Bear Naked and Bite Marks (10 page)

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Declan sat across the table from
Melissa, and although he was hungry, it was hard to concentrate on anything
other than her. She had her dark, wild hair in a loose bun atop her head, and although
it had a messy look to it, it also looked stylish and showed off the slender
curve of her neck. His incisors throbbed with the need to descend, to piece her
flesh and truly mark her as a mate would. But he couldn’t lose control now.
 
A few strands of curly hair escaped the bun
and fell in a light waterfall along the sides of her face. His cock was hard as
fuck, but then again when was it not when it concerned Melissa?

“Are you going to stare at me or eat?”
She lifted just her eyes to look at him, but the smile on her face and the
teasing note in her voice told him that she wasn’t offended by his blatant
observation. “I know the food is bad, but…” Her smile grew, but her teasing
didn’t have the effect of calming him down. Instead, hearing her soft laughter,
seeing the curve of her lush lips spread across her straight white teeth, and
watching her breasts rise and fall over her low cut top, sent tendrils of
rapidly increasing arousal through his bloodstream. Her breasts were huge, just
the way he liked them, and her cleavage was something wet dreams were made of.
Shit, she was certainly a sight, and Declan knew that jerking off was in his
very near future. Her smile faded as their eyes locked, and when she swallowed
it wasn’t because she was uncomfortable or felt awkward. The wave of her
arousal came from him, wrapped around his entire body, and made everything
inside of him become tighter, more feral, and had him barely hanging on to his
control.

“The food is good.” Declan’s voice was
rough, but he pushed the words past his desire for her, picked up his fork, and
started eating. She had mentioned that she fucked up dinner, but it tasted like
gold to him because his mate had made it for him. The idea of his female
cooking this for him had pleasure slamming into him on a continuous reel, but
it made it ten times more potent because of his need to be with her. Declan had
never waited to have sex with a female. He always found the ones that didn’t
want anything more that to be fucked, and that had always worked well for him.
But with his mate he was attempting to go slow, make her feel comfortable. It
seemed his bear was a greedy bastard, and wasn’t all about the courting
bullshit that went along with being with a female. Well, tough shit, because he
didn’t want to fuck this up, not when this was the first good thing that had
ever happened to him in his very dark life. He started eating, mainly to keep
his mind on something other than Melissa and how good she looked, how sweet she
smelled, and how he wanted to run his tongue all along every inch of her lush,
nude body. When he was done with the pasta he pushed the plate away, but looked
up at her when he felt her stare.

“You manage to keep that down?” She was
laughing at him. He had finished the plate in minutes flat.

“It was very good.” She leaned back in
her chair and lifted a
brow,
as if she thought what he
said was a load of shit. “I’m serious. You should give yourself more credit.
Besides, you cooked this meal for me, and even if it was the worst tasting thing
in the world—which it’s not—it still would have been the best meal I had.” He
hadn’t meant to say all of that, but he didn’t like her disregarding the gift
she had given him, no matter how small she thought it was.

“Wow.” Now it was his turn to lift a brow.
“That was a pretty incredible thing you just said.” Her cheeks turned a light
shade of pink.

“Did I just make you blush?” Of course
he knew he had made her blush, could see the proof of it right in front of him,
but he liked teasing her as much as she clearly liked teasing him. That pink
color started to turn darker, and she glanced away.

“Well, yeah. You can’t expect to say
things like that without making a female feel embarrassed.”

“And what kind of things did I say?”

She looked at him again. “You know what
things. The stuff that is sweet. The stuff makes me feel shy, and being shy is
not something that I do. And the kind of stuff that has any reservations that I
have going away.”

“Well then I guess I’ll have to say that
stuff more often, because I like that you’re shy and that your walls are coming
down. But everything I say to you is the truth.”

She glanced down, but her blush was
still present.

“To be honest with you I’ve never let
myself get close with anyone, but it isn’t just about the mating, or maybe it
is. I don’t know.” She looked at him again. “I just feel this connection with
you, like I can tell you anything. Does that sound ridiculous?”

Declan swallowed hard. He shook his head
in response to her question, and reached for the bottle of wine he had brought.
After asking her if she wanted more, and pouring them both a glass, Declan
tried to think to what to say. To be honest she made him feel like he was in
knots.

“I’ve never let anyone close either.” He
held the stem of his wine glass and looked at her. “In fact I’ve always
preferred to keep to myself.” He didn’t know how much to tell her about
himself. Would it freak her out, have her telling him she didn’t need that kind
of complication in her life? Or should he just give her the bone basics of who
he was? It all came down to needing her to know who he was, and that was going
to require him being totally honest with her. But before he could say anything
she started talking.

“I really want this to work out between
us. I know I can be a pain in the ass, have a smart mouth, and tend to have a
disregard for things, but all of those things have helped me in life, and made
me realize what the important things are.” She looked down at her wine glass
and ran the tip of her finger over the bottom part of it. “I want to be honest,
start whatever this is between us on the right foot.”

Emotion clogged Declan’s throat, and he
didn’t know if he was comfortable letting that type of sensation take hold of
him. But it was clear that she was willing to give this a shot, and he knew
being totally honest with her was the first step in making a relationship with
his mate solid. He stayed silent as she clearly worked through what she was
thinking about saying.

“I’m not getting any younger, and
throughout my life I’ve used sex to experience life, if that makes sense.”

Declan curled his fingers into his palms
as the thought of her being with other males had white hot fury moving through
him. But of course he had no right to feel that way over what she had done in her
past. Did that stop his rage, though? Fuck no.

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m
done being stubborn. I want to see where this goes.”

For a second neither said anything, but
Declan didn’t need time to think, didn’t need to process what she said. He had
been invested in this mating, in Melissa, from the moment he saw her. It was
unavoidable, and as much as her mouth and attitude infuriated him, he also
loved that she was a little spitfire.

“Since the truth is coming out, I should
probably be honest as well.” She didn’t say anything, but he sensed that she
was a bit nervous over what he was going to say. She should be, though. “For
the better part of my life I worked for the SIL.” Her eyes widened, and he
picked up on her pulse increasing. He might have mentioned to her that he was
with the shifter military, but the SIL was something completely different. Of
course he wouldn’t go into detail about that organization, never could due to
the classified shit that had gone down, but she was his mate and she deserved
to know the kind of male that was going to claim her.

“That’s some heavy-duty stuff right
there.” Her voice was soft, and he wondered if she meant to say that out loud.
Declan couldn’t help but smirk at that thought.

“Yeah.”
He didn’t know what to say aside from that.

“I caught the past tense there. So you
aren’t with them anymore?” She brought her glass to her mouth and took quite a
big swallow.

“No.
Got an honorable discharge
after I was injured.”
She slowly nodded, but didn’t stop drinking her
wine. When she had sucked the rest of the alcohol down, she set the glass back
on the table and licked her lips.

“I’m sorry that you got hurt. Was it
really bad?” He sensed her genuine concern, and that made his gut twist. No one
had cared about what happened to him, well, not in the sense that she did. His
brothers in arms obviously had his back, but being in the SIL meant you had
your mission to complete. That was the main goal, the reason they risked their
lives, and there were many males lost in the battlefield because they were
trying to make a difference. But the way Melissa cared was on a whole different
level.

“I survived, so it wasn’t that bad.” He
smiled at her, hoping to ease the sudden melancholy that filled the space
between them. “I’ve never wanted anything from a female more than what a few
hours could provide.” The scent of her jealousy pleased him on a primal level,
because it was that scent that made him aware his little wolf wanted him, and
the thought of him with other females was displeasing. Well at least he wasn’t
the only one. “But then I saw you, and knew I was lost.” He picked up his glass
and finished off his wine before setting the empty glass back on the table.
“But none of that matters now. Just like your past relationships don’t mean
anything to me, all I want to do is focus on you, and what we can have from
this point forward.” Maybe Declan hadn’t been completely honest when he said
her past relationships didn’t matter, because they did, but he was trying not
to let them control him or his beast.

“I’d like that, too.” She offered him a
smile, and Declan found himself returning the gesture. “What line of work do
you do now?” Well, he had planned on being totally honest with her, and that
meant admitting that he had delved into her personal life without her
knowledge. “I do private work for my clients.”

“Private work?
Like an investigator?” He didn’t want to scare her, but he also wanted her to
know that he also had a side of him that was hard and dark.

 
“Somewhat.
I track down people for my clients…” He gave that a moment for her to
understand what he was saying. She nodded once more.

“And when you find them?” Her voice was
soft, almost hesitant.

He didn’t speak for a moment, because he
knew he needed to tread lightly. “Sometimes I take them back to be prosecuted
the legal way, and other times I mete out the fate my client deems necessary.”
She didn’t move, didn’t even blink after he said that. Declan leaned his
forearms on the table and stared her right in the eyes. “I want to make sure
you understand these people that I go after, these human and shifter males, are
not good, not in any sense of the word. They have committed heinous crimes,
hurt women, children, and others that didn’t deserve it. What I do is bring
justice to the ones that need it.” He hardened his voice, because he didn’t
want her seeing him as this evil male. “I never hurt people who didn’t deserve
it, and that didn’t make this world a better place if they were no longer in
it.” He held her stare with his own, but he didn’t scent fear and uncertainty
from her, but instead understanding.

“You don’t frighten me, Declan.” Now it
was his turn to swallow the lump in his throat. “It might not be the
traditional way someone earns a living, but you help people.” She was far more
than he deserved. “It’s not conventional, but who am I to judge?” She shrugged.
“If you say the people are bad—and I can sense you’re telling the truth—then I
believe you.” He leaned back and smoothed his suddenly sweaty hands on his
thighs.

“But that isn’t all.” She knitted her
brows, but nodded. Well, this would either break or make what they were working
toward. “The night I met you I went home and looked you up.” A moment passed
where all she did was stare at him, but he sensed her rising annoyance over
that.

“You looked me up?” She said the words
slowly.

“Yeah.”

“What does that exactly mean?”

He thought about how to word this,
because he didn’t want to sound like a fucking creep, but there was no getting
past just coming out and saying it. “I meant no offense, but it’s just instinct
I guess.” Melissa leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms under her
breasts, clearly waiting for him to tell her the truth. He really wished she
hadn’t done that since all that did was pop her chest out. He was trying to
focus on other things, but now the image that slammed into his head was
pressing her breasts together and sliding his dick between those huge mounds.
His erection, which had started to lessen as they talked about his past, had
come back with a vengeance. But Declan didn’t hide his need for her hard enough
because her nipples hardened right in front of his fucking eyes, and she
dropped her arms to her sides. Had he really been trying to mask the fact he
wanted her?
No
. When he looked into
her face it wasn’t to see irritation that he obviously couldn’t get his desires
under control. Instead he saw a reflection of his own arousal. “I just wanted
to know who my mate was, and our first interaction didn’t exactly go as I would
have hoped. I dug into your past, found out everything about you. I
learned
who your friends and family were, where you went to
school, what you do for a living. I found out everything, Melissa.”