Her Bear To Keep (Second Chance Shifters 5) (4 page)

S
he pulled
in to what used to be her driveway and sighed audibly as she looked at the house.

Light blue with white shutters,
her color scheme
, the ranch-style house was sweet and welcoming. The landscaping was lush and green, with the forest as a backdrop. Jordan took in the white picket fence that was supposed to help contain their children, and felt a hot ball form in her throat.

She hadn’t been here since the day she’d left. Hadn’t even driven by. Jordan hadn’t felt the need to torture herself that way, because that was what sitting in the driveway looking out the windshield at her and Tyson’s dream was… pure torture.

Jordan didn’t know how he could still live here. She sure wouldn’t have been able to… not without him in it too.

Choking back her tears, Jordan took a few deep breaths, then got out of the car. Grabbing the container with the freshly baked apple pie she’d made for dessert, she took one last breath before shutting the car door and walking up the path.

She was playing with fire just being here, she knew that, but she hadn’t been able to talk herself out of coming. Not now that she’d decided to leave.

She had to see him one last time.

There were flowers and plants lining the front of the house and the porch, right where she’d planted and placed them. The door opened before she could knock, just as she turned with a sharp intake of breath and said, “He kept everything the same.”

Tyson was leaning against the door jamb watching her, his face and head freshly shaved. He was wearing form-fitting jeans that looked dangerously good and a button up shirt. Jordan was sure he’d seen her perusal and heard what she’d said, but Ty didn’t say anything. He just watched her with serious eyes.

Jordan watched him warily as he moved to her, leaned down, and brushed his lips softly against her cheek.

“It’s good to have you here,” he murmured, before pulling back, grasping her hand, and pulling her inside before she could go with her instincts and flee.

Next thing she knew she was standing inside, the door shut firmly behind her, and the pie was being lifted from her hands.

Jordan looked around at the unchanged living space, and her heart pounded painfully in her chest.
It looks like time stood still,
she thought.

“I hope you’re hungry,” Ty called, and she turned her head toward the kitchen.

The open floor plan had been one of her favorite things about this house. You could stand where she was in the living room and see into the kitchen, the dining room, and out the sliding glass doors to the beautiful expanse of the backyard.

They’d scheduled the kitchen remodeling almost two years in, right when everything had started to change. Jordan hadn’t even gotten to see the final product.

She looked everywhere, taking it all in as she moved to join Ty in the kitchen. Marble countertops, glass cabinets, and stainless steel appliances. It was everything she’d imagined and more.

“It’s beautiful,” Jordan said, as she took the glass of red wine Ty offered.

“Yeah, I think they succeeded in making your vision come to life.”

Her heart broke a little more as she looked around her dream kitchen.

What was she doing there?

Did she like causing herself pain?

Jordan pushed the pain back and tried to place a small smile on her face.

“What are we having?”

“Roast chicken and vegetables, twice baked potatoes, salad, and broccoli cheese soup,” Ty replied with a grin, then turned to the refrigerator and added, “Oh, and spinach dip to start.”

Jordan chuckled at the impressive and somewhat intimidating menu. Tyson had always loved to cook, and he’d especially loved to cook for her. Something about feeding her and keeping her healthy and happy. It was one of the things she missed most about him.

Although, she
had
found it easier to fit into her jeans since she’d stopped eating his cooking.

“Sounds amazing,” she said, taking a piece of pita bread and a dollop of dip before looking up at him through her eyelashes and asking the question that had been plaguing her since last night. “Why did you still ask me to dinner?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, his lips turning down. “We had a deal.”

“Yeah, I know… I just thought, since the date went well, that you’d forget about the deal.”

Tyson leaned his hip against the counter and looked at her with serious eyes.

“What makes you think the date went well?”

“Uh…” Jordan blushed as she realized she’d given herself away. She’d never been one to lie, and she’d certainly never been able to lie to Ty… Even when she’d tried to convince them both that she didn’t love him anymore and hated to be around him, he’d seen the truth. She wasn’t happy about the fact that they weren’t together, but she did think it was for the best.

Tyson chuckled and let her off the hook.

“Mika told me you were there.”

“Oh,” she replied, embarrassed. After mentally vowing to punch Mika next time she saw him, Jordan said, “Yeah, I, uh, just wanted to see how things were going between you two… You know, since I set it up. It, um, looked like everything went great.”

“It did,” he admitted, causing her stomach to drop to her knees. Then he crossed to her and brought his finger up to gently caress her cheek.

Jordan looked up at him, dying a little because of how beautiful he was.

“It was good to catch up with an old friend,” he explained. “And that’s all you saw, Jordan, two old friends… That’s all Trinity and I will ever be to each other.”

Even as her heart leapt, she tried to argue, “But…”

Ty sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, clearly frustrated.

“You know, Mia told me that when you two talked about her and Drake, and she said something about moving back to New York and Drake moving on, that
you
were the one who argued that because she was Drake’s mate that he’d never be able to move on and be happy with anyone else… Is that true?”

Jordan thought back to that day and nodded numbly. She had said that.

“So, if you know that, if you
know
that when a bear shifter, or any shifter for that matter, finds their mate, that they’ll never be able to find happiness with anyone else, why can’t you believe it when it comes to us?”

“Because it’s different,” Jordan cried. “We were young and in love, and thought we had our futures ahead of us, but everything changed… You need to mate with someone who can fill your home with children. I know that, and so do you.”

Ty almost started to yell, then bit it back and took a deep breath before saying calmly, “It doesn’t work that way. Children or no children,
you are my mate
. Period. There will
never
be anyone else. Look around you, Jordan. I haven’t changed one thing in our home, inside or out, because I’m waiting for you to come home. No other woman will ever live here. No woman will ever take your place. There’s been no other woman since you walked out…
because you are my mate
.”

He shouted that last little bit, obviously as tired of having this conversation as she was. They were probably the two most stubborn people on the planet, and it killed her that he was hurting, but she was stuck on one thing he’d said.

“There’s been no other woman? At all? For four years?” she asked softly, unable to believe what she was hearing.

Tyson was all man… well,
not all man
, but he was a very virile being. When they were together, their sex life had been vigorous and very, very plentiful. She couldn’t imagine him being celibate for all that time.

No wonder he’d attacked her in that closet.

Ty closed his eyes and shook his head.

“No, Jordan, there’s been no one else since the day I walked into the Luncheonette after my first shift and knew you were my mate. I don’t want anyone else… You’re it for me. Forever.”

“But,” she began, the impossibility of their situation hitting her like a ton of bricks, making her nearly buckle from the weight. “If we can’t be together, and you won’t find anyone else…”

Ty opened his eyes, and the pain filling them literally rocked her back on her heels.

“I’ll be alone for the rest of my days, if you’re not by my side,” he replied, and she finally got it. Everything he’d been saying to her over the years. Things she’d even said to Mia, and understood about the shifters in her life, Jordan just hadn’t wanted to believe would be true for Ty… Because the thought of that beautiful, protective, insanely kind, bear of a man, roaming around for the rest of his life alone, was too painful to contemplate.

That wasn’t the way things were supposed to be.

“But what about children?” she asked on a sob.

“If children aren’t in the cards for us, then I’m okay with that,” Tyson said, bringing both hands up to cup her face as he looked deep into her eyes. “What I’m
not
okay with is living the rest of my life without you.”

Jordan’s head was a mess. Her heart was in turmoil. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do.

But when Tyson’s lips brushed against hers, she brought her hands up to grasp him, and she kissed him back with everything she had.

If she was going to go through with this move, and possibly ruin both of their lives doing what she thought was the best thing for both of them, then Jordan wanted to give them both one last night together. Something they could hold on to forever.

T
y tasted her tears
.

He held her gently in his arms and kissed her cheeks, eager to remove the evidence of her pain.

It felt like he’d finally gotten through to her. That Jordan finally understood what she meant to him, what they meant to each other. His bear roared within him with the need to finish the claiming.

His arms went under her and lifted her easily off the ground, then maneuvered around the counter and moved down the hallway to their bedroom.

Ty couldn’t wait to have her in their bed once again, and as he laid her reverently on the bright blue comforter that she’d picked out, he moved his eyes over the length of her and committed this moment to memory.

The moment that Jordan was back where she belonged.

Tyson took his time. Peeling her clothes slowly off her body, he brought his lips to each expanse of exposed flesh, licking, sucking, and kissing every part of Jordan in worship. She writhed beneath him, her breaths deepening to sweet little pants, her fingernails digging into him when he touched a sensitive spot.

“Oh
, Ty
…”

Her head was on the pillow, her eyes closed and back arched. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

Gentleness turned to passion. Reverence turned to burning need.

Unable to control the beast within him any longer, Tyson threw Jordan’s legs over his shoulders and dove in to begin his feast.

Jordan’s soft pants turned to throaty groans and her fingers caressed his head before her hand cupped him and pressed him deeper into her hot, wet pussy.

“Fuck,
yes
, Ty, right there… don’t stop.”

The scent of his mate surrounded him, her cries just fueling him further as he licked and sucked. His mouth focused on her clit while his fingers entered her and began to massage her g-spot.

Moans filled the air along with the evidence of her desire, and Tyson knew he needed to make her come fast. His need to fuck her until neither of them could move was strong, but he wanted to feel her fall apart against his lips first.

Her hips tilted, and he pressed his hand on top of her pelvis and pushed down as he flicked his flattened tongue rapidly over her clit, his finger pumping in and out of her pussy.

Jordan came with a cry, her hand dropping to the mattress beside them as he licked up until she moved to buck him off.

Changing his mind, Ty decided he wanted to feel her riding him, rather than the other way around, so he scooted over her and kissed her thoroughly, before reversing their positions.

Still a little hazy from her orgasm, Jordan looked down at him with sated eyes as he maneuvered her until she was above his cock. Before he could thrust inside of her, she blinked and shook her head.

“Not yet,” Jordan said with a small smile, then dropped to all fours and moved down the bed.

Ty watched as she took his cock in her hands, her eyes on him, her expression sexy as fuck… As if he were a delicacy that she couldn’t wait to enjoy.

When she sucked the head into her mouth, her tongue licking the underside, Ty felt his eyes roll back in his head.

God, that felt great.

Not wanting to miss anything, he opened his eyes and watched her head bobbing up and down, even as he felt the wet heat of her mouth surrounding him. It was the most erotic sight he’d ever seen, and Ty clenched his teeth.

It
had
been four years since he’d had a blow job, but still, he didn’t want to come already.

He fisted a hand in her luscious locks and pulled gently, urging her back up. As much as he loved her lips wrapped around his cock, Ty was ready to be inside her.

Taking the hint, Jordan crawled up until she straddled him, looking like a goddess as she held his cock and slowly lowered herself onto him. Once she was seated, she ran her hands seductively up her thighs, over her stomach, then stopped to squeeze her breasts as she began to move.

It was all too much. The look of her, feel of her, smell of her. Tyson sat up and scooted them both back until he was against the headboard. He grabbed her wrists and placed her hands on top of the railing behind his head, then put his hands in their places. Ty teased her nipples until they were hardened and beckoning to him, then filled his mouth with her breasts.

“Fuck, yeah,” Jordan said as he bit her nipples. Then she rose up until she was teasing the head of his cock, before slamming back down and rocking her hips against him. She kept repeating that move. Tease, slam, rock, until they were both starting to sweat, and he was groaning with the need to come.

Ty brought his mouth to her neck and sucked, before nuzzling her neck and cheek against his.

“
Harder
,” he groaned in her ear. “
Faster
.”

That was all the encouragement Jordan needed. She held tight onto the headboard and began riding him in a frenzy, their moans intermingling as they both fought to find their release.

Tyson felt the building tension and knew he was about to come. Needing to feel the connection and finally complete his claim, he growled, “Bite me.”

He watched the indecision on her face and knew she was aware what biting him would mean. Ty’s heart shattered even as his orgasm overtook him, when she bit her lip and rode out her own release, rather than completing that final piece of their mating ritual.

After they were cleaned up, they went down to eat the meal he’d prepared. Ty was ravenous after what they’d shared, and it warmed his heart to feed her, but they didn’t talk about his request, or her denial of it.

Instead, they talked about trivial things. Work. Mia and Drake. Trinity being back. And once the dishes were clean and the leftovers put away, they went upstairs and made love. They fell asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms, just like they always had when they’d been together.

But, when Ty woke in the morning, Jordan was gone.