The Lion’s Forbidden Mate

“More than ever.”

“Me too,” he confessed.

She looked at him and knew that if there was one thing she wanted right now, it would be to lean across the table and to kiss him. There is sort of a frantic moment between people when they first meet and they’re attracted to each other and she felt that right now. She felt it inside of her and she knew there was something that deeply wanted him and hungered for him. It was a sort of frantic excitement inside of her, the sort of lingering childhood excitement of having someone interested in you. She felt like a schoolgirl out on the playground for the first time in ages. She smiled at him and she felt like she was getting the chance of a lifetime.

She didn’t remember at what point she thought that leaning across the table and kissing him was a good idea, but she did. She was stopped halfway by the same thought that had entered into his mind as well. Their kiss was a lingering thing, the kind of potent spark that brought life into the darkness and she found that her fears and worries were suddenly evaporated in that kiss. She couldn’t explain why they thought it was a good idea or that it was a necessary idea, but when she kissed him, she knew that there was nothing more she wanted in the world than to keep kissing him, to keep her soft lips pressed against his warm, caring lips. They felt like a pleasing caress and a welcome that she didn’t know that she needed.

She found his kiss to be the kind of reminder she needed in her life that things were okay and that she was capable of excitement and danger just like the rest of the world. She took a deep breath, pulling away from him and lingering just a few inches away from him, wondering if she was making a huge mistake right now or if she was going to be okay.

It didn’t matter in the end. She knew that life was short and she had to do what she wanted. She had to be willing to take the plunge and dive right in when it meant that she was going to have a release and an experience that she wanted. She was finally feeling like she was in control of her life. She was going out on a limb and doing something dangerous. She didn’t know anything about this man and she didn’t know who he was, but she was more than willing to try and do something new, something exciting that she had never experienced before. She loved the feeling of his lips on hers and as she kissed him again, she knew that she wanted to slip down the rabbit hole of James’ life. She wanted to know him in a way that she knew no one else.

Sure, it was spontaneous, it was dangerous, and the feelings were childish, but she didn’t care. By the time they were up from their seats and she was hauling the box of notes and materials that Ben had left her, she was laughing and more than excited to get everything back to her room. She unlocked the door and showed him into the room that she was calling home for a little while longer. She dropped her box off at the desk and turned around to look at him.

James was the kind of handsome that made her ache, the kind of manly beauty that she didn’t think was real in the world, but she was getting treated to everything she wanted. She was going to be doing things for her family for the rest of her life, it was time for her to actually enjoy her own life. She wasn’t afraid to do so and she wasn’t afraid to demand as much for this one moment. She would get to finding a husband and finding a political alliance that her pack needed later. But tonight, she was going to enjoy everything she could for herself.

“Cozy,” he said, looking around the hotel room with a smile on his lips, no, it was more like a smirk. She liked the look on his face – it was the face that made her feel warm. “Sorry if this is going too fast,” he said to her with a shrug. “We can slow it down if you’d like.”