The Snow Leopard's Home (Glacier Leopards Book 3) Read online

  Zach nodded. "Be careful."

  "Always am." Another flash of a grin, and Joel was heading for the house.

  "We brought you food!" Teri called after him.

  "Already ate it!" he called back, and then he was gone, the sliding glass door whirring behind him.

  Teri turned to Zach. "Well."

  "Well," he said. "That's a welcome if I ever heard one. Do you want to move in?" He smiled, and then stretched, catlike even in his human form.

  Teri's eyes caught on the muscles in his shoulders and neck, then traced down his broad chest to his flat stomach and narrow hips. "I do," she said, and she could hear the arousal low in her voice. "Tomorrow."

  Zach looked at her, his eyes widening at whatever he saw there. Teri pounced.

  They kissed frantically, a flurry of lips and tongues and teeth, breathing each other's air, hands sliding over each other's bodies. Teri felt overwhelmed by the ferocity of her own desire, this need to pounce and bite and claim her mate for her own.

  They stumbled into the house, and Teri spared one quick second to hope that Joel had actually left already before all thoughts disappeared and she was consumed by Zach and by her own need.

  They were caught up in the kitchen when Zach pushed Teri against the wall, bending his head to kiss her, hot and thorough. His hips pressed against hers, holding her still. She could feel the solid throb of his erection, and she moved to rub against it. He groaned deep in his chest, and arousal pulsed all through Teri's stomach and lower down. She could hear her own panting, hitching breaths.

  Time seemed to slow down, so she could feel every slick slide of their mouths against each other, every fingerprint that Zach left on her body as he slid a hand up under her shirt, every quick, desperate heartbeat from both of them. After long minutes of tiny, caged movements under the pressure of Zach's body, her leopard was having no more of it. She took control and pushed off from the wall, taking hold of Zach's shirt and hauling him toward the stairs.

  Zach's eyes flew open wide, surprised at her sudden strength, but then they went dark with arousal, and as she turned to pull him after her, he came forward in a rush and surrounded her from behind, his erection snugged right up against her ass and his mouth sucking hot kisses onto her neck. Teri moaned—God, was that low, sexy noise really coming from her?—and her knees turned to water.

  Zach took advantage of the moment and changed direction. They stumbled into the living room together. Zach was probably aiming for the couch, as the closest soft surface, but instead they went down hard onto the carpeted floor, Zach underneath.

  Now Teri was straddling him. She shifted her hips, feeling the damp slide of her panties over her clit and the heavy pulse of Zach's arousal under her. He groaned. "Teri, God, touch me."

  She unbuttoned his shirt with quick, easy movements—she noticed that all of this, anything physical, had suddenly become easier, more natural, to her new self. The possibilities were endless, but for some reason the only ones coming to mind had to do with the bedroom.

  Zach took over from her once all the buttons were undone, twisting to get out of his shirt without dislodging her from on top of him. The movement of his hips between her legs made Teri lose focus under the pulses of arousal, but she pulled herself together enough to get her own shirt off and unhook her bra. As it slid down, Zach's eyes traced hotly over her exposed breasts, and her nipples hardened and tingled under his eyes.

  Teri went up onto her knees and scooted backward, as much as the loss of pressure between her legs left her feeling bereft. She had more important things on her mind right now: she went for Zach's belt buckle.

  He lifted his hips to let her pull it away and tug down his pants and boxers. Her mouth watered at the sight of his erect cock, but she made herself focus on getting his pants and boots off before she did anything about it.

  Once he was completely, gloriously naked, all of that muscle almost glowing in the dim light from the hallway, Teri bent down and took him into her mouth.

  She had never liked doing this much. It was difficult and a little uncomfortable, and she was always afraid she was going to choke and ruin the moment. And half the time, it was all over too soon and the guy would just roll over and go to sleep, even if she hadn't had an orgasm yet.

  It was different with Zach.

  Everything was different with Zach, but this—she'd never in her life even imagined she could feel like this. Like she was dying get her mouth on him, like she wanted nothing more than to hold this most intimate part of him between her lips, to inhale his sharp scent and taste him salty and masculine on her tongue.

  And the noise he made when she went down. Oh God, it was so deep, it went right through her. Her panties were more than just damp by now, because the whole thing, the rumbling groans Zach was making, the feel of his cock stretching her mouth, the taste of precome, the throb of his pulse against her cheek—it was making her clench and jerk with need.

  She sucked him until he was writhing underneath her. She wasn't worried about choking, her jaw didn't get sore, she wasn't uncomfortable. Instead, she was liquid with arousal, and she wanted to do this forever. She'd found out how to drive Zach absolutely crazy with pleasure and she was going to relish every moment.

  Finally, he grabbed at her shoulder with one big hand, his fingers digging in. "Teri, stop." His voice rasped in his throat. "Stop, or I'm going to come."

  Reluctantly, she lifted her head. His cock was huge, flushed with blood and wet with her spit, dripping precome.

  She went for her jeans, struggling with the button and the zipper. They were damp all the way through between her legs, because she was absolutely soaked with arousal. "I need," she gasped, almost falling as she stripped her jeans and her shoes off in one motion. "I need you inside me."

  "Come here." Zach's eyes were shining, just a thin strip of luminescent silvery-gray around the pupil. His lips were red and bitten, and his hair was messy, and he was flushed all the way down his chest. Teri couldn't do anything but kiss him.

  He tasted like desire. Teri flushed as she realized what she probably tasted like, but he didn't seem to care, plundering her mouth with his tongue and pulling her up to straddle him again. His erection brushed the wet curls between her legs, and she moaned. She felt empty, aching with the need to have him inside her now.

  She had to stop kissing him to concentrate well enough to manage it. Tearing her mouth away from his felt awful, but she reached between them and wrapped her fingers around his cock, and the way his head tipped back and his eyes fell closed was worth it. She hadn’t been able to see what he looked like before, and this was a mental image that was going to stay with her forever.

  Slowly, she lowered herself down onto him. The stretch of him inside her stole her breath away. He was so big. And taking him in inch by inch like this, going down and down until she was seated fully on his hips, it felt like he was even deeper than he had the first time they’d done this.

  Teri leaned forward with a gasp, her hands spreading out over his pectoral muscles. “Oh, God,” she gasped. “Zach. Zach, you feel so good.”

  His eyes opened, and almost seemed to flash silver in the low light as he took her in his arms and rolled them over.

  Teri hit the carpet with a moan. Her legs were spread wide open, her arms going around Zach’s shoulders to clutch at him. It was her turn to tilt her head back in utter joy as he drove into her, sending lightning bolts of pleasure through her body.

  He moved fast and hard, stroking his cock into her without any concern for gentleness. Teri didn’t want any. She could barely hear the loud cries coming from her mouth as his cock dragged over the most sensitive spot inside her body, wracking her with pleasure. She knew she was digging her nails into his back, but he didn’t seem to mind—when her hands clenched hard, he groaned and drove into her harder.

  Teri had been trembling on a steep height of arousal before she’d even gotten her pants off, and now she could feel orgasm waiting for her—almos
t, as she clenched hard around him, almost, as her hips jerked, almost, as she cried out between clenched teeth—oh, God, there, and she screamed as it ripped through her with devastating force.

  Zach shouted his own pleasure as he jerked inside her, his own ringing cry mingling with the echoes of hers as he came. He collapsed on top of her, not having or needing a care for her underneath him. Teri wasn’t fragile anymore, and she wanted nothing more in the world than his weight on top of her as the weakening spasms of orgasm wrung her out completely.

  They lay together like that for a long time, feeling each other breathe, soaking in the warmth from bare skin against bare skin. Zach occasionally brushed little butterfly kisses over Teri's cheek, and Teri stroked her fingers whisper-soft over the smooth skin of Zach's shoulder.

  Finally, Zach let his breath out in a sigh and pushed himself up. "Come to bed?"

  Teri nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, and followed him upstairs.

  She brushed her teeth with a spare toothbrush, and set it alongside the other toothbrushes in the bathroom. That could just be her toothbrush from now on, she realized. Because this was going to be her home.

  Tomorrow night, she was going to get into bed with Zach like she was doing tonight. She'd have her toothbrush, and clothes in the closet, and it would be her bed she got into.

  It already was her bed, really. Teri went into the bedroom and looked at it. It was a solid four-poster, with a homey blue comforter spread over it, and more pillows than a single man strictly needed. She loved it.

  She crawled under the sheets and waited for Zach, who was taking his turn brushing his teeth. When he came in, he looked at her and a smile spread over his face.

  "I could get used to that," he said. "You waiting in my bed."

  "It's my bed too, now." Teri felt that establishing that fact was important.

  That made the smile widen until it was such a bright, happy thing that Teri almost felt like she needed to look away. "That's right," he said. "You waiting in our bed. I'm looking forward to seeing this every single night."

  "I can't wait," Teri whispered, feeling her throat close up with emotion.

  "You don't have to," said Zach. "It's happening right now."

  He turned off the light and got under the covers on the other side, and then pulled her into his arms until she was snugged right up against him.

  "This is ours," he murmured in her ear.

  "Ours," she agreed, and curled up against him. Inside her chest, her snow leopard purred in satisfied contentment.

  ***

  Sometime in the middle of the night, Teri woke from a delicious dream with a gasp. She was pressed up tight against Zach, and the space between them was slick with sweat.

  She looked up, and saw a hint of silver in the dim light from the moon through the window. Zach's eyes. He was awake, and as she registered that, he moved his head, and she felt his lips pressing against her neck.

  He kissed her neck for long, shivery moments, and then his lips glided along her collarbone and drifted down her chest. He took one of her nipples in her mouth and sucked so, so gently. The sensation was maddeningly pleasurable, and he kept it up for what felt like years, until Teri's clit felt as swollen and sensitive as her nipple did, and she started wondering if she could come just from this. It seemed possible.

  Before she could find out, though, Zach pulled off her nipple—the damp skin pebbled in the cool air, and Teri shivered—and kissed his way down her stomach. These were slow, dragging, wet kisses, sending thrills through her. Teri’s legs fell apart without her thinking about it, and then Zach was between her legs, his tongue separating her lips and running softly over her clit.

  It had the quality of a dream, almost—the slow build of sensation, not having to move or do anything but relax into the softness of blankets and pillows while Zach sucked gently on her clit and the pleasure rose inside of her. Teri rocked her hips just a small amount, chasing the heaviest thrills of pleasure, and Zach caught the movements and focused his attention exactly where she needed it.

  God, his mouth. It was heaven. Teri reached blindly down and tangled her fingers into his hair, wanting that connection, feeling the silky strands run through her hand as Zach licked and sucked at her, bringing her higher and higher until she peaked with a strangled noise, falling straight down into orgasm.

  He pushed himself up and over her, and Teri tilted her hips as he slipped inside. She was so wet and open that there was no drag, no push, just a silky slide until he was seated all the way to the hilt.

  She was still feeling the echoing spasms of her climax, and when he started thrusting, he caught the very end of it and prolonged that last pleasurable clench, until her breath caught again. He moved with a sinuous twist of his hips that was nothing like the powerful thrusts of last night, a lazy, sleepy lovemaking.

  She was coming out of that last orgasm right into the beginnings of a second one. She pulled Zach down for a salty kiss, wrapping herself around him so they moved as one. The blankets had been thrown completely off, and they were slick with sweat, pushing against each other, muscles clenching and stifling bitten-off groans in the hot silence of the dark bedroom.

  Teri’s second orgasm was so hotly intense she thought she might break. All of her muscles clenched at once, clamping down so tightly around Zach that he shuddered, gasped, and jerked hard into her as he started to come too. It was the most pleasure she’d ever felt at one time, and it burned through her in one blinding instant, leaving her limp and panting when it was done.

  It took them a few minutes to catch their breath.

  Finally, Zach kissed her and murmured, “I’m going to have to buy a few new sets of sheets, I think.”

  Teri burst into giggles. Her body was pleasure-drunk, thrumming with endorphins, and she was wrapped around the man she loved, laughing in sheer happiness.

  Hers. This was all hers.

  ***

  Teri drifted awake wrapped up in warmth. She could feel the slow, steady rise and fall of Zach's chest against her back, and when she moved a little bit, she realized he had his nose tucked into her hair. She smiled to herself. She felt like she could stay here forever.

  On the other hand, she really had to pee. Extricating herself without waking him up turned out to be impossible. His eyes blinked open as she eased out of bed, and he smiled at her.

  She smiled back. "Sorry," she whispered. "Just going to the bathroom. Go back to sleep."

  He shook his head, stretching. "No, I'm awake." He twisted to look at the clock, which read 6:36. "It's morning anyway."

  True enough. Teri went to the bathroom, took care of her business, and then grabbed a quick shower. She had to use Zach's soap and shampoo, which meant that when she got out, she smelled like him. It made her shiver in delight.

  Zach grabbed a shower after her while she hunted up toast and eggs in the kitchen. This was so domestic, again—it was something she could see them doing every day, as their days went on. She had a smile on her face all through scrambling eggs and toasting toast.

  Zach came downstairs with his ranger uniform on. "Hey, I was going to cook you breakfast.”

  "You snooze, you lose." Teri pointed at the cabinets. "You can set the table, though."

  "My pleasure." Zach dropped a soft kiss on the side of her neck as he passed by.

  Could this really be her life now? Could she really have this, morning after morning?

  Teri dished up eggs and toast; Zach had pulled butter and jam out of the fridge and poured them both coffee and juice. As Teri sat down, she reflected on how nice it was to be cooperating to do something as simple as put breakfast on the table. No one had to be worried about her; no one insisted that she sit down and rest while someone else did all the work.

  Not only that, she wasn't living alone in her old crappy apartment above the local Chinese place, either. She would've had cold cereal alone at her teeny kitchen table, reading the news on her phone and gearing herself up for
another day at her job.

  A job. That was the one thing she still needed. Well, now that she wasn't a captive in her own home, she could apply for jobs without any problem. There were probably plenty of places that would take applications online, and Zach would probably let her borrow his car when he wasn't at work to go drop off applications at places that needed them in person.

  How she'd get to a job that was driving distance away even if she got it was another important consideration. She'd have to work on that. Maybe she could get a bicycle or something. It was spring, after all, and she could bike a long time if she needed to. Especially now that she was stronger and faster than she'd been before.

  Maybe I could shift and just run to work, Teri thought, and grinned to herself.

  "What's funny?" Zach asked around his cup of coffee.

  "Just...thinking about the future," Teri said.

  "It's going to be fantastic." Zach's voice was utterly confident. "I'm already so happy, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like after we've been together for months, or a year, or ten years."

  Ten years. "I can't wait." She imagined being ten years into their relationship, easy with each other in the way of married couples. Maybe with a couple of kids. She couldn't wipe the silly grin off her face after that.

  After breakfast, Zach glanced at his watch. "I still have a couple hours before I have to be at work. Is it too early to go to your family's place to get your stuff? Do you want to wait for my day off to do it?"

  Teri shook her head. "No. I want to do it as soon as possible. And they're all early risers, they probably got up an hour ago. Let's go do it now."

  Zach nodded. "Okay. You know I have your back."

  Teri blinked back the sting of tears. "I know."

  It was strange, getting into Zach's car to head to her family's place, knowing that she wasn't going to stay there. And that she was going there as part of a couple, as half of a whole, instead of just as her, Teri, the baby daughter who couldn't take care of herself.