Out of Place Mate by Rebecca Royce Page B

lost control of the situation. Sean didn’t strike her as passive, and he wouldn’t be an easy lover. She didn’t care—her animal wanted to come out and play with him. Only a strong human would be able to handle the beast inside of her when it wanted to take charge.
    She ran her hands along his tuxedo shirt. “We need to get this jacket off you.”
    “I want your clothes off first.”
    He wanted to see her undressed. Victoria gulped back sudden unease. “Let me turn off the lights.”
    “No.” His fingers traced down her neck to the tips of her exposed chest. “I want to see all of you. I can already feel that you have a smoking hot body.”
    Her figure didn’t concern her, but the burn marks and permanent scars that she would never be without revved up her nerves. Shifters understood these things. They’d suffered abuses for so many years they were accustomed to running into the marks on each other. Sean would be repulsed by it.
    “I promise you a good time. Let me get the lights….”
    He took her cheeks in his hands, his eyes flaring with annoyance. “When did you get shy? You dragged me back here and got me all worked up. Don’t cool off now.”
    She hadn’t cooled off. My panties are so wet, when I move, they might slosh . “I’m badly scarred. I got caught once in a place that hated shifters. Long story. They had me locked up for days.” She really didn’t want to bring the memory of that time into the room with them. The less she said the better. “Now, I hear you’re not friendly to shifters, but I don’t think you’re going to scar me. Are you?”
    “I don’t know where you get the impression that I’m so unfriendly to shifters. I may not be running around holding signs in support, but I would never do anything to harm anyone.”
    She could smell the honesty of his words. Lies tasted bitter to her and only sweetness filled her senses. “Your brother’s mates think you discriminate.”
    “I’ll be hard on anyone who fucks with my bottom line. I wouldn’t have cared who my brothers married if they had continued to conduct business responsibly. Why don’t these women care about them doing their jobs?”
    Nibbling his chin, she asked, “So you’re a pragmatist then, not a hater?”
    He groaned. “I guess that’s a fair description.”
    She took a step back so he could look at her. “I did warn you. It’s not pretty. If you let me turn off the light, you’ll have a better time.”
    “I doubt it.” In two seconds he reached her, scooping her up in his arms. She hadn’t expected him to do that and squealed. Her heart beat hard against her ribs. What did he have planned?
    He set her down on the table in the middle of the room. “What kind of animal do you become?”
    “This is a wolf bar. Only werewolves and bikers come in here.”
    “I used to ride.” He pulled off his tuxedo jacket and threw it behind him on the floor. The white dress shirt underneath displayed his arm muscles through the thin material. There was a faint outline of color on the top of his arm. Did he have ink?
    “Why did you stop?” She loved bikers. So much control between their legs, so much concentration. When they got off the machine, they were so hot they wanted to fuck all night.
    “My ex-wife hated it.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “Ex-wife?”
    “Yep.” He kissed her neck where her shoulder met her throat. “I guess you could say she defined the word ‘bitch.’”
    “We’ll have to get you back on a bike.”
    He laughed. “I think my riding days might be behind me. But who knows? I really didn’t expect to be getting ready to fuck a really hot shifter on a table in a bar today either. I’m supposed to be back in my bed after standing all night at an art gala opening.”
    Victoria pulled her shirt over her head. Sean didn’t fit in at Gunther’s, which suited her fine since her scars made it impossible for her to really belong anywhere.
     
    Sean stared down at Victoria. Her shirt swished