Free Mail Order Tiger Bride Wars: A Scorchingly Hot BBW Shifter Romance by Dawn Steele

confused.
    “Don’t worry,” he said with a straight face. “I’ll make sure you don’t trip.”
    “Technically, I’m not sure how anyone can make sure I don’t trip unless they put me in a harness. And that would be embarrassing because I would be, like, a horse.”
    “ Sssh, trust me, OK? Ellen?”
    He put a finger to her lips. The gesture was so intimate – the most intimate he had ever been with her – that she was shell-shocked. He removed the finger, but the feel of it was still imprinted upon her lips.
    She looked into his sparkling brown eyes, and felt warm all over, right down to her toes.

18
     
    Nevertheless, she got her sturdy boots and her Maglite flashlight and her water flask, which she put in a backpack. When Cole saw her, he was thunderstruck.
    “I don’t think we’re going on a siege here,” he drawled.
    “You never know if we trip and get stuck in a bear cave,” she said sheepishly.
    He grinned. “ There are no bears here, but come on.”
    They trekked through the jungle. It was dark, as she knew it would be , and so she shone the flashlight in front of her like a waving beacon. The air was redolent with freshness and moist leafy smells. Crickets chirped in the undergrowth, and small animals scuttled here and there, above and below, causing twigs and leaves to rustle.
    T his wasn’t the type of woods she was used to. This was a serious tropical jungle – the kind with snakes and dangerous beasts and even more dangerous insects. The trees here were very dense, and she was convinced that eyes watched her from everywhere, waiting for the moment to strike.
    “You’re a real city girl, aren’t you?”
    She almost tripped over a root, but he caught her and steadied her. His hand was very warm, and she held on to it for a tad longer than she was expected to.
    “Do you want me to hold your hand while we walk?” he asked. She could catch the tone of sly amusement in his voice.
    As much as she wanted him to hold her hand, she puffed up her chest and said, “No, I’m fine, thank you.”
    “Great.” He let go of her hand.
    She immediately regretted her rashness.
    They walked for about twenty minutes into the jungle before he stopped. He raised his head in the air.
    “Why? What’s the matter?” she whispered. “Do you sense an elephant coming?”
    “There are no elephants in this area. I’m just making sure we’re as far away from camp and other humans as possible.”
    “Why?”
    A frisson of anticipation ran down her spine. (Or was it a spider?)
    He faced her. “ You’re too removed from your roots and it’s time you return to them. Now don’t be alarmed. I’m going to take off my clothes.”
    She was stunned.
    Um, did he know she was a virgin? (Well, half-virgin.) Did he mean that she was too removed from her procreative roots?
    He started to take off his clothes. Off came his shoes and socks, and then his T-shirt and jeans. She was too transfixed by all this to realize that her flashlight was shining directly on every inch of his lean and trim body. His arms were well-defined and huge, thanks to his years of shoveling dirt in digs like this one. His chest was muscled with just a sprinkling of light-colored hair on it.
    And his cock. Her mouth went dry. Of course, she had seen him naked before in the shower, but the sight of his cock still made her throat congeal. It was semi-erect, and the thatch of pubic hair above it clearly accentuated its thick rod. She couldn’t take her eyes off it. What did it mean? That he was excited? Semi-excited?
    Uh, why was he taking his clothes off again?
    He said, “I’m going to transform. Don’t be frightened. I won’t hurt you.”
    She blinked .
    “Transform?”
    Suddenly, all she could think of was ‘The Transformers’.
    H e shrank and crouched on all fours. Then it dawned upon her what he was doing. Of course! Somewhere in her distant past, she had done this before. His bones completely reformed themselves. His face elongated and