Her Billionaire Lion: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance: Leo

by Dominique Eastwick

  “What are you doing out here?”

  “Jaison needs to sleep sometime, too.”

  “And you are here because?”

  “My brother sleeps like the dead, and he can’t protect you while asleep.”

  Protect. Did she need twenty four /seven protection, and if so, why would she contemplate staying? Or perhaps they were concerned she would run. “I don’t think I’m in that much danger. You caught the snake.”

  “Better safe than sorry. You need clothes. If Leo finds out you are walking around nearly naked, he might lose it.”

  She yanked the hem of Leo’s T-shirt down, suddenly conscious of how little she wore. “Where do you think I was going?”

  “Oh, right.” She crinkled her nose. “Do you want me to go in your room and get you something?”

  “No more snakes, right?”

  “They swept the room last night, and no one has been in or out since housekeeping went in to clean up. Both doors have been guarded since the snakes were found.”

  “Just one snake, but who is counting.” She pushed the door open at the same time she fought the urge to run. But she would face her fear of the snake the way she did everything else, head-on. “I can get them.”

  “Okay, want me to come?”

  “To watch me change?”

  “Right. I’ll wait out here.”

  The room appeared much like it had last night, except the bathroom had been cleaned and cleared, the space where the mirror belonged only empty gray wall. New toiletries sat on the countertop. She stripped out of his T-shirt and her panties and, when the water temp reached the scolding temp she loved, she climbed into the shower. Although she had slept well, and no one could say Leonidas didn’t have a bed to die for, her muscles were tight. Strain from the evening’s events, the worry about her father, and sexual tension mixed with frustration.

  She closed her eyes as the warm water cascaded over her shoulders. Tension eased. Running the washcloth over her skin, she imagined Leonidas’s hands over her. The heat pooled in her belly, and uncontrollable need came over her again. Grabbing the handheld showerhead, she pressed it against her clit and moaned. But as hard as she tried, she could not bring herself to satisfaction. She craved his touch alone. With a cry of frustration, she placed her forehead on the cool marble tile.

  A warm hand had her turning, and a palm over her mouth kept her from screaming. “Shhhh.”

  How the hell had a strange man gotten into the room? Before she had a chance to react, the door to her bathroom flew open, and a very angry, very naked Leonidas stood growling at the man who dared to touch his woman. “Get. Off. My. Mate.”

  “Just wanted to find out what about her appealed to you. What would make our prime try hymania and turn gabcha?”

  She didn’t understand what those two words meant, but they couldn’t be good, and from his inflection and how he directed his hatred at her with hymania and at Leo with gabcha, they were directed insults. She didn’t dare take her eyes off her attacker. At the moment, he stood out of reach of her knee, and she didn’t have good enough footing in the shower to try and fend him off. If his hand slipped to her neck, or worse, breast, Leonidas would lose what little control of his temper he seemed to have.

  “Step out of the shower to me, moró mou,” Leonidas demanded.

  As soon as the hand on her mouth eased, she pressed her body as close to the wall as she could and moved out of the walk-in shower. Leonidas gripped her arm, forcing her behind him and into the waiting embrace of Cosima.

  “Maybe you should have come in,” Kalista murmured.

  “I doubt your privacy will be an option anymore.” Cosima wrapped a bathrobe around her wet body. “You don’t want to watch this.”

  Kalista returned to what she now thought of as her safe room, dressed and dried her hair, and settled in to wait for Leo to return. She didn’t think she could ever set foot in the Marble Room again. Through the closed door she could hear him slam the door to the other room. “Someone want to tell me how the hell that man, a man who was banished five years ago, got on the island?”

  “Alpha, we are working on the answer now.”

  “I want it in an hour.”

  “Leo, you can’t…” Cosima protested.

  “Why did you leave her alone?”

  Kalista would be damned if Leo yelled at someone who did as she asked. Yanking the door open, she yelled, “Leo, stop it’s not their fault.”

  “I beg to differ.”

  “I told her not to come in, and if you think for a second I blame her. I don’t.”

  “Not now, Kalista.”

  “Hmmmm.” She slammed the door. She was damn well done with the craziness encompassing her life. Once off this insane island, the urge to be with Leonidas would fade, and she could go back to normal. Normal did not include an island populated by gorgeous people. It also didn’t include the shit she had dealt with in the last twelve hours. Things had gone from sweep-her-off-her-feet to take-a-swipe-at-her too quickly.

  Dressed in the clothes she arrived in, she grabbed her bag. She had, in her estimation, twenty minutes before the next boat arrived, and she would be on it. On her trip over, nerves getting the best of her, she’d talked up the captain. Through the thick Greek accent, she managed to get out of the man that the boats ran on a normal schedule of every four hours from eight in the morning to eight at night. She opened the door and strolled past the group arguing in the hallway. They didn’t stop their discussion as she headed for freedom. Good, then they wouldn’t stop her, either. As she reached the end of the hall, her escape came to an end.

  “Are you leaving?”

  Closing her eyes and cursing under her breath, Kalista tried to dodge past the teen but found Leonidas holding her back. He rested a hand on her shoulder. “Where are you going?”

  “I don’t belong here. This, none of this is me. I don’t belong here.”

  “You’re repeating yourself,” Helena said in a shrill voice. “Leo, do something.”

  “Kalista?” His eyes searched her face. “Stay please.”

  “In the last twelve hours, someone has tried to kill me. That man tried to—”

  “Don’t say it,” Leonidas growled.

  “Tried to attack me.” She diverted because she didn’t believe the other man meant to rape her even if Leonidas thought the intentions were that devious. “And if what you say is true, someone also tried to do serious bodily harm with those broken glasses. Why would I stay around to see what they have planned for me next?”

  “Me,” Leo whispered so softly she didn’t think she had heard him until he repeated, “Stay for me.”

  “You overwhelm me, and I don’t do well with you telling me what to do.”

  “For god’s sake, how do you think I felt seeing him in the shower with you?”

  “Angry.” She had witnessed the fury.

  “I was awakened first by the level of your frustration.” He opened his eyes wide, daring her to ask what he meant. She offered a blush in response. “I tried to block it out. Because we talked about me getting some sleep. But then, your fear, no, terror, washed over me like a wave.”

  “I remember. I was there.”

  “Give him another chance,” Cosima said.

  “Why is it so important to you all? There is an island of women here for him to choose from. Why me?” How many times could she ask the same question, get the same answer, and still not believe it. One more, at the very least.

  “Because they are not you.” He cupped her face. “No one could ever be you.”

  “Would everyone please leave?” If they continued to smother her she would run.

  Leonidas shooed everyone away, laced his fingers with hers, and guided her back to the chaise lounge in the corner of his room. “Sit, please.”

  “As long as you don’t stand over me.”

  A slight smile lifted his lips. He sat and urged her down beside him. “Better?”

  “Yes.”

 
“If you need me to say it a hundred times a day, I will. I want you, only you.”

  “I don’t mean to question, but it’s too fast for me.” She swallowed hard.

  “And you think space between us will change how we’re feeling? I promise you, it will make it worse.”

  “It’s all too much, too intense, and I can’t stay somewhere I don’t feel safe.”

  “I’ll never forgive myself.”

  She put her head in her hands. “Maybe I should go home and come back after all your guests are gone.”

  When she glanced up from her palms, she found him staring out the open balcony doors. He remained so quiet she feared he wouldn’t say anything. “If that is what you want, I won’t stop you.”

  His decision to let her go nearly gave her whiplash. “You won’t?”

  “You think I’d force you to stay because I want you here?”

  “I don’t know what you want.”

  “Yes, you do. I want you.” His anger hit her in the chest, even if his voice never changed. “I have not hidden my desire.”

  “I don’t feel safe here.”

  “And you think leaving will suddenly remove the danger I’ve brought to your life? You think those who are opposed to your place at my side are going to be deterred because you remove yourself from the island?”

  “Well, yes.”

  “It doesn’t work like that.”

  His anger came off him in waves. She couldn’t stand the hurt she inflicted. And, under the anger, lay pain. Unable to stay seated and have him across the room, she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. “What are we supposed to do?”

  “This decision is completely in your hands.” He remained statue still. “If you plan to leave, the boat has arrived. You have ten minutes until it heads back to the mainland. But if you need more time, I can call down and hold it.”

  She gazed over his shoulder at the dock. Did she want to be on the boat? No. Did she believe it was the safest place for her? She did. “I’ll stay.”

  He spun so fast, her feet came off the floor. “Thank the gods.”

  He laid her on the bed, and she clung to him as he moved away. “Not this time. You can’t leave me again.”

  “Only to remove your clothes. Neither of us is leaving this bed again until I have made you mine, and you are no longer a virgin.”

  “Thank god.”

  She didn’t know if he removed her clothes or she did as they tore at each other with fierce determination. Once naked, she moved to the center of the bed, he climbed in and over her. He laid a series of kisses over her skin; first her hip then over her belly button. He moved upward to her breasts where he gave each the attention she craved. First, he suckled one while kneading the other, bringing her to heights of frustration. She arched her spine, needing him closer. Touching wasn’t close enough. “Please.”

  She curved toward him, pressing her center against his cock. Heat infused her like it had the evening before, she reached between them, determined to have him inside her. His large hand wrapped around hers, forcing her to pause. “You are going to hurt yourself.”

  “Don’t care.”

  “You will when I tear you apart. If you don’t slow down I’ll have to bind you.”

  “Sounds kinky.”

  His hand gripped her hips and pressed them deep into the bed. “Stop, Kali. Look at me.”

  The intensity of his voice cut through the haze. Tears pooled in her eyes. Frustrated and unable to fight this hunger, she sobbed. “Please, I can’t breathe without you.”

  “Shhh, moró mou, deep breath and— Ah hell.” He kissed her deeply. The hand on her hip eased over to her ass, lifting her up. A second later he entered her. Her breath hitched at the first invasion of his cock into her body. “You have to relax.”

  Relax? How did one do that when she was being impaled? She couldn’t remember why she wanted this as badly as she had. She would have pulled away, but his hand held her in place, giving her time to adjust to him. A few soft kisses caressing her neck stoked the flame again. His tongue brought back the fires. As he took her mouth again, he plunged deep into her. Pain erupted through her when he tore her maidenhead. He froze above her. The kiss softened as he brushed hairs from her face and tears from her cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

  She gripped his biceps. She waited for the pain to disappear and the desire to move to come. After all, it was how all the romance books portrayed losing virginity. The pain would pass and the passion would become overwhelming.

  The pain might be easing, but a strange pressure remained, discomfort at being full and invaded. She didn’t dare move for fear of what it might bring. Taking deep, centering breaths, she peeked to find his face a few inches from hers, his eyes shut tight, teeth gritted, and every muscle in his body clenched. Sweat beaded on his brow. Releasing her hold on his arm, she brushed the hard stress lines on his forehead.

  His lids opened, and the gold orbs glowed bright down at her. “Do you need to stop?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “You say the word, and I’ll stop.”

  “Slow.”

  “Slow.” He spoke the word as if he’d never heard it before.

  They couldn’t remain here in the state of limbo forever. Tentatively, she lifted her hips. He hissed and something new sparked. A primal need to own him. Digging her heels into the mattress, she drove him deeper then repeated the experiment until the strokes no longer seemed foreign but a part of her and something she wanted more of. Reaching down, she gripped his ass and encouraged him to meet her.

  “Once I move, I won’t be able to hold back.” Sweat broke out on his brow anew, evidence to the effort he used to retrain himself.

  Easing back on his heels, his cock still within her, he rubbed her clit. First slow and light then, as if reading her needs, he increased the pressure and speed. Unable to tilt her hips with his weight bearing down on her, she arched her back, needing more, wanting to feel the explosion of pleasure he had given her the evening before. “Leo.”

  “Look at me.”

  “No.” She grabbed for a pillow to muffle her moans and hide her face. The evening before had been dark, now he could see all of her.

  “Don’t hide from me.” His voice deepened and mesmerized. “Look at me.”

  She tossed the pillow aside, and the moment their gazes met, she exploded, her body seized and convulsed. As she reached the heights of ecstasy, he plunged into her. With one hand under her thigh, he opened her wide and started to pump into her. With every stroke, his pace picked up. She held on to ride out the wave. With a guttural growl, he pressed forward, and then he roared.

  He collapsed, rolling to the side and pulling her with him. “Are you all right?”

  “I think so.” She didn’t think she could stand under her own power. Her legs felt like Jell-O, and something fundamental had changed within her. Not simply the breaking of her hymen. Together, they had become more. She didn’t have words to describe it.

  He kissed her forehead. “Give me a moment to get my energy back, and I’ll clean you up.”

  Her thighs, sticky with the mixture of her blood and his seed, trembled at images of his hands on her. “I think it’s more than a little cleanup.”

  Horror crossed his face.

  Her attention moved down to the white comforter marred by a large crimson stain. “Oh no.”

  He jumped to his feet, lifting her into his arms, and pushed into the en suite. Leonidas sat her on the edge of the tub and turned the faucets. Once satisfied with the temperature of the water, he grabbed a washcloth, placed it under the water, and squeezed out the excess water then squatted before her. “Open your thighs, agapitós. I need to clean you up.”

  “No.” If she raised her eyes to the mirror, her face would be the color of the blood drying on her thighs. She reached for the cloth, but he moved it out of reach. “I can clean myself.”

  “It is my responsibility. My right to take care of my queen.” He li
fted his lips to hers and eased the washcloth between her legs. “Let me take care of you.”

  As the warm cloth made contact with the sensitive flesh, she flinched. He growled. “How do you make those sounds?” she asked.

  “Talented, I guess. Does it bother you?”

  “No, it’s sort of sexy.”

  A few minutes later, he threw the cloth into a basket. With great relief, she stepped into the tub, sinking down until submerged to her chin.

  “Be right back.”

  The water soothed her aches and, when he returned and eased in behind her, she closed her eyes and laid her head against his chest. “I could sleep for a week. Is that normal?”

  “What is normal? If you want to sleep, then it will be our normal.”

  “What about you? Are you sleepy?”

  “I am, a mix of exhaustion and wanting more.” As if on cue, his cock twitched against her bottom.

  “Again.”

  “Don’t worry. It will be a few days before you’ll be able to do anything.” He brushed a wet strand of hair off her shoulder. “You need time to heal.”

  She sat straight up. “I’m not on the pill.”

  “I figured.”

  She turned around, and water splashed out of the tub. “But you came inside of me.”

  “I didn’t make you pregnant.”

  “You can’t know for sure?”

  “I do.”

  “Do you know how high-handed you sound?” She eased back against him. “No baby in our family has ever been born under Aries.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “All babies are born under the Leo sign. If you got pregnant tonight, the baby would be born under Aries.”

  “I’m an Aries.”

  “Yes, well, no one is perfect.” He kissed the top of her head.

  “You are.” Stifling a yawn, she closed her eyes. “Mental.”

  “Come on, out you go.”

  She didn’t argue. Sudden exhaustion washed over her as he lifted her from the tub. In the bedroom, he dried them both off before tucking her into bed. The stained bedding had been replaced with fresh sheets. “Who changed the sheets?”

  “I did. I didn’t think you would appreciate me inviting housekeeping in to take care of it.” He pulled the drapes to darken the room and climbed in next to her. “Besides, it’s a trivial task that needed to be done.”