“At least some shifters—people say it’s possible for everyone, but it doesn’t happen to everyone—but some shifters have a single mate. One person who they’ll be with for their entire life. There’s a bond between them, something that they can sense—a connection. And once they’ve met that person, that’s it. Nothing will ever separate them.”
Leah couldn’t decide what to think. “Are you—what are you saying?”
Jeff leaned forward. “I felt that connection yesterday,” he said. “It’s you, Leah. You’re my mate. Can you feel it, too?”
A sense of wonder rose inside of her. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes. I can.”
Because she could. She’d felt the strange connection from the moment they met, and it had only been getting stronger since then.
Leah felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. This was it. This was the reason she’d trusted Jeff so instinctively, the reason she wanted to commit to him so badly even though they’d only just met.
“I thought—” she said haltingly. “I thought I was rushing into things. I thought I needed to be careful, not trust my own judgment, because I’ve been wrong before. Even though it felt so right. But it’s not just my judgment, is it? It’s something else. Something...magical.”
Jeff nodded. He still looked serious, and he reached across the table and took her hand. “But I don’t want you to feel like you have to commit to anything, Leah. The mate-bond doesn’t mean we don’t need to talk, and it doesn’t mean we can’t think different things. If you’re not sure...if there’s anything about this that you don’t want? Let’s talk about it. And you can take all the time you need to make a decision.”
Leah shook her head, the smile breaking through and spreading across her face. “That’s what I’m saying. I feel the connection, the...bond, but that’s not all. My own judgment is telling me to go ahead, to grab onto you with both hands, because Jeff, you’re the best man I’ve ever met. You’re kind, and loving, and strong, and you’re wonderful with Emily, and I truly want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Jeff came around the table and took Leah’s hand. He drew her up to stand with him, and looked deep into her eyes. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, too. And I promise you I will support you and Emily. I was thinking last night that I can’t wait to be her dad.”
Leah’s eyes filled with tears, but she swallowed and managed to say, relatively steadily, “Even when she was sobbing her head off at four in the morning?”
“Even then.” Jeff kissed her. “Because that’s what being a dad is about. It means you’re there for your daughter, so that she’s not all alone when she’s sick and upset. That’s the kind of dad I want to be.”
Leah threw her arms around Jeff and kissed him again. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was.
Jeff kissed her back, hotly and thoroughly, and it wasn’t long before Leah was pressed up against him, filled with desire. “Do you have time?” she whispered, hoping desperately the answer was yes.
“There’s time,” Jeff rumbled, and tugged her toward the bedroom.
This time, neither of them had the patience for long, slow foreplay. They tugged at each other’s clothes, getting briefly tangled up when they couldn’t wait for arms to get out of the way.
“Okay,” Jeff laughed. “Separate, clothes off, then bed.”
Leah stripped off her jeans and T-shirt as quickly as possible, but then was arrested by the sight of Jeff’s powerful thighs as his own pants came down. Muscles moved in his shoulders as he tugged off his socks, and she just wanted to watch forever.
This is yours forever, she reminded herself. You can watch him whenever you want from now on. The thought filled her with a delicious satisfaction. Quickly, she unhooked her bra and tossed it aside, then stripped off her panties. She turned to meet Jeff as he swept her up in his arms, devouring her mouth.
Jeff tossed her onto the bed—Leah stifled a little shriek. Passion lit Jeff’s eyes from within as he crawled up the bed toward her, graceful as a cat.
He kissed her mouth, then trailed down her neck, kissing and biting softly until he reached her breasts, where he licked a path down between them. Leah arched under his mouth, moaning softly.
Jeff lifted his head. “I want you now, Leah,” he said.
“Yes, now!” Leah’s whole body was on fire, and she wanted Jeff inside her yesterday.
He found a condom in the bedside table and slipped it on, while Leah opened her legs shamelessly. She felt wanton and sexy—putting herself on display because she knew Jeff wanted to see her.
And he did—when her parted legs exposed her completely, he growled in his chest and ducked his head down to taste her, running his tongue over the length of her pussy, all the way up to the top of her clit. Bursts of sensation spread through her body. He sucked softly, and Leah grabbed at his head, threading her fingers through his hair and pulling him up.
“Inside me,” she insisted.
He kissed her, and she could taste herself on his lips, which made her shiver in uncertainty—she’d never known that could be a turn-on.
“I just had to taste you,” he said into her mouth. “But now I have to make love to you.”
“Do it.” She almost didn’t recognize her own voice. She’d already been wet, and now that he’d put his mouth on her, she was soaked. Her pussy ached with the need to be filled.
When he pushed into her, the pleasure shocked her, her nerve endings sparking with ecstasy. And when he started to move, it happened again, and again, and again, until she was helplessly teetering on the brink of orgasm.