Lion's Hunt: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance Read online

  Cassie raised her eyebrows. “Why, Mr. Rowland, what on earth are you implying?”

  “I think you know,” he said, and kissed her again.

  Her pretend-shock melted into a laugh, interrupting their kiss. “I think I can figure it out, at least,” she admitted. “Unless you just want me to show you around town.”

  “Maybe a tour of your apartment?”

  “The deluxe tour. But passcodes first.” Except she didn’t want to move. What if they just stayed out here forever, kissing in the shadow of the mountains?

  But Seth was pulling back. “Passcodes first. I think I’ll let you go back first, just in case we end up losing control of ourselves in Dave’s office.”

  Cassie felt her face twist in disgust. “Ew. That was probably the absolute best possible way to kill the mood.”

  Seth took her hand. “I don’t think it’s dead.”

  “Just pining for the fjords?”

  “I’ll take you to the fjords,” Seth said, and leaned in for one last kiss. “No need to pine.”

  Cassie breathed into the kiss, and then finally broke away and started back to the office. Her entire being yearned back toward Seth, jokes about killing the mood aside.

  Soon, she told herself.

  Going back into the office, back to her cubicle and her desk and her computer, after kissing Seth Rowland, lion shapeshifter and company heir, out in the gorgeous wilderness, was a rude awakening.

  Cassie stood at her desk blankly for a minute, wondering if this could possibly be happening to her. Surely it had to be a dream. She was just an administrative assistant, working her decent job in a small town in the middle of nowhere.

  She’d always had dreams and ambitions, but she’d never thought that that meant that she’d get swept away someday, like Cinderella, to marry a prince and run away to someplace amazing. Regular people worked hard, saved whatever little extra money they had, and used that to get whatever piece of their dreams they could afford.

  No one got fairy-tale endings like this. Did they?

  Cassie shook herself out of her thoughts and grabbed the keys to Dave’s office from her desk. No time to wonder or worry about her future now. She had a job to do.

  She let herself into the darkened office. No one looked twice at her—they were used to her coming and going whenever she needed to.

  Inside, she scanned the desk. Dave’s computer password was on a sticky note on the underside of his keyboard, she knew. But she’d never looked inside his drawers—she’d never had reason to. If Dave left something for her to do in his office, it was always somewhere in the mess of papers on top of his desk.

  She opened the middle drawer, and sure enough, when she moved his pencil tray, there was a sticky note on the surface of the drawer beneath it, with two sets of apparently random numbers.

  She tore a page from a notebook in the drawer and carefully copied each of them down, then checked all of the other drawers just to be sure. Nothing else looked like a set of passcodes, so she folded her piece of paper, tucked it into her pocket, and slipped out of the office, locking the door behind her.

  At her desk, she quickly packed up, shut down her computer, and hightailed it out of the building.

  Seth was waiting in the parking lot. “Did you get it?” he asked, coming forward to meet her.

  Cassie felt that warm feeling in her chest again. How could she ever have doubted that Seth was meant to be hers? She could feel their connection inside her.

  “I got it.” She patted her pocket. “At least, I think I did. It was the only thing in his desk that looked like passcodes. We’ll have to try it out and see.”

  “Later tonight, then.” Seth’s face was set in determined lines.

  Cassie nodded. “After...that tour of my apartment, maybe?”

  His expression transformed into something hungry. “I can’t wait.”

  ***

  Cassie was a bit nervous inviting a billionaire into her apartment. She didn’t have a lot of money, and every extra cent she had went to paying off her loans as quickly as possible.

  And even if she’d had it to spare, well, she just hadn’t been born with the interior decorating gene. She never had any idea what to put on her walls, if she should get knick-knacks and if so what kind, how to match upholstery colors...so most of her place was furnished with things that IKEA had told her would look okay together. The rest was Craigslist hand-me-downs.

  But as it turned out, Seth didn’t seem to notice her threadbare couch cushions or wobbly tables, because he was too busy looking at her.

  His attention was almost like a physical touch. She could feel the warmth of his eyes on her, and it stayed with her, and stayed and stayed, as she unlocked her front door, led him up the stairs, and let him into her apartment.

  He kissed her in the entryway, his hand cupping her face as the door swung shut behind him. “Listen,” he said into her mouth, “I want you to understand—”

  “What?” she murmured back.

  “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want. This is pretty sudden, and you didn’t grow up with the idea that you’d see your mate and just know, so...”

  She shut him up with a kiss. “I know that this is meant to be. I can feel it. Don’t worry.”

  Then she took his hand to draw him down the hallway to her bedroom.

  Her bed wasn't made, of course. She never made her bed, because realistically, who else was going to see it, ever? She hadn't anticipated meeting her soulmate at work today, so she hadn't tidied up before she left this morning.

  But all self-conscious thoughts about her apartment-keeping habits flew out of her head when Seth wrapped his arms around her, picked her up, and tossed her gently into the middle of the messy blankets.

  She pushed herself up on her elbows and said, mock-outraged, "What was that for?"

  "You looked distracted," he said blandly. "I thought maybe I could take your mind off of whatever else you were thinking about."

  "Probably for the best," she admitted, and reached her hands out. "Come here."

  "Your wish is my command." He came forward, putting both knees on the bed and suddenly looming large, blocking out her messy room, her cheap apartment, and anything else she might have been worried about.

  Because after all, jokes about tours aside, he wasn't here for her apartment, was he? He was here for her.

  He leaned down and kissed her, his weight pressing gently down on top of her. She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him further down.

  Seth was big enough that, even holding himself up with his arms, he pinned her to the bed without even trying. Cassie loved the feeling of being held safe and secure beneath her mate.

  She pictured being out in the middle of nowhere with Seth, hiking somewhere, and being wrapped up in his arms while camping out in the wild. She knew she would feel as warm and secure as if she were at home in bed with him holding her like this, no matter where she was.

  “We’re wearing too many clothes,” she murmured into his mouth.

  “You’re right.” He pulled back, and she missed his weight even as she watched with delight while he unbuttoned his shirt. His chest was a work of art, and she wasn’t even going to get started on his arms.

  He paused with the shirt still hanging onto his elbows. “I thought you said we were wearing too many clothes. I don’t think you’re holding up your end, here.”

  “Can’t imagine what was distracting me.” But she started working on her own shirt buttons.

  When her shirt was all the way open, he stopped undressing to lean down and place a gentle kiss right in the center of her chest. She could feel the prickle of his stubble on each breast, and it made her shiver.

  “I was starting to think I’d never find my mate,” he said, his voice soft and slightly muffled by her skin. His eyes were hidden too, and Cassie understood that this was something he’d had a hard time bringing himself to say.

  “I spend all my time alon
e. I thought, what if I missed her? What if she was somewhere I’ve traveled, and I just...didn’t talk to her? Didn’t look her in the eye? What if I was too busy trying to get myself away from everyone, and couldn’t see the one person I needed the most?”

  Cassie touched his hair. It was soft and silky under her fingers, a golden lion’s mane. She tugged gently, and he lifted his head to look her in the eyes.

  “You found me,” she said firmly. “I’m right here, and I’ll be here with you for the rest of my life.” She pulled him down into a kiss.

  This kiss was harder, almost desperate, and it turned hot fast. Feeling Seth’s bare chest against hers ignited a fire inside her, and Cassie moaned as he opened her mouth with his tongue.

  He pulled back, and his golden eyes were burning. “Clothes off now.”

  Cassie couldn’t agree more. The moments they had to spend separated while they tore off their clothing were torture. Cassie cursed the makers of women’s clothing as she dragged her pants down over her hips. Why did everything have to be so tight? Didn’t clothing designers realize that sometimes people needed to take their clothes off? Fast?

  Finally, finally, she was naked. And Seth was naked too. His long, muscular body left her briefly absentminded, but he brought her right back to reality as he caught her by the waist and rolled so that she was on top of him.

  Faced with all of that rippling muscle underneath her hands, she spread her fingers over his pecs and just...appreciated for a second.

  But then Seth’s hands tightened on her hips, and the muscles in her lower abdomen tightened. She was so wet, she was sure he could feel it where she was sitting on his stomach, and that thought made her flush all over.

  She leaned down to kiss his full lips, needing to taste him. His hands slid up her sides and cupped her generous breasts, and he groaned into her mouth.

  "I love your curves," he said. His thumb teased her left nipple, and she gasped.

  "I love your whole body," she returned, kissing along his chin and down his neck. His stubble prickled against her lips, and she shifted her hips against his stomach. He groaned again, deeper.

  Suddenly he let go of her breasts, and Cassie had to stifle a protesting noise. “Lean back,” he said, his voice low with promise.

  Curious as to what he was going to do, Cassie did, putting a hand on each of his muscular thighs to hold herself up.

  His hands pushed her thighs a little further apart, until she was completely exposed to him, spread wide with...everything...on display. Her breath came faster.

  Seth’s eyes were half-lidded, drinking the sight of her in with a cat’s lazy appreciation. “I’ve seen a lot of views,” he said, and she could hear the purr in his voice, “but this one is the absolute best, no question.”

  Cassie panted with desire. “I don’t know about the other views you’ve seen, but this one is not ‘look but don’t touch!’”

  He grinned, a self-satisfied smile that she wanted to kiss. But just as she was about to push herself forward, he reached down and touched her clit.

  It was a soft, exploratory touch, just the pad of his finger brushing over her most sensitive spot, but it brought a strangled sound out of her. He stroked over the whole length of her clit, from the sensitive spot at the very top down to the soaking-wet folds just at the opening of her pussy. She moaned.

  He spread her lips wide open with his other hand and kept stroking, so lightly. No other man had ever taken care with her like this. Seth was obviously paying close attention to what she liked, learning what made her moan and gasp, what made her clench and push her hips into his hand.

  In no time at all, Seth brought her to the very edge of orgasm. His other hand had moved back to her hip, gripping her to keep her from pushing forward every time his fingers moved. Every little twitch of his hand sent lighting-flashes of pleasure through her now.

  She was so sensitive, so ready. Just a little bit more...

  Then he pulled his hand back entirely, just for a moment—and brought it back to rub her fast and hard, pulling all of the little tingles of pleasure together into one crashing wave that carried her straight into ecstasy.

  When she came down from it, she looked at him, expecting to see that self-satisfied smile on his face again.

  But it wasn’t there. Instead, his eyes were hot and intent...not focused between her legs, but instead on her face. Paying attention to how she looked when she was overwhelmed by pleasure.

  That was it. She couldn’t not kiss him any longer. She came out of her backwards lean and almost fell forward onto his chest. Her limbs were like spaghetti after that thundering orgasm.

  But she could still find his mouth with hers, and she kissed him thoroughly. He kissed her back with an intensity that spoke to his desire.

  She hadn’t even touched his cock yet, she realized. All of that had been for her.

  Although it was clear to her that it had been for him, too.

  Still, she figured that after that, he deserved something else.

  Dropping more kisses onto his heated skin, she shifted her hips downward. His erection brushed against her butt, and she felt his groan vibrating in his chest.

  She smiled into his neck and moved her hips again. Her pussy was dripping wet, ready for more, and she teased herself—she knew what she wanted, but how long would it take...?

  She got her answer fast. The next time she brushed his cock, Seth growled, grabbed her hips, and lifted her up. He held her for one long second over him, meeting her eyes.

  Was it his turn to tease? She needed him inside her! "Now!" she gasped, her pussy clenching around nothing.

  Slowly, the muscles in his arms tight with control, he lowered her down onto his cock. Cassie's head tipped back as he filled her. She felt the noise she made in her chest more than she heard it.

  He was so big and thick. She'd never been with any man who filled her so completely.

  If she’d been thinking about it, she might have worried that it would be painful to have him inside her, but she was so slick from her orgasm that he slid smoothly in, and once she was fully seated on him, he felt absolutely amazing. It seemed like every little twitch of her muscles sent a new wave of pleasure through her.

  Seth pulled her down to his mouth again. The feeling of being thoroughly kissed while joined so perfectly closely to her mate was overwhelming. Cassie pressed herself as closely to Seth’s body as she could, wanting to hold onto this moment forever.

  Seth held her tightly as she was overwhelmed by feelings. Was this more of the mate-bond? But it hadn’t brought tears to her eyes, it hadn’t tightened her chest like this.

  No, this was all her. This was realizing that she was in love.

  As Cassie shuddered in pleasure, Seth’s muscles tensed beneath her. It was all the warning she got before suddenly, she was on her back. He’d rolled them over, and now he was above her, looking down at her with an overwhelmingly tender, loving gaze.

  Cassie was so full of joy, she couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. “I love you, Seth,” she said.

  “I love you, Cassie.” His voice was a deep, deep growl now, and it went straight through her. Suddenly, she needed him more than ever.

  “Now move,” she commanded.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He tilted her hips up with one hand and stroked into her hard.

  Somehow, he’d known the exact angle to hit to make her wail in pleasure at the first thrust. Cassie lost track of anything but the way Seth felt inside her, all of her muscles clenching in pleasure.

  “Come on, come on, come on,” she heard herself saying, as though it was far away.

  “Yes, yes,” Seth said, breathless. “You’re almost there, Cassie, almost there...”

  One final thrust tipped her over into a second orgasm, even more intense than the first. Seth kept moving inside her, and every thrust set off another climactic wave, until he kissed her hard and climaxed himself with a groan.

  Slowly, they relaxed against each other.


  “That was fantastic,” Cassie said, once she found her voice again.

  “It was.” Seth’s voice was warm and sleepy. “You’re amazing.”

  She stroked his shoulder. “You did most of the work.”

  “Maybe it looked like work to you, but believe me, it was anything but.” He kissed her, sounding more awake now. “You want to sleep for a bit?”

  Mmm, that sounded great. She nodded.

  “Go on, then.” His thumb stroked along her cheek, brushing her closing eyelashes. She laughed softly at the tickle, and then drifted away into sleep.

  ***

  Seth watched Cassie’s breath settle into a deep, slow rhythm. Her mouth still showed a hint of a smile.

  Seth had never, in his wildest dreams, imagined that his mate would be someone as amazing as Cassie. She was smart and determined, and sexy in exactly the way he liked best, with those generous curves. And she was funny. ‘Funny’ had never been the first thing he would’ve listed when describing his ideal mate, but he already loved the way they could joke together.

  One of the last things Seth’s father had said to him, when they were arguing about whether Seth was going to go to business college or travel the world, had been, “You won’t find your mate in the middle of a jungle.”

  Even though his father had died before Seth ever left New York, he’d carried those words with him as he went.

  He hadn’t meant to. At the time, he’d snapped back defiantly, “My mate will be in the right place for me!” He’d pictured meeting another traveler somewhere in the wilderness, a woman whose heart was filled with wanderlust like his.

  But as the years went by and he found himself drawn to more and more remote locations, he’d slowly realized he no longer believed in that possibility. He knew his father had been right. The fewer people there were around, the less likely it was that he’d meet the one person who was destined for him.

  Funnily enough, they’d both been right. He hadn’t met Cassie in the middle of the jungle—although maybe in a few years he would have, given her plans for the future—but she’d also been in exactly the right place for him.

  Her help had already been invaluable for finding out what Max needed to know. She was clearly capable of doing anything she set her mind to.