Her Grizzly Outlaw (14 page)

“Talk
to me,
Tarren
,” Lucas said deeply, softly. Lucas
tilted her head back so she was looking at him again. “Just talk to me, not
here, but later tonight.
Just you and me, alone, with no one
stopping us.”

She
nodded, knowing that she wanted this, even if the end result might bite her in
the ass and leave her with a broken heart.

****

Lucas
had wanted to wait for her at the coffee shop, to take her on his bike to the
pond where they had sat and talked all those years ago, but he didn’t push her.
He had just come back into
Tarren’s
life for good
now, thrust this on her that he wanted more, and he didn’t know if she was
ready to be with him in the way he wanted. Yes, he had left, been in Arizona
off and on for several years, but he was back now, and wanting to try this out
with her, and hoping she felt the same way. He had smelled the desire on her,
the emotions that were as thick as his were. She wanted him, but did she want
him for good, to be his old lady and never have to worry about a male wanting
her, loving her again?

He had
come back six months ago for a short window of time. They had eaten dinner
together, and then fucked. He had left the next day for Arizona again, and the
awkward goodbye with her had torn out his fucking heart. He had been a stupid
bastard for keeping her back, for thinking maybe he’d be able to watch her live
her life with some other male. No other male would have her, because she was
the only one for him.
Tarren
had deserved so much
more than what he had given, but a selfish part of him had wanted to say screw
it all and ride back to her so many times. He hadn’t though, not so much
because of Dallas’s warning, but because he told himself that she was better
than him, and that in the end he might fuck up royally and ruin anything that
they had. That scared him, terrified him in fact, and there hadn’t been
anything on this planet that had been able to put fear in Lucas.
Nothing except a little blonde that drove him insane with need and
lust.

He
grabbed the smokes from the inside of his cut, grabbed a cigarette and lighter,
and brought the small flame to the tip. He didn’t smoke, not really, but the
stress he was feeling drove him to have a nicotine fix. He inhaled, kept the
smoke in for a moment, and then exhaled. The nasty fucking taste in his mouth
had him only taking one more hit before snubbing the cigarette off on the
boulder he sat on. The moon had risen an hour ago, and although
Tarren
had gotten off work a couple of hours ago, she had
asked to meet him here because she wanted to get cleaned up at her place.

He
stared at the pond, watching the water gently lap at the shore, and thought about
what in the hell he was supposed to say to
Tarren
when she got here. A run could probably do him some good, especially if he was
in his bear form and could let the bastard out for a moment to get rid of the
wild energy inside of him. He looked at his cell, knew she wouldn’t be here for
another half hour or so, and decided he’d just shift and hope that when she got
here he wasn’t feeling so damn itchy.

Lucas
stood, stripped out of his clothes, and set them on the rock. It only took a
few seconds for him to shift into his grizzly bear. His skin tore open, his
muscles stretched, his bones cracked and realigned, and then he was standing in
his animal form. He stood to his full ten feet height, shook his massive body,
and felt his skin and fur move over his muscles and bones. He roared out, gave
one look around the forest, and then fell back onto all four legs. He took off
running, instantly feeling his bear’s energy leaving his body. The freedom was
like nothing he would ever feel unless he was a bear, nothing he would ever
feel in his human form. It was untamed, primal, and purely male. It was
exhilarating.

He ran
for twenty minutes, not caring about anything but being free. His lungs burned
from the run, and his body felt alive. He finally went back to the boulder just
as he saw the headlights from
Tarren’s
car. After
shifting back to his human self, and getting dressed, he sat down and faced the
lake. It only took him a few moments to collect himself before he heard her
feet crunching over the dry leaves on the ground.

And
then she was standing beside him, and he inhaled the floral scent of her. The
situation took him back all those years ago when she had been the one sitting
on the rock and he had been beside her, smelling this exact aroma from her.

“I’m
sorry I kept you waiting,” she said softly. He moved over for her to sit, and
when she did he kept himself from reaching out, wrapping his arms around her
waist, and pulling her toward him.

“It’s
okay, really. It gave me a moment to shift and get some of this energy out of
me.” The scent of soap also came through from her, and he inhaled deeply, but
tried not to seem like some kind of fucking creep for doing so. He just
couldn’t help it. Lucas wasn’t going to drag this out. He turned, faced her
fully, and took her hands in his. He stared down at them, ran his fingers over
her smooth, creamy flesh, and then told himself this shouldn’t be this fucking
hard.

“I was
a bastard,
am
a bastard,
Tarren
.” He stared at
her. “I let my life keep me away from you, let the words your old man told me
keep me away, and I thought that staying away was the best thing.”

“Staying
away was my fault, too, Lucas.” She stared at the water. The seconds ticked by,
and then finally she faced him again. “I love you.” The silence moved between
them, not uncomfortable, but a little strange and pressurized. “I am
in
love with you, have been for a long time and being with you all those years ago
made it better and worse, if that makes sense.” She looked down, but he didn’t
want to have her breaking what was going on between them.

He
lifted her head with his finger under her chin, and leaned in to kiss her
softly. He wasn’t trying to divert the situation into something sexual. All he
wanted was to show her that he was right here with her. “I am not going
anywhere anymore,
Tarren
. I thought about it a lot
while I was gone, and even before that. It’s not an excuse, baby. God, it’s not
an excuse, but I want you to know.” He pulled back, kept his finger under her
chin, and hoped she knew how genuine he was. “I wouldn’t blame you if you just
wanted to be friends,
Tarren
, but I wanted you to
know how I felt regardless. I wasted too much time as it is.”

She
didn’t answer at first, just stared at him, and then she slowly licked her
lips, and he had to force himself not to groan at the sight. “Can we start
over?” she said in a soft voice, and then lifted just her gaze to him. “Can we
just be you and me, and focus on right now?”

He
smiled, smoothed his finger along her cheek, and didn’t stop himself from
kissing her again. It was a soft, nice kiss, nothing overly erotic, but with
enough heat that he hoped she could feel how much he wanted her. “I love you,
too,
Tarren
. Christ, I love you so fucking much.” He
kissed her harder this time, and murmured against her mouth, “I am an asshole,
a stupid fucking asshole for leaving you, and for thinking I could even stop
what is going on between us.”

He
couldn’t take back the shit he had done, couldn’t go back in time and make
things right, but he could show her from this moment forward that she was his,
and he’d treat her like the damned queen she was.

And
then she
suspired
him by reaching up and taking hold
of his head with her hands, holding each side, and staring right at him. “I
love you, but I also will not put up with any shit, Lucas, you know that.” She
sounded fierce. “You have known me since before we could even walk, know that I
can be just as strong as you boys, but if we do this, I don’t want my heart
broken, Lucas.”

“I
won’t break your heart. I’d rather
fucking
shoot
myself than hurt you,
Tarren
.” Her smile could have
lit up the entire damn lake. He kissed her again, and again, and when she was
breathless he pulled back. “Your dad will definitely have my balls, but I am
not leaving you,
Tarren
, not again, and not fucking
ever.” And then he pulled her in close, hauled her onto his lap, and held her
until she started to fall asleep. It was the best fucking feeling in the
world.
 

Chapter Ten

“You have got to be fucking
kidding me,” Dallas all but roared out, but neither
Tarren
nor Lucas appeared affected.

“Dallas, you don’t need to
swear,” Hope, his old lady and the love of his life, said right beside him.

He stared at his daughter, his
little girl that wasn’t really little anymore, but that would always be his baby,
and tried to control himself. Hope stood beside him, her hand on his forearm,
and the scent of her happiness and trepidation filling the air.

“This is my life, my decision,
Dad,”
Tarren
said softly, and reached out to take
Lucas’s hand. She swallowed, let go of the other male, and stood.
 
“I know you sent Lucas away all of those
years ago because you were looking out for me, and because you love me.” She
moved closer, and Dallas wanted to make her happy, to make everything she ever
dreamed about come true. He was her father. The first time he had looked into
Tarren’s
little face when she was born, was the first time
he had realized that losing his son and ex in a car accident decades ago hadn’t
meant the end of his world. He had found Hope, realized that he could love once
more, and when she had given him two beautiful little girls, his life had meant
even more.

“I love her, Dallas. I’d kill for
her, and lay down my life for
Tarren
. The last few
years were screwed up, and I wish I had done things differently. I want to
blame it on immaturity, and maybe it was a little bit of that, too.” Lucas
stared right in his eyes, refusing to back down, and Dallas had to give the
male credit for having some balls of steel and standing up to him in his own
fucking house.

He wanted to curse at Lucas, beat
him into the ground and tell both of them that this wasn’t right, and wasn’t
going to happen on his watch. Although Lucas had calmed down in the last few
years, and didn’t have the same reputation concerning the female population as
he had before, that didn’t mean Dallas wanted
Tarren
to be involved with him. He lived a dangerous life, one that Dallas also led,
and he knew the strain it could put on the woman he loved. But Lucas was saying
he loved
Tarren
, would die for her, and if he was
being honest with himself wasn’t that what Dallas wanted from a male who was
with one of his daughters?

“It’s not like we think you’ll be
okay with this right away, Dad.”
Tarren
grabbed his
hands, and he stared down at his little girl. “But I want you to be happy for
me. I want you to trust me that I can make my own decisions and know what I
want in my life.”

He wanted to wrap her up in a
steel house and stand guard with the biggest damn gun he owned. But she was
right, even if it pained him to admit that. She was a smart, bright girl, knew
what she wanted in life, and could kick any of the Grizzly boys’ asses when
they crossed her. She was tough, and he wanted to give her room, but he was
protective of what was his, and his little girls and wife were just that.
His.

“I trust you, baby girl.” He
pulled
Tarren
into a hug, stared at Lucas over the
top of her head, and told him with just a look that he’d better not fuck this
up. Lucas nodded, clearly understanding what he meant. Dallas kissed the crown
of
Tarren’s
head and pulled back. “But if he breaks
your heart I’ll break his bones,” he said in all seriousness, and she smiled.

“I know, Daddy, but remember I
can do some damage, too, and I don’t think Lucas would hurt me.”

“Never,” Lucas said from behind
her now.

“Dallas, come on, let’s let them
have some time, because you need some as well,” Hope said from beside him.

He nodded, not wanting to leave
his daughter with any male, let alone a patched in member that could kill a man
with his bare hands, but he told himself wasn’t he the same? He needed to let
his daughter learn and grow, decide what she wanted, and if there was a mistake
made and Lucas messed with her, then he knew where to find him. A Grizzly that
found his female was a dangerous one, but a protective papa bear was a force to
be reckoned with.

****

Eight months later

Lucas:
Have dinner with me 2nite, baby.

Tarren
smiled down at her cell. She
read the text again, and typed out her response.

Do I get 2 pick this time, or is
it another burger and fries night? ;)

Lucas:
U liked the burger and fries, especially
when I got U 2 get off before we even made it through the drive through.

She thought about the time he was
referring to, when they had stopped by the local burger fast food joint. Lucas
had placed his hand between her thighs, right up her skirt, while he ordered
their food, and had her coming before they even made it to the window.