Bear to the Rescue (Bear Claw Security Book 3) (9 page)

R
egan loved
the feel of Bronson’s muscles under her hands. He was huge but easily giving in as she worked him over. She loved that easygoing trust he gave her.

She loved that after what he’d been through, he could still trust at all, especially women.

But he had the ability to see not everyone was the same, whereas she had been stuck alone, unable to prove to herself everyone wasn’t.

But wasn’t Bronson already showing her he was nothing like her father or any of the men that came after her?

Probably none of them would have objected to being sexed by a gorgeous, pure-blooded female bear shifter.

At least, she imagined the woman was beautiful. Even as rage at someone daring to touch her mate made her entire body heat with furious fire.

As she’d watched him talk, seen the hurt and betrayal in his eyes, she’d felt more than ever before that this man was hers in some way.

Some way she didn’t want to think about or really acknowledge on any level. But she couldn’t help it anymore. Not when hearing someone had tried to hurt him made her almost physically ill with rage.

But was that because they were starting to be friends now that they’d shared more of themselves with one another? She could already feel her brain trying to distance itself from her heart, telling her she should think it over, not be caught up, not be tricked.

But it also didn’t seem like Bronson was tricking her. After all, he didn’t honestly seem like he was able to.

He didn’t seem like he’d even wanted to say what he said, but he had. Like he hadn’t been able to keep it from her.

She was sometimes struck by the honesty she saw in his eyes. And she couldn’t deny she was starting to trust him. It was in the proof of how she’d clung to him after she’d seen her apartment was wrecked. The way she’d trusted him to fix it. She’d never trusted anyone but herself to do things for her.

Damn, something was happening between them. Something she didn’t really want to be true. She ran her hands over his chest and played with the buttons of his collar, and a low rumble sounded from his chest.

“I don’t know if you want to do that right now,” Bronson said. “I’m feeling a little off, and if we start something, I might get a little…”

“A little what?”

“Dominant,” he said in a low voice.

Her heart thrummed, and she let out a pent-up breath at the thought of Bronson above her, pinning her down. During their last experience, she’d been in control, over his mouth, riding him. But the other side of that, him being on top and taking her, was hot as well.

“Dominant could be good,” she said.

He looked up at her, blue eyes burning, long jaw taut. “Really?”

She nodded.

“You’re sure?”

She nodded again and leaned down to his ear. “As dominant as you can get, I want it.”

He let out a growl and was out of his chair in a second, lifting her in his arms like she weighed no more than a plastic bag. He hefted her against his chest and strode for the bedroom with long, pounding strides.

She held on to his collar and felt herself get wet in anticipation of just what he was going to do to her. Anything, anything at all would stop the burning ache inside her that had been going ever since they’d been alone together. The ache she’d tried hard to ignore but that had burned bright even through their conversation.

She’d thought in talking to him about their lives, she’d feel even more alienated, both by remembering why she didn’t want to commit and seeing he’d run away from his old life.

Instead, she’d realized life was just too complicated to think of in that way. And sometimes, someone could do the wrong thing for the right reason.

She couldn’t hold any of that against him. In reality, she was the one who ran away and had been running ever since. Deciding to rub his back was her first active move in their relationship, and she was scared for what that meant in the long run.

But right now, she just wanted to see him, raw and rough and making love to her, totally exposed.

And feel no one but her would ever see him that way again. She’d kill them if they tried.

He kicked open his door and threw her on his bed, kissing up her neck to her ear, which he bit lightly before running his tongue over the entire shell of her ear in a way that made her curl up with pleasure.

She felt her hands jerked over her head and held together in one of his as he straddled her easily with his huge thighs. For once, he wasn’t trying to make her feel comfortable with teasing and fun remarks or hiding his strength.

He was letting her see all of him as the male he was. Strong and virile and frightening, probably to everyone but her. For her, even with all that height and those incredible muscles, he was only reassuring. Maybe because with his hot gaze on her, she knew all of that strength was only for her. To protect her. To be with her.

His lips came down over hers in a harsh claiming, his tongue swiping inside to meld with hers, twisting against her over and over in a hot, passionate embrace that increased the ache between her legs.

His free hand came down to cup against her there, making her groan against his mouth as his finger pressed hard at her center. Even over her clothing, she writhed at the near agony of the sensation, how close he was already bringing her to release.

“Bronson,” she said, “I’m… close.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m going to take you there over and over.” He flicked open her pants and slid down the zipper. Then he lifted his weight off her so he could pull off her pants in one slow motion and toss them aside.

He looked at her silk panties as a lock of hair fell over his forehead. He looked like a Greek god sitting over her, and she desperately wanted to get her hands free and run her fingertips over every bulging, sweaty ridge of muscle.

He was beautiful to behold.

He reached down and ripped off her panties with one hand, and she felt even more wetness in response to his strength, his need. His finger found her clit and touched in a light circle before coming down in the center, hard.

She arched with a cry as he swirled again, came down again, his mouth finding hers in a hot melding of lips and tongues. As his tongue dove in and out, she imagined just how he was going to feel inside her. Hot and thick and wet, and she didn’t think she would ever have enough.

As he stroked and teased her, letting her arch her body helplessly, she felt the hunger building inside her to an insatiable level. She felt half animal, so desperate to mate she could barely stand it.

“Bronson, I need you,” she said hoarsely and heard a dark laugh in return, his lips brushing hers gently.

“I know,” he said. “By the time I’m done, you’ll be screaming for me.”

It was a side of him she hadn’t seen before, but so hot she bit her lip against the inevitable waves of passion moving toward her as his finger got more deft and nimble, swirling her toward a void that was filled with something unknowable until she arrived there.

She clenched up in tension at how it would feel, nearly willing her body to resist, as after the build-up she’d had, it would be nearly unbearable. Then she felt his finger dip inside her as his tongue thrust against hers again, and she arched and screamed his name.

Wave after wave moved through her, making her entire body tense and release as her nerves came alive from head to toe. She felt herself jerk as the pleasure moved through her and pushed against his hands, writhing blindly at what was happening.

She forced her eyes open to see him staring down at her, blue eyes dominant and intense, as if he knew he’d forced her to go and was pleased with it.

And she was pleased as well, feeling his strength easily capture her no matter how she writhed against his hold. She liked the idea that she could never escape. It gave her more confidence he would never let go.

And now that she was experiencing all of this pleasure a second time, she was pretty sure she didn’t want him to.

“You’re so beautiful, Regan,” Bronson said. “So mine. I want to take you.”

She gasped against him and writhed more. “I can’t… I don’t… What are you doing to me?”

He released her hands and came between her trembling legs, parting them easily as his mouth found her and kissed her deeply at her center, just as passionately as he’d kissed her mouth.

It was warm and intimate and moved her closer and closer to another orgasm before she could even think about how to resist him.

She screamed his name as she came again, convulsing against his mouth as he lapped at her, kissing her all the way through her pleasure as her hands threaded into his hair. She cried his name again and again as his mouth relentlessly stroked, letting her fall back in release only to get the tension started all over again.

She didn’t know how many times she came like that, with him stroking and kissing and wringing every last bit of pleasure out of her that she could take. Even some she couldn’t.

Her whole body felt shaken and exhausted, yet there was a hunger in her that wasn’t yet sated.

She grabbed his head and yanked it forward so he was facing her, and he looked into her eyes with a cocky expression that said he knew exactly what she wanted.

“Take me,” she said. “I’m begging you. Begging, pleading, screaming, whatever you want. Just take me.”

“All the way?” he asked against her ear. “Without protection?”

She blinked. “As a mate?”

He nodded. “Will you take me as a mate?”

Her heart pounded. A part of her wanted that. Her body did for sure. Her bear as well. But she also knew as much as Bronson was urging her toward that decision and as much as getting to know him was making it all seem more palatable than it ever had been before, she still wasn’t ready.

And she didn’t want to make such an important decision while stuck in the throes of orgasm.

But looking up into his blue eyes, she didn’t want to disappoint him. For the first time, she actually cared about someone else’s feelings and didn’t know what to do about it.

But as usual, he seemed to know her better than she did herself.

“You aren’t ready,” he said softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “So I won’t.” He grabbed a condom off the nightstand and unbuttoned his pants. Then he gave her a grin and pinned her hands in one of his again. “But I am going to show you just how much I want you.”

She nodded desperately, ready for him more than she’d ever thought she could be.

He slid the condom over his thick, wide length as it sprang forward out of his pants. She licked her lips at the thought of it going inside her again. It would feel so perfect, so right. Just for this moment, she wouldn’t question anything about it.

He paused for a moment at her entrance, teasing her, but then when she let out a little moan, he plunged inside, spearing her to her core.

She groaned at the pleasurable pain. He was so thick, easing the ache inside her as well as causing another with his tremendous size that forced her body to stretch to accommodate him.

But then he started to move, holding her hands down as he did, dominant and hot as he moved in and out of her again and again, making her catch her breath with every movement, making her lightheaded with pleasure.

This was just for them. Regan couldn’t picture it being like this for anyone else.

As he thrust inside, his eyes closed in focus and then opened to look down at her as if she were precious, and she felt warmth well up inside her. She was starting to have feelings for him, strong ones.

The thought of it scared her as he continued to move, building pressure inside her that threatened to explode in a way that would break everything she held dear.

But maybe it would also open a new world for her, one where she could picture being with a man like him forever and not even regret it. But she couldn’t tell if that was just a fantasy brought on by the heat of the moment and the anticipation of how they would go over the edge together in just a few seconds.

She writhed against his hands as he sped up, stroking deep and hard, moving her whole body, making her feel completely owned, completely pleasured.

Treasured.

She cried out as she felt herself go over the edge in a deeper, harder way than before and felt him jerk inside her as his hands released her and he let out a groan.

He grabbed her against him, holding her close as he jerked inside her, releasing along with her convulsions as her nails dug into his back with long scores.

He said her name and she said his, and for a long time, they just stayed like that, panting their way through their release and clinging to each other as lifelines. When it was finally ending, she felt like every bit of life had been wrung out of her.

Even as she felt more alive than ever before.

She fell back on the bed, and he fell into her arms, lying on top of her with his heavy weight as their breathing slowly returned to normal.

“Nothing could ever be like that,” he said, pushing up on his trembling arms to look down at her. “Won’t you be mine, Regan?” he asked, stroking damp hair off her face. “You know you already are.”

She swallowed and buried her head in his shoulder. Not because he was wrong, but because she feared he was right. She’d already fallen for him.

And she didn’t know what to do about it.

He seemed to sense her hesitation, because he pulled away from her and got up so he could clean off with a towel. Then he came back and stood in front of the bed, looking down at her with a tender expression, one that shook her to her toes, which were still warm from all the orgasms.

Looking up at that man just felt right.

But it didn’t undo ten years of worry. Ten years of promises to herself that felt hard to undo.

She wanted this man, but she just wasn’t ready for it. She swallowed as she reached out her arms for him. He walked into this and pulled her against him on the bed, her the small spoon, him the big one.

“I can wait until you’re ready,” he said quietly. “I already know you’re mine.”

She closed her eyes against the pounding of her heart and tried to tell herself belonging to someone was okay.