So needy, she wanted to whisper back, but she could barely breathe as he plunged two fingers into her. She was weak for him. She knew if he stopped, she would beg for more. No one had ever had such an effect on her.
His mouth was again on hers, sweet and not sweet, plundering and backing away, taking and offering. She couldn’t fall for him. Not when he was her first shifter. She couldn’t. But she wanted this—to quell the raging fire burning deep inside her. Just like the one he’d stoked within her when he was dancing with her at the club.
She bucked against his fingers as they stroked her, played her, and made her gasp as sprinkles of hot, white light flitted across her senses, her body’s ache climaxing with guilty pleasure. Guilty because she shouldn’t feel this much ecstasy from a man she hadn’t given her heart to.
But she didn’t want this to end.
Feeling as though Maya was a clawed wildcat beneath him, Wade fought for control, unwilling to give in to the madness he felt—the jungle fever—the desire rocking his body as she writhed and bucked at his touch.
He’d never felt this out of control. If she pushed him from her bed now, he’d have a devil of a time walking away. Her hand skimmed down his arms as he straddled her leg, his hands on the mattress as he loomed above her, the predator in him coming alive. His body demanded he finish this, that he thrust between her legs and take her for his own.
Yet some part of his brain screamed at him to wait. To come back for more when she truly wanted him and only him in her bed.
He growled as her lust-filled golden gaze studied him, her tongue licking her lips, her whole posture saying she was waiting, anticipating his next move.
He shook his head, trying to clear it so he could make the right choice, a human one, not a jaguar one. The jaguar in her was submitting to him. The human was not.
“Don’t you dare leave me like this,” she growled softly, her voice ferocious.
He fought smiling, knowing she could back up that threatening glower with deadly teeth if she decided to shift beneath him.
She lifted her head without warning and nipped his shoulder, not enough to break the skin and not in anger, but in a cat’s way of courting before the mating. The fury in her eyes said she’d bite him again if he thought of moving off her. Harder this time.
He smiled, knowing that his expression was that of an extremely appreciative, hungry male who hadn’t wanted to rein in his jaguar half. In a pure male jaguar display of ownership, he pressed his teeth gently against her neck. He pushed her legs apart with his knee, settled against her, and then thrust his cock deep between her folds in one slick move.
His mouth was alternately on hers and then sliding down her throat, licking and kissing, as her body arched to his thrusts and savage hunger drove him deeper. The smell of her—citrus fruit, orchids that she’d brushed against, and pure sex—filled him with hot need.
Her nails scored his buttocks this time and increased the intensity of the pleasure she aroused in him. He felt as though he was taking a hellcat in the jungle, surrounded by the rainforest noises—the wild animals, the bugs, the flow of a waterfall in the distance—and sweet, musky scents. The feral pleasure they took in each other was only a part of the sensations he was drowning in. He felt the tenderness, too. Her wide-eyed innocence when she’d come made him think that the humans she’d been with hadn’t made her blood heat like this.
Smugly, he smiled as he kissed her again. Their tongues danced to the jungle beat of their hearts as he slid her legs around his hips and thrust again.
She was so hot, her sheath stroking him like wet velvet. When he felt her come again, he muffled her cry of release with a kiss and exploded inside her. He rocked inside her for a few seconds more, relishing the intimacy between them, before he rolled onto his back and stared up at the curtained ceiling of the bed. Hell, she might have been all wide-eyed innocence about being with a shifter for the first time, but he was feeling just as unsteady as he tucked her under his arm, her cheek against his chest, her golden hair tickling his bare skin.
For a long time, he didn’t speak, just luxuriated in the satiny feel of her, breathed in her sexy scent, and enjoyed the whisper of her breath against his chest. “I wanted to swim with you in the Amazon River in the worst way,” he finally said quietly, in case she’d fallen asleep.
“When?” she asked, her voice soft and caressing.
“The last time we were in the jungle together. I wanted to be the one brushing up against you instead of the pink dolphins.”
“You were there?” Then she cleared her throat. “Of course you were. Guarding us. Ensuring no one sneaked up on us while we were swimming.”
“I couldn’t understand why you would let Connor kiss Kat.”
She gave a little laugh. “I was his sister.”
“I didn’t know that then. Although in hindsight, I realized I’d never seen you being intimate with Connor. That he’d only been that way with Kat.”
“You followed us to Bogota and knew exactly when we reached the hotel there, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Once you were safely on the plane, I returned to Pensacola.” He stroked her silky arm, loving the citrus fragrance she’d washed with.
“What about the men you’re after?”
“It’s not good news. Remember Bettinger and the guy you called Lion Mane from the club?”
“Ohmigod, they are here? As jaguars? The smugglers captured them?”
Wade snorted. “They’re in on it.”
Maya lifted her head and stared at Wade, her eyes wide. “You’re not serious.”
“Yeah, I am. A couple of hunters arrived earlier. I believe Lion Mane and Bettinger are serving as the trackers. I wonder now if you did actually see them earlier at the airport. They probably planned to meet the buyer at the club before they took off. Then they saw you.”
“The dark-skinned man. He was with Lion Mane and Bettinger. Maybe he was the buyer.”
“I took a picture of all three of them and sent it to my boss. Hopefully, he’ll be able to identify them.”
She snapped her mouth shut.
“That’s what I do, Maya.”
“I never saw you do anything like that. Did you take a picture of me?”
He chuckled and pressed her head to rest on his chest again, loving the feeling of her soft body pressed against his. “Yeah, but only so I can keep you close.”
She seemed to ponder that for a bit while her fingers caressed his abdomen. If she kept it up, he was going to want to make her come all over again.
“And the other women at our table?” Maya finally asked.
“Yeah. It’s my job.”
She grunted. “Did you get just a picture of their faces or of their remarkable assets, too?”
He smiled, not believing she could be serious. She had nothing to be envious about. A woman who could shift and run with him through the jungle was high on his list of preferences for a mate. The way she was so kind and caring toward Kat, protective of her, taking her in like she was her own sister, spoke volumes to him about how she was toward an extended family. And she was every bit as close to her brother as he was to his. That Maya was beautiful and had her own pair of remarkable assets only added to the package deal.
But she was so much more than that.
Even now he hated leaving her. He needed to. He should’ve been searching for the bad guys, not snuggling with one helluva sweet-smelling feline shifter. David would probably never let him live it down after he’d waited and waited and waited for his brother to leave her cottage.
“I took pictures of everyone,” he said, “but only in regard to whether or not they might turn out to be the bad guys.”