Read Online Big Cat Mates Leopard Territory by Cynthia Sax - Free Book Online Page A

lion, a member of a pride? I could love him then .
    Adar cupped one of her cheeks, his palm rough, crisscrossed with scars, evidence of the hard life he’d led. “You want to be protected.”
    “Yes.” Jeanine pushed her face into him, nuzzling his hand, drawn to Adar.
    And I want to belong . She waited, but Adar didn’t ask that question because he didn’t fully understand. He was a leopard shifter, a solitary species with no family, no pride. If only… She bit her lip, censoring that thought, unwilling to ask him to be something he wasn’t.
    He moved his thumb in lazy, sensual circles over her skin, the caress hypnotic, enthralling, lowering all of her defenses, not that she needed them with Adar. He’d never hurt her. She didn’t know how she knew that. She simply did. “And you chose the youngest Leone brother because?”
    “Tanner is always smiling.” Jeanine tensed, expecting Adar to laugh, to belittle her reason, a reason that sounded foolish to her own ears.
    The tough financier nodded, the furrows on his forehead smoothing. “You don’t think he’ll harm you.”
    “He won’t. He’d never harm me.” She rushed to Tanner’s defense. The lion shifter didn’t have a violent bone in his body, unlike the forceful male standing in front of her.
    “No, he won’t because I’d kill him if he ever harmed you.” Adar’s grip on her cheek intensified. “I can protect you, kitten, better than he can.” He swept a fingertip over her trembling bottom lip.
    “You’d protect me when you’re with me.” She darted her tongue out and tasted him. Adar’s eyes darkened, the shadows reflecting a rising passion Jeanine shared. “But leopards are solitary animals.” She’d be left alone and undefended in a world filled with violent shifters.
    Adar brushed his lips over hers, the contact frustratingly brief. “We don’t mix with other cats, but we don’t live in isolation.” He teased her with his lips again and she moaned, clinging to his shoulders, trying to entice him into deepening the kiss.
    “There are other shifters -- bears, rhinos, dragons,” Adar murmured, his voice tantalizingly low and deep. “And there are other paranormals -- vampires, demons.” He pulled her closer, his hips bumping against hers, the ridge in his dress pants pressing against her skirt-covered mons, his desire buoying hers. “I’d never leave you unprotected.”
    It was more than being protected. It was… Jeanine didn’t know, her thoughts scattered by his touch. “Why would you protect me?”
    “Because you’re mine, kitten.” His eyes flashed with fierce emotion, and he surged forward, pushing her back against the mirror, crashing his body into hers.
    Jeanine gasped, trapped, hardness behind her and in front of her. Adar showed her no mercy, capturing her mouth and thrusting his tongue between her parted lips, filling her brutally, ravishing her. He tasted of red meat and black coffee, and she sucked on his tongue, trying to appease him.
    He grabbed her thighs and lifted, spreading her legs open. Adar filled the space with his hips and ground his pant-covered cock into her silk panties. Jeanine clung to his shoulders, meeting each thrust of his tongue, mindless with passion, her skirt hiked up to her waist.
    Adar rode her with a relentless savagery, fucking her without penetration, smacking her ass against the mirror -- the slap, slap, slap burning through the layers of clothing. She whimpered into his mouth and dug her fingernails into his suit jacket, needing more, needing him inside her.
    His chest rumbled, and he ripped his mouth from hers. “Not now, kitten.” Adar yanked on her panties, shredding the fragile fabric, leaving a trail of branding heat across her hips. “He’s coming.” He brought her wet panties to his nose and breathed deeply.
    Jeanine’s face heated. “What?” Her legs quivered, her body pulsing with need.
    Adar balled her panties in one of his big fists and stuffed the red silk