Wild Mate: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (8 page)

“
It made good money,
and...I was good at it. Raven Rose was popular, and she could make
quite a bit in one night.” Levi noticed that she talked about
her stripper persona in the third person like she was talking about
someone else, but he didn't interrupt her. “Raven paid the
mortgage, the utilities, the expenses, the expensive clothes and
entertainment, everything. I know, looking at me, you're wondering
what expensive clothes?” She gestured at her own tattered
t-shirt and shorts. “Well, I made the money, and he spent the
money.”

Levi balled his fists, but
Rebecca just shrugged as she dried her hands on a towel.

“
Being a stripper is
just a job. Raven is not Rebecca. Rebecca would never strip in
front of a bunch of strangers. But Raven is a working girl. With
Raven, it's all about the money. When I step into Club Mate, I check
my real life at the door. That's how it works. You can't bring the
real you into the club. I wouldn't be able to do what I do
otherwise.”

She sighed and turned round to
face him. “Raven is a real pro, but Rebecca would trip and
fall from the stage, like what I did tonight,” she said softly.
“When I saw you, I couldn't...I couldn't be Raven anymore.
You...” She closed her eyes. “You're real, Levi.
You're not like the other males at the club. A lot of them are
married, mated, and they're at the club without the knowledge of
their partners. They're there to play, to pretend, to escape. But
you're not like them. I can see it, and I can feel it.” She
put a hand over her heart. “You are real. And with you, I
can't be who I'm not. I'm just Rebecca with you.”

She looked at him, her eyes
brimming with her conflicting emotions and pain.

Levi pushed back from the
table and went to her.

“
Rebecca,” he said
her name softly as he stood before her.

She stared up at him and took
a step forward so that they were standing toe to toe. Levi held
himself absolutely still. He badly wanted to grab her, hold her
tight and kiss her. He wanted to do a million things with her, but
he didn't want to spook her. She was still very fragile.

She kept staring at him, a
mixture of wonder, disbelief and desire on her face.

Levi didn't even dare breathe.
Rebecca was so close that he could feel her hot, shuddering breath
on his chest. She raised her hand and lightly touched his shoulder,
letting her fingers move slowly up to the back of his neck.

Levi swallowed.

Her lips were so pink and
full, and he saw the tip of her tongue dart out to wet her lips.

God, she was so tempting, so
insanely desirable.

He wanted her, so much. She
couldn't possibly know how much he'd missed her, how much she meant
to him.

Levi closed his eyes, feeling
his whole body burn up at her maddening scent and nearness.

He was going to have to grab
her, kiss her, touch her in some way, or he would explode right here
in her kitchen.

Mercifully, Rebecca raised
herself up on her toes and tilted her face up. Wrapping her arms
around his neck, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

Rebecca's lips brushed softly,
tentatively against Levi's. She let her hand trail up the contours
of his biceps to the curve of his neck. Levi bent down to kiss her
back very tenderly, but just that one kiss sent a jolt of pure lust
racing through her body. She speared her fingers through his soft,
blond hair as she deepened her kiss. He tasted sweet, pure, wild,
and she could smell the scent of the rain and nature on his skin.

He was...simply amazing.
Strong, powerful, and so gentle.

She had wanted to touch him
the moment she'd laid eyes on him at the hospital. There was just
something about him. Something familiar, and warm. It was like a
sense of...home.

Rebecca gasped against his
mouth as Levi pulled her to him and kissed her back. His kiss was
now burning, demanding, full of pent up passion and desire. He had
been holding back before, but now he took her mouth hungrily, his
lips and tongue insistent and unyielding.

Rebecca's entire body sizzled
at Levi's touch. She ran her hands down his strong back, feeling his
tanned, smooth skin and the hard, bulging muscles on his arms. She
had a half naked, towering, muscled male in her house, in her arms,
and she never felt safer.

Levi kept kissing her as he
walked her backwards. Rebecca felt her back push against the wall,
but Levi's huge hand was holding the back of her head, protecting
her.

His body pressed against her,
and she felt her nipples stab into his chest. She was braless under
her t-shirt, and Levi growled as his hand cupped her heavy, aching
breast. Lightly, he ran one thumb across her erect nipple and she
gasped at the electrifying sensation.

She wrapped her arms around
his neck and pulled him down to her. Levi kissed her neck and ran
his hand up and down her body, feeling her curves, and letting her
get used to his touch.

Oh, she could get used to this
all right.

She wanted him to touch her
all over, all night.

Rebecca pulled her t-shirt up
and she heard Levi suck in a breath when he glimpsed her bare
breasts.

“
Rebecca,” he
grated.

Sliding his hands reverently
up her body, Levi held his breath as he pulled the t-shirt up over
her head. Rebecca raised her arms and let him pull the t-shirt free
and toss it over his shoulder.

She was now naked from the
waist up, wearing only her tiny shorts.

Levi's blue eyes darkened, and
he bent down to take a breast deep into his mouth. Rebecca writhed
against him, surrendering to the pleasure. He suckled her
ferociously, sucking hard on her nipple and making it lengthen and
throb with pain and pleasure. Raising himself to his full height, he
took her mouth again as his hands fondled her breasts. He squeezed
and kneaded them, groaning his appreciation of her lush figure into
her mouth.

“
Oh, Rebecca,” he
breathed.

She let out a small cry when
she felt his erection press against her belly. The size of him, the
hardness of him, and the knowledge that this big, beautiful male
wanted her so badly made her so damn wet.

She parted her legs and ground
against him.

“
Levi,” she
panted.

He pushed his hand between her
legs, but he didn't remove her shorts. He simply rubbed his thumb
over her most sensitive spot, increasing the pressure as she ground
harder against his hand.

When Levi flicked his tongue
over her nipple and rubbed hard against her crotch, Rebecca gasped
and shuddered violently with her sudden climax. She had come so
fast, coming undone without even being fully naked.

Levi caught her in his arms as
she slumped against him, still trembling and unable to think or stand
straight. Levi carried her to the couch and set her down gently.

He smoothed her silky black
hair away from her face, and gazed at her.

“
You are so sweet, so
perfect, Rebecca,” he whispered.

Her breath caught at his words
and his touch. She stared into those beautiful blue eyes that were
holding hers so tenderly and possessively. He was still rock
hard—she could feel his erection against her thigh. But he
didn't try to remove her shorts and take her.

He simply looked deep into her
eyes as he stroked her face. She could see the passion and desire in
his eyes, but she also saw something else. An unspoken,
indescribable sadness.

Tentatively, she traced a
finger down the angles of his face, down his strong jaw and neck.
Why did his face seem so familiar? And his kiss?

Unconsciously, she touched her
own lips with her trembling fingers. She seemed to remember his
kiss. But she had never kissed this beautiful man before, had she?

His kiss was filled with
passion and poignancy, and she could sense his profound, almost
paralyzing pain.

Levi had lost something dear
to him. He smiled at her, but she could see the deep longing and
sadness in the depths of his blue eyes.

Rebecca opened her mouth, then
clamped it shut again. Would he tell her about his sorrows and his
troubles if she asked him? Or would she just make him uncomfortable?

She was after all, still a
stranger to him. He had been assigned to protect her by the PAC,
that's all.

She was nothing to him.

But his kiss and his eyes told
her otherwise.

She was everything to him.

“
Levi...” she
began. She looked down and chewed her lip.
Have we met before?
Have we...kissed before?

Instead, she swallowed and
said, “Would you like to sleep with me?” As soon as the
words left her lips, she gasped and corrected herself, “I mean,
sleep in the house, with me, instead of out in the rain. But not
sleep with me
, as in...you know...” She could feel the
heat creeping up her neck to her face.
You have already seen me
half naked, you might as well see me fully naked.

Rebecca turned away to hide
her mortification at her own naughty thoughts.

“
I mean...I can't let
you spend the night out there, in the cold, in the dark. It's not
safe,” she managed to stammer.

Levi smiled at her. “I
appreciate that. Thank you, I'll sleep here on the couch then. It's
pretty comfortable, and it sure beats crouching under that tiny
slide. I'll see you to your room.”

With that, he stood and
carried her across the living room.

“
I can walk to my
bedroom,” she protested, but he didn't seem to hear her. He
pushed into the bedroom and laid her onto the creaky bed. He turned
and pulled a big t-shirt draped on the back of a chair and began to
dress her. Then he kissed her on the forehead.

“
Goodnight, Rebecca,”
he murmured.

She gave up trying to resist
her big, hunky and rather bossy protector, and simply let him tuck
her in.

She yawned, suddenly feeling
exhausted. “Goodnight, Levi. And thank you.”

He pulled the door shut
quietly as he exited her room.

Rebecca turned to her side and
blinked sleepily at the window. She had never felt like this before.
This feeling was entirely new to her.

Rebecca felt herself smiling
as her eyelids drifted shut. For the first time in a long, long
while, she felt safe.

She felt safe and secure with
Levi in the house with her. He was sweet, sexy, steady, and it had
felt so right being with him. In fact, she was quite sure that it
would feel perfect to have him in her bed. But—what would he
think of her?

She was a stripper, but that
was just a job. Just because she was a stripper didn't mean she was
a slut.

That was what her ex kept
going on and on about. He derided her job, insulted her profession,
disrespected her and abused her, but he had no problem spending all
the money that she earned in her slutty, shameful job.

Rebecca squeezed her eyes shut
and tried to just go to sleep. Reliving her horrific experience with
Phin was no way to heal and move forward. She had to let go and just
forget about everything. But was forgetting really the answer? She
had this strange, niggling feeling that she had forgotten something
very important.

“
What is it?” she
muttered. “What have I forgotten?” Her eyes flew open
with a start. “Is it about my attack? Is that memory so
terrible?”
So terrible that my mind had to block it out
forever to protect my sanity.

Rebecca turned away from the
window. “It's better then,” she sighed, forcing her eyes
shut. “It is better to forget forever,” she sighed
heavily and sank deeper under her covers.

The curtains moved and
fluttered in the shadows, even though the windows were closed.
Rebecca tossed and turned, her sleep fitful and her dreams troubling.
She was finding it difficult to breathe. Something didn't feel
right.

Her skin felt sticky with
sweat, and the sheets tangled around her ankles when she tried to
kick them off. She struggled to open her eyes, but it felt as though
she was trapped in a nightmare. She could hear noises, footsteps and
a low, harsh laugh.

Rebecca's entire body jerked.
She knew that laugh.

She could feel cold sweat
beading on her forehead. She had to get out of here. She wanted to
scream, but her voice wouldn't work. Her eyelids were jumping
violently as she thrashed in her bed. She had to wake the hell up
and get away!

Finally, she forced her eyes
open with a gasp. Her cry was muffled as a huge hand clamped over
her mouth.

She stared into a pair of
close-set, beady eyes as the sharp point of a knife pressed against
her throat.

“
Hello, Rebecca, are you
glad to see me? I thought I'd pay my slutty ex-wife a visit, you
know, for old times' sake.” She heard the laugh, that ugly,
sadistic laugh. “And what do I find? I find the slut shacking
up with her bear lover!”