Melted By The Lion: A Paranormal Lion Shifter Romance by Amira Rain

contemplating whether to accept that arrangement.”
    Scoffing, I folded my arms across my chest, my tears now completely dry. “Wow. You’re a real piece of work, Trevor. You want to have sex with me, you want to impregnate me, but you don’t want to have to kiss me on the mouth.”
    Still frowning, he raked a hand through his hair yet again, avoiding my eyes. “When I’m around you, I don’t know exactly what I want anymore, and I don’t like it. So, from now on, just stay away from me. Please. Just stay hundreds and hundreds of feet away from me at all times.”
    “I thought you wanted to get me pregnant. And if that’s still your end goal, we’re going to have to get a lot closer than hundreds and hundreds of—”
    “Savannah, please.” He now met my gaze again, expression pleading. “Just give me space. You’re just not… You’re not who I was expecting.”
    “And who were you expecting?”
    With a shake of his head, he heaved a sigh. “Two Veronicas, maybe. Or two women who don’t walk around with snarled hair, banging butter knives on counters. I don’t know.”
    Just then, his phone went off, and he pulled it from his jeans pocket, looked at the screen, and told me to just give him a second. I said fine, and he answered the call, then listened briefly before speaking again.
    “Then get five additional guards over there right now. And tell Aaron I’d like no fewer than twenty guards patrolling the northeast at all times today. I’ll be there myself soon.”
    Trevor ended the call and pocketed his phone. I opened my mouth to speak, intending to tell him that I knew he had to go, but he beat me to it.
    “I have to go. You’re fully welcome to go out and explore the town today, if you’d like, even the forest lands, so long as you bring your phone. All poisonous snakes and dangerous wildlife have been cleared from the area. However, and I plan to make this crystal clear to Veronica, too, you’re not to stray past town limit markers to the north, where the land starts to get marshy. My men patrol the outskirts of town at all times, but as far as the area beyond the town markers, members of the Renard clan have been known to creep in at times. So, do not stray beyond the markers at any time, for any reason. Do I make myself absolutely clear?”
    In response to his tone, I tightened my arms across my chest. “Yes, Commander Beaumont.”
    “Good. Now, the markers are very clearly marked, they’re painted a bright neon orange, so you can’t miss them, as are the trunks of nearby trees. A person would have to intentionally and willfully step by the markers in order to stray into dangerous territory, which I trust you’re smart enough not to do.” Trevor paused, clenching his jaw for a second. “As for the two of us, if and when we cross paths in this house, I’d prefer that things be kept entirely businesslike.”
    I snorted. “Fine with me. I’m not one to try to ruin anyone’s precious ‘business arrangements.’”
    Just then, a door on the kitchen’s east side swung open, and in bustled an older man named Gerald, who wasn’t a shifter, but a fully human man, one of several dozen that had assimilated into Trevor’s formerly-wandering group from various parts over the years. He and his wife Sophie each held the title of “co-head chef” in Trevor’s household, working in a large commercial kitchen adjacent to the formal dining room. I’d met both of them the day before while Jeannie had been showing Veronica and me around.
    Just after entering the informal kitchen with a covered silver tray held in both hands, Gerald, a tall, thin man with graying hair and a slightly bent back, stopped short, seeming surprised to see Trevor and me. Without hardly missing a beat, though, he continued over to the table and set the covered tray to the side of Trevor’s maps. “Your breakfast, Commander Beaumont. And I apologize for interrupting, if I am.”
    Trevor was already heading over to the