Passengers began to deplane. That gave her heart another lurch.
At first, the air was oppressive with all those bodies packed together and all those people standing up, some hunched under overhead bins, waiting their turn to step into the aisle. But as they began to deplane, the air seemed more breathable. And that wasn’t good. It meant that before long only Maya, Connor, and one highly frustrated jaguar would be left on the plane with the crew.
She looked up at Maya who smiled warmly at her. “Did I tell you that you’ve enriched our lives immensely?”
With a twinkle in her eye, Maya appeared serious! Yet, Kat couldn’t believe she or Connor would feel that way. She suddenly felt a burst of heat overwhelm her, right before she was shivering under the blankets in her naked human form.
Connor scrambled to get her clothes as Kat panicked at trying to locate them also. She was human! She had her panties and bra on and her shirt half-buttoned when Maya cleared her throat and Connor rose, ready to block any crew member from seeing Kat.
“Can’t find her shoe,” he said to someone.
“Found it!” Kat said gleefully, grabbing for Connor’s hand as she scrambled out of her seat, now dressed, and pulled him down the aisle.
She was ready to bolt out of the plane, pulling Connor along, but she managed to keep calm. Once they were in the concourse, she was moving again at a quickened pace. She didn’t think she would shift again, but she wasn’t chancing it.
When they were outside in the dark, their bags in hand, they headed for the long-term parking lot. Kat couldn’t have been happier.
“I’ll marry you,” she said, looking up at Connor.
He chuckled, wrapped his arms around her, and swung her around, then set her down. “I’m glad, Kat. You don’t know how much so.”
“Yeah,” she said as Maya smiled at her. “How could I not? Who else would have stood by me so many times when I needed you? And yes, Maya made me this way, which is causing trouble galore, but I know eventually I’ll have it under control. At least I hope so. I’ve never been known to enrich anyone’s life. And you’ve both done that for me, too.”
“You really should have made him beg for the marriage,” Maya said, her golden eyes sparkling, the lights in the parking lot giving them a fluorescent green cast.
“I couldn’t make him suffer any longer.”
Connor wrapped his arm around her waist. “We were getting married, one way or another,” he said with no humor at all, just very matter-of-factly.
Kat ignored the jaguar god’s dictate, loving him just the same. “You knew I could change before it was too late, right? I admired the way you were both so cool about it.”
Maya and Connor shared looks.
“Oh,” Kat said, realizing at once that they hadn’t known how it would play out any more than she had. “Well, just the same, you both were terrific with making sure I didn’t panic.”
“We hadn’t any choice, Kat. Do you think Wade Patterson from Florida was the shifter we saw?” Maya asked.
“You’re not getting in touch with him,” Connor ground out.
Maya huffed. “I’m not part of your harem.” She patted Kat on the shoulder. “Kat and I are going to design a new website for our business, and we’re going to show a side interest—tropical plants that we have in our greenhouse and the jaguars that visit the jungles where the plants usually thrive. You know, like some nurseries have cats living in the gardens? We’ll feature a jaguar, though the jaguar won’t be around to scare off the customers.”
Connor gave both Maya and Kat a look that said he didn’t approve.
Maya shrugged. “It’s just marketing, Connor.”
“Yeah, just marketing,” Kat said, smiling broadly at Maya.
The jaguar pictures would be just of Maya, a subtle way to let the jaguar-shifter world know she was available, the best way to market for a jaguar mate, they both had concluded.
***
When they arrived at Maya and Connor’s house and gardens, Kat was in awe. Forests bounded the property, a small private lake was nearby, and the hot, humid greenhouse was filled with tropical plants that made her feel she was back in the Amazon, minus the howling monkeys, chattering parrots, and noisy bugs.
“We have sounds from the Amazon played in here while we work,” Maya said, as if she knew just what Kat had been thinking. “Customers love it when they shop for their garden rooms, too.”
“It’s lovely,” Kat said, taking in a deep breath of the rich humus-filled earth and floral fragrances.
Maya escorted her through the gardens—herb, evergreen, and deciduous—as well as the water garden, the floral garden, and the shrub garden. But Connor had quickly bowed out, carrying their bags into the house.
Kat wondered what he was up to when she smelled steaks grilling on an outside grill. Maya smiled. “He’s still in courtship phase. Usually, when we get home from the jungle, we get cleaned up, make sure anything that needs watering is taken care of, and cook something easy like frozen pizza. But it’s early morning and he wants to do something special for you, so he’s making steak and eggs.”
“Steaks,” Kat said, her stomach already rumbling.
“After all the strange food you had to endure, I’m sure he wanted to prepare something you’d like.”
Loving him for remembering how much she had wanted steak when she got back to the United States, she was thrilled.
Connor soon called for them to join him, and after eating a juicy grilled steak with cheese-and-chives-flavored eggs, hashed brown potatoes, and watermelon for dessert, Kat joined Connor for a tour of the house while Maya returned to the gardens to putter around.
“What do you think, Kat? Does this feel like it could be your home?” Connor asked. He barely let her see the rest of the house, including her favorite room, the special greenhouse sitting room where they could have meals if they wanted, and Maya’s master bedroom suite, before he took her to his own suite.
She studied the room, which was decorated in deep forest green and had a sitting area and an office off the main room. She almost expected to see a jungle-print bedspread and curtains. But everything was just solid forest green. Soothing and peaceful on a hot sunny day. Pictures of the jungle decorated the walls.
Despite his annoyance with his parents for abandoning them, she saw to her surprise that he had a picture of his parents and Maya and himself, the two of them about ten years old, framed in bamboo and sitting on his dresser. Connor definitely looked like a younger version of his dad now, strong of character, same blond hair and tanned features and muscled form, same penetrating golden jaguar eyes. Maya looked a lot like her mother, with long blond curls piled on top of her head, the same amber eyes that looked as though the woman was seeing straight into Kat’s soul, and a smile that met her eyes.
Kat couldn’t believe anyone could give up her children like that and wanted Connor to know she was the kind of woman who would stick with him for the long run.
“Yeah,” she said, snuggling up to him, “this feels like home.”
He wrapped his arms around her, his mouth close to her upturned lips. “I worried about you after we left the Amazon last year. I couldn’t quit thinking about you or looking for you.”
Kat wrapped her arms around Connor’s neck. “I was overjoyed finally to see you and be able to thank you personally for saving my life.”
“You are thanks enough.” Connor kissed her slowly, tenderly, as if he had loved her forever.
And she succumbed, kissing him, loving the way his strong fingers stroked her back and his hard body pressed against hers, his mouth taking possession.
Her body tingled with need and desire. Her skin was hot, and she melted against him, glad when the air conditioner kicked on and poured cool air into the room.
She started to unbutton his shirt, but he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to undress. She was!
He smiled against her mouth as she jerked his sleeves down his arms. “Not in a hurry, are
we?” he said with a smile to his words.
“We made it home without my getting caught in a jaguar’s spotted coat. If nothing else, that’s a reason to celebrate.”
He chuckled, slipped his hands underneath her shirt, and cupped her bra-covered breasts. “While I slept in my hammock in the jungle on our way to the city, I dreamed of being here with you in my bedroom, with a comfortable bed to sleep on and the air conditioner on high and you safe from the rest of the world. I dreamt what it would be like to make love to you and not be in a rush while I savored every moment.”
“Some other time,” she said, fumbling to unfasten his belt.
He laughed. His large hands were gentle as he coaxed her bra down, her shirt still in place, then ran his thumbs over her nipples in a sensuous heated caress. When she couldn’t make any progress on his belt, she began to unfasten her shirt buttons instead.
That prompted him to let go of her breasts and jerk his belt free. He was naked before she knew it, primed for making love to her.
She loved how aroused he became with her. She didn’t need fancy undergarments to spur him on. Just a lick on his lips and rubbing her body against his turned him on faster than she could believe.
He was fully erect as he pressed his nude body against her while he unfastened her bra and kissed her mouth at the same time, as if he couldn’t quit kissing and touching her before he had her in his bed.
She was burning up, needing him to quench the fire building inside of her, to fulfill the ragged ache she felt for him.
The maelstrom continued as he pulled her jeans and panties down partway and slipped his fingers into her tight sheath. “You’re so wet for me,” he whispered against her mouth, his voice straining with need.
He sounded as glad that he could turn her on with a whisper of a kiss as she was that her touching him lit his fire.
Without hesitating a moment further, he pulled off the rest of her clothes until she was as naked as he was. His fingers stroked her between her legs while his mouth slanted over hers and kissed her with such passion that she felt she would be swept into a vortex of no return.
Her soft moans and frantic stroking over his naked back and arms and buttocks ramped up the pleasure, which prompted him to lift her onto his hips, spreading her before him, and then back onto his bed.
He pulled her tight against him, his erection sliding in, deep, thrusting, and rubbing her, the friction sending her over the edge.
She cried out with complete surrender and dug her heels against him, cherishing the way his cock thrust deeper. He pushed harder, seeking his own release and finding it moments later, fierce primal satisfaction filling his expression.
“Next time, we take it slower,” he promised, rolling over and capturing her, then pulling her against his body.
“Next time,” she murmured against his chest, sliding her hand over his nipple.
“Yeah, after we take a nap.”
***
Early the next morning, after a day and night spent in bed making love to Kat, Connor poured a second cup of coffee while Kat had joined Maya in the greenhouse. That was when Connor saw a black sedan pull up the drive. Something made him think that the new arrival wasn’t a customer looking for plants to use in landscaping or interior decorating.
He sipped some of his coffee while he watched through the kitchen window as the man got out of his car, shut the door, locked it, and then headed for the front door of the house. He was in excellent shape, wearing neatly pressed khakis, a pin-striped, button-down-collared shirt, and a pair of expensive-looking leather loafers—dressy, but casual. His hair was cropped short, and Connor guessed he was a military man. He strode toward the porch with purpose in his long stride, like he was ready to storm the castle, his face stern, his whole manner starched.
Connor placed his empty coffee cup on the counter and headed for the front door, ready to nip this in the bud and ensure that Kat didn’t have to deal with the man.
Connor yanked open the door, startling the man, whose raised fist had never contacted the wood.
“Who the hell are you?” Connor asked, knowing damn well he had to be one of the men involved in Kat’s Army mission of trying to take down Gonzales.
“Major Roger Singleterry.” He reached out his hand to shake Connor’s, but Connor didn’t offer his hand in return.
Acknowledging the slight, Roger gave him a small smile, but it quickly faded. He stiffened and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I understand Kathleen’s staying with you and… your sister… for a little while.”
The inference was that his sister was a girlfriend, too? Threesomes do it better?
“Kat’s busy,” Connor said, folding his arms across his chest. He wasn’t about to let this jerk see her or intimidate her or anything else. Besides, she was working with Maya in the greenhouse, so he wasn’t really out-and-out lying. Work always needed to be done, and she would be busy.
This time the man’s brows arched. “Really. Well, I need to talk with her.” His icy matter-of-fact tone bugged the hell out of Connor. “Is there a better time to call?”
“No.”
Again, the raised brows. Roger was probably used to giving orders in the military, and Connor assumed Roger didn’t like having a civilian obstacle block him from seeing anything further of Kat.
Connor thought to ask if he could give her a message, just to get the officer to leave, but he didn’t even want to offer that much.
“It’s important,” Roger insisted, not budging from the front porch.
“You and your people can go to hell.”
Roger narrowed his eyes. “You want a battle on your hands? You don’t want to go there, Anderson. I’ve got the resources—”
“Maybe you do, but you’ve got shit where I’m concerned. Kat’s worth more than any damn mountain of resources available to you. You leave her alone. She’s made a home with us and doesn’t need anything further from your kind.”
Roger’s jaw dropped. Connor eyed him with new suspicion. What had the man thought? That she was just staying with Connor and Maya for a few days? And then she would be back to being the Army’s pawn? No way in hell.
“I’m not going until I speak with Kat,” Roger insisted.
Connor heard movement behind him before he saw her, smelled her delightful scent, and knew it was Kat. She had probably heard the car pull up, but when the “customer” hadn’t entered the greenhouse or the outdoor gardens looking for plants, she must have gotten curious.
She slipped in beside Connor, wrapped her arm around his waist, and snuggled close. He quickly encircled her shoulders with his arm. She lifted her face to smile at him, and he took her smile as an invitation to a kiss. So he obliged her, long and hard and thoroughly. Just to prove he wasn’t letting anyone hurt her again.
Looking a little flushed and breathing a little heavier, she finally took her gaze off Connor and turned to face Roger. “What are you doing here, Roger?”
Connor finally realized this Roger was Kat’s former fiancé. Connor should have decked the son of a bitch before she arrived on the scene.
But when he looked at the man who had given her up because she was no longer suitable as a wife and Army careerist, he noticed just how red-faced and angry the man had become. Connor smiled, glad he had kissed Kat and proved just what she meant to him.
“I need to talk to you… alone,” he said, trying for dark and persuasive.
Kat raised her chin a notch in her usual stubborn fashion. “Say what you have to say. I don’t have any secrets from Connor.”
“It’s classified.”
“I’m no longer in the Army, so sharing sensitive information with me could hurt your career, Roger. I’m really not interested in anything you have to say. So if you have nothing else to speak with me about, I’ve got work to do.”
He looked down at her dirty fingers stained green, then met her gaze again and waved his hand at the gardens. “This is what you choose to do instead of protecting Am
ericans from the drug trade?”
She laughed without humor. “You have got to be kidding. I’m out of the service, medically discharged, remember?”
“It…” He glanced at Connor, then said to Kat, “This isn’t for a civilian’s consumption.”
“I’m a civilian, if you don’t recall,” she said, her voice hard.
“They want you back.”
She laughed again. “No. I’m happy saving plants from voracious bugs and strangling weeds. You go save the world from the drug lords.”
“Kat… let me explain what happened between us.”
“No, I know exactly what happened between us. As long as I was useful to your career, I was perfect to be your wife. But once I had been captured and—”
“It was all a ploy. Don’t you see, darling?”
Connor snorted.
Roger gave him a scathing look, then said to Kat, “None of it was real. It was part of your continued covert operations.”
“Even ditching me?”
Looking chagrined, he shook his head. “You ditched me, threw your engagement ring at me, and told me to go to hell.” He suddenly seemed to remember that Connor was listening to the conversation, saw him smiling, and gave him a dirty look.
“You used me and so did the Army. At least you could have been there for me. But you wouldn’t even speak with me when I left the hospital! You were too busy. Always. I knew then it was over for us.”
“That was part of the plan. If the doctor could convince you to relive the experience, and Wade Patterson gave you a plan to do it—”
Kat’s jaw dropped. “Wade was part of your operation?”
“No, he just conveniently convinced you to go to the jungle in search of the tourist who had saved your life, and it couldn’t have been more to our advantage. I backed out of the equation so you had to fight to get through this on your own, knowing you’d do it. You’d overcome the trauma and help us to take the bastard down. And you did do it. Although we’re still not sure how. But what did you think? We’d just let you go without watching your back?”