Stop it… stop it!
But she couldn’t. Even with the distance between them as Maverick moved off toward the kitchen, she could smell him. The image of his dark brown eyes, the delicate bones of his face, and his tousled black hair rose in her mind, and she had to clamp a hand over her lips as her mouth began to water.
Pilar’s heart pounded, accompanying the rushing of her hot blood as it raced through her temples. She had to run around in here like an erratic nutcase … because she couldn’t stand still. She couldn’t look at him. If she gave herself a second to actually contemplate his gorgeousness, she’d start bathing him with her tongue like a mother cat with a kitten.
A naughty kitten. Slap my big paw down on his cute butt and dig my claws in just a little to hold him still. Then use my big, rough tongue to clean every single inch of that soft skin. I’m sure he’s very dirty. It might take me all night.
“Oh, fuck no. Stop,” she moaned.
But it wouldn’t stop, and she knew that. This man was her mate, her fated match. Now that she had seen him and tasted his scent, there could be no doubt. Pilar could barely restrain herself from stalking out to the kitchen and just standing behind him, breathing heavily. Once or twice, when he’d been distracted, she’d drawn that scent over the back of her tongue and let her lioness purr with pure ecstasy.
No. That is pure torture. Ecstasy would be actually tasting that skin.
Pilar moaned softly, biting her lip. With shaking hands, she pulled out her phone to text Nick.
What the fuck, Nick! I thought this matchmaking shit about your agency was a joke! Why did you assign me to Maverick?
She only had to wait seconds before Nick replied.
I’m assuming this is your way of informing me this man is your fated mate. Sorry, kiddo. I don’t know why this keeps happening. Do you want me to send someone else?
No!Pilar texted the word with enough force to make her phone squeak in protest. The idea of another agent guarding her mate infuriated her. She had only just gotten here too. No matter how conflicted she felt, she was too interested in Maverick to leave.
Good.Nick texted back.
Pilar stared at the screen for a few seconds, finally cursing under her breath and closing the thread. There was really nothing to say to Nick. She was here now, and she had no choice but to deal with the situation.
Maverick’s scent danced through the air, wafting from the living room. He must have walked in front of the hallway. Pilar closed her eyes and tilted her head back, her mouth open. Deep within, the lioness purred, so low and deep, it quickly became a growl.
She wanted to order herself to stop, but she’d tried that already. Obviously, this wasn’t going to end.
Pilar blinked hard, looking down at her phone again. The screen was still bright, and she tapped her sister’s name in the message list. She wanted to spill … did she ever … but she decided to stay quiet about the mate business. She still didn’t know how she was going to handle the situation, except that, for the moment, she had to ignore her raging hormones and torrent of longing for the gorgeous little geek and focus on her job.
Protecting his ass. His fine, cute, little ass.
“Oh, fuck,” she muttered, texting her sister to ask if everything was okay. Even in her current state of conflict, she couldn’t help worrying about her sister.
Lydia texted back with a scream emoji.
Am dead. Hordes of marauders attacked. Dying from multiple wounds.
Stop it and get real,Pilar texted back.
Okay, I’ll tell you the truth. I had a mad party and slept with five guys. Now I’m pregnant, and I don’t know who the father is.
LYDIA. I’ve been gone for a total of two hours.
Yeah. They weren’t great lovers.
LYDIA!
A string of various laughing emojis followed, and Pilar carefully counted to ten and fought the urge to hurl her phone at the wall.
Everything is fine, seriously. Exactly as you left it.
Okay. Good. Thank you.
Sis? Please don’t worry. Put a limit on this thing, okay? Just check in once a day. You have to learn to trust me.