Bear in Mind (5 page)

Wyatt was leaning his head on a tree in his backyard. He felt like he was in control, eating their dinner. Everything casual until she stared at him a little too long. He couldn’t help the blood that rushed into his dick. He was hard looking at her and she was staring so intently at him. Then he smelled her. She was wet, and her sweet arousal made man and bear lose it. His bear was roaring so loud that Wyatt didn’t trust his voice. He couldn’t risk her hearing the deepness of his bear coming out if he talked.

He had to get away from her, he ran out of his house like a madman. He wanted her so badly. He wanted to strip her clothes off and lick every inch of her sweetness. Her taste would play over his tongue and once wouldn’t be enough. Wyatt was sure she was going to be his favorite addiction after the first taste. No doubt after the first bite.

Groaning at the thought of tasting her sweet blood had him leaning harder against the tree, letting the bark dig into his skin, giving him a tiny distraction.

Shit, she probably figured he was a lunatic, he thought. He knew he needed to get back in there. At least she couldn’t bolt without stealing his truck. Smart thinking on that move.

Taking deep breaths to clear his lung erased some of the luscious smell of her pussy, Wyatt stood and looked back at the door. How the hell was he going to explain this?

Sitting on her stool, still staring at the door Wyatt had slammed through in some kind of desperate bid to escape. Jinger was lost for a reason. It had to be her, what else could it be?

Why else would he leave her sitting there without saying a word? She didn’t know what to do. Keep eating, lock herself in the bathroom? No options were good enough. She pushed her plate away from herself, her appetite having disappeared. Not knowing how long he was going to be gone, she made her way over to the couch and sat, angled to the back door.

She didn’t have to wait too long when it opened and Wyatt walked in. His eyes shot to the counter and seeing her not there, he quickly scanned the room. They came to rest on her sitting on the couch.

For some reason, when their eyes met and Jinger saw the relief flash over Wyatt’s, she felt her own eyes tear up.

Darn it, she hated crying. She took a shaking inhalation and his eyes missed nothing.

Wyatt saw the glistening increase in her beautiful eyes and saw her tremor as she breathed in and was across the room in a flash.

He didn’t even think, he scooped her up in his arms and turned and sat on the couch, curling her into his lap.

He felt her stiffen at the quick change of place and he squeezed her tighter to his chest.

“I’m sorry, sweetness,” he whispered to her hair, placing a soft kiss where he spoke.

Wyatt felt a shudder roll through her and heard her sniff like she was trying to stave off crying. He was an ass, a certifiable ass. He should call his brothers right now to come over and kick his ass for being a moron.

“Shh, I’m sorry, gingersnap. That was totally out of line. It wasn’t you. I mean it was you, but not like you think. It was me,” he stumbled trying to explain.

Shit, he couldn’t even explain why he was a dumbass. “Baby, I just got a little…overwhelmed, and needed a minute to myself.”

Wyatt felt another shudder go through Jinger and gave her another squeeze. His bear was agitated that she was crying, but the pushy bastard was thrilled to have her so close.

Jinger pulled back to look at Wyatt. She figured her eyes were red and puffy from trying to not cry. She’d succeeded mostly, maybe a few stray tears had snuck out. But she managed to snuff any major blubber session.

“I’m not usually so emotional,” she whispered to him. She didn’t want to appear so vulnerable, but he was looking at her like he was worried she would bolt. He also looked genuinely concerned for her state of mind.

“It’s okay, I was rude and insensitive. Only an ass would leave a beautiful woman sitting alone at dinner with no explanation. Someday I’ll be able to explain the complex workings of my male brain. But you don’t have to hear it tonight,” he tried to joke.

“Oh, okay,” she replied looking down to her hands in her lap. Jinger suddenly realized she was sitting on his lap. Dear lord, she was probably crushing him! She moved to get up off his legs before he needed an amputation.

“Please don’t, I like you here,” he pleaded.

Looking at him she saw he was serious. He was probably lying about losing sensation in his legs. She figured he was being chivalrous. Although sitting on his lap, surrounded by his big strong arms felt like she was in the safest place in the world. Jinger didn’t know why, but she felt like this was her normal spot. Like they had assumed this position for years and it was their go-to cuddle spot. Odd, she knew, but something seemed right about it.

“Aren’t you hungry,” she asked, knowing he didn’t finish his dinner.

“Not really, but we should finish, after all I did cook just for you. How about I make you a deal, we move back to the counter to eat, maybe talk. Then after I’ll start a fire and we resume how we are right now? What do you think,” he asked quietly. His bear rumbled in his mind approvingly at the excellent game plan Wyatt thought up.

He watched Jinger chew her bottom lip in contemplation. Wishing he was the one chewing on her lip, he couldn’t stand the temptation. He reached up and used his thumb to pull her lip out of her teeth, running his thumb over her soft skin.

“Don’t tease me, Jinger,” he said with a low growl.

“Tease you,” she asked in confusion.

“Those plump lips are too tempting as they are. You chewing on them and making them even plumper makes me want to feel just how soft they are,” he admitted.

“You do?” Jinger was stunned by this declaration. Hot, sexy Wyatt Rochon wanted to kiss her. She was sitting on his lap, in his house after having known him for one day and he wanted to kiss her.

She knew she should be freaked out that this was happening so fast. But she wasn’t nervous around him. Confused yes, but not nervous. Normally she was awkward and kind of a spaz around men. With Wyatt it seemed easier, being with him seemed natural. Maybe it was just him, he made it easy.

Wyatt was watching her mouth, she noticed. Like he was going to lean forward at any moment and actually kiss her.

“I do, Jinger. But I think we should slow down and finish dinner. Then we can revisit this,” he said letting go of her lip. He groaned when she ran her tongue over the spot he had rubbed with his thumb.

Jinger didn’t think before her tongue swept out and tasted the spot he had rubbed. Maybe he was right, they needed to slow things down.

“Dinner, might be good,” she agreed.

Wyatt and Jinger made their way back to the bar to finish their meal. Wyatt, Jinger noticed, kept his eyes on his plate most of the time. Although he was true to his word from their conversation that morning. He let her ask him all about his family and his upbringing. He told her about going to school in Oregon and that he took years to settle on a major. He chose accounting, not that he liked numbers, but that the class was easy.

They both laughed about it, as it seemed to fit Wyatt. Jinger thought he was more a free spirit than a stodgy accountant. He talked of his family, how close they were. How much he liked his soon to be sister-in-law. Jinger could see how genuinely happy he was that his brother had found love. It made her wonder what it would take for Wyatt to fall in love.

Thoughts that she knew she shouldn’t ponder too deeply. But she couldn’t help but let the little ember of
what if…
float in the background.

Wyatt finished his meal and was leaning on the counter, his head propped up in his hand. He was finally looking at her. Even gazing it seemed. Jinger was lulled into the softness of his eyes. Maybe it was the wine, or the food, or maybe just the sweetness with which he was looking at her. She let that little ember burn a tiny bit brighter. Hope.

“Are you finished,” he asked.

Glancing to her plate she realized they had both been done for a while. Their conversation more interesting than the food.  Now nerves were setting in and her agreement to relocate herself back to his lap didn’t seem like such a bright idea.

“Well…” she started, rubbing her hands together.

“Jinger, let me hold you. I just want to be close to you. You can call all the shots. But believe me when I say this. I like you a lot. Even that doesn’t seem the right thing to say. I’m drawn to you in a way I have never been to any other women. I can only hope you feel the same pull towards me. Do you? Feel anything for me?”

“Wyatt, we just met. Yesterday in fact. You want me to decide how I feel about you right now? Thirty-six hours after I met you,” she asked incredulously.

Wyatt just gave her a stunning smile. He tilted his head and gave her a puppy dog expression.

“Really? You are going to charm your way out of that question?”

“Depends, is it working?” He asked with a grin.

“Wyatt, you are handsome and funny and so out of my league it’s not funny. I really can’t say how I’m feeling right now.”

“What do you mean out of my league?” His brow wrinkled in annoyance.

“You know,” she said. She didn’t want to explain this to him because in her mind it was obvious.

“No, explain it to me, Jinger. How in the world am I out of your league?”

“Fine, you want to talk about this, then we will. But after that, I’d appreciate it if you could take me back to my car,” she said in a huff. Knowing her humiliation level would be off the charts after she explained this to him, she knew she didn’t want to be anywhere near him. Seeing him pity her was not something she could recover from.

Wyatt didn’t say anything just kept looking at her with that annoyed look.

“You’re handsome and fit and probably fairly wealthy. Guys like you don’t go after short, overweight desk jockeys. You can have any girl you want. There is no reason for someone like you to settle for someone like me,” she said, the bile rising in her throat as the words came out. They tasted as bad as they sounded. She hated speaking those words out loud. Even if she lived with the reality every day. It didn’t make it any easier.

She waited as her words hung in the air. Wyatt was looking at her, his expression not changing from the grumpy annoyance of before.

He was quiet, minutes ticked by. Jinger got nervous waiting so she started to inch off the stool and his eyes changed, just the slightest bit, so she stopped moving.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, he sighed. Not a little sigh, a giant, put out, long suffering type of sigh.

He stood off his stool and took a step towards her. She wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but what she didn’t predict was that he was going to bend over at the waist, put his shoulder into her stomach and haul her over his shoulder into a fireman carry.

Holy crickets he picked her up! Again!

“Wyatt!” she managed to shriek.

Wyatt gave her bottom a small slap and said, “Shush.”

With her world upside down, she couldn’t get orientated enough to figure out where he was walking to. She had guessed the couch, but it got dark then a light flashed on and she saw a mattress right before she was flipped over and landed on a huge king size bed with a bounce.

“What the…” she managed before a hand came down over her mouth. With wide eyes she stared up at Wyatt.

“My turn to talk.”

Removing his hand from her mouth, Jinger watched as he started to pace back and forth with his hands on his hips.

“I never thought this would be easy. Hell, I never thought I would ever even be in this situation. Oh, it was supposed to be simple. You find The One, then you get to live happily ever after. Lots of sex, babies, and a happy life. Nope, I get the one that doesn’t know anything, and I have no idea how I’m even supposed to tell her. Then she thinks she isn’t good enough for me.”

Jinger didn’t know if he was talking to her or some unseen force at this point, so she stayed quiet.

“I mean is this the universe’s cosmic joke? Show me an amazing, funny, sexy as hell woman who is everything I’ve ever wanted. She’s soft and round in all the right places, she smells like heaven and I’ve been sporting a rock hard dick from the moment I got a whiff of her sweet smell. And she’s telling me we won’t work out before she’s given me a chance!

So now what am I supposed to do,” he asked, stopping in front of her. He threw his hands up in the air and started pacing again.

“Wyatt, I….”

“No, still my turn to talk. I mean seriously, how does someone as beautiful as you get such low self-esteem? I can’t imagine it. All I can think about, is how to get your clothes off so I can touch every delectable inch of your sweet skin. And you’re worried that you’re not good enough. I know for a fact you are too good for me. When you find out all about me, I bet dollars to donuts you’ll go running for the hills. I’m the one trying to woo you remember?

No, this is not going to go this way. We aren’t going to lose precious time dancing around each other worried the other one is making some kind of mistake. I know what the outcome of this relationship is even if you don’t. So you are going to have to trust me on this.

Here’s how I expect this to go, you tell me how it sounds. We like each other. We both want to be around each other. I know I want to get you into bed and soon. I want you to meet my family. I’d like to meet yours not that it matters if they don’t like me, I can woo them too. I’d imagine you would like to date a while. Although I’ll admit if you want to move in with me tonight I wouldn’t be opposed to that. We can discuss marriage and babies later. What do you think?”

Part way through his speech, Jinger’s mouth had fallen open in shock. She was trying to rationalize the fact she was presumably in his bedroom and on his bed. But his shocking declaration of intent was causing her brain to short circuit. Never in her wildest dreams could she have guessed she’d be in the bedroom of a handsome, funny, amazing man who was trying to convince her he wasn’t only interested in her for a quick toss in the hay, but he wanted it all. As in sex, commitment, and what, family?

Frozen in place, she watched him as he paced, afraid to even twitch a finger lest she break out in hysterical laughter. Something she did when she was nervous. And right now she was about fifteen stages past nervous, she was feeling catatonic.

He had stopped in front of her, hands on his hips waiting for her to respond. When she didn’t have any clue what to say, she saw him start to tap his foot in an impatient manner.

“Well, I’m a little confused, Wyatt,” she managed to whisper.

Wyatt looked like he was going to start pacing again. Instead, he knelt down on both knees and put his hands on either side of Jinger’s hips.

“What part confused you, gingersnap,” he asked shortly.

“How about all of it,” she replied shortly back.

His close proximity was overwhelming. He smelled good and she could feel the warmth of his big body radiating towards her. She wanted to lean in and soak up the heat and breathe in that spicy masculine scent. It smelled like something sweet with a pinch of outdoor crisp breeze.

“Jinger, are you attracted to me?”

“I’m not blind, Wyatt,” she replied tersely.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Do you want to see me again?”

“If you want to see me,” she hedged.

“I think we have established that. I know this is a lot to take. But I didn’t plan on this either you know. My father and recently my brother told me that when you find The One, it’s like a bolt of lightning. I used to tease them about it. But yesterday I found out they were wrong. It wasn’t lightning. That is too quick, a flash of feelings over in a blink of an eye. When I was able to look into your eyes, it was like a hurricane. My breath was whipped away by the wind of your fragrance. My eyes were blinded by the shining beauty of your face. And for the first time in my life, my heart was spinning like a top. When it finally stopped turning, I was sitting in the eye of that hurricane and my entire world made sense.

I knew without a doubt that I wanted to spend every conceivable moment getting to know you. That my world would be nothing but black and white without you there to color it. The first time I saw you, my heart whispered, ‘That’s the one.’”

Holy shit, he was serious. The most gorgeous man she had ever seen was kneeling in front of her and telling her she colored his world. Jinger never thought she was a dumb girl. Naive maybe, but not dumb. All she had to do was think ahead a month in advance and try to imagine Wyatt not being in it.

The thought made her heart hurt.

“I don’t want to not see you,” she whispered. “I just don’t think I can promise you anything right now. I don’t know you, I like you, but I don’t know anything about you. I liked what I heard tonight, I like how I feel when I’m around you, but I don’t want to get your hopes up. What if tomorrow we look at each other and one of us wants to move to Paraguay just to get away from the other one?”

“Paraguay,” he said with a laugh.

“It was the first thing I thought of,” she smiled back at him.

“Okay, no promises tonight. I can assure you without a doubt in my heart, that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. How about we both agree to try? And to give whatever this is a shot. Deal?”

“I think I can agree to that,” she answered, smiling back at the huge grin on his face. Saying out loud that this was not the last night together with him made her heart feel lighter. Her ember of hope was burning bright and she was letting her mind think of the future.

She stopped daydreaming to look back at his face. Damn, he was handsome.

His smile started to fade, then he swallowed nervously. “Jinger? Can I kiss you?”

Jinger wanted to taste him, but couldn’t voice the words. She chose to nod instead.

Wyatt slowly leaned forward, his eyes watching her as he brought his lips to hers. Jinger held her breath and then closed her eyes. The first soft brush of his lips over hers was strong and gentle at the same time. Jinger felt the heat of his mouth and teased her tongue out to taste the seal of his lips. She heard Wyatt moan, his mouth opened to sweep his tongue against hers.

Jinger let Wyatt delve into her mouth. He tangled his tongue with hers, tasting all the corners he could reach.

“Sweet,” he murmured into her mouth.

Curling her arms around Wyatt’s strong neck she pulled him deeper into her. Wyatt responded by wrapping one hand around her neck and the other around her back fitting her spread legs against his waist. Jinger felt the hard ridge of his cock against his jeans. She moaned into his mouth.

They kissed, promising each other the time they both craved without words.

“Jinger, stay the night with me,” Wyatt asked against her lips.

Pulling back, her lips tender from his kisses, she couldn’t help blurt out, “I’m not that kind of girl!” Then she realized what she sounded like and let out a laugh.

Wyatt starting laughing with her, “Well I’d say I’m not that kind of boy, but I’d be lying. I wouldn’t think any less of you for spending the night with me. I’d hope you wouldn’t think any less of me for doing the same? I can’t imagine our relationship progressing if you thought I was some kind of man slut.”

“I’m sorry, did you say man slut,” she said, the first of her giggles escaping.

He batted ridiculously long lashes for a man up at her and she broke out into hysterical laughter.

Wyatt couldn’t resist kissing her laughter, she was even more beautiful when she laughed.

“Wyatt, I don’t want to go,” she whispered.

“Then don’t,” he said between kisses.

Jinger opened her mouth to his next kiss, letting Wyatt take what he wanted. And he did.

His hands wrapped around her hips, cupping her ass and pulling her closer to him, fitting her heat against him. He squeezed her plump bottom in his strong hands.

“You are so soft and sexy,” he said moving his mouth to her neck, placing soft wet kisses down to her collar bone. Wyatt let his hands slide under the edge of her shirt and slowly started pulling it up as he continued his kisses, nipping her neck.

Jinger lifted her arms letting him pull her shirt over her head. Normally Jinger would worry about her belly roll sitting like this, but for some reason she knew that Wyatt liked her just like she was.

Tossing the shirt to the floor, Wyatt leaned back and dropped his gaze to her breasts. He smiled up at her and then leaned down, kissing the tops of her mounds, dragging his teeth across the edge of the lilac lace of her bra. “Nice bra,” he commented.

Just because she had to dress like one of the guys, didn’t mean Jinger didn’t want to feel feminine underneath.

Wyatt nipped at her then soothed the bite with an open mouth kiss. He sucked hard, causing Jinger to gasp. He was marking her, and his bear was happy. He wanted his teeth marks permanently on her neck, but he’d have to be content with what Wyatt could give him for now.

Wyatt moved between her breasts sucking hard until there were two matching bruises. He smiled at his handy work. He looked up to gauge what Jinger thought of his juvenile antics.

She just ran her hand through his hair and said, “Naughty.”

Deciding he wasn’t going to be reprimanded, he went back to his kisses. His hands reached around and with a flick of his wrist he had her bra unhooked. Wyatt groaned as the bounty of Jinger’s breasts poured out. Her breast were big and soft and weren’t as perky as she’d like. Wyatt clearly thought they were spectacular, since he took both of them into his hands and brought her nipples to his mouth sucking one then the other. He kneaded and rubbed his face over their softness.

Wyatt’s bear was growling his approval at being able to bask in her sweet scent. He loved being face to face with her beautiful breasts, but man and bear wanted more. Moving back to her mouth, Wyatt kissed her deep and long as he stood and eased her back to the mattress. Once she was flat, he placed hot kisses down her body until he reached her pants. Looking up at her he flicked open the button and slid down the zipper never taking his eyes off of her.