by Jenika Snow
“That’s it, Tatum. Yes.” He drew the word out as he stared at her with half-lidded eyes. The desire on his face was thick and aimed directly at her. Tatum found a steady rhythm that had her panting in pleasure. Her skin became warm and damp, and strands of hair stuck to her face. Moving faster and harder on him, Tatum felt herself move closer to going over the edge.
She ground her pelvis against his, felt the root of his cock press on her clit. Shocks went through her, and she shook with the force of everything she felt. The fullness of Leo inside her, the way his big hands clenched her waist, all of it was enough that she threw her head back and moaned.
Her climax tore through her like a derailed train. Through her pleasure-induced fog that settled into her, Tatum heard Leo’s guttural groan of completion. The feel of his thick, hot cum filling her was so intense it set off another orgasm inside her.
She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t feel anything but this male. And one thing became clear as day—she’d gone and fallen for her lion shifter.
17
When Tatum’s legs gave up their strength and she could no longer move on top of him, Leo did all the work. For another several moments, he lifted her up and down his length until she collapsed on top of him.
In one fluid motion that she knew couldn’t possibly be human, Leo was off the ground and had his arms wrapped around her. With her eyes closed, she didn’t know where he planned on going, but she didn’t have the mental power to open them to find out.
It was when she felt him descending stairs then the chilled air of his basement apartment that she finally opened her eyes. He laid her back on his bed and hovered over her, doing nothing but stare at her.
“You are so beautiful.” His fingers trailed over her eyebrow in a gentle sweep. He moved it down her cheek and over her lips. Back and forth, he moved his thumb over her bottom lip.=
Tatum parted her lips and stroked her tongue over the pad. The way his eyes darkened and the feel of his cock thickening against her thigh told her she was playing with fire. It was dangerous, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.
“I could take you all night long, baby.” He kissed her, but it wasn’t with the heat she saw in his expression. “But we need to talk.”
He was right, of course.
“There are so many other things we can do besides talk.” She nipped at his strong chin and loved the sound of his deep chuckle.
“You might just be the death of me.” He kissed her once more, but to her disappointment, he rolled off her and propped himself up on his elbow, staring down at her.
There were so many things rolling around in her head she wanted to ask him, now that the seriousness of what happened settled inside her. “I guess we should just start from the beginning.” It was strange that even though she had seen some stuff that would be classified as fucked up, she could only see the man she had grown to care about. His deep exhale had her rising up and turning toward him. He lay back and propped his hands behind his head, his focus now on the ceiling.
“I’m like a human in many ways, Tatum.” He turned and looked at her. “But I’m also an animal. I have this force inside me, this wild entity that is always with me, giving me strength and power, but also making me very dangerous.”
“Were you bitten or something, like in the movies?” She had seen enough werewolf movies to last a lifetime, but a part of her knew this was not like a movie in any sense.
“It doesn’t work like that, baby. I was born this way. My mother and father are lion shifters, as are my two brothers and sister.” He smiled and cupped her cheek. “I moved to Vegas when I was twenty-two. My father wanted me to run the pride after he stepped down as Alpha, but I never wanted that. I never saw myself as the leader.”
It’s hard to believe he wouldn’t want to do something like that, especially when she had seen exactly how domineering and assertive he could be. He was a born leader, even if he didn’t realize it.
“So, I started at the bottom in Vegas and worked my way up. It took a lot of blood and sweat to be where I’m at today, but it was worth it.” The way he looked at her in the moment was so deep it stole her breath. “Especially now that I’ve found you, Tatum. My mate.”
Mate? That word sounded strange as it rolled around in her head, but for some unknown reason, it felt so right.
“Everything about you calls out to me and my animal. The way you smell, so sweet and delicious, makes my mouth water. Your luscious curves have my lion purring in need, baby.” The air started coming in and out of her in faster intervals. He moved closer to her so their lips were mere centimeters apart. “You are the only woman I will ever want for the rest of my life.” She blinked from the seriousness of his words. “Tatum.”
She focused her eyes until his magnificent face came back into view. “Y-Yes?” Never had a man said such things to her.
“You own me. Body, soul, and animal.” He slanted his lips on hers, taking her mouth with a fierceness that rivaled her own.
Yes, this was what it felt like to be wanted wholly. Breaking the kiss—which was so much harder than she imagined—Tatum placed an unsteady hand on his chest. Things needed to be said from her side, things that she needed to reveal about herself.
“I want to tell you about me, Leo.”
The lust in his eyes dimmed when he heard her words. He nodded and leaned back but kept a hand on her hip. Digging deep inside her, she pulled up every ounce of strength she could muster.
Kiki was the only one who really knew about what she had gone through, and she found it frightening as hell to be about to tell another person.
18
Tatum lay beside Leo on his massive bed. His arms wrapped snugly around her, a reassuring presence. They had been lying like this for a long time, neither of them saying anything. She knew Leo was giving her time to tell him, and she found it a lot harder to say the words than she could ever have imagined.
“My first memory is watching my mother stumble into the house. I was only four years old, but even then, I knew what I saw wasn’t right. She had a man hanging all over her. She always had a man hanging all over her. I could smell alcohol on her, although at that time I didn’t know that’s what it was. It was a scent I associated with her, because that’s what she always smelled like.” Tatum took a deep breath and continued.
“She always had different men coming and going. Most of the time, they ignored me or didn’t even know I was there, but other times….” His arms tightened around her, and a growl left him. A smile curved her lips at the sound. Strange to think she actually felt comforted by the animalistic noises.
“Nothing ever happened, not in the way you think, but that’s only because I became smart and started hiding when I heard her come home. After one of them tried to get me to go with him to his truck, I knew those men were bad.”
“Christ, Tatum. You were just a baby.” He kissed the top of her head, and she snuggled deeper into the hardness of his chest.
“I learned at a very young age that I could only rely on myself. There were times when it seemed my mother had her sober moments and tried to acknowledge my presence. I was still so desperate for her love that I absorbed anything she gave me.” She stared at a patch of hard, tan flesh on his abdomen and drew lazy circles around his skin. She got lost in the past as she retold it.
“When I became a teenager, her verbal abuse became a daily occurrence. I wasn’t skinny by any means, and she made sure to point that out at every turn. My mother was a waif, but she had her lack of eating and her alcohol consumption to blame. She already thought I was a burden, but now I was her fat teenage daughter who had become a chain around her ankle.”
“Tatum, baby—”
“No, Leo, please let me get this out.” He kissed her temple but didn’t say anything else. “Every time I saw her, she would get a disgusted look on her face. After a while, I grew used to the insults and made myself scarce. She made it no secret that she should have aborted me w
hen she had the chance.”
She would not cry. She would not cry. It had been over a year since her mother passed away, but reliving the abuse Tatum suffered at her mother’s hands reopened the wounds she thought had long since healed. Apparently, she wasn’t as put together as she thought.
“I was her fat fuck of a daughter who could stand to lose half my body weight and still be overweight. Her words, not mine.” She laughed humorlessly as she remembered that particular conversation with her mother. “She told me maybe if she had a beautiful daughter, people would love me. And in turn, I thought if I were beautiful, then maybe she would love me.”
“Baby…” The pain in Leo’s face had her closing her eyes as tears slipped down her cheeks.
“I wanted her to love me, to think I was beautiful. It wasn’t like I gained weight at home. Hell, there was hardly ever any food. I spent a lot of my time at Kiki’s, but I never gorged myself. It was like I was built differently, and I hated it. I wanted her to see me as the daughter she could be proud of.” Tatum wiped angrily at her tears and pressed on. It hurt to get this out, but she knew she had to. She was a broken woman, and Leo deserved to know why.
“I started starving myself, and anything I did eat, I threw up.” The tears fell harder, faster. “The weight began dropping, and I finally started thinking I could be more than the fat, ugly daughter of Carey Weatherton.”
“Sweetheart, you have to know that isn’t true.” Leo turned his head and cupped the side of her face. “I’ve never met a woman more beautiful than you.”
And she believed him, with every part of her. “But dropping the weight wasn’t enough. I kept binging and purging. The guilt from eating, even if I just ended up throwing it up, had me starving myself as well. It didn’t matter though, because all I saw in the mirror was a girl with big hips, too thick thighs, and a size fourteen frame. The only person who showed any kind of concern was Kiki, but I didn’t care. I started to get compliments. The boys at school noticed me, and my mom praised me instead of degrading me.” Those little compliments meant more to her than anything else. “I actually felt beautiful—”
Leo cut her off when he slanted his mouth on hers. The kiss was hard yet showed her that his pain for her was very much real. Was it possible to love someone so quickly? Because her heart swelled, and something shifted in her when it came to him.
“I wish I could have been there for you. I would have showed you how important you are.” He kissed her again. “I would have showed you that you are beautiful inside and out.” His lips were still pressed against hers when he spoke. She could have stopped there, but he needed to know how bad it had been.
“Thank you for that, Leo. I wish you had been there too. I have no doubt my life would have been far better than it had been if you were by my side.” She took a deep breath and continued. “I got really sick. My mom had been gone for three days, but that wasn’t too unusual. Kiki was the one who found me when I didn’t show up at school. I spent weeks in the hospital as a result of malnutrition and dehydration. They said I was lucky not to have had a heart attack.”
Tatum shook her head as her past flipped through her mind like a movie reel. “Can you imagine a seventeen-year-old dying of a heart attack as a result of an eating disorder? The repercussions of what I did never delved deeper than the surface.” Even now, she could see herself lying on that white, sterile bed, the IV machine beeping a steady rhythm.
“My own mother didn’t even come to see me in the hospital. Kiki was the only one who loved me, who still loves me for who I am.” Squeezing her eyes shut, she knew that to be the truth.
“Tatum, look at me, sweetheart.” She opened her eyes and tilted her head back. “She isn’t the only one who loves you.” He kissed her tears away. “I love the way you talk back to me.” His lips touched another tear as it crept down her cheek. “I love that you’re soft and caring and think of others before yourself.” Another chaste kiss. “I love how beautiful you look when your hair is rumpled and your cheeks are rosy right after I’ve been inside you.” Her heart picked up. His hand landed between her breasts, and she knew he had to have felt how fast her heart beat. “But do you want know what I love most?”
“What?” Her eyes fluttered closed when his lips brushed hers.
“I love the strong, independent woman you are, and that you know what you want in life.” His tongue slipped along hers, and she moaned. “I love you, Tatum. I love everything about you, inside and out.”
She rested her head against his shoulder and thanked whoever listened for bringing Leo into her life. Whatever happened between them was fast yet strong. It wasn’t conventional, and there were a lot of things that were not the norm, but it worked for them.
“It took a long time for me to get better, mentally and physically. If Kiki hadn’t been there, I don’t think I would have made it. Once I graduated, I left home with Kiki and started a new life.” Her hand stilled on his chest, and she looked into his eyes. “I’m telling you all this, because I want you to know who I am. I’m not perfect, still have issues with my self-image, and know I could relapse at any moment. I want you to know I have been broken, and although I put myself back together with the help of Kiki, I still have cracks that run deep. I don’t want you to look back and wish things had been different.”
In the next second, she was on her back with Leo’s body covering hers.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Tatum.” His forearms were beside her head, his fingers playing with the ends of her hair. “When I say you’re mine, I also mean I’m yours. I’m not going anywhere, and I’ll be here for as long as you’ll have me.” The feel of his hard length rubbing along her cleft had her instantly aroused. “I want you no matter what. The woman I see is all I’ve ever wanted.” He ran his nose along her cheek. “Just tell me that you want this too,” Leo whispered against her ear, and she closed her eyes and nodded.
In one fluid, smooth move, he slid into her. This time, it was slow and sweet. There was no rush, because for the first time in her life, she felt like she had all the time in the world.
She let him know she wanted this, more than anything, with every lift of her hips and moan that left her mouth. It was the single most eye-opening experience she had ever encountered.
They made love for several more hours before she finally fell asleep in his arms, with the sound of his heartbeat lulling her to sleep. And when she woke and he insisted he follow her home, she felt like the butterflies in her belly would burst forth.
She couldn’t remember another time when things had felt so right, and she couldn’t wait to tell Kiki that maybe she was on the road to finally mending herself from the inside out.
19
“I have plans tonight, Kiki.” Tatum pursed her lips to hold in her laughter as she watched her best friend fall dramatically on the sofa.
“You always have plans.” She threw an arm over her eyes and sighed. “Let me guess. Leo?” Kiki dropped her arm and turned her head so she stared at Tatum.
“Yeah.” When Kiki didn’t say anything Tatum looked up. “You’re not mad, are you?” Tatum poured the second glass of white wine and made her way into the living room.
“Of course I’m not, but I’m in desperate need of a girls’ night out.”
Tatum sat beside Kiki and handed a glass over. She watched with a raised brow as Kiki downed half of it in one swallow. “Everything okay?”
Kiki sucked in a big lungful of air and set her glass down. “It’s just…” She picked at her shirt before continuing. “I think Beau’s cheating on me.”
Tatum sputtered on the wine she had just swallowed and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “What?”
Kiki nodded and grabbed her glass. She drank the rest of it and handed it to Tatum to refill. When both of them were topped off, Tatum finally found her voice.
“Kiki, I think you might be seeing things that aren’t there.”
Kiki shook her head, and tears swam in her eyes. “No,
I mean, I hope I am, but I don’t think so.” She wiped angrily at her tears and refused to look at Tatum.
“Honey.” She placed her hand on top of Kiki’s. “What makes you think he’s cheating?” Tatum honestly couldn’t see Beau doing anything like that. He loved Kiki, doted on her like she was precious crystal. For five years, Tatum had watched their nauseating PDA.
“I don’t know. He’s just been acting very secretive the past few weeks. He’s getting these phone calls and leaving right in the middle of dinner to answer them. I’ve tried to overhear what he says, but all I can make out are urgent whispers.” Kiki sniffed loudly.
“Did you ask him about it?”
Kiki nodded. “Yeah, and let me tell you that didn’t end well. He was all nonchalant about it, like I imagined everything. That pissed me off even more.”
Lord, Tatum could just imagine how that ended. Kiki wasn’t known for keeping her anger in. More times than not, she set her inner wild child free, and the destruction tended to be cringe-worthy.
“I think he’s seeing someone at the club.” Kiki let her head fall back on the couch and sighed. “I’m happy for you and Leo. I truly am. But I need this girls’ night out, Tatum. I need to get good and wasted, dance my ass off, and not think about who Beau is fucking behind my back.” Kiki pouted in an attempt at humor, but Tatum could see the pain behind her friend’s eyes.
There was no way she planned on not being there for her. Kiki had always been there when Tatum needed her. Grabbing her phone, Tatum typed out a quick text to Leo.
Tatum: Sorry. Can’t make it tonight. Need to have a girls’ night out with Kiki.
A second later, her phone buzzed.
Leo: Everything ok?
Tatum: Yeah, just guy problems. Can we reschedule for tomorrow?
