STICK: MC ROMANCE NOVELLA (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 8) (50 page)

CHAPTER FIVE

“Lisa? Don’t!” Raven pleaded desperately as she thrust her clothes into a suitcase half-sobbing.

“You were the … bear thingy that attacked me in the woods all those years ago! You damn near mauled me to death! I have been having nightmares for years no thanks to you.”

“I didn’t attack you. I was drawn to you because you are my mate. Admit it, there is this pull between us.”

“No there isn’t. Just stay the hell away from me and stay the hell away from my kids!”

“Lisa I would never hurt you! I invited you on this trip to get you away from those men who wanted to hurt you.”

“What men?” she asked, slowing now to stare at him.

“Other werebears. That day in the woods I marked you as my mate for life and only werebears can see the mark. They have been after you since that day I rescued you from that guy in the park.”

“Was h
e
”

“Yes. Definitely. He’s a werebear too.”

“Why would they want to hurt me?”

“Because I chose a human and because I have chosen not to live with the rest of the pack.”

“Why?”

“They were hurting humans and they didn’t have to. We can eat food unlike vampires and werewolves, but they sometimes prefer to just grab and hurt humans for the heck of it.”

“And now suddenly they can’t hurt me anymore?”

“We mated. That makes you one of us in a manner of speaking. They won’t be able to so much as come near you,” he assured.

“And for that I’m supposed to thank you?” she spat. “By your explanation you brought this on me!” she yelled, deliberately ignoring his reference to their lovemaking as ‘mating’.

Raven stared at her a beat, then he sighed.

“I don’t know what to say. I couldn’t stay away from you to save myself and I have tried! For three years I just watched over you from a distance.”

Silence reigned as she slowly sank onto the bed, feeling her emotions scattering all over the place.

He knelt in front of her, his hands holding hers as he said, “I love you Lisa. You are the only woman in the world for me and being around you is absolutely terrifying for me because it sets me free and it controls me.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” she told him. She could feel the fear ebbing as he held her; an unbreakable connection forging between them.

She slowly raised a hand and stroked the side of his face as she repeated, “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Around you, I can control my impulses. Ordinarily I change into a werebear when I lose control, like during orgasm, but with you it’s different. You are the only woman in the world for me, literally. Once a werebear meets its mate, it’s forever.”

Lisa looked down at him, her heart constricting in her chest. She was almost afraid to breathe. His silver eyes with flecks of gold stared back earnestly at her, open and filled with so much love she couldn’t bear to look away.

The words trembled on her lips. She held them back with a question. “I should probably shed some weight.”

He stared at her, his eyes looking so intensely into her soul as he said softly, “Honey you are a beautiful big girl. I love you just the way you are. The first time I saw you, I almost creamed my pants just staring at your cleavage.”

“When was that?”

“When you were jogging the woods three years ago?”

Lisa chuckled as he rose to sit beside her on the bed and gathered her into his arms.

“You weren’t wearing any pants. You were a naked werebear and then a naked man.”

“What were you going to tell me before you made the crack about losing weight?”

Her eyes met his, held. “I love you.”

Raven bowed his head as though in prayer as the sweet words washed over him. Then he said, his voice throbbing with emotion, “I have waited all my life to hear those words. I love you too.”

“I want to see you in your other form,” she said decisively, the last fear fading as she instinctively knew the exact thing to say.

Slowly, without so much as a noise, he morphed into the same brown bear that had accosted her three years ago with grey eyes and gold flecks in them.

He was her love, he was her future.

THE END

Samantha Leal

Copyright ©2016 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Thank you so much for your interest in my work

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter One

Love at first sight was as unrealistic as unicorns and vampires, at least according to Ginny Night.  That was until she saw
him.
  It all happened by chance really.  Ginny had been walking down the street, rather late for her first day of her new job as a journalist.  She hadn’t been paying attention to where she was walking, more concentrated on not tripping over herself to notice the man coming straight for her.  They had collided in a pretty intense way.

Of course Ginny had given countless apologies but her voice went soft when she first laid eyes on the man.  Tall, dark and handsome would be the perfect way to describe him.  He was easily over six feet with thick jet black hair perfectly coiffed.  With matching dark eyes and a rather pale complexion he was a sight to behold.  Upon seeing his broad shoulders and muscular arms and chest Ginny nearly drooled on the spot.  But after bumping into him, she gathered herself up well enough and apologized one more time before walking off.

The man had been imprinted in her mind from then on.  And as she had quickly figured out the insanely attractive man walked the same path every day.  Ginny had started to make a habit of watching him down the street and every once in a while she would ‘accidentally’ run into him.  By now she was sure he knew her intentions but she just couldn’t help it.

And now here she was, walking down the street with an armful of papers, ready to run into him again.  Perhaps this time she would be brave enough to ask him for his name.  Suddenly he came into view.  Now it was time to act.  Ginny averted her gaze and made a beeline for him.  Just as she was sure she was about to collide with him there was a firm hand on her arm.

“We really should stop meeting like this.”  The man chuckled lightly.  Ginny was sure her face was beet red from embarrassment.  Surely he had figured her out!

“Haha, yeah, I suppose I should pay better attention to my surroundings.  It’s just so early I haven’t had my coffee yet so my brain is still waking up.”  Ginny tried to laugh and lie her way out of the situation, suddenly very aware of how close he was to her body.

“Well perhaps we should change that.  If you aren’t too busy would you like to get some coffee?”  Ginny thought she was going to explode from the excitement bottled up inside of her.  She tried to play it off as coolly as she could.

“That would be great.  If you aren’t in a rush either.”  Ginny mentally berated herself for how lame that sounded but kept steamrolling ahead, hoping to cover up her awkwardness with more words.  “I’m Ginny by the way.  All this time I keep bumping into you I never told you my name.”  Ginny extended her hand and the man happily took it, shaking with gusto.

“My name is Liam.”  They shared a small moment of just smiling at each other while shaking hands.  It was a small moment, but it was a moment nonetheless.  Ginny would take what she could get.

“Shall we?  There is a wonderful little café just around the corner.”  Liam pointed to a corner not even a half block away.  Ginny nodded her head enthusiastically, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

“That sounds great.”

They walked side by side to the coffee shop and when they got to the counter Liam insisted that she order first.  Ginny got a vanilla latte, her secret guilty pleasure of a coffee drink while Liam got an Americano.  Ginny went to pay for her latte but Liam refused to let her, saying that it was the gentlemanly thing to do.  Just another reason Ginny could tell she was already falling in love with him.  Though, Ginny would still never admit that she believed in love at first sight.

“So Liam, what do you do?”  Ginny inquired as she sipped her latte.  Liam added a single sugar packet to his Americano as he contemplated how to answer her question.

“I guess the best way to answer that would be to say that I am a businessman of sorts.”  Ginny gave him a puzzled look. 

“And what do you mean by that?”  Liam was hesitant to expand on it any further, yet there was something about Ginny that made him feel at ease.   The usually closed off and private man saw something in Ginny, something that he hadn’t seen in a very long time.  It was a comforting feeling, almost familiar in nature.  Perhaps that was why Liam didn’t stop the words from pouring out of his mouth.  There was a connection between him and this girl, a connection he wanted to explore in more detail.

“My family owns the Langley Corporation.”  Ginny thought she was going to spray her drink everywhere.  The Langley Corporation was a family with money in the billions, and if this guy in front of her was for real he was likely the second son, William Langley, of the current CEO, Edward Langley.  The whole ‘Liam’ nickname was likely a way to help keep his identity secret.  The family had gained its wealth starting all the way back with the railroads, and through constant diversification with new ventures they had built a reputation of being the closest thing to royalty in the United States.  Ginny almost couldn’t believe she was sitting across from such a ‘prince.’

“Are you really William Langley?”  Ginny had to set her latte down for fear of another crazy revelation.  Liam seemed rather perturbed by the question but answered it nonetheless.

“Yes, though I would prefer if you didn’t share that with anyone.  I enjoy my privacy.”  Ginny shook her head in understanding.

“No, I get it.  It’s just a bit of a shock.  It’s not every day that you meet a billionaire.”  Even saying the word billionaire was blowing Ginny’s mind.  Here she was, a nobody journalist, having coffee with the heir to the corporate throne.  To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement.

“I appreciate your understanding.  I just want to enjoy my coffee with my beautiful date.”  Ginny felt her face turn red again from embarrassment; he was almost too much. 

“You aren’t too bad looking yourself.”  Ginny wanted to slap herself silly.  Had she really just said that to
the
William Langley?! 
Shoot me now,
Ginny thought to herself. 

Liam chuckled a bit at her slightly awkward statement, but didn’t tease her about it, which Ginny was forever thankful for.  Instead Ginny decided to shift the conversation back onto Liam and away from herself.

“So if you are from such a well-known family why do you walk around here every day?  Wouldn’t it be better to just take a car or limo or whatever it is you drive around in?”  Ginny questioned as she re-gathered her latte in her hands.  Liam leaned back in his chair and smiled.

“I like to walk the streets and breathe in the … well, I guess ‘fresh’ isn’t the right word, but I like to breathe in the air of the city.  I don’t like to be so isolated from the people around me.  Besides, no one really knows what I look like so I can get away with walking around town unnoticed.  Though, I will say I wasn’t planning to have near constant run-ins with a certain red headed woman.”  Liam smirked and Ginny thought she was going to die again from embarrassment.   Ginny sputtered for words, but there was really no defense for her blatant actions.  “Don’t worry, I always enjoyed our little run-ins,” Liam half-smiled. 
Oh God,
Ginny thought to herself.

“Heh, yeah, well anyways, what else do you do during the day besides get semi-harassed by me in the streets?”  Ginny was determined to learn more about the secretive man in front of her.  And damn it if she wouldn’t get the topic off of her semi-stalker behaviors.  It was bad enough that the conversation had primarily revolved around that singular topic.

“Well I also enjoy Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain.”  Liam stated.

“Those are lyrics to a song,” Ginny called him out on his tease.  Liam only beamed back and her.

“You caught me, though Pina Coladas are delicious.  I mostly just help out at the company doing boring business stuff like emails, memos, meetings and phone calls.  It’s rather monotonous, which is why I love walking through the streets.  Everyday something different can happen.”  Liam eyes lit up as he talked about the near daily adventure of walking down the street and Ginny couldn’t help but smile along with him.  His personality was infectious and the more they talked the more she came to like him. 

It was strange Ginny thought, sitting here with a man that was essentially a stranger and yet feeling like there were old friends, or even old lovers.  Ginny had never felt such an instant connection with someone before and it was exhilarating.  There was an easiness to him that instantly drew Ginny in and talking with him was comfortable and pleasant.   The entire hour they enjoyed their coffee there wasn’t a single moment of silence or awkwardness.  The conversation flowed from one topic to another, covering things from life in the Big Apple, to their careers, to the minutest of topics such as pet names and Ginny’s irrational fear of pool drains. There was just so much they had in common - it was uncanny the instant connection they shared. 

Every time Liam’s hand brushed hers, whether intentional or by chance, Ginny could feel an almost electric charge pass between them.  There was just something that lit a fire deep within Ginny and she was eager to fan the flames, if only to see how much they could burn.  In the back of her mind Ginny wondered what about this man before her was so intoxicating, so captivating,  that he nearly had her heart on the very first ‘date.’

The coffee date went as smoothly as it could have and ended with William and Ginny exchanging numbers.  It was an afternoon Ginny was not likely to forget anytime soon.  She had met an amazing man, who also happened to be an extremely hot billionaire.  Things like that don’t just happen to people like Ginny.  It was a day to remember and in that moment Ginny felt like she was on top of the world.  There was nothing that could bring her down. 

That night, after Ginny went home, she wrote about her experience, about her date with a billionaire.  It was just too good of a story to pass up. Of course she changed both of their names but it was too much to keep to herself, so Ginny decided to write it all down. Since it was fresh in her mind Ginny wrote down in as much detail as possible the entire story of her first ‘encounter’ with the nearly perfect man. When she finished she looked it over and contemplated what to do with the piece of writing.  Sure she could keep it as a sort of diary, but something pulled at her to do something more with it.

As a last minute decision Ginny decided to post it to a blog site.  She didn’t think much about whether or not she would get any followers, but as a journalist Ginny just had a deep urge to report her experience, whether it was warranted or not.  Perhaps it was the day and age of oversharing, but Ginny was compelled to throw her story in with the rest out there on the World Wide Web.  It wasn’t like she was printing it in the paper.  It was just a harmless and unassuming blog post, just a way for her to keep a journal of sorts.  What could be the harm in that?