Her Christmas Bear (6 page)

“I can smell how much you want me. Are you wet? Wet for me, mate?” His hand slid over her belly to the top of her jeans. Slowly, he slid the zipper down. His fingers traced the edge of her panties before she grabbed his wrist, stilling his movements.

“Marcus.”

“Sshh.” He understood immediately what was wrong. That her confidence was fading. “You are all I need. All I will ever want.”

Marcus bent his head and captured Hope’s mouth in another searing kiss as her breathing thinned and her brain emptied. His tongue tangled with hers and he stripped her of her remaining clothing. His hands, more urgent now, stroked her arms, and clasped her waist. He cupped her breasts, his touch growing rough but she loved it. She wanted a wild mating.

He framed her face with his hands and his mouth ravaged hers. “You don’t know how much I want, Hope. How much I need.”

“Show me. Show me how much.”

He gathered both her wrists in one of his and raised her arms above her head and held them there. She arched her back, silently begging him to take her. Dusky color splashed across his face and his eyes glittered blackly. She shivered, knowing it was the animal she saw in those brown depths. Both the man and the bear would have her tonight. As if he sensed her thoughts, he spoke. “Don’t tease the bear, baby.”

“Who me?” She blinked up at him naughtily.

“Tell me you want this.”

Her gaze was steady as she answered. “I want
you.
The man and the bear.”

He let go of her hands and pulled her legs apart, bending her knees and settling between them. She thought he was going to take her then and she closed her eyes, preparing herself for the first, hard thrust of his body. Not that she expected him to hurt her, but it had been a while, and he was big. Very, very big.

“No, no,” she whispered as he continued to lick her entrance before sliding up to her clit. Once there, he’d start all over. With each pass, he’d move his mouth lower until he was stroking not only her pussy but across her forbidden hole.

She finally got the courage to look at him as he devoured her. He must have sensed her stare because he lifted his head and licked his lips as if he were enjoying his favorite flavor of honey. “You taste so good, Hope. So damn good.”

He winked at her and lowered his head again, driving her toward a bliss she hadn’t known existed. Had certainly never experienced by another man’s touch or even her own. As much as the sexual tension and urgency allowed, she let her body go, floating in the sensations he was arousing.

It was so good. So damn good, she silently repeated his words in her head as he took her clit in his mouth and sucked deep. And so close. She was so damn close…

She screamed as he bit down on the hardened nub and thrust two fingers inside her, curling the tips to bring her to a release that made her fly out of her body. She heard someone screaming and she realized it was her. Screaming his name, begging him never to stop. Begging him to fuck her.

Feeling a shift on the bed, she sighed with pleasure when his heavy weight covered her. “Please, Marcus. Please take me.” She knew her eyes were filled with tears and she was begging him, but she hurt so badly. The sensations he’d aroused had only been partially sated by his fingers and the touch of his mouth. She knew they would never go away until she felt his cock inside, thrusting hard and deep, filling her. Fucking her.

She wanted him to fuck her so badly.

Burying her face into the side of his neck, “Fuck me,” she growled, demanded. She moaned as he thrust inside, going deep and hard. She dug her nails into his biceps as he took her, over and over again. When she felt herself on the precipice again, she closed her mouth over the skin of his shoulder near his neck, biting deeply.

“Shit,” Marcus cursed as he felt his mate’s teeth break the skin on his shoulder and plunge into his flesh. His fingers dug into her hips as she went wild with the taste of his blood and the pleasure of her release. He gathered his control into a tight ball and thrust his hips forward, again and again, as her orgasm broke, spreading over both of them. His fangs descended and he prepared himself for marking her, claiming her. Releasing his seed inside her. The primal, animal part of him came forth and for once, he didn’t fight the bear. This, this was what he had been born to do. Claim his mate, get her with child.

Live
. Live a long, satisfying life surrounded by love.

A feeling bordering on madness overtook him as he allowed the animal to do what needed to be done. He clamped his teeth on her neck, biting cleanly and quickly. As her blood flowed down his throat, he felt his seed bursting from his cock, shooting inside her, pulse after pulse. He continued to fuck her in short, hard thrusts, climaxing with the feel of her wet pussy around him.

“Fuck,” he growled as he loosened his hold on her neck and licked the wound clean.
Fuck, yeah
, his bear echoed in his head.

As the jetting of his seed slowed, he pulled out and turned her over on her stomach. He thrust back inside, another release building inside him. He wrapped an arm around her middle bringing her to her knees. “Come with me, baby.”

“Can’t,” she gasped.

“Oh, yeah you can.” His hand found her wet pussy and he stroked her clit as he thrust his cock inside her. So, so deep inside her. His balls drew up and he knew he was close. Deliciously close. “Come for me, Hope. Come now,” he roared as his finger and thumb almost savagely squeezed her clit, making her whimper. Making her come.

Her release was a signal to his bear. A signal to take. To breed. Holding her hips, he slammed into her without mercy, a fierce claiming, a fierce mating, until he fell, exhausted, on top of her. His senses returned enough to realize he needed to move. Rolling to his side, he kept her near, his dick still buried deep inside her pussy, still pulsing. He pressed the hair from her face and realized she had already passed out. “Sleep, baby,” he smiled as darkness overcame him as well.

****

“Where are you going?” Marcus’s deep voice from the bedroom door had Hope turning around with a squeal. When she had awoken, he’d been asleep, laying on his back, his perfect body exposed to the cold night air. Once out of the bed, she’d taken the time to pull the covers up over his waist. Covering his wonderfully, amazing cock in case it lured her back into his arms.

“I need to leave. I called Patsy. She’s on her way to get me.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Look, this was fun.”

“Fun?” he roared, stalking across the room until he stood in front of her. “You think this was fucking fun? You can’t just walk away.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing. I promised you nothing. I
am
nothing. Tomorrow I’ll just be a memory of a pleasant, holiday fling.”

“You are not a damn fling, Hope. You are my mate. What am I going to have to do to convince you of that? What are you afraid of? Are you still afraid it won’t last?”

“No, I’m afraid it
will
last.”

“I don’t understand. Isn’t that what everyone hopes for? A long, loving relationship?”

“I can’t be your mate, Marcus.”

“Why? Do you hate shifters? Hate bears? Hate me?”

“No, no,” she shook her head vehemently. “Of course, not.”

“Then explain it to me.”

“I’ve had my heart broken more than once by a man who said he loved me.”

“No you haven’t.”

“I beg your pardon?” She looked affronted by his statement and Marcus smiled. Which only seemed to make her angrier. She was beautiful when she was angry. He loved that she had that flash of fire inside her. He wanted a mate who would stand up to him when needed—he did tend to be a little bossy and pig-headed at times.

“You haven’t had your heart broken because you’ve never been in love. Not the way you love me.”

“Why you overgrown, egotistical—”

Bending his head, he silenced her with a kiss. The cabin grew still as they kissed, each hungry for the other. Marcus out to prove she couldn’t live without him. Hope convinced that she had to.

Finally, he pulled away, aware that if he continued to taste her, he’d pick her up and carry her back to bed. Last night she had been willing, this morning she was afraid.

“Have you talked to Patsy about mating a shifter?”

“Yes.” Her voice held a note of anguish that agitated his bear.

“And what did she tell you? Did she tell you that the moment Gary saw her that he wanted her, needed her? Knew her. Here. In his heart.”

“Yes, but Patsy’s gorgeous. What man wouldn’t fall instantly in love with her?”

“I didn’t.”

“Still.”

“Still nothing,” Marcus rumbled, his frustration clearly building. “What can’t you understand? I have no choice—”

“See,” she broke in. “That’s what is so wrong about this. You had no choice.
You
didn’t choose me.”

“Fuck, Hope, that’s not what I meant.” Marcus ran his fingers through his hair, wanting to throw something. Or put her over his knee. Oh, yeah, he was going to punish his mate for putting them both through this.

“But it’s what you said.”

He placed his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. “You are mine. My mate. My beautiful, curvy, stubborn-headed, mate. A mate my bear wants to fuck until she can’t walk, until her pussy and my dick are both rubbed raw and all she can do is beg me for more.”

“Marcus!” She protested the sexually explicit picture he was painting.

He smiled down at her prim and prissy expression. “Well, apparently sweet words weren’t getting through to you. But that’s not all there is, Hope. You are the woman I want to spend from now into eternity with. I want to love you, I want to fight with you, I want to spend each and every day with you by my side.” He took her hands and pulled her to him, hope rising in his chest when she didn’t pull away. “I want to give you my cub. I want to love you until the world stops spinning. I want… you.” He placed his hand on her chest, directly over her rapidly beating heart. “Let me spend the rest of my life showing you how much my bear wants you. How much I want you. How perfect you are. For. Me.” He bent his head and kissed her. A soft, slow press of the lips that he prayed conveyed all he was feeling for her. His need. His want. His desire. His hopelessness if she did choose to walk out the door. “You’re not too hard, not too soft. You’re just right for me.”

“Hey, my name’s not Goldie.” She gave him a half-hearted punch in the chest before settling into his arms.

“And I’m only one bear. The bear who will love you forever.” As he gave her a deep, soul-satisfying kiss, he silently thanked the Fates that had seen fit to send him his mate. To send him Hope.

Hours later they sat on the floor in front of the fire, eating left over pizza and ice cream. As he scraped the bottom of the carton and fed her the last bite of the rocky road, she asked, “Can I see your bear?”

He smiled at her and sat the carton and spoon aside, leaning back against the bottom of the couch. “Right now? It means I’ll have to get naked again.”

One of her eyebrows rose. “And that’s a problem for you?”

“Hell, no. But once I’m naked, I’m not gonna wanna shift into a bear. I’m gonna wanna push you to the floor and mount you from behind.”

“Again, is that a problem for you?” Her eyes fell to his lap where his cock was laying, strong and thick, against his thigh, already recovered from their marathon session in front of the fire.

“What do you think?” He clenched his inner muscles and made his cock jerk.

“Marcus.” She tried to scold him, but his name came out on a breathless sound, half laughter, half whisper of need.

“I will always give you what you want, Hope.” He stood up and took off his jeans. His cock stood at half-mast. He walked to the other side of the living room and her insides shivered as she watched the clench and release of his ass cheeks. Damn, the man was built. So big, so strong.

So hers.

“Here goes. Don’t be afraid. It’s still me.”

“I know.” She smiled at him.

In a flash, his body disappeared and a two-ton grizzly was sitting on the wooden floor of the cabin. Now she knew why he had made this room so open and big.

“Oh, my god.” Hope gasped for breath, the suddenness of the change and the beauty of his bear taking her breath away. The bear took a step forward and she did as well. “Can I touch you?”

The bear huffed and she smiled, letting her hand settle on his fur. She stroked her hand down his head and over his back. “You’re so soft.” When she stopped, he butted his head gently against her chest, pulling the hem of her borrowed t-shirt up past the curve of her thighs and exposing her pussy. The bear stilled and took a deep breath.

“Stop that.” She scolded, blushing furiously. She stroked his fur again, hoping to distract him from the fact that she was wet for him. In another blink of an eye, Marcus was in front of her, her hand pressed against his chest. He kissed her and her body swelled with love and desire.

“I give you my heart, Hope Martin, soon-to-be Abrams. Forever and always.”

“And I love you, my mate.” Hope stood on her tiptoes, her shirt riding up again. His hand found her bare flesh quickly, stroking between her legs. “I think you promised me a ravishing, bear.”