Free Bite Me (Woodland Creek) by Woodland Creek, Mandy Rosko Page A

were parted, and Jake barely held back a groan, because it had been so long since he had her this close.
    He was holding her, gripping her really tightly by the arms. He might even be bruising her, but all he could see was her mouth.
    He leaned in and kissed her, taking advantage of her parted lips. Talking was overrated.

  

     
     
     
    It took Alice’s brain a couple of long seconds to catch up with what that burning sensation on her mouth was. The taste of Jake’s tongue in her mouth, which was exactly the same as she remembered it, thanks to the fact that he still drank his coffee the way he had nearly ten years ago—with lots of sugar—made her head swim.
    Alice felt like she was eight feet under water. Everything was quiet. There were no noises, not even the sound of the wind or the police cruiser she knew was still not far away. Just them.
    Just like in every romance novel, comic, manga, or movie she’d ever read or seen since they’d parted ways.
    Yeah, she read manga. For artistic purposes, of course.
    Alice wanted to lose herself in everything that was happening, but at the same time, she wanted to catalogue everything. Ten years ago, she’d lost herself in his kisses, in the way his hands touched her when he made love to her, and in the way his tongue had dipped into her belly button, and when she thought he’d died from the gunshot, a gunshot that should have been hers had he not jumped in the way, she’d wished more than anything that she had catalogued those feelings.
    She’d wished that she kept better track of just how much his touches had made her burn up inside, because once he was out of her life, once she thought he was dead and gone forever, she’d wanted nothing more than to relive each and every one of those sensations.
    She tried; she really did, but she was being swept away in it. Jake’s fingers on her cheek and chin gently pushed her head to tilt back, giving him even better access than he had before. She moaned and completely lost herself in the warm slide of his tongue inside her mouth.
    It felt like he was tracing small letters in there as he licked her deep. He’d always been so damned good at this. No other man she’d kissed had ever felt like this. Alice thought she’d found one or two who could compare over the years, but now that she had Jake again, she knew there was no comparing this. Apples to oranges, or something like that. She couldn’t think properly at that moment.
    When he pulled back from her, but still kept so close that their noses were almost touching and his hands were still on her face, it felt like she’d finally come up for air from that eight-foot deep pool she’d sunk into. Her entire body was warm, and it took her a second to realize what that horrible feeling was in her gut.
    She was terrified this wasn’t what she thought it meant.
    Jake’s head moved a little farther back, and his hands slipped away from her face and throat. “You’re… Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
    “What?”
    Alice took stock of herself and realized she was trembling. It was all the pent-up nerves inside of her that wanted out, but Jake had probably taken one look at that and thought he’d scared her or something.
    Her hands struck out faster than a cobra, and that was saying a lot, considering Jake was a snake shifter. Alice grabbed onto his brown leather jacket and held on tight. She was probably ruining it, but she couldn’t let him go. “No, I’m not…you didn’t scare me. Not really.”
    “You’re not scared then?”
    “I mean, I am, but…” She couldn’t look at him. This was too much. It was almost too much for her to handle, and the only way she could keep on talking was if she stared down at both of their feet.
    They were almost toe-to-toe. Why hadn’t she remembered how big his feet were?
    “I’m fucking petrified,” she admitted. “But not because you kissed me at a bad time.”
    She could feel the way he stared at her, waiting for a