The Lion's Pride (BBW Paranormal Lion Shifter Romance) (The True Date Agency) by Terra Wolf, Olivia Arran

cascading down my spine.
    I nearly spilled the beans, but managed to clamp my mouth shut at the last minute. It would be more fun this way.
    “Wanna make out?” he growled, his hands smoothing over my hips and pulling me back against him.
    I rubbed my ass against the thick, hard length of him, teasing a strangled groan. “You’ve got work, remember?”
    “I own the place. They can’t tell me what to do.” He rocked forward, and it was my turn to stifle a groan. I tilted my head, seeking his lips, my hands gripping the bars of the crib.
    Losing myself in the kiss, his mouth expertly playing over mine, I reconsidered my plan. Should I tell him—?
    A loud wail shattered the silence.
    Zane pulled back, resting his head on my shoulder. “Thwarted again, by my own son!” He tried for a scowl but it quickly melted into a grin as he moved around me and picked Xander up.
    “Go on, go to work. We can make out later,” I said, plucking the baby out of his arms and shooing him toward the door.
----
Lara
    “We just saw him leave; we were hiding behind some plants in the foyer,” Kate drawled, kissing me on the cheek as she walked in the door.
    Tina strolled in, adding, “I’m pretty sure he didn’t see us. We’d make great undercover agents!”
    I closed the door behind them, following them through to the lounge. “Thanks for coming over, guys. I really appreciate it.”
    Making a beeline straight for where Xander lay on his play mat, Kate crouched down beside him, stroking his soft, downy hair, a look of longing in her eyes. “You don’t even have to ask, you know that. Auntie Kate doesn’t need an excuse for snuggles with her favorite nephew! Anyway, you have your man to seduce and conquer, though how you’ve managed to keep your hands off him until you got the all clear, I have noooo idea.”
    “Yeah, he’s hot , Lara,” Tina added, sprawling on the floor opposite Kate. “Like, hormone twitching, pantie dropping, wow-yeah-he’s hot!”
    Dumping the contents of my bag on the counter, I pawed through the mess, searching for my lip-gloss. “Yeah…I know.” I couldn’t keep the cat’s-got-the-cream smirk off my face, my friends’ groans only making it even bigger. “We haven’t exactly been keeping our hands off each other, but so far, no main event.” It had taken me a couple of weeks to recover from the birth and not feel so tired that all I wanted to do was eat and sleep, but since then…we’d been acting like a pair of teenagers, making out at every opportunity, doing everything but full on sex.
    “Quit it with the dreamy smile. Some of us don’t have a man at the moment and have to make do with Mr. Battery-Operated,” quipped Kate, but she wasn’t really mad.
    I already knew how happy my friends were for me—they’d told me a million times. And I’d told them they needed to go see Gretchen, to see if they could be dated and mated with a sexy shifter. I was still working on them, but I already knew they wouldn’t be able to hold out. The longing in their eyes gave them away, and I desperately wanted them to be as happy as I was.
    Slipping on my shoes, I checked the mirror for the hundredth time. I’d already changed in the time it had taken Zane to get downstairs, so all I had left to do—
    “Go! You look beautiful, and every second here is a second wasted. You could be riding your—”
    “Okay, okay! I’m going.” With the all clear from the doctor, it was finally time to claim my mate.
    And be claimed by him.
----
Zane
    I heard the door to my office click open. How many times did I have to tell everyone to knock? I was never going to get any work done with all these interruptions, which meant my plans of returning to Lara and her warm, welcoming embrace before morning were diminishing. Fast. Gritting my teeth, I glanced up from the paperwork I was buried in, ready to snap.
    Lara stood there, bundled up in a coat, her cheeks flushed from the cold autumn air.
    My heart lurched in my