Predator's Kiss by Rosanna Leo Page A

stop it.” She touched her white cheek, as if to warm herself. “My parents took me to the zoo a lot as a kid, hoping I’d lose the fear. They had no idea that they were torturing me. I don’t know how you live here. I could never stay in a place like this lodge, out in the woods.”
    Ryland gazed into her fearful eyes. For some reason, her last statement saddened him to a startling degree. In fact, it bothered him so much he was tempted to do something drastic to fix the problem. “Lia, if I tried something, would you trust me not to hurt you?”
    She leaned back a little, as if deciding. She shook her head, and spoke, almost as if to herself. “I’m not so good with trust these days.”
    He touched her shoulder and rubbed it. “I’m telling you that you can trust me.”
    She stared at him. “What are you going to do?”
    Ryland didn’t answer. He just stood up, smiled, and started to strip.

Chapter 8
    He was stripping. Another one of the Snow brothers was disrobing for her! Only, for some reason, the sight of Ryland slowly doffing his clothes was much more awe-inspiring and terrifying than Soren doing so.
    Perhaps because the look in Ryland’s eyes was much more focused. Soren had been showing off, looking for attention, as he had been since she first met him. But Ryland was serious. Concentrated. His gaze, breath-stealing.
    And this time, Lia couldn’t be distracted by the dancing flames in the fireplace.
    She had to watch.
    He undid the last button on his shirt and it fell open, exposing a perfect six-pack and hard pecs. His chest was a bit hairy. She liked that. Her last boyfriend, now a ridiculous memory, had waxed his chest, and she’d always found it too metrosexual for her taste. She liked men to look like men. And Ryland was all man.
    “You said you don’t like how unpredictable animals are,” Ryland said softly as he worked on his belt buckle and unfastened his jeans. “However, an animal will always give you a warning about how it feels. Dogs will show you their teeth. Cats hiss. A bear will make a low moaning sound if it’s giving off a mild warning. In courtship, it will huff.” He kicked off his boots, yanked off his socks, and then pulled off his jeans and tossed them onto the couch.
    “And if it growls?” she asked, unable to tear her gaze away from his bared skin.
    Ryland offered her a crooked smile, and the sensuous curl of his lips made him appear more playful than she’d ever seen him. “Oh, if a bear growls, you know you’re in trouble.”
    His gaze hooded now, he dropped his boxer briefs and stepped out of them. Lia swallowed, praying God would give her the strength to keep her eyes above Ryland’s waist.
    Clearly God was occupied with other things at the moment and not inclined to answer her halfhearted entreaty.
    She blinked and that little action sent her gaze plummeting toward Ryland’s crotch. Her lips fell open. He was as enormous as she’d suspected. Her eyes twitched as she looked at him, she was so taken by the sight. It took everything in her power not to reach out and clasp his thick member in her two hands.
    Rather than stand there, Ryland crouched in front of her and got down on all fours in front of her. “Now,” he said gently, but assertively. “I’m going to shift. And I’m not going to hurt you. I promise. Do you understand?”
    She barely understood what time of day it was, with him naked in front of her. She forced herself to nod and clapped her mouth shut so she wouldn’t drool.
    “Good girl,” Ryland whispered, grinning.
    Lia watched as he sucked in a breath and as little black hairs began to sprout all over his body. It all happened in seconds, and before she knew what was happening, his face had exploded into fur and muzzle. His huge, muscled form took up way more space before the fireplace and Lia began to feel her head sway with the fear that always assaulted her. He was an animal, a beast possessing power to rip her to shreds. A creature who