Free The Outlaw Stakes His Claim by Jenika Snow Page A

of his dark shirt.
    “Do you feel that, Hope?” His voice was low, but
there was a distinct animal quality to it.
    Hope knew at that moment that she wasn’t just
talking to the human side of Dallas, but to his bear, too. That should have
frightened her, because although the world was made up of shifters and humans
alike, she had never actually seen this kind of transformation before, had
never been this close to one, and certainly had never desired one like she did Dallas.
Her town had been small and closed minded, and the few shifters that she had
seen had only been passing through.
    “Feel what?” She had spoken aloud, but those words
had been so soft and breathy that she grew embarrassed by how needy she
sounded. Oh, she had felt it, but actually telling Dallas that was a lot harder
than it should have been.
    He placed his other hand over hers, so now hers was
sandwiched between his huge ones, and just stared at her. “You feel it, Hope.”
    God, she liked when he said her name. He leaned
forward even further until she smelled the mint flavor that laced his breath,
the leather that he wore, and the sweet, slight aroma of what she knew was
marijuana. All of those scents shouldn’t have been arousing, but together that
filled her nose, invaded her head, and had her embarrassingly and uncomfortably
wet.
    “Yeah, you feel it, too.” He closed his eyes, and
his nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply. “I can smell you, Hope.” When he
opened them again his pupils had completely taken up all of the green of his
eyes.
    “This is insane.” It was like there wasn’t anyone
else in the diner besides them.
    “Yeah, it really fucking is.” He growled out the
words.
    “Are you guys okay? You need anything?”
    Hope blinked back this haze that had covered her vision,
and turned to look at the waitress. The little nametag pinned right over her
huge boob said Ashley. “We’re good.” Hope cleared her throat and took her hand
away and placed both of them in her lap. Once they were alone once again she
forced herself to relax. The way she felt may not be what she had ever
experienced, but that didn’t mean she had to let it make things even more
uncomfortable. Dallas was still staring at her, but the way he looked at her
was a combination of desire and something else … annoyance maybe.
    He sighed, scrubbed a hand over his face, and shook
his head. “You really don’t want to get involved with a guy like me, Hope.” The
way he sound was almost like he was trying to convince himself of that instead
of her.
    She glanced down at her lap and let his words play
through her head. Maybe he was right, but that wasn’t his point to make. Hope
was sick of people trying to tell her what was good for her, or what she should stay away from. Sure, they had just met, and sure there was
this darkness inside of him that he couldn’t hide because she saw it plain as
day. But he was hot and then cold, acting like he wanted this the same as she
did, but then telling her he was not someone she should get involved with.
    “You don’t know me, and I don’t know you.”
    He was leaning back against his chair, watching her,
but not saying anything. Good .
    “You asked me if I felt something when we touched.”
She held his gaze with her own. “And you’re right, I do feel something, did
when we first met.” She swallowed the lump in her throat that threatened to stop
her from talking. “This town is new to me, and these feelings are, too, but I’m
trying to start my life over, Dallas.”
    He sat there, still looking unaffected, but she saw
the way he had his hands tightened into fists.
    “I can see there is this pain inside of you. I have
my own kind of pain, and although it may not be the same kind you deal with, I
still know what it feels like.” He didn’t respond right away after she spoke,
but she hadn’t said it to garner a response. “What I do know is I’d like to
spend time with you.” This was probably the most