Jaguar Fever

she called him—or didn’t call him. The way he was eyeing her, she was certain a crook of her finger would bring him to her.

Wade shook his head at Maya, just slightly, telling her not to do it. He seemed to know what she had in mind.

David was studying her just as closely, waiting for whatever would happen next. Wade appeared settled and complacent, but a jaguar would change his posture into combat mode in the blink of an eye if necessary.

Maya had no plans to stir up a lot of trouble, though it was tempting.

Candy eyed Maya. “So what’s your club name?”

“Wildcat,” David answered for her, smirking.

Chapter 2

Wildcat? Maya was opening her mouth to protest—she did not make up aliases for any reason—when Candy replied, “Really. I wouldn’t have thought you’d be a wild anything.”

Maya snapped her jaw shut and glared at Candy.

Wade said, “You have no idea.”

He said it in such a deep, sexy way that Maya stared at him, trying to discern his meaning. He wasn’t smiling. He was looking straight at her with those jungle-cat eyes that said he meant what he said.

He was still watching her as if he knew just what was going on in her head. The music was beating away, but it had faded into the background. She vaguely heard the women ask David what his name was.

Lion Mane finally got up the nerve to move closer to their table.

“What do you mean by that?” Maya asked Wade, ignoring the blond guy.

Everyone at the table stopped introductions to hear what Wade had to say.

He smiled in a feral way and took Maya’s hand. “Let’s dance.”

Candy took Wade’s cue and grabbed David’s hand. “Come on. Wanna dance?”

David grimaced, as though he’d prefer doing anything else, but he got up and took the woman to the dance floor.

“What are you doing here in Houston?” Maya asked in Wade’s ear as he danced her across the floor to the slower-paced beat. His brother might not want her to learn the truth, but she had to know.

“David and I have a job to do.”

“And it has nothing to do with seeing Kat?”

He frowned. “I thought Kat was one of us when I first contacted her. You know how it is. It’s difficult to find more of our kind. I thought that when she posted on her networking sites about jaguars, she was throwing out a lifeline, looking for someone special to be in her life.”

“I can understand that,” Maya said sincerely. “Until Kat arrived, Connor and I had never met any shifters. I’ve certainly wanted to meet others of our kind.” She took a deep breath. “I wanted to thank you for helping us in the Amazon.”

“I thought you were Connor’s mate.”

She smiled up at Wade. “I know. David told me.”

Wade smiled a little.

She sighed. “You know, Kat and I wanted to thank you when we were there. It might have been nice if we could have all stuck together. Of course, it would have been even better if we could have just enjoyed the time being big cats—fishing, swimming, lazing in the trees—like we’d planned and not had to deal with those assholes.”

“Hmm,” Wade said, his expression unreadable.

“Well, I’m sorry we messed up your vacation plans.”

“It all worked out.” Wade narrowed his eyes a little. “Why are you here alone? As protective as your brother is, I wouldn’t have thought he would like you coming here by yourself.”

She shrugged. “He doesn’t know.”

“So you sneaked out to come to a shifters’ club?”

“No,” she said in an elongated, irritated fashion, not liking that he sounded annoyed with her for slipping out of the house without her brother’s approval. She didn’t need her brother’s say- so, even though Connor might think differently. “He’s gone on a vacation with Kat. I’m to join them. I heard from my cousins, and they wanted to meet here.”

He didn’t say anything more and just danced with her, which she loved. She hadn’t danced in ages, and never with a big cat.

Maya and Wade had started a respectable distance from each other as they moved to the music, but somehow they’d quit dancing apart. Their bodies were sliding against each other, rubbing like cats would, scent- marking, claiming each other. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, his arms around her waist.

“You feel good,” he murmured, nuzzling her face with his cheek. If they’d been cats, their whiskers would have been touching, sensing each other.

He felt good. Hot and sexy and hard—very hard—as he showed her just how good she was making him feel.

“You smell good,” he whispered, his husky voice breathy against her ear, making her shiver with expectation.

He smelled good. Like one turned-on, spicy-scented, musky male big cat.

“You taste good,” he finished, licking her earlobe, then moving his sensuous mouth over hers with barely a kiss, just a sweet caress of lips.

Maya cupped his head and held him in place as if he might release her. She wanted to see how good he tasted. She pressed her lips against his mouth and slipped her tongue between his lips. He growled low as if he hadn’t anticipated her to go that far. She’d never been with a cat shifter before, only humans. His hot kiss made her forget where she was, that they were surrounded by a lot of shifters, that his brother was watching—everything.

With Wade rubbing against her as they continued to move to the beat, and his hands secured around her back, she felt sinfully sexy.

And aroused. Her blood heated with the press of his body against hers. She wanted to do more as the jungle drums pounded through the floor and filled the air around her. Her heart pumped just as loudly, the rush of blood thrumming in her ears.

She wanted to unbutton more of his soft chambray shirt, to skim her hands across his chest, to flick her fingernails against his pebbled nipples. She craved running her hand over the rock-hard erection she was gently rubbing against her thigh as they continued to move to the rhythm of the music.

Growling, she kissed him more fiercely, penetrating his mouth again with her tongue, making him groan as he tongued her back, his hands remaining at her waist. Infuriatingly, she wanted him to cup her buttocks, to touch and kiss her breasts, but she knew he couldn’t. Not here. She shouldn’t have wanted it. But she did.

A male voice beside them broke through her lust-filled thoughts. “Your cousins are here, but they were afraid to break things up between you and Wade so they sent me.”

David grinned at her and then at his brother.

Feeling flushed and needy, Maya refused to appear

embarrassed in front of Wade and his brother or

her cousins.

David observed her for a moment before he said to Wade, “Remember, we’ve got a room if you want to use it.”

Okay, so she might feel like she wanted to get a room and finish the moves with Wade in privacy, but she