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A memory scratched its way through Kaylee’s lustful haze, nearly back to the surface. “James. What’s going on?”
“I need you,” he moaned, his lips brushing her skin and making goose bumps rise.
“Of course you do. You’re sick, I’m your friend—”
“Want you as my lover. Always have, and now I can keep you.”
Great. He was so feverish he was delusional. It was tough to say the words, but she made herself tell the truth. “We’re not lovers, dude. We’re good, good friends who shouldn’t be lying tangled up with each other. You’re going to regret this in the morning.”
“Never regret. Want to pick, not have fate decide. Want you for always. Want you as my mate.”
Mate—
Did he say mate? her cat murmured. How…unexpected.
Shit. Understanding slipped in between one aching pulse and the next. No one who’d spent any time around polar bear shifters was unaware of the mating fever and all its consequences.
Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Because as much as she’d had a lustful, long-term crush on the man, there was no way in hell she was letting him make a mistake like this.
Kaylee tightened her grip on his hair and jerked her hands. Hard.
She pulled out a chunk of his hair, and he budged all of three inches. It was far enough to look him in the eye. “James. Buddy. Pal o’ mine. Do you have the mating fever?”
His lips were lifted in a delicious smile. His gaze dropped to stare at her as if she were dessert and he’d been a very good boy. “I have you. You’re in my arms. I’m going to make love to you all night long, and then in the morning, I’m going to start again, and I’m never going to stop. Never, not even when we’re old. Even then I’ll tell you all the dirty things I want to do to you, and we’ll always be together.”
Yeah. Awesome. Definitely mating fever.
Kaylee patted his cheek gently. “Right. So, maybe it’s not a good idea I’m here right now. Since you’re mating feverish and all, and I’m not a very good person to be your mate.”
“Perfect person.” He frowned, growling low. “Kaylee perfect.”
His bear was in his eyes. Shit.
She caressed him again, attempting to soothe the beast. “Okay, big guy. I need to…” Think. Think, Kaylee. “I need to do something first. Okay? You need to go have a shower, and I need to get the thing from the thing.”
Confusion twisted his face. “Really?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded, scratching his shoulder.
The bear looked back at her.
“You go shower,” she whispered. “I’ll be right back.”
His reluctance to leave was obvious, but she kept smiling and nodding encouragingly. “I need a shower?”
She didn’t remember hearing that mating fever made guys stupid, but hey, she had to play with the hand they’d been dealt. “Shower. While I get the thing.”
For one split second she thought she was a goner. He rocked against her slowly, hard muscles and smooth skin teasing her to the edge of sanity.
But then he rose, staring at her with dark bear eyes as he brought her to her feet beside him. He bent slightly and lifted her chin. “I’m going to take a shower, and when I get back, you’re mine.”
Kaylee wasn’t ready for the kiss he planted on her. For the heat and the urgency, and the way her entire body ached and begged her to follow him into the shower and let him do his worst.
But when he stepped back, ragged breaths shaking his chest, his eyes bright with fever, she knew she had to do the right thing.
The instant he entered the bathroom, she moved. She yanked the towel off her head, bunched her hair into a knot and fixed it in place with an elastic band she found on the dresser.
She grabbed her wet shoes and the clothes she’d hung over chairs to dry, then raced down the hallway, pausing just long enough to put on the shoes and slip the rest of her things into a bag she found on the kitchen counter.
Outside the window, the storm was in full swing.
Seriously? Warm apartment, warm man, and you want us to go out there? Her cat was indignant.
We can’t stay, Kaylee insisted.
Her cat all but pouted, then once again vanished.
Kaylee shuddered but forced herself to keep moving. She snatched up the soft throw blanket off the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders as a coat, then left the apartment at a near run.
Waiting for the elevator was torture. What if he figured out she was running away? What if she couldn’t get away in time to save him from making the biggest mistake of his life?
The wind outside had to be gale-force level. It shrieked up the elevator shaft, creating a whistling sound like nails on a blackboard.
The doors slid open, and Kaylee rushed forward, hitting the button for the ground floor and then stabbing the close door button repeatedly. She held her breath as she stared at the apartment door, willing the elevator to shut on time.
Hurry, hurry, hurry.
The massive metal sheets finally moved, sliding together in three, two, one…
Kaylee sighed in relief. Once she was a safe distance away, she would phone James. They would have a rational conversation about why, even though she liked him plenty and they would always be friends, she would be a terrible mate.
Taking fate into his own hands? That’s not how this worked.
A sudden crackle rang out followed by an echoing metallic boom, as if someone had dropped a bowling ball down a laundry chute. Blue light oozed through the narrow line between the doors in front of her, and the smell on the air was ozone and charcoal.
The elevator jerked to a stop.
The lights went out.
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