Only yesterday, he’d offered to buy Vika new jewelry. She’d convinced herself the offer stemmed from irritation over the heaviness of her bag, and maybe it had, but what if it had also stemmed from a desire to please her?
Hands trembling, she smoothed numbing cream over the feline’s injuries and wrapped his leg with a thick white bandage, applying pressure to stop any more bleeding. A final scratch behind the creature’s ear and she stood to walk back into the cabin. Once again X ordered her steps, making her zig and zag and leap.
Inside the cabin, warm air instantly enveloped her. She shucked her coat and carried the basket of supplies to the bedroom, desperate to see Solo again. He had begun to stir. He’d kicked the covers from the bed, leaving his body bare. He was on his stomach, his back to her. His luscious, luscious back. He was all bronzed skin and chiseled muscle, his bottom tight, his legs . . . injured, just like the tiger’s.
Concerned, Vika rushed to his side.
All right, then. This is where I say good-bye, X said, and vanished.
The wolves had bitten Solo, she recalled, and the teeth marks were still there, still leaking. She set the basket down and withdrew the only remaining clean rag.
The moment the fabric brushed against his skin, he jerked around, arm swiping out, his claws elongating—but he caught sight of her and stopped the momentum just in time.
The claws retracted, and Solo moaned, as though in pain. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
“My fault,” she said, and there wasn’t a single beat of fear inside her. That’s how much she trusted him. “My babies used to react the same way when anyone roused them from sleep. I knew better.” Smiling softly, she gave his warm chest a little push. “Lie back. You promised I would get to tend you when we reached the cabin. Well, happy news. We’ve reached the cabin.”
As strong as he was, the action forced him to do nothing. Still, he fell backward, the pillows plumping around him. He watched her as she doctored him, silent. When she finished, she traced her fingertip along one of his toenails.
“So pretty,” she said. “Like diamonds.”
“I want you again, Vika.”
He was totally and completely naked. “I realize that, Solo,” she said with a grin.
Their gazes met, and she suspected the same fire that crackled in his also crackled in her own.
“Do you want me?” he asked.
“More than anything.”
“Then have me.”
She did. Oh, she did.
• • •
Vika propped herself up on one elbow and peered down at Solo. He met her gaze through heavy-lidded eyes. His hair was in complete disarray, the dark strands sticking out in spikes. The strong bones of his face were overlaid with skin flushed from the intense pleasure they had shared. His lips were soft and red from her kisses, a little swollen.
He was breathtaking.
“I think I liked that time better than the first,” she announced.
“You’ll like the third time even better,” he promised.
She laughed with delight. “So, when we get to your farm, are you going to let me feed the animals? Can that be one of my chores?”
A pause. A hesitant “You’ve decided to stay with me?”
“For now,” she said, thinking, forever. But she wouldn’t tell him that part. Not yet. Not until she was certain he wanted her in his life that long.
“That’s good.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “But I have to tell you something, Vika. You might change your mind.”
Her stomach bottomed out. In a single blink of time, he had gone from playful and aroused to serious and grim. “What is it?”
He looked away from her. “I don’t want to lie to you, want to give you full disclosure even though I told myself I’d keep this a secret, and I know I should have told you before you ran off with me. But I’m a smart man—really smart—and now it’s too late for you to ditch me, so this was the wisest path and I’m not sorry.”
O-kay, she’d never seen him this uncomfortable. And she’d seen him stripped and fondled by strangers! “Just tell me.”
His fingers tangled in his hair. “You’re not going to like it.”
“Well, you’re just gonna have to use your man parts and do it!”
He stilled, his lips twitching. “My man parts? Do you mean my balls?”
Heat blasted from her cheeks. “Maybe.”
“Say it,” he said with a grin. “Say the word. I want to hear it on those candy-apple lips.”
“No! Now stop stalling and—your eyes,” she said with a frown. There was a slight ringing in her ears, annoying and yet wonderful. “Your eyes used to be a light blue, but now they’re a dark purple, like my father’s used to be. Like mine are.” And she could see far more clearly than she’d ever seen before, she realized as she looked around the room.
Before, she’d thought everything was clear. Now she realized how wrong she’d been. This was clear. Dust motes swirled in the air, floating . . . floating . . . and the overhead light provided an undeniable radiance that caused her to tear.
Confused, she eased all the way up. “What’s going on?”
“Your eyes are now a light blue,” he said. “I noticed it a few minutes ago, but I figured it was a trick of the light.”
“My eyes aren’t dark purple?”
“No. They’re blue, like mine used to be.”
So . . . they had changed, both of them. “I don’t understand this.”
“Could we have . . . switched?”
Maybe. “But I’ve never heard of anything like that happening. Not with humans, or even humans dating otherworlders.” The ringing stopped abruptly, and in its place, she heard her own voice. “I can hear,” she said with a gasp. “I can hear!” And oh, her voice was gorgeous! She knew it was wrong to brag, but she couldn’t help herself. Her voice was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard!
“What?” he said, rubbing at his ears. “Say that again.”
Scratch that. His voice was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard. Rough and raspy, dark and masculine, full of power and undeniable vigor, causing her to shiver. “It’s a miracle! My ears are working. Do you have any idea how long I’ve—”
“I can’t hear you,” he interrupted. “I can’t hear anything.”
“What?” she screeched. She could hear, but he couldn’t? No. No, no, no. That would mean they’d done more than switch eyes. They’d switched ears. His perfection for all of her flaws.