’d always felt small around men. Now, standing in front of Royce, that feeling jumped to the next level. I felt as if I were a tiny speck consumed by the raw power he emitted. We weren’t touching, yet his broad shoulders all but surrounded me.
    “Either you don’t like Chinese or you’re pretending not to be hungry so you won’t have to eat with me.” His voice dropped to that husky whisper. His eyelids lowered to half-mast. “Which is it?”
    “I don’t like Chinese?” I hadn’t meant to phrase it as a question.
    “Then we can cook something here.”
    I gulped back my panic. “I don’t like home cooking, either. It upsets my stomach.”
    His brows arched. “If I asked you to have drinks with me, you’d say…”
    “I don’t drink. Alcohol makes me loopy.”
    “I was referring to water.”
    “I’m allergic. Besides, I have a ton of stuff to do.”
    “Like what?”
    “Just stuff. Lots and lots of stuff.”
    His eyes narrowed. I watched a strange, unreadable light enter them, giving the blue a deep, greenish hue that seized attention. He surprised me by stepping toward me, leaning down and whispering in my ear, “I think you’re afraid I plan to kiss you.”
    Royce’s words rocked my already shaky composure. “Do you?” I asked on a wispy catch of breath, my gaze searching his.
    He slowly smiled. “Yes. I do.”
    Ohmygod. Thinking that he desired me was completely different from actually hearing him admit it. Different and horrible and heady and mind-boggling and amazing. That delicious heat sprang to life again and my mind instantly recognized it as dangerous. Fight it. Fight it, damn you.
    “What about your girlfriend?” I gulped.
    He frowned. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
    “Gwendolyn Summers,” I reminded him.
    He waved away my words. “A friend, nothing more. Now you, I’d like to be more.”
    My stupid, dumb-ass knees weakened. He didn’t have a girlfriend…he wanted me to be more than a friend…he wanted to kiss me. All of that combined had my equally dumb-ass hormones screaming for a taste of him.
    “Now,” he said, his voice dropping to that husky whisper, “about that kiss.”
    “I’ve already made a list of why we shouldn’t,” I rushed out, then cringed, realizing I’d just admitted to pondering such an event. Conclusion: all of me is a dumb-ass.
    His features lit; obviously he’d caught the implication of my words. “What’s reason number one?”
    “We work together.”
    “So do lots of couples,” he said. “Two?”
    “It wouldn’t be wise.”
    “The best things in life never are. Three?”
    “I’m not interested in getting involved with you or anyone else right now.” Rotten, rotten lie. I wanted to get naked with him ASAP, and that was pretty involved, to my way of thinking.
    “I don’t believe you,” he said.
    Smart man. “Believe what you want. That doesn’t change the facts. I don’t want you. I never will.”
    “You’re lying again,” he said in a singsong voice. “I can tell.”
    My mouth dropped open and I gazed up at him with incredulity. “You can’t tell. There’s no way you can tell.”
    He ignored me. “Let’s make a new list, hmm?” He leaned toward me and his breath caressed the sensitive hollow of my cheek.
    My knees weakened again. I would have stepped away from him,