Scrooge's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tales) (6 page)

Tip the man.
Once she pulled out a wad of cash,
he would get the hint.

She turned to face him, expecting to
find him enjoying an after-sex sleep like most men. Instead he stared at her,
allowing his gaze a slow roam over her body.

The impulse to hide herself, shield
her curves from his sight assailed her. However, she kept her hands away
knowing that he’d already seen all of her through the rambunctious sexual
antics.

Thoughts of all they had done made
her shiver. She gave herself a moment to admire his large, built form. The man
took up over half of the queen-size bed with his shoulder span. His chest was
broad and chiseled through his abs. A woman could get lost in all the hills and
valleys of his defined muscles. She lowered her gaze to the dark thatch of hair
above his reposed shaft as it rested to one side. She noted that the crown of
his thick dick reached beyond his hipbone. It amazed her how she’d taken all of
that, and more, inside of her…and loved every inch of it.

The urge to lick it from his heavy
sack to the tip had her moistening her lips.

His cock twitched and began to raise
some. “You know it’s a much better view from over here.”

Her gaze shot to his face. He had a
wide carefree smile stretching his mouth as he lifted a hand and beckoned her
to him.

Shaking her head she maintained her
distance. The man had to be on something. How in the hell, after all the energy
they had exerted over the last few hours, could he even be able to get it up?
Even as she asked the mental question about him, her own body shocked her and
began to react—the sensitive walls of her sex started to clench and moisten.

With a vengeance, not sure if it was
directed at the beguiling man or herself, she snatched a fistful of bills out
of her wallet and held them out to him. “This has been great fun, but our night
has come to its end.”

He scowled and glanced from the
money to her face. “What the hell are you doing?” He shoved himself to a seated
position.

Why did he look angry and insulted?

“I’m paying you your tip. Do you
think it is not enough?” She was fisting over four hundred dollars in her hand.
It was twenty percent of what she’d paid Lady Salista. Was the percentage
higher than a waitress made at a fine dining restaurant? Ebony had no clue.

“What I know is that you have me
confused with someone else!” He stood up, his hands fisted on his hips.

She laughed.
Is he
trying to fleece me?
“Who? A streetwalker. Do they make this high of a tip?
Lady Salista really needed to spell that out better in the contract.” She waved
the money in the air. 

He growled. How was it that the man
appeared more menacing standing on the other side of the bed nude than when he
was clothed downstairs?

Swallowing, she calmed herself. The
last thing she needed was to be trapped in the room with a big man. She didn’t
believe he would hurt her physically. However, what did she really know about
him besides how well he could get her off?

“You paid someone to fuck you.” He
shoved a hand through his hair and gripped the back of his neck.

That sounded like a question instead
of the accusation, she was confused. “You are the person I paid…am paying even
more to screw me.” Had his orgasm scattered his brain?

It would be just her luck that her
first escort would be the one that needed around-the-clock meds for some mental
condition.

“I don’t take money for giving a
woman pleasure.” It came out low as he spoke through his tight lips.

She tossed the money onto the top of
the dresser beside her purse and shoved her wallet back into her name-brand
bag. “Fine. If you are too high-stepping to take a tip for services rendered
that is all on you. Our night is still done.”

“No, it is just beginning.”

“Ha!” She pointed a finger at him
and squinted, attempting to give him the same piercing stare that had her old
staff running from the office to do her bidding. “Just because you want more
sex, you think I’m going to submit myself to your lusty demands?”

“Absolutely, because something is
going on between us.” He took a step toward her.

She stepped back and gripped the
dresser behind her. “If you think for one moment that I’m going to lie on that
bed and spread my thighs for you again, you must be mad.”

“Insane, hot, horny, and confused.”
He moved around the foot of the bed in two, long strides.

“I’d say you are a little more than
confused. I don’t do all-nighters with men.”

“You don’t do a lot of things.” He
now stood before her, his arms crossed over his chest. “Why were you in the bar
earlier this evening?”

“Waiting for you, duh?” Damn he’d
reduced her to a short-verbiage teenager.

“Try again. Who specifically were
you waiting for?” Those intense eyes of his held hers. They were more blackened
now than the gold color they reflected earlier,

Chills began to race up her arms at
his question. An uneasy feeling was starting to build in her stomach. She
wanted to cross the room and remove her trench coat from the closet and put it
on.

“I really don’t like to repeat
myself—” The ringing of her cell phone cut her off. Turning, she rifled through
her purse until she located it at the bottom. Who would be calling her in the
middle of the night? The number that came across the screen seemed familiar but
she couldn’t place it right off hand.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Hi, Ms. Scrooge I’m so sorry to
call at such a late hour.”

Ebony recognized the woman’s
elegant, velvet voice immediately.

“That’s no problem, Lady Salista?
Why are you calling?” Ebony eyed the giant still standing too close to her.
Maybe his employer wanted to warn her that the man she’d set Ebony up with had
just recently been released from the looney bin.

“My apologies for just now calling,
but I just found out myself.”

“Found out what?” Ebony insisted.

“Marcus, the escort I’d assigned for
your evening, had an allergic reaction to something he ate this afternoon and
has been hospitalized. I guess his throat was too swollen until an hour ago to
even talk. I will fully refund your money or arrange someone else tomorrow
night for you.”

Ebony’s heart plummeted
to the bottom of her stomach and her blood turned to ice in her veins. Closing
her eyes, she squeezed the phone tightly in her hand, the metal biting into her
cold fingers. “So, what you are telling me is that
Marcus
, who works for
you, was unable to show tonight?”

 “Co-rrect.” Lady Salista spoke
slowly as if Ebony lacked intelligence to understand.

However, Ebony was beginning to
understand one thing clearly, the man before her was an imposter.

“Is there something wrong?”

“Oh, yes, there is, but I’ll take
care of it.” Ebony hung up the phone, dropping it onto the wooden surface. She
needed some space away from the imposing man. Keeping her silence, she moved
away from the big man toward the nightstand. Glad he didn’t attempt to stop
her. “Who the hell are you? You better talk fast before I start screaming or
bash your head in with a lamp.” She wrapped her hand around the base of the
lamp.

“I’m Dainton Armel, I run a business
liaison company up North.”

A businessman. “What? Are you in
town trolling bars to pick up easy women?”

He chuckled. “Nothing about you is
easy, Ms. Scrooge. To your question, I’m an unattached male, so if I’m
attracted to a woman and she has the same for me, I have no qualms about
satisfying us both.” He paused and took in her body from head to toe and back
up. “Were you not satisfied, sweetheart?”

Her body hummed in response. “That’s
beside the point.” She tightened her grip on the lamp to keep herself focused.
“You’re an imposter. Why did you pretend to be someone you aren’t?”

“That’s my question for you.” He
moved closer to her, but stayed an arm’s length away.

She stabbed her thumb into her
chest. “I’m not the one pretending. I’m a grown, single woman that hired a
service for a few hours of fun. Plain and simple.”

“Why?”

Like he was an idiot, she glanced
from him to the bed and then back to him. “Ah, sex.”

One side of his mouth lifted in a
crooked smile. “I know that. But, why would a woman, as pretty, vivacious, sexy
and passionate as you feel the need to pay for sex? When you can have any man
you wanted with a smile.”

Her heart that had sunk into her
belly began to lift at his words. No man had ever complimented her in such a
way. They called her smart, sharp and a corporate barracuda, but never pretty.
“I don’t smile much.”

“So, I’ve noticed.” He rubbed his
chin, the scratching sound of his new stubble echoing around the room. “You’re
so much more than meets the eye.”

“Thanks. I think.”

He sat down on the bed and stared
down at the rug between his feet for a moment.

She remained where she was, not sure
of Dainton’s next actions.

“All night something has been
bothering me.” He linked his hands together between his knees. “After
concluding my meeting, I was actually on my way home when I was drawn to the
bar.”

“By what?” Had he been following one
of those giggly women from the company holiday party that was being held in the
bar? She wouldn’t doubt it. Most of the tiny women were strutting around in
small, tight red dresses, looking more than available for any man that asked.
“Or who?”

His gaze rose and met hers. “You?”

His declaration struck her like a
lightning bolt to the heart. Jumpstarted it and sent warmth racing through her
veins.

“What?”

Chapter
Five

Dainton heard her
question. Saw the shock illuminating her light brown eyes. The knowledge of
what he’d been feeling all night was consuming his mind and as much as he
wanted to shove the truth away, he couldn’t. What he didn’t know was how much
to share with the woman before him.

“You didn’t even know me. We’d never
met before. So, how could I have pulled you into the bar?”

He enjoyed seeing her so passionate.
She’d forgotten about her protective grip on the lamp and was waving her arms
around her as she stated her case. When he first met her, she’d kept up a
controlled façade. He wondered if the people she worked with ever witnessed
this side of her.

“That’s the part that troubled me.
The reason I never stopped you while you explained your mountain of rules to me
or dragged me up to your room to have your wicked way with me.” He winked at
her. Even as he attempted to keep this conversation light, he knew the
situation before him was not a joking matter at all.

His life as he had known it was
over. Internally, he was struggling to come to grips with that. His bear on the
other hand, was pawing with excitement inside of him.

She stared at him through squinted
eyes. “Have you taken a look in the mirror big guy? No one is carting you off
anywhere if you don’t want to go.”

“What can I say? The males of my
kind grow this way.”

“What are you…Native American and
White…Samoan?”

“We’ll get to that. How about you
sit and answer a few questions for me.”

Shaking her head, she
caused loose and unkempt hair and that captivating gray lock to dance around
her shoulders as she said, “I don’t want to play twenty questions, I just want
you gone.”

“Not going to happen anytime soon.”
He patted the mattress beside him.

She glanced at the spot beside him,
but crossed her hands over her chest and remained where she stood. “Not going
to happen.” She tossed his words back at him.

He chuckled. He always enjoyed women
with a little bite to their personality, and Ebony had more than her share.

“Fair enough. Before we talk do you
know a woman named Greta?”

Her brows furrowed. “Never heard of
her. Who is she, the woman you were looking for?”

“My cousin.” He exhaled. It had been
a glimmer of hope that possibly Greta had set him up. Sent some Were-female
from another county to the hotel where Greta knew he’d been having his dinner
meeting, just to try and catch him out there. His cousin made it a weekly habit
to remind him she believed it was time for him to settle down and produce some
cubs. If he’d given Ebony a third bite the possibility of her breeding now
would almost be fact. Thank the Great Spirit he had restrained his bear.

Dainton’s bear scratched at his gut
not in agreement of his supplication at all.

“Oh. Well, I don’t know her.”

“Figured as much.” He ran his hand
through his hair. “Tell me where you’re from Ebony?”

Strutting to the dresser she pulled
the drawer open and removed an article of clothing. Once it was on, he
practically laughed at the long white conservative gown. The long sleeved item
covered Ebony from her throat to her ankles. He bit the inside of his cheek not
to laugh. A woman with a body like hers should be adorned in something short,
lacy and black to compliment the brown hue of her skin.