Bear With Me: Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (12 page)

Jamie dodged Mark’s questing hands and darted off under the trees. Her whole body was singing with joy. She was
alive
—and happy, and with the man who loved her. A man who wouldn’t pull her away from the work she loved, but who would join her at it.

Her mind flew backwards to Mark, who was racing after her and, with his long legs, catching up. She was acutely, deliciously aware that he was completely naked, his skin gleaming where he’d brushed past wet branches.

Jamie jumped over a log that had fallen across the track and a moment later had a sense of déjà vu as
he
jumped over it. A delighted laugh bubbled out of her. She concentrated on the feeling of feeling
him
, and for a few steps felt not only her own feet landing and pushing off from the damp ground, but Mark’s as well, and the warming morning air rushing over both their bodies.

Jamie was so intently focused on this new experience that she didn’t notice a gnarled root poking up from the ground. She felt her foot hook under the root and her mind snapped back to her own, stumbling, body.

“I’ve got you!” Mark called from directly behind her, and he caught her before she hit the ground. She twisted in his grasp to face him, grabbed his shoulders and pulled herself upright.

“That was…” she gasped. “Incredible! It was as though I could feel where you were, what you were doing—”

She gasped again as he drew her closer to him. His eyes gleamed as he looked down into her face.

“I can explain that,” he said, infuriatingly slowly. “It’s—”

“Forget it,” Jamie commanded, sealing his mouth with a kiss. And then: “Tell me later,” she amended as she drew a line of kisses along his strong jawline, feeling the pulse under his jaw beating wildly under her lips.

She moved down his neck and felt him groan, the reverberations humming against her mouth. He ran his hands up her back, under her shirt, and she raised her arms so he could strip it from her.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” he breathed. “I’ll never get tired of just looking at you.”

Jamie stepped forward, running her hands over his naked chest. “I want you to do more than look,” she whispered.

His eyes flickered down the path to the camp. “You don’t want to…?”

“Too far away,” Jamie gasped. Just the suggestion that they wait any longer had sent demanding spikes of desire coursing through her. “Take me now. Here.”

She was still wearing her bra and panties, and remembered through the haze of longing that last time, at camp, she hadn’t even managed to undress properly before they fell on each other. This time, she couldn’t bear the thought of there being anything separating her from Mark. She reached up to fumble with the clasp of her bra as Mark flattened his hands against her skin, stretching out his fingers as though he was trying to touch as much of her body as possible.

She dropped her bra and cried out as his mouth found her breast. He ran his tongue over her hard nipple, teasing the delicate skin. Then he started to move lower, hooking his fingers under her panties and sliding them down.

Jamie groaned in frustration, grabbing his chin so he looked up at her.

“When I said
now
,” she gasped as desire surged through her, “I meant—”

He didn’t need telling twice. Hands on Jamie’s waist, Mark rose up, pulling her to him as he stood straight. Jamie kicked her panties off and flung herself against him, sending both of them stumbling and almost-falling until she wound up with her back against a tree. Mark flung out one hand above her head to steady himself against the trunk.

Jamie was pinned between Mark’s body and the tree. She stood on tip-toe to reach his lips with her own, feeling his hard cock press against her belly, as full of need as her own body was. Arms around him, she felt the muscles in his back move as he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her.

Jamie wrapped her legs around his hips and pressed herself against the hard rod of his cock. The feeling of it between her legs, so close, made her slick with need.

“Now,” she begged, her breathing ragged. “
Please
.”

She cried out as he plunged into her, filling her with his whole length in one smooth motion.

“Oh God,” Mark gasped. His mouth worked silently, as though he was trying to find more words, and failing. Jamie laughed and kissed him, running the tip of her tongue across his bottom lip as she shifted her hips. Whatever else he had been about to say was lost in a moan of pleasure.

Jamie gripped Mark’s hips with her knees, pulling herself inch by inch up and down his cock. Her tensed leg muscles made her tight around him, so she could feel every inch of his cock inside her.

Jamie groaned, low in her throat. She pushed herself down on him again, tilting her hips so she could feel him deep within her.

“Take me,” she murmured into Mark’s neck.

He shifted his grip on her body. A thrill of anticipation went up Jamie’s spine as she felt his fingers dig into her, holding her firmly between his body and the tree. Then he started to thrust into her, gently at first, then harder, faster, until all of Jamie’s senses narrowed down to just the bark of the tree against her back, his hands on her body, and his cock inside her.

A tide of pure physical pleasure welled up in her body, threatening to flood over with every thrust. Jamie dug her fingertips into Mark’s back, straining for the final connection that would push her over the edge.

Then her orgasm hit, a brain-shattering explosion of pleasure that rocketed through her entire body, again, and again, as Mark kept thrusting into her, coaxing more and more pleasure from her trembling frame.

Jamie felt as though her body was unraveling, dissolving into a cloud of desire, love, and exquisite happiness. Her mind expanded, floating on the endless ocean of pleasure, and for just a moment she experienced the same strange doubling as before, of feeling her own body and Mark’s at the same time. But this time they were touching—being touched—holding—held—loved and loving—

Fireworks went off in Jamie’s mind as Mark came. Exhausted, she let her body fall against his, and he held her close against him. She looked up into his eyes, full of the same love and amazement she felt.

“That was…” she gasped, panting. “That was. Wow.”

“Wow,” Mark agreed. He sank to the ground, holding Jamie on his lap. They sat there together, getting their breath back, a light wind cooling the sweat on their bodies. Jamie drew a line down the hair on Mark’s chest and saw goosebumps follow her finger. She looked up at him.

“So,” she said innocently. “Ropes?”

*

Later that day—much later—Mark threw the ropes aside, sighing.

“So close!” he cried with mock frustration.

Jamie rolled over to look at him. Her whole body was soft with pleasure, as though she was half in a dream. Mark caught her eye and grimaced guiltily. She laughed.

“Maybe if we try to get all the knots set up
before
we start anything else?” she asked, collapsing into giggles.

Mark threw himself down beside her. “Didn’t we just try that?”

Jamie glanced sideways at the tangled rope. One solitary knot made a wrist-sized loop at the end of it. That was as far as Mark had gotten before she had wriggled free and pounced on him.

“The problem is,” she said slowly, “I think, sadly, that you probably have to tie me up to stop me from distracting you while you get ready to tie me up.”

Mark groaned and covered his face. “Impossible woman.”

Jamie twisted sideways so that she could rest her head on Mark’s chest. He was still breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling deeply. Jamie let her head slip sideways until she could nuzzle the stubble growing along his jaw.

“Hmm. Bear with me,” she said, and felt Mark’s chest vibrate as he chuckled. “I don’t think this is the only problem we’re going to face in the near future.”

“Is this about the food thing again? Because my plan is just to order takeout for every meal until either of us can get out of bed long enough to cook.”

They both looked across at the empty granola and chocolate bar wrappers that were all they had eaten all day. Jamie’s food stash was dwindling, but still enough to feed them both for another few days.

Mark’s sigh this time was totally genuine. Jamie prodded him in the ribs.

“You’re one to talk, Mr. Didn’t-bring-any-supplies-at-all. OR is it Mr. Maybe-you-should-go-fishing-again-if-you’re-hungry?”

She resettled herself and smiled as Mark raised his hand to stroke her hair.

“I was more thinking about how I’m going to explain heading off on this trip alone, and coming back with a boyfriend. A boyfriend who has mysteriously lost all of his clothes…”

Mark sat bolt upright. “Speaking of clothes…” he began, a guilty expression on his face.

“You don’t have any?” Jamie suggested, openly staring at his naked body.

Mark blushed. “There’s something I need to show you,” he said. “Wait here, just one minute?”

Jamie raised her eyebrows as he ran off into the forest. A few minutes later, he was back, something clutched in his hands. Jamie frowned as whatever it was glittered in the sunlight.

“That’s not…” she began.

Mark opened his hands. “I told you before that I still had your sandal, didn’t I? I’m afraid it hasn’t exactly survived the trip up the mountain…” He paused as Jamie delicately took the sandal from him, and then added, “I’m really sorry, Jamie, it didn’t even cross my mind that it might get damaged from … um … being in the bottom of my pack … for three weeks…”

Jamie examined the sandal. The silver had begun to flake off in some places, and as she turned it over, one of the straps fell off completely. She stifled a giggle and looked up at Mark, who was staring at her with a look of puppy-like apology in his eyes.

“This is terrible,” Jamie said, fighting to keep a straight face. “I mean, it doesn’t match the other one at all, now.”

“What?” Confusion replaced the guilty look on Mark’s face. “I can replace it…”

Jamie stood up. She put one arm around Mark, and tapped him on the chest with the pathetic remains of her sandal. “I can’t wear one mangled sandal and one nice one. Next time we come out here, we’ll have to bring the other one and destroy it, too.”

“Next time?”

“Mm-hmm. And
then
you can buy me a new pair. Of hiking boots—not dancing shoes. Remember how bad we are at dancing?”

Mark smiled, the sunlight gleaming on the golden skin of his face and torso. “Remind me?”

“Of course.”

Jamie dropped the sandal, dusted off her hands, and kissed him.

“Remember now?”

“Hmm … almost.”

“Let’s do that again, then.”

* * *

EPILOGUE

JAMIE

“There you are! You made it!”

Jamie hardly had time to step down from the truck before Kes swooped in and engulfed her in a hug. She squeezed back, laughing.

“Kes, I’ve been texting you every half-hour to let you know where we were. Did you think we were going to disappear on the last leg of the trip?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Jamie, why would I be worried about you? It’s not like you almost
drowned
the last time I left you alone.”

A door slammed shut on the other side of the truck, and Mark came around to greet Kes. He stretched his shoulders back, easing out the strain of the long car journey, and Jamie couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face at the sight of his T-shirt straining against his muscular chest. Kes caught her eye and smirked before giving Mark a peck on the cheek.

“Did I hear you bullying my fiancée about her habit of throwing herself into danger, Kes?”

Jamie groaned. “Oh, don’t you start, too…”

Mark’s eyes glittered. “I’m sorry we’re later than we expected,” he said to Kes, his expression innocent. “I had to stop at every waterfall and clifftop to make sure Jamie wasn’t going to hurl herself off in search of helpless animals—”

“I’ll hurl
you
off a cliff,” Jamie grumbled, throwing herself at him. He laughed and grabbed her around the waist.

“A-
hem
,” came Kes’s voice from behind them.

Jamie twisted around in Mark’s grasp so her back was to her chest. She leaned back against him, knowing she was grinning stupidly and unable to do anything about it. Kes raised one eyebrow.

“I thought you told me all that had calmed down?”

Jamie felt Mark’s chuckle reverberate through his chest.

“It
has
,” she said definitely. Things had been pretty … busy … for the first week or so since she and Mark found each other again, but Jamie was pretty sure they’d spent all that built-up lust by now.
Now it’s just regular lust
, she thought happily. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to jump my fiancée in front of you and, um, the whole household…”

She peered over Kes’s shoulder at the huge house Mark had parked in front of. It was like an old log cabin—except you could fit at least ten cabins inside the massive Visser homestead. The outside walls were made of huge, weathered split logs. Blue smoke billowed from a central chimney into the crisp fall air. From what Mark had said, most of the houses this side of the mountain were like this. Built by the Visser clan, for the Visser clan. This particular homestead was the oldest of the Visser homes, and the heart of all their family gatherings.