43.Something had shifted today. The last of his denial falling away until he was forced to face the truth.

She meant something to him. He just didn't want to think too hard about what that might be.

Tyler raised his fist to knock again when the door opened.

Zoe stood in the doorway, wearing only a faded T-shirt that fell to her hips. Suddenly the heavy feeling lifted and Tyler was wide awake. His gaze raked her from her bare toes to the golden curls tumbling around her shoulders. Arousal stirred to life.

She blinked blearily up at him, shoving a lock of hair out of her eyes. "Tyler?"

His heart stuttered. Zoe wasn't only something. Right now, she was everything. "Can I come in?"

She swung the door wider and he slipped past her into the room.

Zoe had gone to bed alone, feeling lost in the expanse of her empty bed. She'd always liked having her own s.p.a.ce before, but tonight her cabin felt like a cavern.

She'd expected to feel a sense of freedom when she told Landon about her plans to leave. Now she could slip off whenever she wanted, as soon as the pride was secure. She'd thought it would feel like a cage springing open, but tonight she felt even more penned than ever.

Ever since leaving Landon's, she hadn't been able to think for all the restless energy running under her skin. She should have been exhausted. It was after midnight and her day hadn't exactly been uneventful, but Zoe hadn't even been able to contemplate sleep.

She'd shifted to her lioness form, hoping that would quiet the white noise cluttering her human thoughts, but her unease had shifted with her into an itch beneath her hackles, an agitation that had her pacing back and forth in her room like a feline in a zoo.

She'd heard Tyler step onto her porch and shifted back to her human figure, grabbing the nightshirt she'd discarded in an instinctive defense against what she was feeling. What he was making her feel.

As soon as she opened the door, she wished she hadn't. Tall, muscled and weary, he looked far too good standing on her porch, something dark and needy in his eyes. Her soul felt like it was trying to reach out to him through her skin. She told herself it was just her animal side's need for the rea.s.surance of touch, but the words felt like a lie.

When he squeezed past her into the cabin's single open room, the scent of him teased her, inviting her to press her face against his neck and breathe, urging her to rub against him until their scents were tangled around one another and everyone who came near him would know who he belonged to.

Zoe shut the door, pausing to stare at the worn wood until she could evict that instinct from her thoughts. Even her feline side wasn't usually possessive. She didn't need to mark her lovers and resisted all their attempts to mark her, so why couldn't she stop imagining branding Tyler Minor with her scent?

44."Nice," he commented behind her, and Zoe turned, realizing as she did that he'd never been inside her place before. He was careful about boundaries, careful never to be alone with her anywhere there was a bed handy.

Zoe's gaze slid to the large, low mattress, the only piece of furniture in the room. The austere lack of furnishings and decorations weren't really her style, but she'd never seen the point in making a place feel homey if it wasn't going to be her home.

Now the lack made her uncomfortable. Watching Tyler survey her bare walls and impersonal furnishings, she wished she'd bothered to do something with the place. At least it was dark. He couldn't see much. Maybe he'd just think it was charmingly minimal without the light to show it was barren.

Not that it mattered what he thought. She refused to let it matter. He was just a guy. This was just a house. Shelter and nothing more. It filled a need. Just like he did. A physical need. Zoe took care of her own emotional wants.

Those emotional wants had nothing to do with the need to touch Tyler that burned under her skin.

Nothing.

She didn't know why he was here. To finish what they'd started in the garage? To fight about her tendency to speak for herself rather than play the meek little woman? There was a restlessness in him that matched her own, but she didn't know how to soothe it. She wasn't the soothing type.

Zoe opened her mouth to ask him why he'd come, what he wanted from her, but didn't get a syllable out before he answered both questions in a way that left no doubt in her mind.

Tyler crossed the distance between them in two long strides, speared his fingers into her hair, cupped the back of her head and sealed his lips over hers in a searing, toe-curling kiss.

This afternoon had been about heat and chemistry and impersonal l.u.s.t, but this was something else.

The intensity in his touch, the raw, almost desperate way he held her, as if at any second she could be pulled from his grasp. This felt personal.

Zoe clutched his arms, using him as the only fixed point in her existence as the world seemed to melt beneath her feet like a Dali painting.

Her hands found his shirt-once as neat as the man himself and now hopelessly wrinkled by the day.

Zoe had always marveled that a man who spent his days rolling around under cars could look so put together, but now she couldn't think about his pristine facade. She just wanted to peel away the last traces of civility.

She fisted her hands in the fabric and backed toward her bed, dragging him with her until her calves. .h.i.t the mattress. She knelt on the bed and knee-walked back, pulling him forward with fistfuls of shirt, never breaking the hungry kiss. Tyler leaned over the bed, propping his fists on the mattress as he pressed her back to sit on her heels as he explored every corner of her mouth. As decadent as the kiss was, as 45.complete and deliberate, it wasn't enough. She couldn't get to the good stuff fast enough. Zoe had never been the patient type.

Hoping to spur Tyler to speed things up, Zoe dropped his shirt and grabbed the hem of her own, breaking the kiss long enough to whip it over her head and fling it away. Tyler groaned, his hands going instantly to the full curves of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Zoe put her own hands over his, holding them to her as she lay back on the bed.

Tyler eased down on top of her, still fully clothed, his head level with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He plumped and shaped them, grazing his lips over them too gently to satisfy her craving for fast and hard. Sensation escalated with each teasing touch. She raised her knees, bracketing his waist between them, and threaded her fingers through the golden mane of his hair. Half of her wanted to press him close and demand he get a d.a.m.n move on, but the other half hesitated, enjoying the slow, intimate pace he was setting. Zoe let her head fall back to the mattress, closing her eyes, and gave herself up to the deliberate, tender seduction of his touch.

He worshipped her body with his mouth and hands, taking nothing for himself and yet taking all of her, more than she'd ever allowed anyone else. Her prized distance was falling away with each caress. Zoe squirmed beneath him, uneasy from the mix of desire and intimacy, writhing with the discomfort of this foreign vulnerability. But she didn't stop him. She didn't know if she could.

It was all in her head. She was imagining the tenderness in his kiss-the idea that it meant anything more than a satisfactory release was a fantasy of her own making. And as long as he didn't notice her preoccupation, she was still safe, the most vulnerable places in her soul still hidden, even as he managed to stroke them.

But some of her unease must have communicated itself to him. Tyler braced himself on his elbows and looked down into her face, his gaze dark with hunger but penetrating. "You okay?"

Panic shot through her bloodstream. She hauled him down for a forceful kiss to avoid answering the question. She wasn't okay. She was too exposed, but she couldn't let him see. Tyler let her kiss him, calming her with the dragging strokes of his tongue even as she tried to amp him up until he wouldn't try to peer into her soul anymore.

Then he pulled back and frowned down at her. "Zoe," he said softly, her name a gentle scold, as if she should know better than to evade him.

Why couldn't he just be a guy and play through without paying attention to whether she was with him?

"I'm good." The words sounded forced, too rushed, and Zoe winced internally at the crack they exposed. Distract him. She stroked her hands down the corded strength of his neck and pushed open the collar of his shirt. "Why are you wearing so many clothes?" she purred, half-veiling her eyes behind her lashes.

46.Suspicion flickered in his eyes- why did he have to see so much?- but then Tyler grinned. "Clearly an oversight."

He rolled away from her to take care of the clothes issue, and Zoe sat up, turning her back on him to collect herself.

What was wrong with her? This was what she wanted, wasn't it? What she'd wanted for months. So why did it feel like she was getting more than she'd bargained for? She tried to remember what comfortable flirtation felt like.

She needed to get control of the situation. She wasn't a fainting virgin or the kind of girl who a.s.signed nonexistent significance to s.e.x. She was a predatory cat, not the meek, sheltered prey. Get a grip, Zoe.

She turned back to Tyler, her breathing quickening at the sight of his golden, muscular body wrapped only in moonlight and shadows. His c.o.c.k rose between them, swelling further as she watched, in silent invitation. A feline smile curled her lips. She crawled across the bed and knelt on the edge, feeling a surge of power and control at the way his gaze tracked her every move.

"C'mere," she demanded. He obeyed instantly and she felt every step he took toward her like a magnet being drawn toward its match. By the time he was within a foot of her, the press of his skin against hers was inevitable, a scientific law.

She twined her arms around his neck and hauled him to her for a kiss, but this time it wasn't desperate and defensive. This time it was pure, sweet need. Clean, simple l.u.s.t. She burned.

Tyler responded with gratifying ferocity. He bore her back to the mattress, the scalding heat of his bare skin making her feel like she'd been dropped into a furnace, inside and out. They fell in a tangle, but he found his way naturally between her thighs. He kissed her deeply, slicking a finger between her folds until she was twisting beneath him with pent-up desire. "Tyler," she groaned, "now, please."

At her plea, Tyler's vexing patience evaporated. He tugged her hips down the mattress until she was tucked beneath him at just the right angle. Thrusting into her, he filled her in one deep, smooth stroke. Zoe clenched her inner muscles, her breathing reduced to ragged gasps. He took up a steady rhythm, muscles clenched with the effort, sweat slicking the muscles of his back as she clutched them.

That caged feeling was back, but this time she knew exactly how to find the release she needed.

Digging her heels into the mattress, Zoe canted her hips and moaned, "Harder," into Tyler's ear, her lips caressing the lobe. Tyler grunted an unintelligible reply and his hips began pistoning faster, intensifying the delicious drag of each withdrawal and jarring spike of pleasure at every pounding return.

Her o.r.g.a.s.m built like the electric tingles in the air before a storm, an ominous antic.i.p.ation. Zoe twisted her face away from Tyler, pressing her cheek into the mattress, startled by how cool the sheet felt against her skin. She squeezed her eyes shut, focusing every particle of her being on the storm rising inside her.

47.But then Tyler's lips caressed her jaw, his fingers cradled her face. There was a roughness, almost a violence in their mating, but his touch was so gentle, so d.a.m.n tender, she couldn't resist it when he turned her face back to his for a startlingly chaste kiss.

Her climax burst through her, not like a storm, but like the sudden radiance of the dawn, light spilling through her. She opened her eyes, startled by the sweetness of it, and his gold gaze was directly above her.

Eyes like the sun bore into hers, illuminating every corner of her being, and she flew. This is the freedom I've been missing. Tyler roared, his claws digging furrows into the mattress as his own release took him, but the sunrise in his eyes never wavered from hers as aftershocks in pinkish hues sent pleasure down to her bones.

Zoe wrapped her arms around Tyler and pulled him over her, loving his weight pressing her down into the mattress, but also needing his cheek beside hers so he couldn't look into her eyes right now. She felt...disoriented, like some small piece inside her had shifted, changing its purpose, and all the rest of her had to figure out how to operate around the change.

She couldn't face him right now. G.o.d, please don't let him try to pillow talk me. Zoe closed her eyes and let the muscles in her arms loosen, falling lax and slipping off his shoulders. She made the rest of her body boneless and gave a soft, breathy sigh. Feigning sleep wasn't the most mature approach to handling the aftermath, but the alternative was too intimidating.

Tyler lifted his weight away from her and she fancied she could feel his gaze on her, checking to see if she really slept. She kept her breathing even and her body still-which would have been a warning sign if he knew her, since Zoe was a distinctly restless sleeper.

She half-wondered if he would leave-just slip out as no strings seemed to imply-but Tyler settled himself against her, one strong arm wrapped around her ribs beneath her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He pressed along her right side and her body quickened for him, but Zoe forced herself to remain still.

She focused on the deep in and out of her breath, concentrating on the details of the lie, until the exhaustion of the day aided her and she slipped off into a genuine slumber with the scent of Tyler Minor and the feel of his strength surrounding her.

Chapter Eight.

Tyler couldn't sleep.

The lithe lioness curled against his side consumed his thoughts, keeping him awake even though it had to be nearing five in the morning. His body felt heavy and dull even as his mind buzzed like a hornets'

nest.

He shouldn't have come here tonight. It was the final nail in the coffin of his unfettered lifestyle. But even knowing that, he couldn't regret it. He wouldn't have traded the last twenty-four hours for anything, but that didn't mean he was ready to surrender just yet.

He'd had twenty years of responsibility. Twenty years envisioning the day he would walk off the pride lands with no one depending on him but himself.

Ava and Michael had been so tiny when their father left and their mother withered into a sh.e.l.l of herself. They'd needed him so badly. Kane had gone from being a bright, quick-to-laugh kid to a quiet, solemn teen almost overnight. Caleb had always been more withdrawn, always so self-reliant. Shana, obnoxious as the rest of the world found her, had kept Caleb from pulling too deeply into his own reserve, but he'd still looked to Tyler for guidance. For strength. They all looked to him. So he'd learned to be the man they needed him to be.

When Kane's s.e.xual preference had become apparent, Tyler had kicked the s.h.i.t out of anyone who dared suggest he ought to be sent off as a nomad, as some prides liked to do with their so-called deviants.

When Ava was picked on for her diminutive size, he made sure anyone who touched her knew they were taking on the entire Minor clan. And when the b.a.s.t.a.r.d Alpha who'd ruled before Landon had threatened to geld Michael to help him control his erratic shifting, Tyler had promised to repeat the procedure on the Alpha himself if he dared touch his baby brother.

For twenty years he'd been their champion. His responsibility for them had defined him, but now they didn't need him anymore.

Ava, for all her diminutive size, had learned diplomacy and developed a quiet strength of character that had won her the love and respect of the Alpha himself. No one would ever dare harm her again.

Caleb and Shana had finally managed to find the middle ground in the constant battle that had been their decades-long, on-again-off-again affair. Recently, his most reticent brother seemed happy in a way Tyler had never seen him before.

Michael, too, had found love and a sense of peace-though he still couldn't contain his shifting.

Logical, pragmatic Mara was the last person Tyler would have expected an impulsive, willful soul like Michael to love, but she grounded him in a way Tyler had never been able to do, no matter how he'd tried to help.

Independent Kane had carved out his own happiness. Under Landon's rule, Kane and his partner Tom weren't just grudgingly tolerated, they were actively accepted by the rest of the pride. With Tom, Kane's laughter had returned, lightening his solemnity.

And now...Zoe. It was a romantic epidemic.

But he wasn't ready to join the ranks of happily-ever-afters.

She was his-that question had been decided already. If tonight had proved anything, it was that Zoe was inevitable.

Just another example of the universe yanking choice out of his life.

He needed a little time to come to terms with tying himself to her forever. And it would be forever.

No strings just wasn't going to happen.

Tyler rolled silently out of bed, the lion's instinctive need to stay with her warring with his all-too-human wariness of commitment. Wariness won.

Finding his clothing in the dark seemed an impossible task, so Tyler shifted to his feline form, the feel of his fur a comfort to his restless thoughts, though the senseless circles of his reservations chasing one another around his mind were no quieter in this form.

He padded quietly to the door and nosed it open, batting it shut behind him with the flat of his paw, the well-oiled hinges never making a sound. He leapt off the porch, concentrating on the bunch and spring of his muscles and the feel of the earth beneath his paws as he landed. He wove through the compound, paws silent on the dusty ground. The garage loomed unlit in the darkness, a black box against the starry sky.

He'd locked it behind him earlier and his keys were back with his clothes, but he'd left his "back door" open. He circled the building to the rear where the loft window was open wide, high above the ground.

Gathering himself, Tyler crouched and sprang to the roof of the nearby parts shed. The corrugated metal rang dully like a muted tuning fork even though he tried to land softly. From there he leapt into the oak tree that shaded the area, timber groaning and creaking ominously under his weight. Lions were among the heaviest cats and the high branches bowed and cracked as he ran lightly across them and launched himself across the s.p.a.ce to the open window.

He tucked his body tight, trying for an aerodynamic grace that his bulky cat form naturally lacked. His front legs and shoulders made it through the open window, but the ledge caught him hard on the ribs and 50 his back paws scrabbled against the exterior siding for purchase. He muscled his hindquarters through the window and flopped onto his belly on the cement floor of the loft, panting softly.

Not the best secret entrance, but the height of the window discouraged the cubs from trying it.

Tyler shifted back to a form with opposable thumbs and pulled on the spare coveralls he kept stashed in the loft. His bare feet were silent on the metal stairs leading down to the garage bay.

The world made more sense when he was elbow-deep in engine parts.

The shop had always been his refuge. He could take something run down and cast aside and bring it back to life. He could keep everything moving smoothly, all the pieces interacting together just as they should. There was justice in that, satisfaction and worth.

Tyler knelt next to the engine he was rebuilding, and his brain fell into silence as he concentrated on his task.

The other side of the bed was empty and cool when Zoe woke. With the first few rays of dawn streaming in through her window, her fears of the night before seemed ridiculous.

They'd had s.e.x. Nothing earth shattering in that. For the life of her she couldn't think why she'd been so paranoid. Why she'd been so stupidly convinced they wouldn't be able to keep things no strings.

Zoe rolled out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans and her snug Bigger in Texas T-shirt, propelled by the urge to talk to Tyler. She wanted to smooth thing over with him and make sure they were still on the same page. Make sure he hadn't read anything-accurately-into her awkwardness the night before.

She hurried down her porch steps, following the scent trail Tyler had left. She was so tuned to his scent, she probably could have found him even after a rainfall, but the morning was dry and hot, the sun already gearing up for an early summer scorcher, and his scent remained fresh.

She wove between the buildings, grateful there was no one about this early to see her. The garage bays were all closed when she arrived, the main door locked, but his scent circled the building before disappearing and there wasn't another trail leaving. He had to be in there.

"Tyler?" Zoe called, tapping on the metal door. She smoothed her palms over her hips and fidgeted, agitation bubbling up inside her.