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there.
    “What did you ask?”
    “Am I hot enough for you?”
    Her jaw dropped, but the evidence of her desire drifted to
his nose.
    “Good. I’m glad I fit your needs.”
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “You didn’t have to.” He took her hand, linking their
fingers, and led her away from her human friend and the other males’
appreciative glances. He wanted her alone…to talk.
    She hesitated at the entrance to the employee hallway. “What
a sec, buddy. I am not going anywhere with you.”
    He tipped her chin up, met those hypnotizing gray eyes. “Name’s
Rafe. Rafe Alexander.”
    She licked her lips. “Rafe,” she said.
    Damn, his name sounded good in her breathless voice.
    “Jasmine.” He tried the name out. It rolled nicely on his
tongue. “Walk with me.”
    She shook her head but didn’t tear her gaze from his. “I don’t
think that’s a good idea.”
    He leaned closer, brushed his lips against her cheek. Mouth
near her ear, he drawled, “I think it’s a very good idea. You taste of heaven,
Jasmine. And I find it’s a flavor I crave. I want more.”
    Her exhaled breath wafted over his neck, heated his blood.
    “Jazz, not Jasmine. I’m not a damn flower,” she said but
there was no animosity in the declaration.
    He flicked his tongue to her earlobe. A slight shudder ran
through her body. The involuntary reaction pleased him. He tucked her closer. “You’re
pretty enough to be one.” A breathless laugh met his declaration, no denial. “Tell
me, Jazz, am I too late?”
    She slid her hands up his chest, started to inch them around
his neck but stopped. She moved them to his biceps and skimmed them over his
muscles. “Too late for what?”
    The scent of royal feline—a mix of predators—drifted to his
nose. Cheek pressed to the top of her head so he could breathe in her untainted
fragrance, he looked at the dainty fingers tracing his arm. He’d wondered what
part of her body had been marked. The location her owner had chosen eased the jealousy
that had flared when he’d first discovered it.
    He lifted her hand, brought her wrist to his nose and
inhaled. Frowned. He sniffed again, open-mouthed to taste the pheromones laced
into the smell. Confusion settled over him. Two distinct signatures were rubbed
into her skin—a temporary claim that was nearly gone, washed off. Male. Of that
he was certain but he couldn’t tell anything else from it except that it wasn’t
familiar.
    He licked her wrist. Her pulse sped. With slow swipes of his
tongue, he removed the scent. Her flavor filled his mouth, sweet and heady and
purely Jasmine. He laved her skin, enjoying the taste of her, but his tongue
roughened and the first hint of fangs slipped past his teeth. He turned his
head, her wrist pressed to his cheek, and breathed through the reaction. It
shocked him, left him a little unsteady. Never before had a female brought his
primal side out. He wasn’t quite sure he was happy about it.
    “Too late for what?” she repeated.
    He leaned back enough to look into her face. “To lay claim
to you.”
    She studied him with scrunched brows. “You talk funny. Are
you European?”
    “Originally, yes.” He took her hand once more and urged her
to follow him. She wavered a moment and flicked her gaze to the crowded room
but fell in step beside him. He tried the nearest door, found it open and the
room empty. An office, Josh’s going by the scent lingering there. No matter. It
was quiet and private.
    She grabbed the doorjamb. “No way, buddy—”
    “Rafe.”
    She rolled her eyes. “I am not going in there with you, Rafe .”
    He crowded her against the door. “Why not?”
    “I don’t know you and I’m not the type of girl to go off
with a man. In fact,” she slipped under his arm, “I shouldn’t have followed you
out of the bar. I’ve got to get home.”
    She stepped away. He followed and pulled her back against
his chest. “Wait, Jazz. Don’t leave. Not yet,” he breathed the words against
her