Owen (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 2) (50 page)

Dominic hummed. “That’s fine. I like your hands.”

Aurie stilled. This was it. This was the moment when she chose, no looking back.

It was, surprisingly, the easiest choice she’d ever made.

It was so quiet, only the hum of the engines and their breathing and the runaway beat of her heart, and he was there and she was there and it all felt right. She leaned forward and pressed her mouth—gently, lovingly—to the thin scar on the back on his neck. She could hear the breath catch in his throat as she let her eyelids slide shut, lashes sweeping lightly across his skin. The warm skin shifted under her touch and she pulled back, opening her eyes to meet his. They sat there for a moment, suspended in an eternal second of perfect understanding, before Aurie leaned back in. This time, Dom met her halfway and their lips met in a gentle kiss. Aurie hummed and opened her mouth, a shiver of pleasure running down her spine as Dominic copied the motion.

She leaned forward and he leaned back until he was lying down on the metal floor and Aurie had the top of her torso pressed against his chest, her legs kicked off to the side. Their breath mingled as they just lay together, Dom’s hand coming up to gently release Aurie’s hair from her ponytail and his other warm hand wrapping around her waist. She leaned forward and pressed her forehead to his neck, smiling.

“Think it’s worth it to try and hightail it to your room?” she asked quietly and felt her body be lifted slightly as he huffed out a laugh.
 

“I can’t think at all right now,” he told her. “Do you really think this is a good idea?”

“Do I think it’s a good idea to have sex with one of my kidnappers, who’s merry little crew I may or may not have been Stockholm Syndrome’d into joining, on the floor of the engine room?” she asked wryly. “I think it’s the best idea I’ve ever heard.”

It should probably have worried her a little more that she was telling the truth.
 

Dom was quiet for a moment. “If at any point you want to stop, or leave…”

Aurie leaned up and silenced him with a kiss. “I’ll let you know.”
 

Dom looked hard into her eyes before relaxing, whatever he saw in them extinguishing whatever fight he had left. “In that case,” he said with a smirk, “want to play doctor.”

A snort burst out of Aurie’s mouth before she could contain it. “Oh my God,” she said, giggling, “that was terrible.”

“No, no, really,” Dom said, his smirk splitting wider into a grin, “I think you need to examine me.”

“
Stop
,” Aurie commanded, collapsing back on top of him and rocking both their bodies with her laughter.
 

“Mmm, okay,” he said, slipping a hand under her shirt and rubbing soft circles on the skin of her back. “Let’s try something else instead then.”

Aurie shifted back to look at him, relaxed and beautiful and—for once—soft as he stared back at her, and leaned in to press her smiling mouth against his.

“Get naked,” she whispered into his lips. “Doctor’s orders.”

Dom leaned in and deepened the kiss for a moment before pushing her back and stripping off his shirt. He was every bit as well built as he had been when she had examined him, but this time there was the burning frisson in the back of her mind of the knowledge that she could
touch
. She ran her fingers lightly over the defined muscles of his abs, pleasure sparking through her at the way his stomach muscles tensed under her touch.

Dom tugged at the hemline of her blouse. “Your turn, Dr. Talbott.”

Aurie smirked and yanked her top over her head. She reached for the clasp to undo her bra, but Dom’s hands slid up her back and grabbed her as he sat up to kiss her. He pressed a languid open-mouthed kiss to her lips before peppering kisses along her jawbone and down her neck, leaning her back so he could trail his lips between her breasts as his fingers swiftly undid her bra and slid it down her arms. Aurie’s breath shuddered as the cool air hit her sensitive nipples. Dom looked up at her with those lazy, hypnotic eyes and slowly, almost teasingly, took one in his mouth. Aurie whimpered as he tugged lightly on it with his teeth, thumbing her other nipple with the hand that wasn’t at her back to keep her steady. On instinct, Aurie ground down, rubbing them together between two layers of clothing and making them both moan.

“How about we save foreplay for round two?” Aurie asked breathlessly.

“Agreed,” Dom said, pressing a kiss to her collarbone and they rolled apart to hurriedly strip off the rest of their clothing. Dom spread their shirts out on the floor and maneuvered her on top of them, settling between her thighs as he did so.

“Well, someone likes being on top,” Aurie teased.

“It’s only gentlemanly to volunteer to be the one who has to put ointment on their knees for the next few days,” Dominic told her, running his hands up the sides of her thighs. Aurie sighed happily and lay back, letting her legs fall wider apart.

“Are you on… I mean, do you have…” Dom started, suddenly uncertain.

Aurie snorted. “Of course. Get to work, will you?”

Dom raised an eyebrow in response and suddenly his clever fingers were sliding along the hot, wet juncture between her thighs. “Like that?”

“You’re not getting paid by the minute here,” Aurie huffed. “Mind hurrying up?”

“So impatient,” Dom said, his voice threaded with the barest shade of adoration, “and all for me.”
 

“Every inch,” Aurie promised. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind, please get inside me already.”

Dom leaned up to kiss her, bracing his hands on either side of her shoulders and kissed her once more as he slid into her. A gasp punched out of Aurie’s lungs as he filled her, her arms snapping up to wrap around his back.

“Move,” she told him, half a command and half a plea. Dom, ever the gentleman, obeyed her.
 

Kissing Dom had been like putting a piece of lightening on her tongue. The naked friction between them had threatened to consume her with its heat. But this, oh, this… this was something new, something powerful, something so overwhelming that Aurie didn’t have words to describe it. It was like she was floating weightless, her body eroded away and only Dominic above and the steadily growing feeling of white-hot pleasure the only things left in the whole universe. She’d made love before, but never like this. This was the connection of two souls through the stifled moans and heady gasps and sweat-slick skin.
 

“I’m going to…” she managed to warn Dom in a strangled breath seconds before her orgasm shuddered through her body, her nails scraping across his back as she moaned his name. Almost immediately after, Dom swore and grunted, collapsing on her and panting heavily.
 

They stayed like that, unable to find the energy to move, until the cooling sweat became uncomfortable enough for them to drag their exhausted bodies apart and fumblingly get dressed. “I’m, um. I’m going to go take

 
a shower, I think,” Aurie said without looking at him, suddenly and inexplicably shy.

“That’s smart,” Dom replied.

“Would it be okay—and you can say no—but, would it be okay if I stayed with you tonight?” She asked, dragging her eyes to his face to see his response.

Dom smiled at her like a sunrise, slow and bright. “Sure. I could use the quiet.”

FIN

Adam

Grizzly Groomsmen I

by

Becca Fanning

If she was being honest with herself, Maya wasn't even sure why she was invited in the first place. Glancing around the crowded room, she sighed, and reached for a glass of champagne; she would need it to get through the rest of the night.

At every wedding she'd been to, there'd been at least one guest who no one knew. She just never thought it would be her. As soon as the email had pinged into her inbox, she'd had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she knew she couldn't turn the opportunity down. After all, Dina and her had basically grown up together, well, if you considered growing up those formative years between the start and end of college, which Maya did. They'd lived together for four whole years, before Dina had moved in with her soon to be husband. And now, Maya was here, with a sunset-hued bridesmaids dress in her closet, tossing back champagne, and staring across at her college roommate and her husband-to-be.

Maya was pretty far from a wallflower most of the time, but right now all she wanted to do was finish out the last of this reception, get to bed, and catch her flight home the next day. Because, of course, Dina couldn't resist taking off to some remote tropical island to hold her wedding. Christ, if Maya had known about that, she probably would have found some way to wriggle out of it, Dina might be all grown up and done with her student loans, but Maya certainly wasn't. Hell, that wasn't the only way Maya was pretty far from being an adult. She was still living in the same rent-controlled apartment in the centre of town she had for almost nine years, she was still single, she was still avoiding calls from her mother. Part of her felt like she should have grown up by now, but, as she kept on reminding herself, she was only twenty-eight. She had plenty of time to figure things out, even if watching the girl she used to do tequila slammers with seven years ago with her fiance was freaking the hell out of her. Maya tried to keep her face nonchalant as she watched Dina show off her ring to some member of the family Maya didn't recognize. All of a sudden, it became far too real, Maya stood up, and headed towards the catering table, trying her best to look nonchalant.
 

She spotted an open but untouched bottle of champagne sitting on the edge of the clothed table, judging by the size and shape, she could easily stash it under her dress and sneak off to the beach for the rest of the night. Glancing around, she thought for a moment that one of the other bridesmaids had caught her in the act, but realized she was just staring off into space in Maya's direction. Grabbing the bottle, Maya slid it under the flowing bustier of her dress and made her way towards the door. She caught Dina's eye, and offered a wave and a smile as she ducked into the cool, heavy evening air.
 

No one looked twice as Maya hurried down towards the golden sands, pulling the bottle out from her dress as she went. Staring out across the waves, she felt a soft calmness pass across her. Being surrounded by nature always made her feel calmer. There was something so…analogue about the sounds of the waves lapping up over the sand, of birds calling in the distance. She sat herself down in the rich, slightly damp sand, wriggling her toes under the surface, and took a swig from the bottle of champagne. Maybe this wasn't the classiest way to spend the first night of this wedding weekend, but it certainly suited her.
 

Suddenly, behind her,she heard the crunch of footsteps. It sounded like they were tracing her path down to the beach, so Maya quickly slipped the bottle of champagne under her skirts and tried to look like someone who hadn't just stolen an expensive bottle of booze from a fancy party.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," A male voice, sounding a little out of breath, drifted over her shoulder. "I just needed a minute."

"No problem!" Maya chirped, hoping that whoever it was couldn't read the guilt on her face. She twisted her head so she could see over her shoulder, and realized that she recognized the source of the voice. Before she had a chance to say anything, he cocked his head and grinned.

"You're one of the bridesmaids, right?" He asked, skittering over the sand towards her. "Sorry, I'm not good on anything other than dirt."

"Yeah. And you're a groomsman?" She nodded, shifting up so that he could sit down next to her. If she was being honest,
 
she had noticed him when she'd arrived. Well, mostly because she had been trying to distract herself with someone to flirt with, and his green-gold eyes had flashed mischievously back at hers when they'd made contact.

"Right. Not sure why, though," He shook his head, pulling out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and offering one to her. "Smoke?"

"Sure," Maya shrugged. She hadn't smoked since she was in college, but something about the two of them sneaking off from a wedding felt devious and teenage enough to warrant it. She produced the bottle of champagne from under her skirt and held it out towards him. "Drink?"

He spluttered with laughter, reaching over to light Maya's cigarette before getting to his own.

"Did you steal that from the reception?" He demanded, looking at her with mock-seriousness.

"Yeah, you wanna take me in for it?" Maya tilted her chin up and challenged him. God, he was even cuter close up, maybe it was just the suit and tie, or maybe it was that lopsided grin, but this guy was seriously her type.
 

"I'll hold off if you share with me," he offered, and took the bottle from her. They sat in companionable silence for a minute or so, drinking and smoking and ignoring the distant sound of the reception above them.
 

"So, why are you here?" Maya asked, not taking the time to consider how blunt her words might sound coming out of nowhere. She shook her head. "Sorry, I meant-"

"Yeah, I know," The man waved his hand, dismissing her apology. "Cousin of the groom. I guess he needed someone to make up the numbers. That's the only reason I can think of for him inviting me. You?"