ROMANCE: Bear Naked Passion (Billionaire Bear Trio Book 2) (36 page)

Chapter 8

Kendrick waited in his office. He knew Tammy wouldn’t be home for at least a half hour, and he was debating on his reasoning. Did he really want to go there? She didn’t seem happy that he was pushing himself on her, but there was something about her. He had to figure out what it was. He wasn’t used to feeling so out of control. She challenged him on every level. Yet he saw her as an equal.

She was beautiful, sassy, hard, soft, and sweet. Even Leslie had never offered such help. He was amazed, even though he knew part of the reason she offered was to get away from him. It couldn’t have been the whole reason. No one offered to watch five sick kids just to avoid someone. She had a soft heart and had heard the desperation in Tammy’s voice. His respect for Peyton grew exponentially. He wondered how she fared with five boys all day long. He knew first-hand they were a handful.

At six, he sighed. “Fuck it.” He left and drove over to the address he took from Peyton’s application. She had to know he wouldn’t forget and he would be there waiting for her to make sure she didn’t try to avoid him. He needed to talk to her, to get to know her.

It wasn’t very professional and it definitely didn’t keep things separate like he preferred. The lines were blurring, and he wasn’t sure which side his feelings would land on. That was the point of making her talk. She fired him up and made him want things he always scorned. She made him want to be better. Fuck, he even apologized for being an ass. Not his thing.

She didn’t live far from the office and when he parked in front of her house, he shook his head. He was on the verge of being her stalker, and at that moment, he didn’t even care how crazy that looked. All that mattered was seeing her, touching her soft skin and gripping those amazing hips, pulling her curvy body against his.

He didn’t have to wait long to see her car pull into the driveway. He got out and stormed over to her car, before she even had the chance to get out, and yanked her door open. Her gasp and wide eyes did nothing to stop him from leaning in and undoing her seatbelt before pulling her out of the car. Wrapping her ponytail around his hand he tilted her head back and kissed her. It started of soft and slow, but her moan of approval sent him over the edge, and he pried her lips open and devoured her mouth, tangling his tongue with hers. His heart galloped in his chest, and his hand shook with need.

She didn’t fight him and kissed him back with every bit of pent-up tension as he did. When she sucked his lip into her mouth, he pulled back, gasping for breath.

“Why?”

He didn’t know, but it didn’t matter anymore. She was something special, and he knew she felt it the way he did. When she interlaced their fingers tugging him with her, he knew he’d finally met his match. She didn’t say a word, but there was no reason to say anything at all. He knew what was going to happen, and for the first time, it didn’t scare him that he would be spending the full night with a woman—in her territory.

Chapter 9

I took him into my home with no question as to what was going to happen. He’d kissed the life out of me, and even though I had a feeling that this was going to blow up, I couldn’t say no. Already, I felt myself growing warm for him.

I loved how I didn’t have to talk. He didn’t need to hear what I wanted. He just knew. I led him down the hall to my room and spun to face him. “Now let’s talk.”

I smirked when his eyes widened and sat on the edge of my bed.

“We can talk later,” he said, and licked his lips when I pulled my shirt over my head.

“Oh no, you said you wanted to talk. No, you demanded we were going to be talking. So tell me what was so important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow.”

“You’re not joking, are you?”

“Nope,” I said, making the word pop.

“Dammit, woman. Do you know how much I want right now?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re not going to budge.”

“No.”

Kendrick sighed and ripped his shirt off and slid his pants off. I watched him with hidden lust mixed with amusement.

“We’ll fucking multitask then.”

I shook my head, but it was tempting. “Talk.”

“I want you. That’s what’s driving me crazy. I don’t usually want anything more than what we did already, but I find myself drawn to you. I want to know you. I also want to sink deep inside of that tight pussy.”

I stood and undressed before climbing on the bed. “Well, what the hell are you waiting for? We’ll fucking multitask” I couldn’t help but repeat him.

He nodded and then he was on the body, on me, over me, and then in me. I gasped at the intrusion and then sighed. He felt amazing and I had a feeling things were about to get real.

“I want to be with you. Try a relationship.”

“Try?”

“Yes, I can’t promise more than to try. I won’t lie and feed you bullshit. I don’t know how good I’ll be at this. And that’s the honest truth.”

I could handle that. He wasn’t declaring his love for me. Hell, he didn’t even know if he could handle it, but he was willing to try and his honesty was refreshing. “I’ll take it.” Then I kissed him, sealing the deal.

THE END

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The Italian

The Italian

“I’ll be fine,” Emma told her mother as she finished packing her suitcase. Emma had just finished high school and had spent the past two years working after school saving every penny she made so that she could take a trip to Europe. It had been hard, she watched her friends buying whatever they wanted, but in her heart Emma knew that what she wanted was this trip.

Emma had never been away from her parents besides the occasional overnight visit with friends when she was little and this was her chance to get away and figure out who she really is.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love her parents, but she was an only child and her parents were the definition of over protective.

Emma knew that it was just because they loved her, but at the age of 18 she still had a curfew of 10 pm. She had never really dated because she knew her parents would freak out and it was even a challenge to get them to allow her to have a job.

They told her that they would pay her bills, they would buy her a car, her clothes and so on but Emma knew even at the age of 16 that she had to get away. Even if it was for a short time she had to get away so that she could figure out who she was as a person and have a little bit of joy before she started college.

Emma had decided that she would spend a year in Europe. Her parents had tried multiple times to talk her out of going, trying to bribe her with all kinds of different gifts and although the gifts were great Emma refused to stay home.

She knew if she tried to explain herself to her parents they would not understand or they would be hurt by the fact that Emma needed time away from them. Up until this point in her life she had pretty much done everything that they had told her to do. It didn’t bother her that they did not want her going out on dates she had never felt pretty anyway. Emma was bigger than most girls her age and most of the time she hated it. She remembered learning in school that there was a time when men were proud to have a larger woman because it meant that they were successful. She wished that she had lived during that time period and not the time period where skeletons were beautiful.

Emma knew that even if she had been allowed to go out on dates she would have never been asked. Not once during the entire time that she was in high school had a boy ever asked her out and probably never would.

She wondered what college would be like and if there would be other big girls there like her. She hoped that there would but none of that mattered now. All that mattered was packing for her trip, getting on her plane the next morning and learning how to make decisions on her own.

“How can you say that you will be fine,” her mother interrupted her thinking, “You have no idea where you are going, there will be no one there to make sure you are safe. You know what,” she paused and looked at Emma with a smile, “How about I call the airport and book myself a seat.”

Emma groaned, “That’s fine,” she saw her mother’s eyes light up, “I hope you have a great time on your trip, why don’t you take daddy with you and he can keep you company.” Her mother began glaring at her. “I have been planning this trip for far too long and I am going to go to Europe on my own. Think of this as a vacation, you and daddy can spend your time together, getting to know each other again or something just let me get to know myself.”

Emma looked at her bed as the words poured out of her mouth this was not what she had wanted to say to her mother. “What do you mean get to know yourself,” her mother asked her as she sat down.

Emma looked out of her bedroom window trying to come up with something to say, but knowing that she was going to have to tell the truth and it was going to make her mother angry.

“I have no idea who I really am,” Emma began, “I do what you tell me to do, I eat what you tell me to eat, I act the way you tell me to act and I say what you tell me to say. I need time by myself so that I can do what I want, say what I want to say I want to act like me and not like you.”

Emma’s mother stood, she folded the shirt she had in her hand and placed it in Emma’s suitcase. “Well,” she began, “If it bothers you so much that you are like me then fine, I won’t tell you what I think anymore.”

“That is not what I meant,” Emma said looking at her mother. She knew there was no explaining it to her mother that was just the way she was always taking everything personally. Emma’s mother played the victim well and that was one of the main reasons that she knew she needed to get away.

When most girls are growing up they look at their mother as someone they want to be like when they get older, but Emma knew that she wanted to be just the opposite of her mother. She wanted to be strong and successful, she knew that one day she would have children of her own and she would not force them to be who she wanted them to be or who she wanted to be while she was growing up. Emma felt bad for her mom because she knew there had to be something lacking in her own life for her to need so much control over Emma’s.

“Then tell me exactly what you meant Emma,” her mother continued. Emma knew there was no way she was going to drop the subject. She just continued packing her bag without saying a word. Her mother stomped out of the room and Emma knew it was not because of what she had said, but because her mother knew she couldn’t control her any longer.

Emma smiled to herself, feeling that for the first time in her life she had really stood up to her mom. Normally she would have gone along with whatever her mother said, but Emma had known since the moment she graduated high school that she was going to have to start taking control of her own life or her mother would control her forever.

Emma did not want to be one of those people who were 40 years old and still lived at home with their parents. She wanted to be successful, happy and she wanted to have her own life, her own home and maybe one day her own family. Her life was about to change and she was happy about.

That night Emma sat down to what would be her last dinner with her family for an entire year. She had saved enough money while working after school and on weekends to allow her to enjoy Europe for a year and then she planned on coming back and starting college. Her mother cried as Emma ate, her father looked at Emma with anger in his eyes but Emma’s smile remained.

Their anger would dissipate in time and Emma was going to enjoy her trip no matter what they did. She rolled her eyes as she thought about how the next day would play out. She had to get up early and had planned to take a cab to the airport. She didn’t want to have to rely on her parents for a ride because she knew they would do whatever it took to keep her home even if that meant denying her a ride. She didn’t want to leave her car at the airport for a year, so she had planned for a cab to pick her up the next morning. She hoped that her mother and father would still be asleep when she left otherwise she knew it would be a big ordeal full of tears and anger.

After dinner, Emma washed her plate and headed back up to her room. She needed to shower and go over her list one final time in order to ensure that she did not forget anything for her trip. She had planned to stay in hostels while she traveled and had a list of each one in all of the different cities she planned on visiting.

She also had a list of all of the sights that she wanted to see and along with her clothes, personal supplies, and other items she made sure she had several cell phone batteries, extra chargers and plenty of USB memory sticks for her laptop. She wanted to take pictures of everything. Emma knew that this would probably be the only time in her life that she would be able to spend such a long time overseas and she wanted to capture it all on her camera. She wanted to be able to share it with her friends, family and someday her grandchildren. This trip meant more to her than her parents would ever understand and she wanted to make sure she never forgot it.

Emma barely slept that night. She was too excited and could not wait to see what the coming year held for her. She was also terrified. She wondered if going to another country alone was the smartest thing for her to do. She wished that she had asked a friend to join her, but knew that no one she knew could have afforded to go with her and she really was not that close to anyone that she did know. She hoped that while she was in Europe she would get to meet new people and make new friends.

Emma was awake at 4:30 the next morning, her alarm was not set to go off until 5 am and she was glad that she had woken up before it went off. She did not want to take the chance of it waking her mother, but when the smell of pancakes and bacon hit her nostrils she knew her mother was already awake.

Emma showered and dressed quickly before grabbing her bags and heading down the stairs. Her cab was to arrive at 6 AM and that could not come soon enough for her.

“What are you doing,” Emma asked her mother as she walked into the kitchen.

“Oh,” her mother replied, “I couldn’t sleep so I thought I would get up and cook you a big breakfast before you leave. I know it is going to be a long time before you get to eat like this again.”

Emma rolled her eyes.
‘Now she is going to try and bribe me with food’
, Emma thought to herself. Emma partially blamed her mother for the issues that she had with her weight. Every time Emma had become upset her mother had given her food to comfort her. When Emma wanted to do something that her mother did not approve of then she would give Emma food or even pretend that she was being a good mother by spending time with Emma while baking.

Emma sat down as her other handed her a plate and thought about the time that she wanted to attend a sleep over with several girls from her school. Emma’s mother had decided that would be a great night to spend baking all kinds of sweets with her daughter. Of course Emma had a good time, but she longed to spend time with girls her own age. She felt left out when she went to school the next Monday morning when all of the girls were talking about how much fun they had at the sleepover. Emma remembered crying that night when she got home because the girls had ignored her the entire day at school because she had not attended.

Emma quietly ate her breakfast. She knew it was the least she could do for her mother and she really did not want to leave on bad terms. No matter what her parents put her through she would always love her mother and want to please her.

Emma watched as a tear rolled down her mother’s cheek. She wished that she could do something to change the way her mother felt, but she did not have time. She heard the sound of a car horn in front of her house, pushed her plate away and hurried to the front door.

Her mother followed close behind her. Emma grabbed her bags as she opened the front door and saw her cab waiting for her. She quickly made her way to the cab, placed her bags in the trunk and turned to look at her mother. She could tell that it was all her mother could do to not break down crying and although she felt bad Emma gave her a quick hug and jumped into the cab.

As the cab driver drove off Emma refused to look back at her mother. She knew that if she let her emotions get the best of her, she would tell the driver to turn the cab around and take her back home. She was already wondering if she had made the right decision and feeling bad for leaving her parents for a year.

She told herself that they would have to get used to her being gone anyway because she would be going to college the next year. Her parents would have to get used to her not being at home with them.

After about 15 minutes into the ride Emma sat back in the seat and began to relax. She imagined a place where she would finally be happy, a place where she could choose to be anyone.

Before Emma knew it, they were pulling up to the airport. As soon as the cab stop, she paid the driver, grabbed her bags out of the trunk and headed into the airport. From there everything was a blur until Emma was sitting comfortably on the airplane.

Her journey was going to begin in Italy and she could not have been more excited. Not only did she love the Italian culture, she had a bit of a thing for the men. When she was younger, she used to sit and dream about the man she would marry. She imagined him to be Italian, dark hair and eyes, a beautiful man. Emma could not wait to see what opportunities Italy had for her.

Of course she could not wait to see popular attractions such as Vatican City, The Colosseum, The Sun Palace and The Eiffel Tower, but she was more excited about being away from her parents in a place where no one could control her.

Although her flight seemed as it would never end the plane finally landed. Emma quickly exited the plane, found her luggage and headed out of the airport. It had taken 7 and a half hours for her to get to Italy and she was glad that she had booked a cheap hotel for the night. She was glad that she was finally in Italy, but she was not ready to stay in a room with a bunch of strangers.

Emma checked into her hotel and decided to change her clothes. She had been wearing sweats and a t-shirt on her flight, she was hungry and did not want to go out anywhere in Italy looking the way she did.

She carefully did her makeup and made sure that her hair looked perfect. She slipped into a short black dress and black flats then headed out the door.

She did not have to go far before finding a cute little restaurant. She sat in a booth in the back corner of the restaurant and watched as more people entered. There were men and women from all around the world, smiling, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. It was not until then that Emma really understood how lonely she was.