Free A Cougar's Claim (Charmed in Vegas Book 7) by Jennifer James, Michelle Fox Page B

good it’s going to feel.
    “Just thinking about how much fun it’ll be when you pay me back.” Brushing a heavy lock of hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear, he drifted his fingers over the soft skin of her neck, pressing in a tiny bit when he reached the purple bruise he’d made with his mouth.
    She shivered. “Right. Let me guess, it all involves sex, right? Not going to happen. You had your hands and tongue and fangs all over me today and that’s the last time you’ll be anywhere near my mouth or my neck. I saw the marks you left. I have shows scheduled this week. I can’t go onstage with hickeys and bite marks all over me. One or two I can probably cover, but I can’t go onstage looking like a leopard, all covered in spots.” She rummaged in her duffle bag, growing increasingly agitated.
    “I’ll make sure that any marks will be covered by your costume.” That was fine. Lots of other places he’d love to put his lips and especially his teeth and tongue.
    He wanted to ask her about the money she owed to the mob boss, but since the information had come from Inila, he figured bringing it up now would only drive a larger wedge between them. Rhiannon needed to offer that information to him freely.
    “Any idea on where Jase is? I don’t know where else to look for him. I’m at a dead end.” Rhiannon dropped the bag to the ground and knelt, tossing items to the sidewalk. “I still have to go to work. I need the money. You going to pay all my bills and stock my fridge? Plus, people bought tickets. Some of them are here on vacation. I can’t disappoint them.”
    Kit crouched next to her. What should he say? That if she danced without their mate bond completed he might lose control of his beast and bend her over right there on the stage? That yes, he would pay her bills and feed her? That he didn’t care about tourists? She’d be even more angry with him than she was now. “What are you looking for?”
    “My taser. I have another cartridge for it at home. I was hoping it’d dry out enough that I could use it again without having to buy a new one. Although...that was salt water, wasn’t it?” She groaned, rummaging around until she plucked up a located a water logged cell phone. She pressed buttons, trying to turn the device on to no avail. “Fuck my life. Why? I never get a damn break.”
    A sodden purple bra bedecked with rhinestones and other sparkly shit landed on his shoe.
    The spots where the electrodes had embedded in his back itched. “Why do you need a taser to begin with?”
    She rolled her eyes and stared at him from under her brows. “Are you kidding me right now? I’m a burlesque dancer. A pretty damn well known one. I live alone. There are men who think that because I dance onstage in tiny outfits that I’m.... Look, do the math, okay? Crazy people, lots of alcohol and drugs, rape culture, and I’m a human woman. I need an advantage and I didn’t want something lethal like a gun.”
    “Why the hell are you putting yourself in such a dangerous situation? If you’re going to keep dancing, you at least need a bodyguard.” He wanted to order her to stop dancing. To not put herself in danger of being raped or assaulted or fucking kidnapped. Possessiveness had never been a personality trait Kit felt kosher with, but this was his mate. “You can’t keep doing shows if this is the kind of danger you’re in. You’ve got to find another line of work.”
    “Riiight. What planet did you just arrive from again? Because here on Earth, in Las Vegas, I’m Cat Nip, bad ass, sexy, self-supporting, burlesque dancer who despite all I’ve accomplished can’t shell out hundreds of dollars an hour for a babysitter to protect me from the crazies. A grown woman who has worked her ass off for years cultivating an audience and crafting a show I can be proud of.” She shoved items back in the bag, every movement rushed and choppy. “Who do you think pays my bills? And what else do