Free Freakn' Cougar by Eve Langlais

two days thinking about her. Fantasizing about what he’d do the next time he got her alone. Picturing her bent over. Atop him. Under him. How she’d feel and taste. How she’d sound when she came. How she’d smile and …
    … pretend as if nothing ever happened between them when she did finally fetch him from his confinement.
    When the slot in the door slid open, her scent immediately wafted through, and he couldn’t help a spurt of adrenalized anticipation. His initial jolt of joy died a quick death when she curtly demanded, “Please turn around and place your hands through the hole for cuffing.”
    The indifference in her tone irked him. “What? No hello? How have I been?”
    “I’m not here to socialize.”
    Someone didn’t sound happy. That made two of them. “And I’m not here because I enjoy staring at four walls,” he snapped.
    A heavy sigh left her. “Sorry. It’s been a rough few days. Hello, Ricky.” Oh, how grudgingly she said it.
    “Everything okay?”
    “Yes. I’m just frustrated by our lack of progress. It doesn’t help that I’m dealing with a-holes every day.”
    “Anybody I need to talk to?” If any of the prisoners needed an attitude re-adjustment, he was more than happy to help. No one messed with his woman.
    “Nothing I can’t handle and nothing pertinent to our case. Now that we’ve exchanged pleasantries, can you please place your hands outside the hole for cuffing? You do know there is a camera watching along this hall. I’d rather not have to explain why it took me so long to get you to listen. They already think I’m less than fit for the job because I’m a woman.”
    He slid his hands through the narrow opening in the door and felt the familiar cold metal snapped around his wrists. “If only they knew you could kick their ass.”
    “I’ve been tempted to show them,” she admitted on a wry note.
    Manacled, he withdrew his hands from the slot and took a few steps away from the door. He knew the drill. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d forgotten about me.”
    “The warden took a bit longer to convince than expected, or so your cousin’s wife said.”
    “I was expecting you to visit me.”
    “I couldn’t get away without causing suspicion.”
    Lie. Ricky could spot it, but he didn’t call her on it. Apparently, his cougar seemed determined to try and ignore what had happened between them. The door creaked open, and he turned to see her looking as tempting as usual. The baton she held in a ready-to-strike position didn’t faze him a bit. Tough was a good look for her. “I missed you.”
    She ignored his admission and did her damnedest to keep her gaze from meeting his. “Nothing weird to report?”
    “I didn’t see or scent another soul, other than the guards who fed me. I was bored out of my freaking skull so much that I entertained myself by catching a few rats.”
    Her lips twitched. “You’re kidding?”
    “I wish. I swear my kitty is trying to fatten me up.”
    She made a gagging noise. “Oh please tell me you didn’t.”
    At her appalled expression, he burst out laughing. “Of course I didn’t eat them. Once I caught them, I gave them to the guard when I passed back my food tray. You should have heard the one squeal like a pig.”
    Her lips twitched. “Let me guess, the fat one?”
    “Seems he has a phobia.”
    “That was naughty.”
    “Very naughty. What can I say. I am a bad, bad boy.” Ricky took a step toward her, and she shied away. He took another, and she practically tripped over her own feet to keep out of reach.
    So this was how she wanted to play? Act as if he possessed the plague? Like hell. Ricky lunged, quick as an adder, but before he could try and pin her to the wall again—and steal another kiss—she sidestepped him and rapped the baton across his hip. Ouch. His cougar had some muscle and knew how to use it.
    “Behave,” she snapped, her irritated tone at odds with the rapid racing of her pulse.
    “What if I don’t