When An Alpha Purrs(25)

"Don't believe me? Then touch any of the screens. See what happens."

"You're trying to trick me. There's no way it will work because you  never took a handprint or thumbprint or whatever the hell it is that you  use to make that stupid thing function."

"Your signature was captured when you tried to use the screens while I  was gone. So yes, I do have it and as I said, I programmed my system to  accept your touch."

This time, she didn't hesitate. She moved immediately to the display by  the front door. Casting him a glance, she expected to find him watching,  poised to stop her.

Wrong. Not only did he not move, he didn't even look back at her.

He's lying. He didn't-

"Access granted. How can I serve you, Kira?"

The innuendo from the house system was evident, but that wasn't what  made her mouth round in an O of surprise. "You programmed it to talk to  me in your voice?" She couldn't help a note of incredulity.

"Do you like it?" He flipped on the couch so he faced her.

"It's weird." Everything that had happened since she'd met him was Wonderland weird.

"Yes, and there are more weird things to come. Such as the first time I show you my beast."

Not that again. What was with this insistence on him being a lion?

"If you're a lion, then prove it. Let's go. Show me."

"I don't think that's a good idea. Not right now."

"Why not? You keep saying you're some great, big, furry beast, so let's  see it. You want me to believe, and I'm willing to, with some proof."

"You don't know what you ask, mouse, but since you insist." He stood,  removing his loosened tie as he did. He unbuttoned his cuffs then the  seam that ran up the middle. The entire time he stripped his shirt, he  kept his eyes locked on her. Eyes that burned golden fire. Eyes that  were unlike any other eyes she'd ever seen. Human eyes at least. But  there was something about the pupil that was different. And grew even  more different as she stared.                       
       
           



       

Great, soon he'll have me believing he's a lion too. Just because he had unique and amazing eyes didn't make him part feline.

His voice was deeper, more growly, when he spoke. "I should warn you that this might be disturbing to watch."

Disturbing to her libido as he kept peeling layers. The shirt hit the  couch, revealing his muscled upper torso, the flesh as smooth and tanned  as she remembered. I remember running my hands over that skin, the  ripple of his muscles when he flexed, his body moving atop me.

She swallowed. "Maybe we shouldn't do this."

"No, let's get it over with."

His hand went to his belt buckle. It went soaring, a sinuous strand of  leather. His fingers unsnapped the button. His slacks hung low on his  lean hips, the vee of muscle leading …

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Someone pounded on his door and shouted, "Arik. It's me."

Frustration contorted Arik's features, and he bellowed. "Does no one know how to use a bloody phone around here?"

"You left it in the boardroom."

"On purpose," Arik muttered, almost too low for her to hear.

"Jeoff called. They think they have him cornered, which means get your ass out here if you're coming."

Him as in Gregory?

Whirling back to face her, Arik confirmed it. "I've got to go. It seems  we might have located your ex. Will you stay here until I return, or  should I tell the system to lock you out?"

"I'll stay." It wasn't a complete lie. A part of her kind of did want to stay. Another part snorted hell no.

"When I get back, we'll finish our talk, and I'll show you my lion."

Wait a second, maybe by lion he meant his …  Her gaze dropped, only to see the smoothness of his chest inches away.

He'd crossed the room too fast for her to react. His arms came around  her, drawing her to him while his mouth slanted over hers in a scorching  kiss.

One touch. That was all it took. He was right. She couldn't resist. She  didn't even think of protesting, just melted at his touch, embracing him  back with a fierce hunger that made no sense, but felt so good.

Felt good until he broke the kiss off, the idiot at the door pounding again and yelling, "I'm leaving."

"I'm coming," snapped Arik before releasing her.

As he grabbed at his shirt, Kira rubbed her lips, their tingling  swollenness making it hard to forget the simmering passion he'd stirred.

"What are you going to do with Gregory?"

In the process of slipping on his shoes, Arik paused and faced her, an almost feral smile tilting his lips.

"I am going to make sure he never comes near you again."

Well, that sounded violently unpleasant, for Gregory. She should  protest, but given what he'd done, she rather wished she could watch.  Maybe get a kick or two in herself, payback for what Gregory had done to  her.

With a growled, "I'm trusting you," Arik left.

And so was she before he could revoke her access.

She pressed her ear against the door to listen and heard the murmur of  voices. They were cut off abruptly, probably because the elevator door  slid shut. She counted to sixty before she slapped her hand to the touch  screen and winced in guilt as his velvety voice said, "Access granted."  The door clicked open.

Out she went, only to stop dead before the elevator. Only one cab for  this level and it was on its way down with Arik, or so she assumed as  she watched the numbers tick slowly backward.

What about the stairs? She vetoed that idea before seriously considering  it. Twenty flights of stairs and her lazy ass weren't happening. Foot  tapping, she waited for the elevator to reach the bottom floor. It  paused there, disgorging its occupants. Then it began to rise. She  waited for it to stop, move, and then stop again before calling it.

She hoped the stop and go meant it had disgorged its passengers. If not, she might run into another ambush by his family.

Finally, the elevator reached her, the door opened, and Kira didn't hold in her groan of dismay. "Not you again."

"Are you still here?" asked the harpy known as Arik's mother. "I would  have thought you'd have grabbed all the silverware and run by now. Or  were you hoping for a bigger cash-out?"

Someone didn't think Kira was good enough for her boy, which irked. Arik  likes me, a lot. The knowledge made her bold. "Oh dear, is someone  having problems cutting the apron strings? Does someone have a Norma  Bates fetish for her son?" Kira's smirk probably accounted for some of  the mottling on the other woman's face.

She sputtered. "You are the most impertinent chit I've ever had the displeasure of meeting."                       
       
           



       

"And you are the clingiest, peroxided, straw-haired harpy I've ever  encountered. What do you say I leave and we pretend we never met?"

For some reason, that made Arik's mother snap her jaw shut. "You want to leave."

"Well duh. I wasn't just standing out in the hall for the view."

"Does Arik know?"

"No, he doesn't, and I really don't care if he likes it or not. I don't  think I'm ready for the kind of commitment he's asking for." Not to  mention she wasn't sure she could handle a guy who thought he was a  lion.

"You're rejecting him?" The woman seemed indignant.

"Think of it more as just admitting that we're not quite looking for the  same thing right now. And why do you care? You should be glad I'm  going."

The woman shook herself and straightened. "You're right. I am glad. Arik  needs to settle down with someone more suitable for his lifestyle."

"Snob." Kira muttered the word as she entered the elevator and stabbed  at the screen. To her surprise, it worked. A part of her hadn't believed  it would, certain that Arik would have somehow blocked her ability to  leave.

Surely she wasn't disappointed that he hadn't?

In order to avoid the main floor crowd, Kira had the elevator stop one  level above. She exited onto a hallway that ran left and right. Each  side had numbered doors, but there, at the far end, a door with a push  bar and the bright red letters spelling Exit.

Twenty flights was out of the question, but one? One, she could handle.  Especially since, if she remembered correctly, the door spilled out  behind some potted plants right by the main doors to the building. She'd  noted it while playing with the women's hair earlier.

At the bottom, she paused and took a deep breath. She pressed her ear to  the door and listened. Nothing. Pure silence. Surely that wasn't right.

The place had crawled with women before. Then again, it was later now,  dinnertime for many. Or so her belly rumbled. She'd gone way too long  without any food. It made her wish she'd grabbed something off that  trolley earlier.

But she wasn't going back for a snack.