Jill Shalvis - Animal Magnetism

“What? Why?”

“Because I can.”

“What do you know about animal reproductive physiology?”

“I’ll be holding the book,” he said. “I’ll know everything.”

Her smile was gone, and so was the warmth in her eyes. “I can do it by myself.”

He cocked his head and studied her. “What just happened, what nerve did I step on?”

“Nothing. But I can do this on my own.”

That wasn’t an answer to his question and they both knew it. “Of course you can do this on your own. But why should you have to if someone’s willing to help? Oh,” he said, nodding when she didn’t respond to that either, “I get it. You don’t want help.”

“I don’t need help.”

And in her mind, he knew, there was a huge difference. “Everyone needs help sometimes, Lilah. Except for you, apparently, because that would signify some kind of weakness, right? Not accepting my help allows you to lump me in with all the other men in your life. The ones who, like everything else, are to be taken care of, not vice versa. Because no one’s allowed to take care of you.”

“That’s… stupid.”

“I might be temporary, Lilah, but I’m not stupid. And I’m not one of your pets, either.” He nudged her to the kitchen table where her books were spread out, waiting. “Sit down. The professor is here to make sure you pass.”

“Brady.”

“That’s Professor Brady to you,” he said.

She arched a brow and gave him a level look. No longer defensive but not yet willing to concede surrender. “So is this some kind of sexual fantasy? The beleaguered student servicing her professor for an A?”

“Hmm, sounds promising.” He nudged her into a chair, smiling when a trickle of good humor came into her eyes. “We’ll get to that. For now, crack that book, woman. Don’t make me show you what happens to naughty schoolgirls.”

T hree hours and lots of caffeine later, Lilah walked past a sleeping Twinkles and Boss and threw herself on her bed. She was frustrated and near comatose and also quite possibly close to jumping Brady’s bones.

“What type of uterus is found in mares?” he asked, following her from the kitchen to stand at the foot of her bed, staring down at her in a very intense professor sort of way.

She wanted to strip him naked and lick him like a lollipop, and he wanted to know what a chemical element was.

He nudged her foot. “Lilah.”

“Bipartite. Sir,” she added with a little smart-aleck salute.

“I like that,” he said with a firm nod as he consulted her review notes. “More of that. Now chemically, FSH is what?”

“A protein.”

“A protein, sir,” he corrected.

She rolled her eyes while he turned her pages. “An oocyte that is surrounded by several layers of cells but does not contain an antrum,” he said.

He’d stripped out of his sweatshirt, leaving him in a loosely fitted Henley and a pair of cargo pants with more pockets than she could count. He looked edible.

“I can see you need incentive.” He got on the bed and crawled up the length of her, spreading her legs with his knee. “An occyte…?”

“Secondary follicle… ” She broke off as he rested his forearms on either side of her head, his face just inches above hers.

“And the structures on the chorion that interlock with the uterine endometrium in the ruminant?” he asked, pulling off her clothes, brushing kisses to every part of her that he exposed, making her mind go blank.

When she didn’t speak, he raised his head, his eyes dark with concentration. “Lilah…?”

“Um…” This was supposedly all review for her, but she couldn’t remember. She blamed his sexiness. “I’m-” She moaned when he drew her breast into his mouth and struggled to think. “I-God, Brady.”

He switched to her other breast and slid a hand between her thighs. His breath caught and he made a distinct sound of male pleasure that made her inner muscles contract.

“Brady?”

“Shh.” His voice was low and delicious. “I know what will help.” And he shifted, kissing her belly, her hips, a thigh… and then between them. “This.” He rubbed his jaw to her inner thigh. “And this.” He stroked her with his tongue and she promptly forgot the question.

“Oh, please,” she whispered.

And he did. In a shocking short time, he had her crying out, shuddering with the surprise release. When she’d recovered she found him leaning over her, playing with her hair, face smug.

“Okay,” she admitted. “I needed that.” She pushed him to his back, pulled off his clothes, and climbed on top of him. “Now you, Professor Know-it-all. Your turn to beg.”

“I’m not much for begging.”

“Hmm.” She started at his throat, working her way down, tasting every inch of him, stopping occasionally to nibble. By the time she got to his abs, he was alternately groaning her name in a plea and in warning.

But not begging. Not yet. Drunk on her own power, and also how he felt shifting restlessly beneath her, she continued southward.

“Christ, Lilah,” he grounded out when she finally drew him into her mouth, his hands sliding into her hair. “Christ, don’t stop.”

Close enough, she thought, and didn’t stop.

A long shower and another cup of coffee later, Lilah smiled softly at Brady. “Cotyledons.”

“What?”

“That’s the chorion that interlocks with the uterine endometrium in the ruminant. Thanks for helping me, you’re my hero.”

“I’m no one’s hero.” He pulled on his jeans by the first light of dawn slanting in the opened shades, adjusting himself with a scowl.

Either he’d slept badly after he’d put her into a pleasure coma, or her “hero” comment had gotten to him. She was betting on the latter. “In a hurry?”

“I’ve got to go.”

Yeah. Definitely, it’d been the hero comment. “Feeling claustrophobic?”

“This place isn’t that small.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

He ignored that and bent to lace up his boots. “I have a flight scheduled. I’m taking Dell to Idaho Falls for a business thing.”

She nodded. “So go.”

His mouth tightened, and he whistled for Twinkles, who leapt to his feet to follow blindly. As she was beginning to realize she would do as well.

At the door, Brady paused. “Shit,” he muttered to himself with feeling. He turned back to her, staring at her for a long beat while she forced her expression to remain even. Then he closed his eyes. “Fucking sap,” he said, and strode toward her, hauling her up to her toes to kiss her stupid. “Kick ass today,” he said against her lips.

“You, too,” she whispered, but he was already gone.

Brady walked through the chilly morning air, shadowed by Twinkles. It wasn’t a month yet, but probably he should call Tony and at least get himself back in the queue to fly. Getting the hell out of Dodge ASAP would be a good thing.

Too bad he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He wasn’t ready to go.

It was as simple and terrifying as that.

“Arf.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He’d taken off on Lilah like a bat out of hell, and now all he could see was her face as he’d left. There hadn’t been disappointment or irritation. She hadn’t been offended the way any number of women in his past would have been when he did his usual vanishing routine. Lilah didn’t get upset or withdraw. There’d been only those two words, her softly spoken “So go.” And yet in them he’d heard all the damage, all the hurt, she felt.

She was prepared to watch him walk away.

God, he was an ass. He turned around so suddenly he tripped over Twinkles.