Hansel's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tale) (20 page)

“
Okay. I will not mention
it again.” Her heart hadn’t stopped fluttering from the moment he’d
entered her family home. Now, being so near to him made it feel
like it would beat out of her chest. “Hansel…” She slipped her arms
up around his shoulders. “I know I don’t have the right to ask for
more than you’re prepared—”

He cupped her hips, then drew her body
against his. “You can always ask me anything.”

She still hesitated. She enjoyed his
warmth and strength as she stared out at the water and admired the
reflection of the moon on it as she gathered her
thoughts.

“
Blackberry.” He palmed
her ass and brought her closer to him. “Look at me.”

Meeting his eyes, she saw not only the
sparkles of gold in his ebony orbs, but something else, some deeper
emotion. Afraid to look further, she waited. Not wanting to see
more there than might really be.

“
I don’t know what my
future will hold. Or even where I will end up.” His sigh was heavy
as he rested his forehead against hers.

She took in a breath and held
it.

“
Hell, there is somewhere
else I really should be right now, tonight.” His head lifted and he
met her gaze again. “But, nothing else feels as important as
whatever is going on between us right now.”

Letting the breath out slowly, she
fingered the long, thick waves that hung over the collar of his
shirt. “What are you saying?”

Instead of answering, he fit her body
into the notch of his, leaving no space between them and kissed
her. It was hard, deep and full of need as if he were searching for
something that could only be found in her.

Capturing his thick tongue as it slid
into her mouth, she suckled it and returned his kiss, passion for
passion.

Both of them were breathless by the
time they pulled apart.

“
I don’t want you to
explore what is between us.”

“
Are you sure Hansel? I
don’t want to start putting all my energy and hope in a
relationship between us only to have you get that urge inside of
you again. Next thing I know you’re on your motorcycle and hitting
the road.”

“
I understand. Tonight I
was thinking maybe it’s time I stop chasing ghosts and start
living.”

“
Okay.”

“
Okay?” He squeezed her
ass.

She giggled and then felt a little
silly for letting such a frivolous sound come out.

“
You’re beautiful.” He
placed his palm along her cheek. “Everything about you fascinates
me.”

“
I feel the same about
you.” She pressed her breasts against his chest.

“
Flirt.”

“
I’m learning.” She’d
never allowed another male close enough to her to even want to
flirt. Now here was Hansel. “Let’s sit.”

They moved the last few steps to the
end of the dock and Hansel sat first, tugging her hand.

When she started to settle down beside
him he surprised her by pulling her into his lap. “Ah!” Quickly,
she straddled his hips and locked her ankles behind his back.
“Don’t you dare drop me.” She struck his shoulder with an open
hand.

“
Never.” His hands were at
the small of her back, the only thing keeping her from falling back
into the water.

Sitting in such a precarious way, her
ass and most of her body hovering over the lake with this male’s
arms secure around her made her feel alive. Hansel did that to her,
made her feel free and adventurous, ready to jump out of her
self-imposed shell and take on the world.

“
What you do to me.” She
held his gaze hoping he understood all she was saying to
him.

He pressed up against her, the hard
evidence of his cock brushed her sex. “I’m hoping it is the same
thing you do to me.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

She laughed. “You are incorrigible.”
Her words didn’t stop her from grinding her aching pussy against
his shaft, teasing them both through their clothing.

Hansel groaned and held her firm
against him. “Why did you choose to wear jeans on this night
instead of another one of your sexy skirts?” He kissed along the
side of her neck.

Tilting her head to the side to give
him more access to one of her many sensitive areas, she whispered,
“I’m pretty fast at getting out of them.”

Pulling the side of her collar away,
he used his tongue to draw a design on her shoulder. “You can?” He
met her gaze. “Prove it.”

“
Agree to swim with me and
I will show you.”

He winked at her. “You’re on.” Taking
hold of her waist, he moved her to the side, fast. He leaped up to
his feet, then held his hand out to her.

Claiming it, she allowed him to assist
her to her feet.

In recorded time they were both
stripped down to bare skin and standing side by side with their
toes hanging over the edge of the last wooden slat. “You
ready?”

“
This will be the first
late night swim I’ve ever had.”

“
Really? We do this a lot
in Den.” Shocked she glanced at him.

“
Yup.” He took hold of her
hand. “Not much frivolity in my life.”

“
Well, let’s start to
change that.” Jumping, she tugged his hand and pulled him into the
water with her.

The icy water that surrounded her was
invigorating, but it did nothing to her body compared to the male
in the lake with her.

They broke through the surface
together. “I thought the idea was to jump into the water not get
yanked in.”

Treading water, she smiled at him. He
looked gorgeous in the moonlight with his hair slicked back and his
golden eyes showing boldly in his pale complexion. “Maybe, but
what’s the fun in that.”

“
I’ll show you fun.” He
shoved a large wave of water at her.

Screeching as she got splashed, she
swam away purposely kicking water at him.

“
Don’t make me come after
you,” he teased.

“
I dare you.” She gave him
a brief glance as she rotated onto her back and glided fast through
the water.

The chase was on.

A lot of splashing echoed around her,
however, it was a few moments before she realized she was the only
one making the sound. Stopping she looked back at the last spot
she’d seen Hansel, expecting to see him swimming toward her. But,
he was nowhere to be found.

Then he was there. Coming up from
beneath her, taking hold of her waist as he brought them both up
out of the lake.

She laughed and wiggled against his
hold, but he didn’t let her go. “You cheat!”

“
Hey, you never said how I
was supposed to catch you.”

“
Semantics.” She stroked
her hands along his back, feeling every old wound on his back along
the way as she enjoyed his naked form against hers.

His kicking was keeping them afloat as
he propelled them to the bank. “You want to know something else
I’ve never done before?”

“
What’s that?” She bumped
against his chest and felt her nipples tighten harder.

“
Made love in the
moonlight in a lake.” He planted his feet into the lakebed and held
her. Gliding his hands from her waist to her ass, he pressed her to
him.

She parted her thighs and wrapped her
legs around him. The surface of the water floated around their
waist. “Then I suggest we mark this one off both of our bucket
lists.” Lowering her lips to meet his, she slipped her hand between
their bodies and took hold of his long, thick cock.

Guiding it into her, she sighed in his
mouth as she felt the stretching of her pussy around
him.

A growl rumbled in his chest as he
thrust in the rest of the way.

Mine
.

She didn’t see the need in arguing
with her bear as she was taken to one pleasurable height after
another in the arms of the were-male she was falling in love
with.

It was the truth, she had tried to
fight it, but the fact remained she was in love with
Hansel.

Chapter Nine

“
Oh, my word, I can’t
believe you’ve never played football before.” Greta tossed the ball
to Theo, the quarterback on her team. It was a Saturday afternoon
and a group of them had gotten together for a game.

“
I’ve seen it played on TV
and maybe passed a game or two during the summer of children
leagues but I guess you have to have friends to be invited to
play.” Hansel shrugged as he moved closer into the huddle with the
other people of their team.

“
Well, you have pretty
good hands for a person who has never played. You could have gone
pro.” Rorke commented.

“
Yeah, and as soon as some
corner slams his body into mine and pisses me off can’t you see the
newspaper headlines? ‘Bear Ends Up Running Wild Through Stadium
Terrorizes Players’.”

The eleven members of their team all
broke out in laughter.

Seeing Hansel smiling and having a
good time with her friends and community warmed her heart. She had
been getting that same wondrous feeling for the last two weeks
since they’d started hanging out together.

Besides work and her Festival
Committee responsibilities, Greta spent all her time with Hansel.
Even at night she slept at the Founder’s Cabin with him and went to
work from there with him following behind her truck on his
motorcycle. He always gave her a final wave when he passed her job
to head to the warehouse.

She could get used to a life with
Hansel. Easily.

Monday the First Moon Festival would
kick off and Rorke brother, whose wife had delivered the triplets
last week, would be returning to work by the end of the week. She
wasn’t sure what the changes would mean to Hansel but she was
willing to speak with some of the businesses in town to get him
another job so he could stay in the county. Tonight she had planned
to cook him dinner, instead of going to Grub’s restaurant or eating
with her parents like they usually did because the cabin’s kitchen
was very small. It wasn’t really conducive to doing more than small
quick meals.

After they ate she would open the
dialogue of them making their relationship permanent and him
staying on. Her body wanted his third bite so bad at times she
ached in her soul for the ultimate connection to him. Being his one
and only mate.

“
You got that
Greta?”

“
What?” She blinked and
stared from Theo to the faces of her other teammates moving out of
the huddle. Evidently she had missed something that she was
supposed to do.

Sports, just like all competition with
Were’s, was a serious thing. And with the current score tied at
twenty-seven all, their next play could win the game.

As they all started getting in
position on the line of scrimmage facing off with Cord’s team, she
rushed and spoke to Hansel who was on the opposite end of the
line.

What am I supposed to be
doing?

Listening.

She growled when she glanced down at
him and caught him winking at her.

Funny. Besides that.

“
Blue Fifty-Nine. Hike!”
Theo called out.

Todd, playing center, shot the ball
back to him.

Run to the end zone as fast as you
can.

Hearing Hansel’s words as he took off
and tried to avoid Gordon who was manning him, Greta growled
fiercely as she ran. She shoved and pushed Lidi, Cord’s safety
guarding her, and ran to beyond the first five yards where Lidi
couldn’t touch her again until she had the ball. Greta ran with all
her might, heading toward the two trees that represented the goal
post she continued to check over her shoulder at Theo, wondering
when he would send a bullet her way.

Then she saw the ball release from his
hand but instead of it spiraling in her direction it went to
Hansel. She was the distraction, set up to fake out the other
team.

In awe she watched Hansel dash away
from Gordon with a burst of speed, beating him by three steps as he
caught the ball that dropped in over his shoulders.

Hansel cuddled it tight against his
side and completed the four steps that took him into the end
zone.

“
Yay!” She screamed,
leaping up and down with excitement. With all the players on Theo’s
team she rushed toward game winner.

She was gathered up in Hansel’s arms
and kissed on the side of her neck as everyone patted him on the
back.

Pressing closer to him, not caring
about his sweat or her own, it made her feel bashful to have him
show his affection for her before other people. Generally his
affection was saved for private moments.

She hoped this meant that he was
considering things for them moving to the next stage as
well.

They all shook hands with Cord’s
team.

“
How about I treat the
team to some strawberry ice?” Theo offered.

Everyone agreed and headed from the
field with the other team, walking toward Main Street.