"And what, pray tell, exactly do you mean by that?" I asked, but I knew the answer. I could hear my voice slightly quivering, and my heart pounding against my ears. Not due to fear, but something I was ashamed to admit.

Hale prowled across the room in a blink of an eye, his hungry look nearly setting me ablaze.

"I mean," he growled, though it wasn't an angry, threatening sound at all, "that I want you, Amara."

The sound of my name on his lips nearly sent me spiraling. ...