Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 141532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 708(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 708(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Ania crossed the room to take Mitya’s hand. He pulled her onto his lap, smoothing back her hair and wrapping his arms around her. She was learning all kinds of things about him. He liked her close to him when they talked. He listened when she had something to say. He laughed more without Dymka’s constant raging. The male leopard was calmer, which gave Mitya more time to relax.
“I know it’s been difficult to stay cooped up, Ania,” Mitya said. “Doc said it was necessary until that rake mark closed and there was no chance of infection.”
She leaned into him, inhaling his scent. She loved the way he smelled. “I didn’t mind, I caught up on my reading and managed to sketch and design and lay out the garage the way I think will work best. It worked out.”
He nuzzled her shoulder, then his teeth tugged at her earlobe. “Did you learn anything I might need to try on you from those romance novels of yours?”
She laughed and turned her face up to look at him. “I think you know more than enough to keep me satisfied for the next hundred years.”
He kissed her chin and nibbled his way up to her lower lip, teeth catching and tugging gently before letting her go. “I’m always willing to learn more.”
“If you know any more, honey, you might kill me.”
Mitya laughed. She loved it when he laughed. It was still so rare that when he did, she felt like he was giving her a gift. She touched his lips. Traced them with her fingertips. Lightly. Barely there. Just touching him sent a tremor through her body.
He had added privacy screens to the windows of the garage, because he’d already planned out, very vocally, that he should be able to visit often and who knew what would happen? If there were cars and back seats lying around . . . He made her laugh so often with his outrageous suggestions she found herself smiling most of the time.
“I just want you to know, Mitya, that I’m so thankful I’m with you. I look at you and melt inside. I can’t possibly ever tell you how much you mean to me. When I saw Dymka charging after that leopard, uncaring that Lazar’s men were everywhere and they had guns, my heart was in my throat. I thought you would be killed, and I never would have the chance to tell you how much you matter to me. That I love you more than anything.”
Maybe she hadn’t known until that exact moment, when Dymka had burst out of the house chasing a leopard through Lazar’s armed soldiers, just how much he mattered. She had been upset that she wasn’t in the safe room where he would have wanted her. Until that moment. Until she knew she wasn’t going to let anything, or anyone, take Mitya from her. She had skills, and they’d been put into play. She hadn’t missed a single shot.
His rough features softened. “I’m so in love with you, Ania, sometimes I can’t breathe. I always worry that I’m too rough with you. A leopard’s heat is difficult at best and sometimes brutal. We got brutal. I would start out trying to be careful of you and then the wild was there. No, more like savage. I couldn’t keep control like I needed to. I was afraid you’d want to run from me.”
She framed his face with her hands. “It was the same way with me. Fortunately, whatever you were feeling, I was too. I like when we’re wild like that. I like when you’re gentle and I can feel love when you touch me.”
He frowned. “No matter how I’m touching you, Ania, I’m loving you. I don’t care if we’re playing with cuffs or I’m in the car standing over you, my cock in your mouth, I’m loving you. You say no to anything and mean it, at any time, and we stop. I want you to always feel loved.”
She leaned into him and kissed him. His taste was always that little bit feral. Part of the excitement with Mitya was that feeling of loss of control. His arms tightened around her and then he took over the kiss, pouring fire into her so that her panties went damp and her breasts instantly ached.
When he lifted his head, Mitya stared down into Ania’s eyes, shocked at the depth of feeling she always managed to wring out of him. She said she loved him, and he could see it in her eyes that she did. She was his world. His reason for existence. For getting up in the morning and for trying to weed out the worst of the criminals.
Sevastyan called him whipped, and he knew he was. He didn’t care. He looked forward to going to bed, just so he could hold her, watch her sleep, wake her up with his mouth between her legs, devouring her honey that was meant for him alone. He loved that. Loved holding her down with one hand on her belly as she woke up, her hips bucking, his face right where he preferred to be.