Free Impulse by Dannika Dark

down and paced straight ahead, disappearing behind shower wall made of brown stones. The hot water squeaked on. I watched him with timid eyes when he knelt down before me and tucked his fingers inside of my jeans with the intent of removing them.
    “Wait,” I said, catching his hand.
    Logan lifted his eyes to mine and pulled hard enough that the button popped off and rolled across the floor. There was nothing gentlemanly about his touch. He handled me in a familiar way—like a man who had full rights to a woman.
    First my shoes, then socks, and finally he stripped away my jeans and tossed them into a wastebasket.
    My heart galloped with uncertainty.
    Goose bumps skimmed over my arms when he pulled off my thin shirt. When his hands reached around to unlatch my bra, I realized that Logan was about to strip me down without so much as a kiss. This wasn’t romance—this was clinical. When his fingers pulled the straps of my bra, I crossed my arms and glared at his shoes.
    Logan lifted my chin with the crook of his finger. “I don’t expect you to understand my actions, but I will not have another male’s scent on my female.”
    My heart slowed down, submitting to the power behind his words. Logan tilted his head to the side, looking at me with the same predatory eyes as the night we met.
    “Another male has violated you with his scent, and I’m going to remove these dirty clothes from your body. I intend to wash you clean,” he said in a voice so caged that it was as if an animal was prowling behind his words.
    “Logan, I can’t just get naked in front of a man unless… unless it’s for the right reasons.”
    I was scared. Plain and simple. I could barely read the intentions of a human man, let alone a Chitah who was led by impulse, and the possessive look in his eyes made me hesitate.
    He extended his long arm, cupped the back of my neck, and coaxed me forward.
    “Let me make something clear. I’m drunk with your scent and when I’m near you, I find it difficult to control my instincts.” His eyes slowly closed as if he were regaining control. “My body is hungry for you, Mage. Your kiss replenishes all the energy spent in restraining myself from advancing on you. It quenches my thirst and leaves me hungry for more.” The black rim around his eyes swelled as if an internal battle raged. “I have no intention of taking you tonight, but my hands will be all over your body.”
    “But your eyes will not. That’s my condition,” I said. “This is embarrassing. Do you think that I can parade myself in front of a man so easily—one I haven’t been intimate with? Then you don’t know me; I don’t care what kind of women you normally date.”
    His heated gaze soaked in every conceivable inch of my body and he stepped back, admiring the view with a lingering pause.
    My jaw clenched. “What are you doing, Mr. Cross?”
    I’d never been appraised like that before, and his eyes devoured me. He sensed my intent to leave and stepped in front of the door, removing his hair from the band that tied it at the nape of his neck.
    “Undressing the rest of you with my eyes, Miss Silver,” he confessed with a throaty growl.
    Logan licked the corner of his mouth, savoring the last crumbs of visual temptation before he reached out and flipped off the light.
    “Problem solved,” he murmured darkly.
    I jumped when his fingers grazed across my stomach and slid down, hooking at the hem of my panties. He slowly pulled them to my ankles and I reached for his shoulders to balance myself as I stepped out of them.
    Bare shoulders, but he kept his pants and shoes on. I had never felt more exposed than I did standing naked in the dark in front of Logan.
    “Go wait outside; I can do this by myself,” I insisted.
    When he leaned in, his breath caressed my neck. “Not up for debate.”
    “We’re going to trip and kill ourselves,” I argued. “It’s slippery in there and—”
    “You’re right,” he said, mouth sliding