The words hung in the steamy air between us like a confession. Maki's golden eyes searched my face with an intensity that made my chest tight. Her rough tongue had just traced the line of my jaw, and every nerve ending in my body was firing warning signals that had nothing to do with danger and everything to do with the naked supernatural cat currently straddling my lap in a bathtub.
"Maki loves Master," she repeated, softer this time. Her hands pressed flat against my chest, feeling the rapid thrum of my heartbeat beneath her palms. The purring in her throat reached a frequency that vibrated through the water.
