Big Bear Mountain - The Complete Series (6 page)

T
aking her by the
shoulders, Jarrad gently pushed her down flat on the improvised bed before
reaching down and pulling his tee over his head. The heat from the fire had him
glistening with sweat, highlighting the extraordinary definition of his already
ripped physique. Elle couldn’t take her eyes off him as his shoulder muscles
rippled and bulged as he shrugged out of the fitted tee.

She no longer grimaced
at the scar he’d shown her in the rescue helicopter earlier that day. All she
could see was what she’d always imagined the perfect Adonis to look like in the
flesh. He was, every inch of him, perfect. From his chiseled pecs and his rock
like abs to his narrow, sexy waistline. There was not an ounce of fat on the
man. His war wound in no way detracted from his sculpted perfection. Instead,
it highlighted how strong and fearless he truly was, accentuating his
ruggedness.

Elle tried not to
be self-conscious of her soft bits and curves as he reached down to pull her
hoodie and sweat up from her knees … to her hips … all the way to her breasts.
Then he stopped.

The look on his
face said it all. He liked what he saw. He wanted to see more, but he was
asking permission. Seeking approval to continue.

The old Elle would
never have found herself in this situation. She’d date for months before she’d
even think about becoming intimate, and even then, nothing as brazen as this.
But that was the old Elle. Before she was forced to flee for her life. Before
she watched a missile try to vaporize her. Before she met a man who made her
feel safe and who saw her as she saw herself. Beautiful.

She gave only the
slightest nod. She was still mesmerized by his powerful body and the way his
muscle striations took on a life of their own as he undressed her. But that
tiny nod was all that he needed. As she raised her arms above her head for him
to finish the job, he did so, leaving her almost naked and feeling wanton and
voluptuous. She looked beautiful and sexy if the way his eyes lit up were any
indication.

“You’re absolutely
stunning.” His voice was no more than a hoarse whisper. He could barely speak.

Elle let out a
breath and realized she’d been holding it in; such was her anxiety at his
reaction to her. Now she could breathe and immerse herself in the sensuality of
his gaze.

“So are you, my
sexy mountain man.” She smiled with appreciation at his hard body, reaching up
and placing her palms against the clearly defined abs that seemed to present
themselves to her for no other purpose than her enjoyment.

Smelling the
distinctive scent of her arousal, Jarrad’s bear lost control and growled with
pleasure. Elle felt the vibration through her palms. Her eyes widened. Then she
growled right back at him.

“Grrrr! Come on
then, show me what you’ve got.”

Her hands quickly
went to his belt and she undid the buckle then started work on the button of
his waistband.

“Wait,” Jarrad
commanded. “I haven’t finished with
you
yet.” He pulled her hands from
his pants, which were straining with his arousal and pinned her arms above her
head as he leaned into her and crushed his mouth onto hers, forcing her lips to
part with the passionate exploration of his tongue.

Her neck arched as
she opened her mouth to receive him, showing him wordlessly that she gave every
inch of herself to him. In every way possible. In that moment, she cared not
that they had only just met or that they hardly knew each other. None of that
mattered. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t going to evaluate and
overthink. She was going to enjoy and share a moment of pleasure with the man
with the soulful eyes and the sinful body.

Snaking his arms
behind her back, Jarrad deftly unhooked her bra, casting it aside before
cupping each breast in turn with his generous, strong hands. Her back arched
and she moaned into his mouth with unrestrained pleasure at his touch. The
firmness of his hands aroused her relentlessly, coaxing her nipples to
hypersensitive peaks under his fingertips.

“Suck them,” she
demanded, breathlessly.

Training kisses
across her smooth cheek and down her graceful neck, Jarrad paused at the nape
of her neck to graze her with his teeth, eliciting a purr of delight before he
continued to his instructed destination.

As he took one of
her hardened pebbles in his mouth, Elle lifted her thigh in search of his
hardness. When she found it, she began to massage it with her leg, almost in
time with the way he rhythmically sucked of her nipple. When he moved to the
other breast, he took a moment to tease the surrounding areola. Immediately,
the little bumps signaled her arousal and enjoyment of his tongue work and he
wondered if that might indicate her hope that he would continue to pleasure her
that way. He sure hoped so.

Unable to hold
himself back, Jarrad sat upright so he could relish the view for a moment. He
loved every curvy inch of his beautiful mate and wanted to show her just how
much. Slowly, he hooked his thumbs into her panties and began to draw them
down. Very slowly. Inch by inch until her smooth pussy was exposed to him and
its scent fully uncovered for his bear to enjoy.

Finally, he
removed her panties and looked her in the eyes, once again. He never tired of
looking into her spellbinding brown eyes. Then his gaze was drawn down to her
silky smooth sex and he followed his gaze. All the way down. With his tongue.

E
lle almost screamed
with pleasure when Jarrad’s lips brushed against the folds of her pussy. She
half expected him to take her, but not like this. This was too much. A fire
ignited in her belly and the heat flowed brazenly down to her sex. She wanted
him to devour her. Yet, he continued to trail teasing little kisses and nibbles
up the insides of her thighs and across the top of her pubic bone. Sometimes,
he would allow his tongue to flicker across her folds, skirting her hooded
clit, causing her to raise her hips seeking more.

“Stop teasing.
Please …”

He liked it when
she begged. He rewarded her by parting her folds with his tongue and exploring
her depths, enjoying the taste of her sweet nectar as he did so.

“Ohmygod!”

Her back arched to
take him deeper as she fisted handfuls of his hair in an effort to receive more
of his special brand of pleasuring. Jarrad was only too happy to oblige.

“Please! Don’t
stop!”

Sliding a finger
inside her slick entrance, Jarrad worked it toward her clit, playfully working
it from its hiding place. His efforts were rewarded as the pink bud emerged to
meet the tip of his flickering tongue. As Elle’s eyes rolled back and her gaping
mouth released a sound she didn’t recognize, Jarrad’s finger slid deep inside,
exploring her as his tongue continue to whip her clit into a frenzy.

Finding her
sensitive area with his finger, Jarrad began to work his tongue and finger like
a well-orchestrated machine as he used his free hand to gently rub her belly
and occasionally pull her folds back to expose her clit even more.

Writhing and
moaning, Elle felt the sensations building until she knew she couldn’t let him
stop. She grabbed the back of his head with both hands and rode his face with
delirious abandon, not caring that her juices were flowing uncontrollably.

“Oh fuck! Oh
fuck!” Was all she managed to scream before her entire body erupted with spasms
and her vision became nothing but darkness and flashing lights.

Her orgasm tore
through her like a wave from head to foot, leaving her breathless and
convulsing as Jarrad rested his head on her stomach and cuddled her close, like
he never wanted to let her go.

“T
hat was … I don’t even know what that was,
but it was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I don’t even know what to say.”
Elle twirled her fingers through Jarrod’s hair as she spoke.

“You’re welcome.” Jarrod threw her a cocky
grin. “I wanted to do something special for you. I thought it might help take
your mind off things and relieve some stress.”

“Is that what it’s called up here? Stress
relief?”

Jarrad laughed. “No, we have climbing,
hiking and fishing for that. Up here, we just call it sex.”

Sitting upright, having recovered from the
single most mind blowing orgasm she’d ever experienced, Elle sat up and
returned her attention to the task of unbuttoning the pants that held captive the
magnificent cock she brushed against earlier.

“What are you doing?” He pulled back, out
of her reach.

“It’s your turn. You ready?”

“Not now. I don’t want to do anything,
seriously, we should rest.”

“Said no man
ever
!”

After buttoning his pants, Jarrad threw
another log on the fire to keep them warm while they slept.

“I’ll get some pillows. We’ve got a big day
tomorrow.”

Elle drilled him with a cold stare that
would freeze vodka.

Watching him stand and walk to a nearby
chest to retrieve the pillows, Elle sat stunned and bewildered.

 He doesn’t even want me to touch him. What’s
wrong with me?

J
arrad was bewildered.
Yet again. He thought she’d be alright with him pleasuring her. He thought
she’d simply enjoy it and be happy that he wasn’t taking advantage of her. He
thought he was doing the right thing. He thought wrong.

She wasn’t looking
at him like she was happy. Pretty far from it, actually.

What the fuck
did I do? What’s wrong with her?

Slowly, though,
the pieces of the puzzle where coming together for Jarrad.

Of course
!

She wasn’t from
around here. She was a big city girl who didn’t know the shifter ways or the
mating and bonding rituals of the bear shifters who occupied these parts. To
her, it was just sex. A bit of fun, then move on to the next guy.

But that’s not how
it worked with his kind, especially on Big Bear Mountain. Up here, bears and
their humans mate for life and they won’t mate at all until they find their
perfect mate. And even then, the bonding ritual comes first.

How was he to
explain all that to a city girl who wanted to fool around with a guy she barely
knew and only just met? That’s when it hit him. Like a freight train. The one
thing he hadn’t thought of up until now. Jarrad smacked himself on the
forehead, something that had become a regular habit during the past 12 hours.

Geez, I haven’t
even told her I’m a Grizzly Shifter?

R
eturning to the
warm glow of the fire with the pillows, Jarrad sat alongside Elle as she
slipped the hoodie back over her head.

“I need to tell
you something,” he began.

“I need to sleep.”
Elle turned away from him and began to fluff her pillow, ready to lie down.

“But I want to —”

“Really, Jarrad,
it doesn’t matter. I want to sleep. We need to be ready to make a plan and get
out of here in the morning. I’m not spending the rest of my life playing
Grizzly Adams in a mountain cabin with no hot water, electricity or
shoes
.”

“All I wanted —”

“Goodnight,
Jarrad.”

Next morning, Jarrad, stoked the fire and
began to prepare oatmeal from a couple of field ration packs for breakfast.
Oatmeal in a vacuum sealed foil bag. That brought back a lot of memories, good
and bad, for Jarrad who had survived for weeks on end eating nothing but
Rat-Packs.

“What’s that?” Elle asked, wrinkling her
nose at the sight of the beige sludge in the small bag.

“Breakfast, military style” Jarrad answered
proudly. “Oatmeal” He handed her the foil bag and a small plastic spoon.

“Wow! You sure know how to show a girl a
good time.” She sniffed the open foil pack and her entire face screwed up in
disgust. “Seriously, this is what you eat up here?”

With a shrug of his shoulders, Jarrad
ploughed into his Rat-Pack like it might be his last meal. A big man burns a
lot of calories and Jarrad had sure burned a few last night trying to please
Miss Fancy-Pants. “This is what we eat,” he responded between mouthfuls, “when
someone nukes our house and we’re on the run in the high mountain region with
the private army of some warlord after us.”

“This looks gross. How can you eat
that
?”

“You need to eat it. We’ve got a lot of
ground to cover this morning and it’s going to be cold. You’ll need the
energy.”

With another look in the bag, Elle gagged
and looked at Jarrad. “No honey to squirt on top?” she pleaded.

He just shook his head and nodded toward
the oatmeal, indicating that was all there was and she should eat it.
Quietly
,
he thought to himself, but dare not say so out loud.

Taking another mouthful of the survivalist
breakfast, Jarrad gestured to the door of the small timber hut. “We’re
following the stream down the mountain until I can get a signal on my cell, then
I can call Spider for an evac.”

“Evac?” Elle questioned.

“Evacuation. We need to get lifted out of
here. We need somewhere safe to hold up, clothes, food and some tech.”

“What kind of tech?”

“The kind that’ll help us find what’s left
of your car and we need to get online, too.”

“You sound like you have a plan.” Elle looked
at him expectantly.

“The first thing I learned about commanding
men in the field was that even if you don’t know what the hell you’re going to
do, never let
them
know that. The leader has to
lead
and to do
that, he has to always look like he knows exactly what he’s doing and sound
confident.”

“You don’t have a plan for getting out of
this mess, do you?”

Jarrad shook his head solemnly. He couldn’t
look her in the eyes.

Digging into the foil bagged sludge with
the cheap plastic spoon, Elle’s eyes began to fill with tears, which she tried
to mask by taking a mouthful of the gooey paste.

“By the way,” she said with her mouthful,
“there’s no point looking for the car. I think it’s totaled.”

“We’re not after the car,” Jarrad responded
with a mischievous grin, “just that tiny SD card.”

“I was almost glad it was gone, to be
honest. It’s brought nothing but trouble since I stole … found it.”

“Speaking of stealing, want to tell me
about the embezzlement charges being filed by your old boss? I think there was
mention of grand theft auto, if I recall correctly.” Jarrad raised an eyebrow
inviting Elle to fill in the gaps.

“It’s not how it sounds. Do I look like a
thief?”

Jarrad remained silent. He’d learned his
lesson with this girl well.

“Alright, I did steal some money from the
safe, but it was dirty money and I needed it to get away. It was in the
overnight bag in my trunk. I couldn’t risk them finding me by tracking my ATM
withdrawals and credit card transactions. I was going off the grid. Old
school.”

“And how did that work out for you?” Jarrad
couldn’t help himself.

Elle went on to explain how she’d taken a
hundred thousand of the cartels money from her bosses safe and taken off in the
car that she’d negotiated as part of her salary deal. The more she talked, the
more she realized how ill-conceived and poorly executed her plan was. She was
surprised that they hadn’t caught up with her sooner.

Jarrad listened patiently and let her
finish her tale. He wanted as much information as he could glean from her
before he started planning a counter attack.

“I have a question for you, while we’re on
the subject of full disclosure,” she said as she finished her story.

“Fire away.” Jarrad opened his hands in
front of him, suggesting he was an open book.

“I get why they call a guy named Webb
‘Spider’, but where did your call sign come from? Preacher? Surely because of
your diminutive stature or timid personality?”

“I was an Army Ranger Sniper. I had the
highest kill count in my unit. They used to say that if an insurgent was in my
cross hairs, he was about to meet his God. Some smartass decided to give me the
call sign Preacher, and it’s stuck ever since.”

Elle was silent as she weighed up the
repercussions of that disclosure. Tall, ripped, handsome, protective
and
dangerous. Somehow, that made him even more attractive and desirable. But the heightened
feelings of attraction and arousal were offset by the memory of him pulling
away from her last night. Life had dangled this gorgeous man before her only to
cruelly snatch him away after she’d had a small taste of the possibilities that
the future might hold for her. For them both.