Free Danger in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 4) by Sloane Meyers

her plenty of time to back away if she wanted to. But she didn’t back away. Instead, she kept looking at him with those intense eyes of hers.
    “Wyatt,” she said again, her voice full of emotion.
    “Juno,” he answered, his voice deep and husky. And then he covered her mouth with his. As soon as their lips touched, he felt a shock of heat go through him unlike anything he’d felt before. His whole body warmed even more than it did when he was breathing fire. Juno moaned slightly, and melted into his kiss. He slipped his tongue past her lips and let it dance with her tongue, then moved his hands so that his palms were on her cheeks. Her skin was impossibly soft, and he felt a thrill go through him. This right here was heaven. He’d never felt anything like this before, and he didn’t ever want the feeling to end. But moments later, Juno pulled away. Wyatt tried not to appear disappointed, but he looked up at her with questioning eyes.
    “Juno?” he asked.
    “Wyatt, I…I can’t.”
    “Can’t what?” he asked.
    “I can’t get involved with you. There’s too much going on right now. I need to focus on getting a cure for the bear flu. I can’t be distracted by a relationship.”
    “It doesn’t have to be a distraction,” he said. “I’ll help you find a cure however I can. I’m here for you. You don’t have to do this alone.”
    But Juno shook her head no. “It’s just…I don’t know. I have feelings for you, obviously. I’m attracted to you, and I can tell that there’s some sort of connection between us. But I just can’t focus on romance right now. It’s not the right time. Maybe when things settle down.”
    Wyatt bit his lip and tried to hide his disappointment. He wanted to take Juno by the shoulders and shake her, telling her that things weren’t going to settle down anytime soon. The devastation sweeping across the world was too great, even if they came up with a cure for the bear flu tomorrow, it would be a long, long time before things got back to anything that resembled “normal.” But Wyatt could see the determination in Juno’s eyes, and, if he had learned one thing about her over the last several hours, it was that she was the kind of person who was extremely unlikely to change her mind once she got an idea in her head. So he just smiled and nodded.
    “Okay,” he said, pulling back and going to sit in his chair again. “I understand. But just know how much I care for you. I want to get to know you better, and I mean it when I say I want to help you with finding a cure for the bear flu. I’m here for you, whatever you need. And when the time is right, I hope we can revisit these feelings.”
    Juno nodded and looked relieved. “Okay,” she said. “I really appreciate that. Thanks for understanding. It’s not that I don’t like you. It’s just that…” she trailed off again.
    “It’s just that the world is crazy right now,” Wyatt said, finishing her sentence for her. “I know. It’s okay. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself, alright?”
    Juno nodded and started swirling pasta on her fork again. They ate in silence for a few minutes, and then Juno started talking about how much she missed her favorite Chicago restaurants. Wyatt smiled and listened, but on the inside his dragon was clawing at his heart.
    “ Claim her ,” it said.
    Wyatt ignored his inner beast. The timing wasn’t right. He had to have patience, and patience had never been his strong point. But for Juno, he would do his best. He could only hope that, when the dust settled on everything, she would let his dragon fly her off into the sunset.

Chapter Eight
    Juno swore under her breath as she looked over the calculations and formulas on the screen in front of her. She was getting so close to a cure she could feel it, but she couldn’t concentrate this morning. She kept thinking about Wyatt, and how good his lips had felt on her lips. Last night, she had almost wished she hadn’t pulled away.